Epson Brings Industry-Disruptive PrecisionCore Technology to Office Printing with New Compact WorkForce Enterprise AM Series

On March 1, 2023, Epson America, Inc. announced the availability of three new A3 line head multifunction printers as part of its WorkForce Enterprise portfolio. Powered by PrecisionCore® advanced printing technology, the WorkForce® Enterprise AM-C6000, AM-C5000 and AM-C4000 business printing solutions deliver outstanding quality with low waste. Engineered for reliable performance, the AM Series was designed for large workgroups and departments, and competitively offers energy-efficient features in a space-saving form factor.

The breakthrough WorkForce Enterprise AM Series offers a variety of high-performance features to keep businesses moving. Offering fast print speeds – 60 ISO ppm (black/color) for the AM-C6000, 50 ISO ppm (black/color) for the AM-C5000 and 40 ISO ppm (black/color) for the AM-C4000 – and a fast first page out, these feature-packed solutions deliver revolutionary productivity for a variety of work environments.

Additional WorkForce Enterprise AM Series Features Include:

  • Large touchscreen operation — intuitive, user-friendly 10.1″ color touchscreen with customizable interface
  • Robust security — full suite of advanced security features
  • Versatile options — the ideal solution for stacking, stapling, creating booklets and hole-punching; fax and multi-network options
  • Efficient workflow — single-pass duplex scanning
  • Compatible with Epson Solutions Suite and industry-leading third-party solutions — Epson Open Platform for seamless workflow integration
  • Remarkable image quality — DURABrite® Pro fast-drying, water-resistant pigment ink delivers vivid color and crisp black text

To view the AM Series’ top seven product features, watch this video on YouTube.

Source: CISION PN News Wire

ACCO Brands Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results and Provides Outlook For 2023

ACCO Brands Corporation has announced its fourth quarter and full year results for the period ended December 31, 2022. Highlights for the full year are as follows:

  • Net sales were $1.95 billion, down 4%; comparable sales up 1%
  • Gained market share across multiple product categories in North America in 2022
  • Achieved quarterly sequential margin improvement in EMEA as pricing actions took hold
  • Realized double-digit sales and profit growth in the International segment
  • Generated $78 million of cash from operations; adjusted free cash flow of $78 million
  • During fourth quarter of 2022 actioned annual cost savings of $13 million from significant restructuring initiatives
  • Full year 2023 outlook anticipates margin expansion and profit growth

“In 2023 our top priority is to restore our margin profile through incremental pricing actions implemented in January of 2023, the restructuring initiatives undertaken during the fourth quarter of 2022 and the additional productivity programs we will implement in 2023. We expect these actions will drive margin expansion and profit growth for the full year of 2023. With our expected continued strong cash flow in 2023, we will support our quarterly dividend, pay down debt and continue to invest in new product development and go-to-market initiatives, which we expect will better position us for future growth,” said Boris Elisman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ACCO Brands.

To view the full results, visit the ACCO Brands website.

Source: Morning Star
Source: ACCO Brands

Avery Dennison Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results

Avery Dennison Corporation has announced preliminary, unaudited results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022. Non-GAAP financial measures referenced in the release are reconciled from GAAP in the attached financial schedules. Unless otherwise indicated, comparisons are to the same period in the prior year. Highlights are as follows:

  • FY22 Reported EPS of $9.21, up 4%
    • Adjusted EPS (non-GAAP) of $9.15, up 3%, up 11% ex. currency
  • FY22 Net sales increased 7.5% to $9.0 billion
    • Sales growth ex. currency (non-GAAP) of 13.1%
    • Organic sales growth (non-GAAP) of 9.5%
  • 4Q22 Reported EPS of $1.51
    • Adjusted EPS (non-GAAP) of $1.65, down 23%
  • 4Q22 Net sales declined 7.2% to $2.0 billion
    • Sales change ex. currency (non-GAAP) of (0.8%)
    • Organic sales change (non-GAAP) of (0.9%)
  • FY23 Reported EPS guidance of $8.85 to $9.25
    • Adjusted EPS guidance of $9.15 to $9.55

“Our strong performance came amidst a very challenging environment that was capped by volume declines in the fourth quarter due to significant inventory reductions downstream,” said Mitch Butier, Chairman and CEO. “Recent volume trends are indicative of patterns in previous slowdowns; we have been activating countermeasures accordingly. Despite the challenges in the macro environment, we remain well-positioned to continue our long track record of earnings growth in 2023, including accelerating growth in Intelligent Labels.” 

To view the full results, visit the Avery website. 

Source: Avery Dennison

Office Supplies: Industry Insights

Home-office has become part of the new normal worldwide, a process that was long in the making, but has been sped up by the coronavirus crisis. As traditional offices remained empty for long stretches of time, while paperwork increasingly migrated (and continues to migrate) to digital platforms, there had been a decline in demand for core stationery products, such as pens and paper. In the meantime, sales and demand for home office items, standalone desks, headphones, monitors, and similar equipment had grown. The U.S. and Europe are the industry’s top mature markets, driven by the trend of online ordering. Latin America and Asia-Pacific, on the other hand, are low maturity regions where global players do not have a strong presence, thus presenting a significant potential market for expansion and development.

The size of the global office supply market was projected to grow and reach over 270 billion U.S. dollars in 2025. In the U.S., one of the industry’s more mature markets, office supplies and stationery store revenue has shown a downward trend since 2012 and will continue to do so in the coming years. By 2024, industry revenues in the North American country were estimated to reach a total of 8.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Dig further into the data on the Statista website. 

Source: Statista

Creating Competitive Advantage in Returning to the Office 

Amazon just announced a return to office mandate of three days a week, joining Disney, Starbucks, Twitter, and other companies. Is this mandate creating a competitive advantage for Amazon?

People are the most important resource of any organization. Yet so many leaders are failing to live by that maxim. They instead prefer to do what’s comfortable for them, even if it devastates employee morale and engagement. They fail to recognize how doing so deeply undercuts the bottom line through reducing productivity, decreasing retention, and harming recruitment. The current call by many leaders for employees to return to the office pretty much full-time represents an egregious and self-defeating example of top executives choosing to do what’s comfortable for them over what’s best for their people and their bottom line.

What do employees want?

Many recently-published independent, large-scale, and in-depth research studies surveyed full-time employees on what kind of work arrangements they would want after the pandemic is over. A meta-analysis of these studies reveals the following 10 key take-aways:

  1. Over two-thirds of all employees who worked remotely in the pandemic want and expect to work from home half the time or more permanently, while over a fifth want to work remotely full-time
  2. Over two-fifths would leave their current job if they didn’t have the option of remote work of two to three days per week
  3. Over a quarter plan to leave their job after the pandemic, especially those who rate their company cultures as “C” or lower
  4. Over two-fifths of all employees, especially younger ones, would feel concern over career progress if they worked from home while other employees like them did not
  5. Most employees see telework and the flexibility it provides as a key benefit, and are willing to sacrifice substantial earnings for it
  6. Employees are significantly more productive on average when working from home
  7. Over three-quarters of all employees will feel happier and more engaged, be willing to go the extra mile, feel less stressed, and have more work-life balance with permanent opportunity for two to three days of telework
  8. Over half of all employees feel overworked and burned out, and over three-quarters experience “Zoom fatigue” and want less meetings
  9. Employees need funding for home offices and equipment, but no more than 25% of companies provided such funding so far
  10. 10.Over three-fifths of all employees report poor virtual communication and collaboration as their biggest challenge with remote work, and many want more training in these areas

For creating competitive advantage in the new normal, forward-looking leaders realize that the world changed. They may prefer on a personal level to be surrounded by people when they work. They may feel uncomfortable with the idea of not having a full-time, in-office culture. However, they recognize that for the sake of their most important resource, it simply makes sense to let those employees who can productively do so work from home much or all of the time which is where a hybrid model is most effective.

To read the full article, visit the Forbes website. 

Source: Forbes