Recently, we posted an article which detailed a plotter lease promotion from Canon Financial Services (CFS) entitled the Baker’s Dozen. This is a cool program where you can acquire new printer plotter equipment and take either 13 or 18 months to pay it off, depending on which option you choose. But now, CFS has announced the addition of another promotion—First Year Lower Payments. Here’s how it works.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That is an old adage that has been passed down over generations. In theory it sounds like a good idea, but in today’s technological environment, it could actually be holding you back and costing your company money. This is especially true when it comes to your wide-format CAD plotter. Here’s how.

Years ago, HP plotters were a household name regarding wide-format printers, but things have changed. Over time, more competitors entered the scene and chipped away at HP’s market share. This is a tough battle for any company, but there are bigger issues lurking underneath. In many ways HP is their own worst enemy. They have failed to fully adapt to the changing market and have therefore paid the price. The sad part is that this situation doesn’t look like it will improve in regards to wide-format printers. Don’t believe it? Follow the money.

Canon Solutions America recently announced the release of the new imagePROGRAF iPF MFP M40 solution. This is the upgraded version to the very popular MFP system from 2012. Whether you are new to the MFP series or a seasoned PRO, there are things worth checking out with the new M40 version. Here are some of the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the iPF MFP M40.

The Large Format & Photo Printing Solutions Division of Canon Solutions America recently announced the release of the new imagePROGRAF iPF MFP M40 solution. This bundled system is offered with five different imagePROGRAF models to provide users with the right solution for their applications. This new iPF MFP solution offers several new and enhanced technologies making it a powerful capture-to-output mix for your customers’ large format scanning/copying/printing applications.

Recently a customer let me know that his new Oce PlotWave 350 plotter was taking almost two minutes to print a single file out of AutoCAD. Surely something wasn’t right. The PlotWave 350 is a 6 D-size sheet per minute machine. After meeting with him, it took less than a minute to determine that the problem was with the print driver settings and not the printer itself. Here’s how to fix it.

Without a doubt, the Designjet 1050 plotter was a wildly successful model for HP. After all, tens of thousands of them were sold and installed throughout the United States during the early to mid-2000s. Many of those units are still in the field and in use today. But, we are approaching the threshold of their usefulness. If you have one, there is a good chance that you are experiencing the law of diminishing returns firsthand. So, considering an upgrade may make sense. Here are a few things to keep in mind regarding your old HP 1050c plotter.

For years companies in the Oil & Gas industry have been forced to pay highly inflated prices for equipment that will print well logs. Finally, the tides have turned. Canon has joined forces with National Azon Equipment and System Development, Inc. (SDI) to offer a complete well log printing package.

According to McGraw-Hill Construction’s 2012 SmartMarket Report, more than 36 percent of contractors, architects and engineers are using Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Western Europe. In comparison, North America shows a higher rate of BIM adoption, with around 49 percent of construction professionals already having adopted this technology as of 2009. On the whole, the use of BIM technology in the AEC industry is on the upsurge.

Have you noticed that when shopping at a big-box store such as Best Buy, everything has an optional extended warranty option? The sales associates are well trained to offer you this extension for a small percentage of the purchase price. Most of the time, I blow these off. It doesn’t make sense to me to buy a $29 warranty on a $100 Bluetooth headset. But, once you start looking at bigger ticket items, the warranty becomes more justifiable. Bigger purchases need protection. By the same thinking, it is essential for your business to get a service contract for even the best large format plotter.