This block of solid ink replaces messy toner cartridges in the ColorQube line.

Featured Business
CTX-Xerox
by Virginia Bruce

While this company is not physically located in Cedar Mill, they do a lot for our community by allowing us to print the News on their high-speed color printers! Each of the 600 paper copies we distribute roll out of one of their machines equipped with a special finisher that folds and staples it. But that's only one of the amazing things that can be done with CTX know-how and the advanced equipment they sell.

The invention of plain-paper copying, beginning with Chester Carlson's work in 1938, revolutionized document handling in modern offices. Few businesses today can exist without some means to copy and print documents. While "the paperless office" has long been a goal, there's still plenty of demand for high-quality, low-cost paper copying.

Carlson's inventions led to the first "Model A" copy machine in 1948. In 1959 Xerox announced the first fully-automated plain-paper copier. During the 70s, the Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) churned out innovations that led to the modern desktop computer and many other technologies we take for granted today, including internal networking (ethernet).

Chris Cunningham inspects a client sample in the demo room at CTX

Meanwhile, here in the Portland area, an entrepreneur started a company selling blueprinting equipment in 1965, and called it Copytronix. In 1971 he took on the Konica Minolta line of copiers, printers, fax machines and wide format printers. In 1999 the company joined Global Imaging Systems, which was acquired by Xerox in 2007. At that time, Copytronix adopted the CTX-Xerox name, but many still refer to it as Copytronix.

In 1999, Xerox moved to number two in the color network laser printer market by acquiring Wilsonville-based Tektronix Inc.'s Color Printing and Imaging Division in a $950-million cash deal. Xerox wisely kept Tektronix' technical and support staff in place—following the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory of management. The Phaser line of color laser printers, originally developed by Tektronix, blazed the trail to affordable every-day laser color, and continued under Xerox ownership. In addition, the ColorQube line of solid-ink printers, originally created by Tektronix in 1986, has become ever more popular due to its smaller waste footprint.

This book cover, printed on heavy stock, will be merged with the rest of the pages and output as a bound book with the optional finishing equipment provided with some machines.

Ink-jet color printers are relatively cheap to acquire, but as we all know, can be extremely expensive to run. The equipment is often sold at or below the cost to produce it, because the real money is made on the ink cartridges, which can cost up to $8000 per gallon, and creates a lot of waste! Color laser equipment can be more expensive to buy, but is much cheaper to run. It's also more sustainable because the equipment is made to last longer.

For most customers, the option that makes business sense is a lease agreement that covers the equipment, supplies and support. For the ColorQube, for example, cost is based not only on the number of copies a company makes, but also on the type of copies—black only; light color (a letterhead or small chart, for example); and full-color.

In addition, CTX provides software, training and support for digital document management. They help companies scan and store important documents in an accessible and organized system that reduces loss of employee productivity searching for information, reproducing lost documents, filing, and also the physical space needed to store paper documents.

Chris Cunningham, CTX Training Manager, tells this story to illustrate how document management works in a small business.

"Consider Jane Smith Insurance. (Not her real name.) Jane had worked in the health insurance industry for over 20 years in administration for a big blue corporate provider. She noticed a real need for small-business health plan counseling that often went unnoticed by the larger companies. With her husband close to retirement, Jane began her own agency focusing on those companies. With two computers in their home office, a few file cabinets and a small scanning copier, Jane began Jane Smith Insurance. With her industry background and her husband's great personality and talent for answering customer inquiries, their insurance practice began to grow.

For jobs where exact color is important, CTX offers hardware and software that allows precise color adjustments.

"Soon customer service began to slip. Keeping track of documents and providing immediate answers to inquiries presented a problem…it was time to open an office and hire assistants to keep track of the activity associated with their growing practice…or was it?

"They contacted CTX. With a small-business implementation of DocuWare and a back file conversion of existing files, Jane and her husband were able to grow their client portfolio to over 400 businesses. They decided to hold the line at 400, as that was the sweet spot where they could continue to provide excellent customer service and manage their client base without adding employees.

"They really liked the control they had of their business. Their investment in scanning, software and copiers was less than $5000. That system today can be leased with a buyout at term-end for less than $125 per month!

"Today Jane and her husband are retiring. Their practice is worth double the amount of a similar practice because every bit of intellectual, marketing, payment, enrollment and claim information is safely contained within their DocuWare system. They are building a luxury condo in South America, and passing the torch to another entrepreneur."

The CTX 360 process brings sophisticated document management strategies within the reach of most businesses.

Industry analysts estimate that 70% of an employee's legacy knowledge walks out the door if that employee leaves. Implementing a document management system can reduce that liability as well. How many of us have worked in a company where one person holds the knowledge of where important information can be found? What happens when they're gone?

Health-related businesses benefit from this approach because systems are regulatory compliant (HIPAA). Financial records for all business types are protected from loss and are also SOX compliant. CTX guides their customers through the one-time process of digitizing records, and trains them to maintain the system.

Cunningham explains, "CTX 360 is a revolutionary assessment methodology, based on Six Sigma process improvement, that looks at the entire business and breaks it into seven core areas. We are able to partner with our clients in very little time to gather information about true costs, asset deployment, and usage patterns. We make recommendations for change, addition, or consolidation that align with a company's strategic direction. In 97% of the cases, when we do a 360 assessment, we return revenue to a company's bottom line, even when you take into account the acquisition of new equipment. The entire process takes about three weeks, using very little client time."

The Copytronix Customer Service Center at the Tigard headquarters

Their sales force receives an initial five-week training program, with ongoing training in both the technology and the system elements. "We still encounter a public perception that copier sales is a "slick" business," Cunningham sighs. "We focus on sustainable solutions, including creating a happy, ongoing relationship with our customers. We can't achieve that with anything less than the most ethical and efficient approach to each customer."

They sponsor monthly "lunch and learn" seminars, for current and potential customers, that focus on software and assessment technologies. They are happy to produce sample prints for potential customers, and even place equipment on a trial basis for evaluation before acquisition. They offer many options both for purchase and for leasing of equipment. A five-year lease is typical, with a chance to re-evaluate and upgrade to newer technology after about three years.

Although copying and printing equipment has become much more reliable in the last couple of decades, CTX knows how important a great technical support team can be. They have 18 field technicians and nine phone-support staff in their customer care center. They have a full-time Technical Training manager, who has been with the company for 28 years.

Cunningham says, "We belong to a national program that rates our performance and the performance of our deployed equipment against all other companies in our field. Our technicians are compensated with bonuses when service levels are met and exceed the competition's service levels. This is a huge factor in excellent experience for our customers. We strive to resolve customer problems in one visit, and fix problems so they don't come back."

The company has about an 11% share of the local copier market. Some of their larger customers include Alaska Airlines, Genie, and TMobile. In addition to the Cedar Mill News, they also let selected churches, schools and other local non-profits print materials using the equipment in their demo room at the Tigard headquarters.

CTX maintains an excellent website—.copytronix-nw.com—with plenty of before-sales information along with easy-to-use service and supply ordering capabilities. Their headquarters is in Tigard, with branches in Corvallis and Eugene. For more information, contact Chris Cunningham at 503-968-0307, or chris.cunningham@ctx-xerox.com.

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