What’s complex about chips? Just about everything: the sheer number of chipped printers and cartridges on the market, the rate of new chipped printer models being introduced, the constant threat of firmware updates or security system escalation, and the issues of stocking so many different chips, from inventory to production to testing.
Chips have greatly increased the complexity of aftermarket cartridge remanufacturing. Five years ago, only a handful of chipped printer applications existed. Chips are now the most dynamic group of components, subject to the most frequent change. Change can be driven by the need to redesign or reprogram in response to new printer firmware versions. It can be driven by the need to add new printer applications. It can be driven by manufacturing design changes to reduce costs.
If you currently stock 40 chip SKUs, you can expect that number to increase to 120 by 2010. However, this assumes that the design of the aftermarket chips you utilize stays constant. There are strategies that can simplify chip complexity, such as universal chip technology, which greatly reduces the number of required chip types.
Universal chip design can reduce the 100-plus HP and Canon chips to less than 30 by combining groups of printer applications on a single, expanded-capacity custom chip design. The benefits include inventory reduction, supplies management overhead reduction, lower inventory carrying costs, and a simplified component set in the production environment. Expanding the scope to the 20-plus OEMs offering chipped printer models can result in reducing the number of supply components you have to buy, stock and manage by 50, 100 or more items. This translates to significant simplification and significant savings to your business. See Figure 1.
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