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PRESS RELEASE: Panasonic Color MFPs Rated #1 for Reliability; Office Equipment Service Managers Who Responded to the Office Products Analyst Annual Multifunctional Reliability Study Gave Panasonic Color MFPs Their Highest Rating for Reliability
SECAUCUS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 11, 2006--
There is no better barometer of product reliability than the repair experts who service office equipment day-in and day-out. The Office Products Analyst (OPA) gathered data for its 2005 study from a group of these experts consisting of 148 service managers and encompassing 43,766 color and monochrome A3 multifunction products (MFP). The service managers, who were asked to rate color and monochrome devices based on specific criteria, responded by rating Panasonic color MFPs at the head of the class in the all-important reliability category.
According to Andy Slawetsky, vice president for Industry Analysts, Inc., which publishes the Office Products Analyst, Panasonic's top reliability rating for its color MFPs comes as no surprise. "Panasonic obviously invested considerable resources in the development of their current color devices," Slawetsky says. "Not only are they full of unique features, but they also run very reliably."
In taking top honors for reliability, Panasonic color MFPs beat out the other manufacturers included in the study--Canon, Ricoh, Sharp, Konica Minolta, Toshiba and Kyocera Mita. Steve Mullin, president of Panasonic Digital Document Company, attributes Panasonic's recent ascendance in the color MFP segment in large part to the restructuring that took place at Panasonic at the factory level.
"When we merged three factories into one, our engineers were able take full advantage of the various technologies that were previously 'owned' by individual factories under autonomous management," Mullin says. "The fruits of this merger are very much evident in the C3 color MFP series, which was developed under the new alignment. The series features our most technologically advanced, best-selling color MFPs to date."
OPA defines an MFP as any "platen-based device that can be connected to a personal computer or local area network and which supports at least two of the four traditional office functions (copying, scanning, faxing and printing)."
Panasonic offers a broad line of award-winning MFPs and copiers with features and functionalities that meet the varied needs of workgroups and corporate departments at speeds ranging from 22 ppm to 81 ppm.
ABOUT PANASONIC
In the United States, Panasonic Digital Document Company, a unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America, markets a broad line of digital imaging systems, computer peripherals and office system products designed specifically for business use. Products available include fax and Internet fax machines, digital copiers, network multifunction devices, document management systems, scanners, electronic whiteboards, color and monochrome laser printers and impact printers. Headquartered in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America is the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE:MC) of Osaka, Japan. For more information, visit http://www.panasonic.com/office.
ABOUT OPA
The Office Products Analyst is the longest running, continuously published publication that focuses exclusively on the office automation industry. Published by Industry Analysts, Inc. in Rochester, NY, the OPA conducts thousands of end-user and office equipment dealer surveys each year. For more information visit http://www.industryanalysts.com.
CONTACT: Panasonic by Barton Gilanelli & Associates Chris Florentz, 215-592-8601 [e-mail] SOURCE: Panasonic Copyright Business Wire 2006
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-11-06 1616ET