Xerox, as many know, is a massive organization with billions of dollars in sales. Over here at WhatTheyThink.com, we try to know their businesses and communicate their events and strategies to our members. A visit to their web site illustrates how their divisions are divided up. To serve their diverse customer base, they have a Document Systems and Solutions Group, Production Systems Group, Office Systems Group, etc.

In preparing for our On Demand coverage earlier this year, we learned more about a business unit within Xerox named - The Supplies Business Group. We quickly realized the importance of this unit to serving Xerox’s entire organization. Our focus with Xerox has been concentrated more on the iGen3, digital color and black and white aspects of the company. But as you examine this interview with Steve Simpson, you will see that nothing really happens with any machine without the right consumables and compatible supplies. This business unit attempts to remove potential consumable defects from the production equation.

Stephen Simpson is Vice President, Document Supplies Business Unit in the Xerox Supplies Business Group. Mr. Simpson was appointed to this position in June 2001. He is responsible for marketing, strategy and product development for Xerox’s document supplies business, which includes a wide array of paper products and specialty media sold through direct and indirect channels.

Steve joined Xerox in April 1996 and has held a variety of management positions. Most recently, Mr. Simpson managed Xerox's Media Technology Centers located in Rochester, New York and London, UK. His responsibilities included planning and development of new document supplies products, delivering substrate technical support to Xerox hardware development teams and quality management for the document supplies product line.



WTT: Xerox offers a wide range of supplies, including toner, cleaning supplies, cartridges and even staples. Give us a brief rundown of the copier supplies offered by Xerox and describe your paper products.

Steve Simpson: Xerox has all the replaceable supplies that an office or production facility requires for digital printing as well as traditional copying and facsimile machines. From toners and print cartridges that are engineered especially for our printers, copiers and fax machines to papers that are digitally optimized to perform in Xerox equipment – we provide a complete range of products. The toner, drum, copy or developer cartridges, fuser rollers, binder tape and staples are customer replaceable components and manufactured to exacting Xerox quality standards. In addition, we offer cleaning kits to simplify maintenance and prevent service calls.

In terms of paper, Xerox offers a wide range of coated and uncoated papers – from standard multipurpose "copy" paper in whites, pastels and solar flare colors to high gloss sheets suitable for brochures and displays plus many cover and text options in between. Xerox also offers a number of specialty media products, such as t-shirt transfers, labels, transparencies, window decals and carbonless sets that have been quality tested and approved for use in our digital print engines. In addition, Xerox offers an assortment of files, covers and organizers as well as storage and media products for diskette, CD ROMs, cartridge tapes and optical disks.

For highly specialized applications, Xerox also offers custom printing materials that include such items as rugged DuraPaper, lightweight paper, DocuCards - membership cards on backing sheets, customizable business reply envelopes and digital book covers that make short run books – even single prints – feasible. With custom products, Xerox Supplies works closely with the customer to develop the material for the unique application, often giving the customer a competitive edge.


WTT: The company offers printer supplies for major printer lines from Hewlett-Packard and Apple. Why is that?

Steve Simpson: Xerox started the toner industry when we launched the first toner-based copier in the 1950s. We have been leading the industry with innovation and quality ever since. Xerox "It’s Compatible" cartridges yield up to 10% more than HP cartridges and we engineer the Xerox compatible cartridges with the same exacting quality standards that we apply to cartridges used in Xerox equipment.

Testing has shown that the quality on other compatible cartridges can vary widely. We know that quality printing is important to customers and we believe that the Xerox compatible cartridge equation is right for the customer: Xerox quality + more prints per cartridge + up to 20 percent cost savings over OEM cartridges.


WTT: Back to the whole line of paper goods for copiers and printers. How do they meet the specs required by the equipment and also satisfy the demands for quality and productivity for end user?

Steve Simpson: It really comes down to the application for which the paper can be used. If it can be printed on, Xerox has it available or will work with a customer to make it available. Our first objective is to optimize the manufacturing of Xerox papers so they perform with exceptional quality in Xerox digital printers. This means that the chemistries and finishing of the papers are geared for the hot, dry fusing characteristics of digital printing systems used in offices and production environments.

When it comes to applications, Xerox offers paper and cover stocks designed for digital color imaging: from standard uncoated sheets used for manuals, direct mail, invoices, reports and correspondence to gloss and supergloss coated sheets, silk coated paper and cover stocks that are ideal for creative marketing applications. We offer unusual papers – like our Digital Color Parchment – so customers can digitally print documents that previously could only be done by offset process. All Xerox papers are designed to make colors "pop" and even monochrome documents look crisper and more professional.

Xerox addresses the various document requirements of offices and production shops with an assortment of multipurpose papers in weights that serve many documents well. Xerox recycled papers contain 30 percent post consumer content and some are elemental chlorine free for environmentally conscious applications and requirements.


WTT: There are lots of places to buy copier and printers, not to mention paper and supplies today. Why is Xerox in this business?

Steve Simpson: Xerox is in the supplies business because customers deserve a complete solution: the copier or printer plus the supplies and papers engineered to give them the best quality and most productivity.

Xerox is the only company that engineers its equipment alongside the consumable supplies and the papers for the digital color and monochrome printers we offer. Digital printers and copiers operate under fundamentally different conditions than do offset printing equipment. If the consumable supplies are not designed closely with the equipment, there is no assurance of quality printed output. Xerox toner and developer formulations are precisely created to image text and graphics properly and to insure the image won’t crack, flake, fade or rub off.

If a paper was created to print well in the moist low-temperature offset environment, it is not likely to print equally well in the hot and dry operating conditions of a digital printer or copier. Xerox papers are designed to suit the requirements and conditions of digital printing equipment because we believe customers care about the quality of what they print.

To do all of this, our Media Technology Center "torture tests" and puts each media product through the paces to ensure the highest quality and optimized performance. Customers buy their supplies from Xerox because they trust the Xerox brand to make them look good.


WTT: Tell us about the Green World Alliance.

Steve Simpson: The Xerox Green World Alliance is a worldwide environmental initiative that encourages customers to help Xerox keep used cartridges, toners and other supplies out of landfill systems and extend the products’ useful lives through remanufacturing. The program makes it easy and free for customers to return their used supplies products to Xerox. Through the Green World Alliance program, more than sixteen million pounds of cartridges were returned to Xerox for remanufacturing in 1999, diverting that amount of waste away from landfills around the world.


WTT: How has Xerox gotten involved in online buying and ordering? Can someone order supplies online directly from Xerox?

Steve Simpson: Customers may order supplies directly from Xerox at our web site. Paper, document organizers and consumable supplies are available at our web site. In addition, Xerox also sells supplies through distribution channel partners, paper merchants and retailers, making genuine Xerox supplies convenient and available wherever a customer may want to purchase. On our web site, each product has a "where to buy" button for specific purchasing information.


WTT: How does Xerox control the quality of the supplies it sells? Does the company manufacturer its supplies or does it purchase and re-label from manufacturers?

Steve Simpson: Xerox ensures that its supplies products always reflect the quality and reputation of the Xerox brand. We first establish supplies quality through extensive engineering, research and development and then maintain our supplies quality through continuous testing and quality inspection for toner or developer cartridges, binder tape reels, staple cartridges, paper and specialty media products. Xerox brand consumable supply products are manufactured at sites worldwide. Our papers are manufactured to Xerox tightly controlled specifications at mills certified to make Xerox brand products.


WTT: What do you wish customers and potential customers knew more about when it comes to their printing and copier supply needs?

Steve Simpson: We want customers and prospective customers to realize that it is important to use the right supplies with their digital printing equipment to get the best results. Genuine Xerox supplies and papers are made to perform in Xerox equipment. Accepting anything less than Xerox quality in your supplies is likely to compromise the final output and will have an impact on your satisfaction. Paper and consumables should never be an afterthought in an office or production environment. Xerox has a wide array of papers suited for every print application.


Thank you Steve. We look forward to hearing more from you and the supplies group in the future.