Canon 2006 Annual Report Download - page 31

29
Innovative Technology
Twin Belt Fixing
In response to increasing demands for higher speed output of
color documents in office environments, Canon continuously
seeks to enhance the speed and consistency of its MFDs for
greater productivity. One such example is Canon’s Twin Belt
Fixing (TBF) technology. In electrophotographic printing, toner is
transferred to paper by heat and fused to the paper by adding
pressure. Canon’s TBF technology uses a fixing belt and a
pressure belt to replace the two rollers conventionally used for
adding heat and pressure. The fixing belt is heated by a highly
efficient induction-heating (IH) coil similar to those used in
cooking devices, and the pressure belt adds pressure from the
backside of the paper. Using belts instead of the rollers found in
conventional machines allows the toner to be fixed over a wide
contact area. This enables faster, more consistent printing even
for color documents that utilize large amounts of toner.
Utilizing materials with low thermal capacity for the fixing
belt also improves heat efficiency by 20% in comparison with
conventional models.
The new TBF technology has been incorporated into
Canon’s new iR C5180 and Color imageRUNNER iR C4580
(iR C4580 in some areas) MFDs, which have been received
favorably by customers for their reduced warm-up time and
consistent image reproduction.
Twin Belt Fixing
TBF employs a fixing belt and a pressure belt for
fast, consistent image reproduction, and an IH
coil for a significant reduction in warm-up time.
Fixing belt
Pressure belt
IH coil
Fiscal 2006 Review
Sales in the Office Imaging
Products business during fiscal
2006 amounted to ¥1,185.9
billion, up 2.8% over the previ-
ous fiscal year. Strong sales in the
fourth quarter of the year miti-
gated the impact of a slight drop
in unit sales, leading to an overall
sales increase for the year.
Sales of color MFDs rose
sharply, owing to the launch of new models including the
mid- to high-speed Color imageRUNNER C5180 series
(iR C5180 series in some areas) and the energy-saving Color
imageRUNNER C3380 series (iR C3380 series in some areas).
Among monochrome network digital MFDs, the unveiling of
the high-speed imageRUNNER iR 7105 (iR 7105 in some
areas) helped to maintain year-on-year sales levels in the
United States. However, sales of monochrome models
decreased in other markets as users revealed preferences for
color models. Low-end models targeting the SOHO market
proved popular and contributed to overall sales growth.
Sales in all regions were up compared to the previous
fiscal year. Sales in the U.S. market rose on a unit basis and in
monetary value, while Canon
posted record unit sales in
Latin America. In Europe,
expanded sales of color
models offset a drop in
sales of monochrome
models resulting from the
impact of geopolitical ten-
sions in the Middle East. In Asia,
although price declines spurred
by increasing competition grew
more severe, Canon recorded
increased unit sales of low-end
models in emerging economies.
In Japan, the introduction of
new color models during the
second half of the year led to
strong fourth-quarter sales and
an increase for the full year.
.
0.....
2.....
4.....
6.....
/......
/0.....
1,200‚000
0
Sales Results:
Office Imaging Products
(Millions of yen)
02 03 04 05 06
0
200000
400000
600000
800000
1000000
1200000
1,023,131
1,081,995
1,120,972
1,153,240
1,185,925
Color imageRUNNER C5180
(iR C5180 in some areas)
Color imageRUNNER C3380
(iR C3380 in some areas)