Study reveals using remanufactured toner brands can double your cost | News | Techie.com.ph
5:27 PM | Friday | 30 July 2010

HP Asia-Pacific released today the results of a study conducted by Quality Logic Inc. on the use of original HP toner cartridges against remanufactured toner cartridges for small and medium businesses.

The study revealed that almost one out of three pages printed by remanufactured brands was not acceptable for all uses. HP LaserJet Toner cartridges, on the other hand, exhibited no failures in the study, compared to an average of 25% for all remanufactured brands in the study.

HP Asia-Pacific and Japan product manager Kee Jen Wong said that "the toner cartridge is 70% of the printing system" and that the overall cost of printing entails much more than the cost of the cartridge and the cost per page.

Wong added that the cost of printing includes the visible (acquisition + cost per page) and hidden costs (reliability, quality, performance, and productivity), which makers of remanufactured cartridges fail to mention to customers.

Wong added that the most common defects incurred from using remanufactured cartridges are:

• scratches on the organic photo conductor
• damages in the primary charge roller
• wear on the developer roller
• wearing out of seals

The damages, when added together, translate to a higher total cost of operation to the customer relative to the initial savings when the remanufactured inks were acquired, according to Wong.

The study was conducted in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region wherein toner cartridges were used in professionally refurbished HP LaserJet 2300 and brand-new LaserJet 4350 printers.