`70s device wins Kyocera Mita´s Marathon Machine Competition
03 March 2008
Kyocera Mita today announced that the winner of its Marathon Machine Competition is the company Eicher Bureau Service (EBS) from Luxembourg. The company is still using its Mita Copystar DC-15, an analogue A3 copier with 15 copies per minute, manufactured in 1979 by Mita Corp - the company that was merged later with the printer division of Kyocera.
The competition, which was launched across Europe, Middle East and Africa in October 2007, sought to find the oldest working Kyocera Mita device in the region. The competition saw entries from customers in countries including Bahrain, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, UK and Ukraine.
Kyocera Mita printers and multifunctional products are renowned for being robust and reliable and the competition was designed to find out how long its long-life products really last. Apart from the winning device, there were four more entries that won prizes*, all manufactured in the early `80s. Mita 600Ds, manufactured in 1980, took second and third place for South African company Tswane Digital Solutions and Swiss company Frankhausen Büromaschinen respectively. Global Union Lft of Hungary was fourth with a Mita DC-131, also manufactured in 1980, followed by fifth place Terje Olsen Kontormaskiner with a Mita DC-121, manufactured in 1982.
Other machines dominating the number of entries were the milestone F-1010, the first Kyocera laser printer, and the FS-1500, the first Kyocera ECOSYS printer. The F-1010, manufactured in 1986, is a monochrome A4 printer with a print speed of 10 pages per minute (ppm). The FS-1500, manufactured in 1991, introduced Kyocera Mita’s revolutionary ECOSYS concept, centred on its long-life and robust amorphous silicon drum that lasts for 300,000 print outs. Marketed with the German tagline "wirtschaftswunder", meaning "economy miracle", the FS-1500 was the first of Kyocera Mita´s family of devices requiring no consumable other than toner, no replacement of the developer or fuser, and sleep modes to save energy. In 2007, ECOSYS had its 15th anniversary.
* EBS wins a brand new KM-C2525E colour MFP and a Japanese-themed party for 50 guests, featuring traditional food, drinks and entertainment. The second, third, fourth and fifth placed winners will receive a new ECOSYS A4 colour printer.
Kyocera Mita printers and multifunctional products are renowned for being robust and reliable and the competition was designed to find out how long its long-life products really last. Apart from the winning device, there were four more entries that won prizes*, all manufactured in the early `80s. Mita 600Ds, manufactured in 1980, took second and third place for South African company Tswane Digital Solutions and Swiss company Frankhausen Büromaschinen respectively. Global Union Lft of Hungary was fourth with a Mita DC-131, also manufactured in 1980, followed by fifth place Terje Olsen Kontormaskiner with a Mita DC-121, manufactured in 1982.
Other machines dominating the number of entries were the milestone F-1010, the first Kyocera laser printer, and the FS-1500, the first Kyocera ECOSYS printer. The F-1010, manufactured in 1986, is a monochrome A4 printer with a print speed of 10 pages per minute (ppm). The FS-1500, manufactured in 1991, introduced Kyocera Mita’s revolutionary ECOSYS concept, centred on its long-life and robust amorphous silicon drum that lasts for 300,000 print outs. Marketed with the German tagline "wirtschaftswunder", meaning "economy miracle", the FS-1500 was the first of Kyocera Mita´s family of devices requiring no consumable other than toner, no replacement of the developer or fuser, and sleep modes to save energy. In 2007, ECOSYS had its 15th anniversary.
* EBS wins a brand new KM-C2525E colour MFP and a Japanese-themed party for 50 guests, featuring traditional food, drinks and entertainment. The second, third, fourth and fifth placed winners will receive a new ECOSYS A4 colour printer.