Armor: Inkjet doubles, but prices to rise

May 7, 2020

The unprecedented public health situation linked to the COVID-19 virus is still ongoing and as announced in mid-March, Armor Office Printing reorganised its teams to ensure that service continued unhindered. At the same time the safety measures and health-related restrictions were respected.

In a second announcement, Director of Armor Office Printing, Gerwald van der Gijp set out the initiatives the company has implemented and its collective success.

Commenting: “Our entire team is and will remain mobilised. We have kept all our business departments open, including sales, supply chain, collection, customer service, sales administration, accounts and marketing. Our services have been tailored specifically to meet your needs and, by extension, to sustain our business. We are here to assist you and support you during these extraordinary times. Working with our suppliers and trusted service providers, we are rising to this challenge and rolling out some highly original solutions.”

Armor said that the product stock-outs the company is having are linked to high demand for certain inkjet products (orders have grown by 200% compared to April 2019), resulting in lower stock levels and longer supply timeframes.

As part of this review van der Gijp said: “Because of the measures we have implemented, the scarcity of empty ink cartridges and the increased costs of both transportation and some components, we have had to review the prices of some of our products and technology.

In the current situation, its empty cartridge collection service has become even more strategically important, as it will help Armor to ensure remanufactured products remain available in the coming months.

Looking at the next few weeks and months, Armor has also been coming up with innovative logistical solutions like one-off orders tailored to its customers’ needs being delivered using multi-channel logistical solutions.

Armor said it has prioritised drop shipping so that goods are delivered directly to its customers’ customers, making service easier, cutting out middlemen and optimising timeframes.

Van der Gijp said: “All our market’s operators, including OEMs, have experienced real supply difficulties due to the situation of factories in Asia. Regular supply lines have been maintained in all our procurement, supplies and empty cartridge collection departments, as well as in our factories in Europe and Morocco, in our French distribution centre and within our French transport service. We are managing to deliver to all our subsidiary partners across Europe, albeit with slightly extended timeframes given the situation.

“We are stepping up to the plate and honouring all our back orders. We are able to deliver our printer consumables to our most loyal partners.”