Quality Imaging Products Successfully Completes Its Opertions Expansion Project

September 1 , 2002 - Lake Forest, CA - (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Quality Imaging Products, www.qip.net, a worldwide leader in toner and inkjet cartridge manufacturing, is pleased to announce the completion of its operations expansion project.  Martin Stein, QIP’s CEO, commented, “After several quarters of planning and preparation and a few weeks of construction, we are beginning to see the results of our capital investment in our operations expansion project.  In order to meet the rapidly increasing demand for high quality products from our customers, it was necessary for us to make a major capital investment in our operations.  Our investment has allowed us to increase our capacity from 40,000 cartridges per month to 80,000 cartridges per month, increase our control over the production process, and increase our quality levels.  We have already begun to reap the benefits of the newly designed facility with our first full month of operation being our highest volume month in QIP’s history.”

QIP’s facility expansion involved the assistance of several manufacturing and industry experts including Mr. Hajime Ohba, President, TSSC, Inc. and former Vice President, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, North America; Mr. Andy Harlan, from the Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery; and Linc Holland, currently a QIP Board Member, the CEO of the Xydex Corporation, and former VP of External Manufacturing and Logistics at Cisco.  Stein added, “We were fortunate to be able to draw upon the decades of experience of manufacturing executives from both inside and outside our industry.  With the assistance of Mssrs. Ohba, Harlan, and Holland, we believe we now have one of the most highly developed toner cartridge remanufacturing facilities in North America.”

Quality Imaging Products operations expansion project was based on many of the principles of the Toyota Production System, most important of which was the transition from a batch, assembly line process to a single-piece flow, cell process.  This transition helped QIP reconfigure the production floor, thereby enabling the company to double the production throughput.  Additionally, QIP’s investment has increased the company’s toner collection capacity by almost 200%, increased its air flow by 900% to almost 30,000 cubic feet per minute, increased its testing capacity by 60%, and increased its filling capacity by 160%.  Within the first full month of operation, QIP’s production throughput increased by approximately 50%. 

Steve Yager, QIP’s Operations Manager, who led the operations expansion effort, commented, “QIP’s new facility design has substantially increased our production capabilities.  QIP has never been in a better position to produce high quality products for the industry’s most demanding customers.”

Mark Vie, QIP’s VP, Sales and Marketing, commented, “QIP’s new operations layout allows us to better meet the needs of our customers and will improve our service to our customers substantially.  We anticipate increasing our fill rates, reducing our lead times, and improving our quality.  Our rapid sales growth within weeks of completing the project is a testament to its success.”

United California Bank and Bank of the West provided the financing for QIP’s operation expansion project. 

Quality Imaging Products is a worldwide leader in imaging solutions. Customers look to QIP to provide them with high quality, environmentally friendly, low-cost solutions to their imaging needs. QIP's largest market is North America where it sells primarily through wholesalers, office products dealers, OEMs, computer products dealers, and printer service technicians.

QIP manufactures over 480,000 cartridges per year and employs 160 associates at its 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility in Lake Forest, California. QIP currently offers over 100 different product lines.  For more information on Quality Imaging Products, visit www.qip.net or call (800) 423-8600.