Cartridge World Reborn: New Initiatives Wow Store Owners

The global leadership of Cartridge World has met with almost 90 store owners, in Sydney. CEO Steve Weedon who took over the leadership just 12 months ago, said he was not about making promises, but simply reporting what has been set up over the last 12 months.

Many store owners of the printer cartridge franchise have been disillusioned in the past, leading to some leaving the brand. However, Weedon’s approach to report on results, rather than make promises, created a new optimism at the conference.

The Australian and New Zealand store managers, staggered at the extent of the Weedon’s announcements, applauded the leaders. “Unbelievable,” “credible,” “trust,” “energized,” “unification,” were some of the words used to describe the new initiatives.

Weedon reported on an alliance that has been struck with Samsung to provide printing and scanning services to millions of mobile workers globally.

He also said Cartridge World’s new Global Procurement Centre (CWGPC) in Zhuhai, China, was up and running with scores of new finished goods ready for distribution to the stores. In fact the first container of products had arrived in Australia just before the annual conference. Weedon (centre), his new COO Peter Lim (left) and technical manager Gerral Lim (right) explained a two level range of ‘premium’ and ‘classic’ cartridge products now available for sale in the stores. All products are guaranteed to be print defect free and meet the stated yield. “This overcomes the issue of quality that plagues the Aftermarket,” Weedon pointed out. “It’s all about control—controlling the consistency and determining the quality on the production line.” Weedon explained that no-one else in the Aftermarket industry is doing the due diligence to check print consumables in the same way. He reiterated the minimum quality standard for every cartridge is that it be print defect free for the life cycle of the cartridge, and meets the stated yield. “We are providing the opportunity for each store in our network to make more money,” Weedon said. However, he added, the stores must stop selling the high quality products at ridiculously low prices, just to compete with low cost, poor quality products available on the internet.

Gerral Lim said the culture of the CWGPC is to get it right the first time, making sure all the components match and are consistent in quality.

Weedon also said that intellectual property is a major issue. “We have to make sure the products we provide each store are legal and do not infringe the patents and claims of the respective OEMs.”

A collection program was also announced where the stores could attract rebates on a collection program. The cartridges would be shipped to China for sorting and remanufacturing, with waste components and toners being recycled. It is hoped this program will be in place by the end of 2016.

In summing up the optimism of the event, Peter Lim said, “Cartridge World is evidently not a company, but a community.” ANZ CEO, Tony Kernahan said, “Cartridge World is moving from a ‘back of the shop’, to a ‘front of shop’ operation and is ready to embrace business.”

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