Panasonic Copiers Rated Most Reliable Overall in New Office Products Analyst Survey

Business Wire, Nov 6, 2001

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

SECAUCUS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 6, 2001

Respondents to Industry Study Also Find Panasonic Provides Highest

Level of Dealer Support Among the Major Copier Suppliers in Survey.

The Office Products Analyst (OPA) has released the results of its annual survey of copier dealers, in which Panasonic copiers outstripped the competition by a significant margin.

Panasonic receives highest overall rating

In citing the results of its 2001 Annual Copier Reliability Study, the OPA says, "Panasonic shows the highest overall analog system rating with 84.2%...and the highest overall digital rating at 87.7%." The survey also rated Panasonic's DP-2500 digital system Best in Class, i.e. 25-44 copies per minute (cpm). The DP-2500 was also the highest-rated copier across all segments, from (less than) 15-70 (greater than) cpm with a rating of 96.0%. The survey was based on in-depth telephone interviews conducted by the OPA with 214 service managers at copier dealerships nationwide, the people most familiar with copier reliability.

Survey underscores outstanding dealer support

Based on 20 support categories, the survey also found Panasonic to provide a higher level of dealer support than all other copier suppliers. Panasonic was rated no.1 in 14 out of the 20 categories: Parts Availability, Parts Delivery Time, Order Processing, Troubleshooter Support, Service Hotline, Internet Support, Engineering Support, General Service Communication, Retrofit Announcements, Parts Reliability, Retrofit, Print Driver Stability, Controller Reliability and Help Desk. According to the OPA, "In this year's study, Panasonic has the most first-place ratings with 14, as well as the highest overall rating, with 8.6 out of a possible 10. We commend Panasonic for their outstanding dedication to the highest level of dealer service." Panasonic's closest competitor received an 8.2 overall rating; the lowest was 7.3. Dealer support is a particularly important feature for consumers, who can have a high degree of confidence in Panasonic resellers. Dealers who receive superior technical support are a consumer's best bet for purchasing digital systems and multifunction products.

Factory merger contributes to product reliability

Paul Wharton, Panasonic Document Imaging Company's national marketing manager for copiers and multifunction products, offers another perspective. "When Panasonic merged its fax and copier factories two years ago, the result was a synergy of each production facility's core competencies," he said. "This synergy is responsible for the superior design, engineering and manufacturing technologies that are currently in place, and which have significantly contributed to the high (best in class) rating for the DP-2500." Wharton added that DP-150 also did extremely well overall. The DP-2500 has also been rated Outstanding by the Business Equipment Research and Test Lab (BERTL), while the DP-2000 received BERTL 's Highly Recommended rating. Another independent testing facility, Buyers Lab Inc., rated the WORKiO DP-150FX Outstanding Segment 1 Multifunctional Imaging System in its 2001 Pick of the Year awards. According to Wharton, the message to consumers is clear. Buy copiers from the company that is consistently reliable and highly rated by independent test labs: Panasonic.

About The Office Products Analyst

The Office Products Analyst is published monthly by Industry Analysts, Inc., a marketing and management consulting firm specializing in research and training program development for the office automation industry. The firm's Technical Services Division in Fairfield, NJ conducts independent testing of office automation products and technical consulting.

About Panasonic

In the United States, Panasonic Document Imaging Company, a Business Unit of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, markets a broad line of office system products. Products available include Internet fax machines, digital and analog copiers, and multifunction devices. Headquartered in Secaucus, NJ, Matsushita Electric Corporation of America is the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE:MC) of Osaka, Japan. For information, visit www.panasonic.com.

All brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

End users may obtain sales information by contacting PDIC at 800/742-8086 or 201/348-7000, or by visiting http://www.panasonic.com/office. Please do not publish the editorial contact telephone number. If you wish to review a Panasonic document imaging product, please contact Chris Florentz or Charlie Sassaman at 215/592-8061, or at chris@bartgil.com and charlie@bartgil.com, respectively.

Product images are available on Panasonic's Extranet site at b2b.Panasonic.com/pdic. Username: images, Password: images. Select Marketing Materials, "Select a Product Category" and click on Image Gallery.