I Retone for You, Dear

Coastal entrepreneur brings technology update

I feel fairly safe in writing that al-most every business has equipment requiring a toner cartridge. Some may have many.

Toner cartridges supply the printing material used in photocopiers, laser printers and non-thermal or plain-paper fax machines. These cartridges need to be replaced, refurbished or refilled on a regular basis so that your machine may continue doing its job for you. Now those cartridges can also be remanufactured.

Armed with an enthusiasm level comparable to Jack LaLane, Roy Biffle has recently brought remanufacturing technology to the north coast.

Roy is originally from Detroit, Michigan. He is the youngest of six children, the rest of whom still live in the midwest. Roy came west alone, however, and attended college at California State University at Northridge before serving four years in the U.S. Air Force. In the service, he was employed as a reprographic specialist, and his duties included stripping & masking, all photography dark room functions, halftone and line shot photography, plate making and graphic taping. He took photos for the base newspaper during his free time, a hobby he had pursued during both high school and college.

After the service he took a year off to travel Europe before returning to the west coast to join PSI Manufacturing, a printed circuit board manufacturer formerly operating out of St. Helens, Oregon. At PSI, Roy was employed as a photographic technician and cameraman. His responsibilities included production of all filmwork for the printed circuit boards, graphic arts lay-ups for step and repeat, dark room work, camera enlargements, reproduction, kodagraphs, inspection of all incoming and outgoing artwork and the operation of a Gerber photoplotter. He stayed with that company for five years.

His next job was with Northwest E-CAD Center, Ltd, in Beaverton, Oregon. There he worked another two years in the reprographics field before moving to a firm called Photocraft, Inc, in Portland. Here he was employed as a reprographic graphic arts cameraman, but also moved out of the darkroom into the studio. He provided studio photography, murals, and photographs of artist's work, for three years. As the reprographic and photographic fields moved more into the realm of computerization, Roy moved outside, instead. He joined Mid-Valley Delivery Service as a delivery driver. Mid-Valley, based in Salem, Oregon, also served the north Oregon coast. The people at Mid-Valley encouraged Roy to take on the coast as his own territory, something he did not do until the birth of his daughter, Mcullah. One-year-old Mcullah, named after one of Roy's earlier bosses and mentor, is the other "B" in Roy Biffle's new firm, B&B Imaging Specialists.

Roy started B&B Imaging Specialists January 1, 1999, out of Hammond, Oregon. He provides remanufactured toner cartridges for laser printers, copiers and fax machines. Brand names served include Xerox, Apple, Canon, Compaq, Epson, Sharp, IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Minolta, among others.

The remanufacturing process is different from refilling the empty toner cartridges in that the containers are completely disassembled and cleaned prior to reassembly and refilling of the toner. Any worn or malfunctioning parts are replaced at that time, and Roy states that the remanufactured cartridges are 100% guaranteed to deliver as many copies as a new cartridge. His standard turnaround time to get the cartridge you need is two days, but this can be accomplished overnight, if necessary. He suggests you have an extra toner cartridge on hand, just in case yours goes down during a big project or deadline.

His cartridge prices start at $49.95 for brands like Apple and Hewlett Packard, and go up to over $100 for Hewlett Packard or IBM. LCB

B&B Imaging Specialists

Principal: Roy E. Biffle, owner

Address: P. O. Box 285

Hammond, Oregon 97121

Telephone: 503/861-7458

Cellular: 503/849-4833

Hours: 8a - 5p, M - F

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