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Ricoh India forecasts ambitious growth

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Announcement Corporate
  • Strives to capture a sizable pie in the fast-emerging Graphic Communications market
  • Manifold expansion through comprehensive office solutions, New Products and enhanced customer satisfaction

Having carved a distinctive niche for itself in the fast-emerging Digital Color Production Printing, Ricoh India Ltd., a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., Japan, a US$ 21.7 billion global giant and the leader in the field of Imaging Solutions today shared their plans to target the fast-emerging Graphic Arts Segment in India.  To this end, the company unveiled its new offering - RICOH C901/C901S Graphic Arts Edition, an advanced digital color printing press designed specifically for professional production printing segment. This was disclosed at a press conference today.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. N. Maitra, Managing Director, Ricoh India Ltd. remarked, “Globally, Ricoh strives to offer products, solutions and services that are innovative, have strong customer focus and are true value for money. Our product range in Digital Production Printing Solutions has delighted consumers immensely because of quality, efficiency, short turnaround time and prompt after-sales service. Since Sept’10, when Ricoh entered the Mid Volume Production Printing market, we have garnered over 33% market share in this segment in India.”

“With a paradigm change in the business environment, consumers are now seeking to further maximize productivity, both qualitatively and quantitatively. In India, the Graphic Arts Segment is coming of age and offers a plethora of opportunities. The demand is for enhanced print quality and reliability enabling high-quality imaging on a wide spectrum of media at maximum speed. Today’s launch, which coincides with the global launch , would bring the new range of the RICOH C901/C901s Graphic Arts Edition with its  enhanced print quality, reliability, and media handling capabilities to the mid-production graphic communication market in India. It is equipped with new technologies which enable high-quality imaging on a wide scale of media at maximum output. Rated at a speed of 90 minutes, this offer near-offset quality from Ricoh’s PXP chemical toner and oil-less fusing technology as well as consistent image quality with advanced image stabilization, single direction development, mechanical paper registration, enhanced fusing technologies and automatic calibration. We intend taking a sizable chunk of this market in the first year of operations. For Southern India alone, we have already laid out an ambitious plan for this segment.”

Detailing on the various initiatives in India, Mr. Sujit Sanyal , Senior Vice President (Business Operations) said “Ricoh’s first-of-its-kind Pro-Partnership Programme” offers value proposition for customers have been yielding very good results. Our “Live Experience Centre (LEX)” will be starting in Delhi and Bangaluru in February and March,2011. This will help potential customers to try out the various products – both hardware and software offerings. Additionally, a Media Testing Lab has been added to provide value-added service for customers. We have made an investment of over Rs 20 crores on these initiatives to grow the Production Printing business”

Outlining the larger game plan for India, Mr. Maitra said, “India offers huge potential for our product mix. Our ultimate aim is to provide all the Services that our customers require in the area of Document and Information technology and make Ricoh a One-Stop-Solution Company for all our customers. Hence we are making rapid strides in the field of Office Consulting and IT Services for which separate Business divisions have been set up. We are cognizant of the business environment and are in talks with several companies for partnerships and value-added services, including acquisitions. We have a robust business plan in place for the next 3  years and expect to achieve in excess of Rs 1000 crores by 2013. We are stepping up our manpower team from an existing 660 to 1000 by September 2011 including trained front-end sales and engineers. Additionally, we would be expanding to over 400 channels partners by this year end. In South India specifically, from our existing offices at 5 locations, we intend servicing customers to over 100 locations, in all corners of South India. The Live experience Center in Bengaluru, which would be operational by March, would serve these customers.

Long recognized as the leader of office equipment with the top market share in Japan, Europe and Asia Pacific region, Ricoh has taken bold moves to strengthen their position in the Production Printing segment. Since 2004, it has made strategic acquisitions of industry giants including Hitachi Printing Solutions and IBM’s Printing System Division. Today the company is widely recognized as the emerging leader in the Production printing industry, leveraging its strong research and development as well as strategic investments to stay in the forefront of the business.

About Ricoh India Ltd. Ricoh India Ltd. is a 73.6% owned subsidiary of Ricoh Company, Ltd, Japan. The company is a leading player in the area of Imaging Solutions.  All Ricoh products come with a hallmark of quality, technological excellence and after-sales service. Ricoh operates through a wide network of 15 branches and over 260 dealers and have well-trained sales and after sales service force. Ricoh is planning to be a major player in the areas of Managed Document Solutions, IT Services, Transaction Printing, Production Printing and Laser Printers

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First Published: Feb 02 2011 | 7:10 PM IST

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