RICOH Continues to Innovate Philippine Print Industry

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Global imaging and technology leader RICOH opens the doors to new applications and revenue streams for local printing businesses with the launch of a new series of digital production devices, unveiled for the first time in the country at the recent Print Philippines 2016 industry expo in Pasay City.

The RICOH Pro C7100X series is the only machine in the market that boasts of a revolutionary fifth-color station for either clear gloss or white toner, which enables users to print additional colors than the traditional CMYK. This function allows more added-value applications such as spot gloss, flood, and watermark images along with regular printing, on both colored and clear media. Very soon, Ricoh will also be launching their fluorescent line of toners such as neon green and neon pink.

The RICOH Pro C7100X is ideal for high-end work on a wide range of print jobs, such as annual reports, catalogs, postcards, direct mail, business and invitation cards, posters, packaging, and a whole lot more. With digital technology, cutting-edge design and varnish effects that have previously been possible only with traditional offset printing is now made accessible for lower volume, on-demand print jobs.

“There are a lot of small and mid-sized printing businesses here in the Philippines, and all of them are always looking to expand their application portfolio to enter new markets and expand their business,” says Irene G. Santos, general manager and sales & marketing division head of RICOH Philippines. “This is definitely what we had in mind when we created the RICOH Pro C7100X series, especially when we added the fifth-station solution to the devices.”

“What’s happening with the market right now is that a lot of printing is moving from high volume analog to lower volume, short run digital printing,” affirms Eric Sulit, RICOH Philippines president and CEO. “That’s where a lot of features come in—variable data printing, capability to do very short runs and still have the quality of an offset machine. So jobs that previously a large printer would have turned down can now be accepted because of our machine.”

RICOH’s innovations extend to the printing solutions as well. “We have our own workflow solutions that can integrate also with the workflow of a traditional production printer,” reveals Sulit. Printing jobs can now be assigned seamlessly between a large offset printer and the digital production printing machine.

Products and innovations like these are what have propelled RICOH to greater heights in the Philippine market. The company has been in the country for almost 20 years, which is relatively young compared to its nearest competitor. However, “Ricoh outside the Philippines is big,” notes Santos. “In fact, Ricoh in other countries is quite mature already.”

Seizing the opportunity to grow in a market such as the Philippines, Santos reports that “we’ve grown so fast in the past five years. We’ve been able to achieve two-digit growth in terms of revenue and market share.”

All of this has been made possible with a strong focus on showcasing its variety of products and solutions. “We are traditionally known and well-respected for our copiers,” explains Sulit. “But we also have our digital production printing and visual communication devices.”

RICOH Philippines has brought in its innovative and high-technology interactive whiteboard device, as well as its unified communication system that provides real-time interactive audio and video communication with multiple locations utilizing the Internet.

It has also strongly pushed its digital production printing devices, which offer ideal solutions for any and all printing needs of its target market of businesses, offices, schools, companies and other organizations.

The Pro C7100 also comes in a CMYK-only model. The Pro C5100 series is RICOH’s entry-level digital full-color production printer, while the Pro 8100 series is for monochrome printing. RICOH machines are the only ones in the industry that can handle the thinnest substrate of 52 GSM.

RICOH Philippines is also set to launch very soon its high-end Pro C9100 high-volume digital press, which can handle substrates of up to 400 GSM.

Filipino customers can look forward to more innovations from RICOH in the coming years, continuing with its thrust of integration. “We integrate our equipment to make them more productive and more efficient for client to use. Most importantly, they achieve their goals at an earlier time,” says Santos.

Sulit affirms, “With technology, what we want to provide is change for the better—making it easier and more productive for more people to work.” This, in essence, is what RICOH’s tagline “Imagine. Change.” is all about.

For more information, visit www.ricoh.com.ph and www.facebook.com/RICOHPHILS

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