Friday, 31 October 2008

Ricoh to Expand Asian Operations with US$20 M Investment

Ricoh Asia Pacific (AP) has unveiled a three year long plan set to expand its operations in the region’s production printing market creating a new sales organisation, developing two Printing Innovation Centers and investing some USD 20 Million along the way...

Ricoh Asia Pacific (AP) has unveiled a three year long plan set to expand its operations in the region’s production printing market, creating a new sales organisation, developing two Printing Innovation Centers and investing some USD 20 Million along the way.

The first of its kind in AP, the Printing Innovation Centres will be located in Singapore and Sydney and demonstrate Richo’s latest production printing technologies both integrated hardware and software solutions.

The 6000 sq ft Singapore facility will act as a demo arena, providing simulation and replication of real world industry applications, a platform for customers to learn and benchmark best practices and new technology. Similarly the Australian Printing Innovation Centre, a 7900 sq ft facility with state-of-the-art infrastructure will support the growing market and customer base in the Pacific region.

According to Nobuaki Majima, Managing Director, Ricoh Asia Pacific, “setting up of the Printing Innovation Centres is a statement of intent from Ricoh to secure the leadership position in the high volume printing segment. We will continue to invest and strengthen our presence and ability to support our customers in the region through key initiatives such as this in Singapore, Sydney and the rest of Asia.”

Both facilities will be targeted to open in the first quarter of 2009 and will support customers and subsidiary offices in Asia excluding Japan.

As part of the company’s investment strategy, Ricoh said it will also be increasing its headcount to support its expansion into the Production Printing market.

“We have created a new sales division for the Production Printing market and we target to expand this base to 100 by 2010, which includes sales, support and technical talent. Through this significant investment we will help customers realize the creation in value that would result from workflow re-engineering and our increased customer support and care,” said Majima.