PRINT.IT
17
BUSINESS INKJETS
Epson has announced that it is
investing
€
50 million in its European
operations over the next two years
to drive further growth in the region.
The investment is being made
in the company’s infrastructure,
including new offices in Berlin,
Munich, Lisbon and Madrid; in its
workforce, with a 10% increase
in European headcount; and in
marketing activities, starting with
a Go Green programme to promote
sales of Epson business inkjet
products (see below).
For its future growth, Epson is
focusing on four key product areas
– printing, visual communications,
quality of life and manufacturing.
Rob Clark, newly appointed
managing director of Epson Europe,
says that its activities in these sectors
will be supported by continued
innovation in new technologies,
including robotics and wearables
like the Epson Moverio Pro BT-2000
smart headset.
He said: “Epson invests 6% of its
annual turnover in R&D. That’s $1.3
million every single day. In Japan we
hold more patents than anyone else
in printers, inkjet technology and
projectors. In fact, Epson currently
holds over 50,000 live patents, and
those patents are the lifeblood of our
future product development.”
However, Clark adds that in the
short to medium-term, Epson is relying
on printers for its planned growth.
“Our biggest and fastest
opportunity lies in office printing,”
he said. “With advantages in speed,
total cost of ownership and significant
ecological benefits, business inkjet is
increasingly seen as the replacement
for laser in the office. It’s clear that
business inkjet technology is set to
gain a greater share of the overall
office printing market, which is
estimated to represent a €38 billion
opportunity in EMEA,” he said.
IDC states that inkjet adoption in
the business market is increasing by
13% per annum and that by 2019,
inkjet printers will account for 34% of
the total business market.
Testing conducted by Buyers
Laboratory LLC (BLI) highlights the
advantages of business inkjets. BLI
found that Epson WorkForce Pro
devices required 100 fewer minutes
of user intervention than competing
laser products; offered three and a
half times faster first page out times;
delivered energy savings of up to 82%;
generated 95%, or 77 kilograms, less
waste when printing up to 80,000
pages; and were 18% quieter.
Clark points out that Epson is
a disruptive force in the consumer
market, too, where its EcoTank
product range launched in
September 2014 has turned the
business printer model on its head.
He said: “Instead of selling a
printer at €59 and then selling ink
cartridges, we have done away with
cartridges completely. We now supply
enough ink within an EcoTank printer
for around two years. And, after two
years, the additional ink costs less
than €10 for another two years. On
average, this provides our customers
with a 70% saving on print costs.
This range has already proved
extremely successful and there are
now over 10 million of these printers
installed globally.”
Marketing support
To help promote business inkjet
devices, Epson has launched the
‘Go Green’ programme of exclusive
end user incentives and marketing
support for channel partners.
Qualifying products include the
Workforce Pro WF-5620DWF and
WF-8510DWF.
For more information on Go
Green, please visit
co.uk/gb/en/viewcon/corporatesite/
cms/index/11883/.
Business inkjets underpin Epson growth plans
as it makes big investment in Europe
Epson innovating
to drive growth
Go green and make your own paper
Rob Clark,
managing director,
Epson Europe
Epson has become the latest printer
company to develop a solution
designed to reduce the environmental
impact of printing.
While companies like Xerox and
Toshiba have focused on reducing paper
consumption through the development
of eraseable toner and re-usable paper,
Epson is going down the route of on-site
recycling and remanufacturing.
It has developed what it describes as
the world’s first office recycling and paper-
making system capable of producing
new paper from securely shredded waste
paper, without the use of water.
The PaperLab was exhibited at Eco-
Products 2015 in Tokyo on December 10-
12, and is planned to go into commercial
production next year, initially for the
Japanese market.
PaperLab performs three essential
functions:
1. On-site recycling.
Instead of having
to transport waste to a central recycling
facility, PaperLab enables paper recycling
to be carried out in the office;
2. Secure shredding.
PaperLab breaks
documents down into paper fibres,
removing the need for the shredding
or off-site disposal of confidential
documents; and
3. Paper-making.
PaperLab is able to
produce paper of various types, sizes and
thickness, from A4 and A3 printer paper
to business cards. Paper can even be
coloured and scented. The system can
produce about 14 A4 sheets per minute,
or 6,720 sheets in an eight-hour day.
PaperLab uses Epson’s Dry Fiber
Technology, which enables paper to be
recycled and remanufactured without
water. Because, the system doesn’t
need plumbed-in water, it can be placed
wherever is most convenient.
Dry Fiber Technology performs three
functions: fiberising, which turns waste
paper into long, thin cotton-like fibres;
binding, the addition of binders to
strengthen, whiten, colour or perfume the
fibre; and forming to produce sheets of
paper and card with full control over the
density, thickness and size of paper.
