01732 759725 44 INTERVIEW In an exclusive interview with PrintIT Reseller, Richard Wells, Head of Office Print Sales at Epson UK talks about the company’s commitment to sustainability and the advantages of Epson heat-free inkjet technology. Here’s an excerpt of the discussion Sustainability at its core printers. Epson considers the packaging that's used, at the energy consumed in our own business, especially in our manufacturing facilities, and of course, the one that we talk about quite a lot is how much energy is used to be able to create prints. We have tried to make it easier for people to understand and measure the environmental impact of print, so we use our optimisation report that quite clearly shows how much energy can be saved by using an Epson product rather than an alternative technology. We'd like to think that we're in a good place, that our message is understood, and that people do see us as a sustainable solution. We're not the only one, everybody is acting on sustainability improvements and that's a good thing, but we'd like to think we perhaps just have our noses ahead of most of the field! PITR: The launch of the AM-C series in 2023, plugged an important gap in your portfolio. At the time you said it opened up a massive new addressable market for Epson. How successful has the new range been and is it helping partners to win more business? RW: It was a very proud moment for me and for Epson when we were able to bring this product to market. We knew that the MPS industry especially in the UK and Western Europe was dependent on the requirement for an A3 medium to high-volume machine. The AM-C series plugged that gap in our portfolio and did open up a much bigger addressable market for us and our resellers. Most of our resellers completely understand the value offering and how putting sustainability, reliability and efficiency ahead of many of the other considerations that are typically made when buying an MPS, but they felt like they couldn't really offer a full solution previously with Epson because there was a gap right in the middle where many of their customers actually sit. So, giving them a product that plugs that gap, in a very small footprint, that consumes less energy as is the case with all our heat-free technology, and with the functionality that they needed to be able to meet customer requirements made a big difference. And I have to say it's been exceptional, we set some ambitious targets, but our dealers exceeded those targets and that's continuing. So, it's been really exciting to see how it's made a difference to our business, but more importantly it's made a difference to our partners’ businesses and allowed them to sell the technology they really want to promote to their customers who are very sustainability savvy these days. PITR: Do you have any plans to expand your portfolio further in the coming months? RW: Yes, the work is not done. We don't perceive there's too many major gaps in the offering that we have today, not only within our office products, but also in document management through our scanner range and our EcoTank products which are also available for the office PrintIT Reseller (PITR): Uniquely from day one, Epson has consistently focused on sustainability and in particular the eco-advantages of its heat-free inkjet printing range. Now that sustainability has fast become a buzzword, are you finding it a bit harder to differentiate? Richard Wells (RW): Sustainability has always been at the forefront of what we do but not just in our products, but also in the way we operate as a business. The products are really important, and the technologies that we deploy do allow us to offer more sustainable solutions than some of the other options that are out there. But you're right, sustainability has really become a key topic and for good reason. We're delighted that it has, because the world needs to wake up to the changes that need to be made. There are many different views of what sustainability means, we're finding that a lot of people are talking about things such as the amount of recycled materials used in machines for example and we’re seeing more companies wanting to do better. We've always looked at this across the many products we produce, not just inkjet
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