01732 759725 34 Continued... INTERVIEW Recently appointed Epson UK MD Duncan Ferguson tells James Goulding about his plans for the company and explains how recent product developments and the company’s diversified technology offering present new opportunities for channel partners multiple technologies that everything stays in specialist silos. My role is to make sure that there’s communication across silos so that we’re maximising the possibility and the opportunity in the market,” explains Ferguson. “Many people have no idea that Epson sells robots, for example, and yet we are the leader in small, high precision industrial robots. At the moment, there isn’t a great deal of overlap with other businesses, but we have found one or two. For instance, sometimes the best form of label applicator on a production line is a robot. I’m trying to encourage people to think laterally rather than getting stuck in their silo. “Another priority is to keep motivation high in a very difficult economic situation, which is potentially having an effect not just on the business but also on people’s personal lives – people who are being affected because their mortgage has gone up £5,000 a year or because energy costs are so high. “After that, my priorities are to make sure that we are working to and getting buy-in to our philosophy, which is all about technology that makes a difference and contributes to society. We’re not perfect as a company, but we do focus on sustainability very strongly, especially in relation to our inkjet and PrecisionCore micro piezo printhead technology, because that is a significant improvement over what’s in the market today.” When it comes to sales, Ferguson admits that the economic situation is causing Epson to be cautious in its forecasts, while pointing out that the diversity of its offering ensures there will always be positive areas of growth to exploit, just as there were during the pandemic. “During COVID, the need for people to work from home or work more remotely or work in smaller environments suited Epson’s technology and products, which work very well in a distributed form. With that shift, we lost a little bit on the office side and on the commercial side, but we gained a lot from investment in Epson technology to enable working from home,” he says. Maintaining momentum Now that the pendulum has swung back towards the office/commercial side, Epson is maintaining momentum with the launch of the Workforce Enterprise AM-C series of 40/50/60 ppm inkjet devices for businesses that want to equip their offices with technology that has a smaller environmental footprint. “We had a hole in our portfolio around 40 to 60ppm, the core of that business printing market, which we filled earlier this year with the AM-C series. This utilises the same PrecisionCore micro piezo printhead technology as our existing offering at 70ppm and 100ppm, which was very well In April, Duncan Ferguson was made Managing Director of Epson UK, on top of his existing role of Vice President, Commercial and Industrial Printing at Epson Europe. Ferguson, who joined Epson from Eastman Kodak in January 2003, is taking on this additional role at a challenging time for UK businesses, with rising prices and high interest rates dampening demand from customers and making life more difficult for employees. Indeed, Ferguson cites the pastoral responsibilities of his new position as a top priority, second only to his desire to encourage more communication between the different divisions within Epson. These include printers and commercial and industrial print, which together account for around 70% of Seiko Epson Corporation revenues; video projection and display (including Moverio smart glasses), which make up 15-20% of turnover; and several smaller divisions, including the company’s foundational watches business and industrial robots, which contribute 10-15% of turnover. “There is a risk in a company with Building bridges and breaking down silos Duncan Ferguson
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