The company says its research shows that the next eight years will see the business environment change dramatically, bearing little resemblance to today’s market, and it is this change that is driving the company to move to a service provider, enabling printers to be instruments of transformation and change.
It is also launching an addition to its automated workflow, InfoPrint Process Director Express, which will automate end to end print management with functions for Adobe PDF. Ricoh says it will reduce operational costs. For the future Ricoh is looking at a 3D printing technology powered by Objet, with applications across a variety of fields not just print. Ricoh is also going to launch an alternative to QR codes, called Clickable Paper, which will enable any smartphone to point at a document and receive various information.
On the production front there was no new cut sheet digital printer announced, but the company is launching a wide format printer, the Pro L4000 seven colour latex ink printer, including white print.
The Ricoh Pro L4000 series features the next-generation of Ricoh’s piezo-electric print heads with durable latex ink in seven colours; CYMK, light cyan, light magenta and white. Aimed at the environmentally aware buyers, it supports a range of substrates enabling clients to order print on a wide range of substrates such as PVC, tarpaulin, synthetic paper, coated-paper, non-coated paper, textiles and more. It features multiple jetting print head technology to produce three different drop sizes at once, down to a minimum of four picolitres in size.
A new addition to the Ricoh TotalFlow workflow suite, InfoPrint Process Director Express offers end-to-end workflow software to manage transactional datastreams in Adobe PDF format. Users can automate end-to-end print management with scalable work?ow control functions for Adobe PDF, reduce operational costs by reducing file preparation time using integration with colour management tools like Enfocus Pitstop and Impostrip On Demand Digital Automation software. They can also add the PDF Mailroom Integrity feature, for the indexing, editing, splitting, sorting and grouping of disparate PDF jobs, while meeting regulatory requirements. The package allows for multi-vendor inserter integration that can automate reprints and advanced print management tools for all production environments.
Ricoh Clickable Paper technology, a cross-media service enabling consumers to point an iPhone or Android smartphone at any printed surface and receive related online content, has application for any kind of printed media, including newspapers, magazines, direct mail, books, brochures and posters. Ricoh says that consumers can instantly recognise a clickable page thanks to its identifiable logo. All types of digital information or services can be linked including multimedia content, web sites, e-commerce services and social networks. It enables multiple hotspots per document without editing or reformatting of original source material and different online content can be associated with each hotspot. It offers support for a large database of authored documents and has a user-friendly mobile app for smartphones.
At drupa, Ricoh is taking advantage of its carbon balanced printing programme. As a result, all Ricoh’s printing activity during the show will be carbon neutral. Ricoh will also offset the carbon generated from unavoidable energy emissions including lighting and catering for its booth during drupa. As well as using recycled paper wherever and whenever possible, all Ricoh’s waste will be recycled by Arjowiggins Graphic, turned into pulp and used to create recycled paper. In alignment with its focus on the environment, Ricoh also announces that its cut sheet digital colour press systems have now been certified by the International Association of the Deinking Industry (INGEDE) regarding the removal of toner from recovered paper during the paper recycling process.
drupa 2012 is the first time Ricoh will exhibit with its new tagline imagine change. The new brand reflects Ricoh’s global shift toward services, which can be seen in its expanding services portfolio for production printing, the office and elsewhere in the organisation. Shiro Kondo, Ricoh President and CEO, says, “The ability to change is a key element of a successful business today. Technology is changing at an unprecedented pace, and there is increasing pressure for customers to change along with it. Those who cannot keep up will be left behind. At Ricoh, we are committed to helping our customers embrace change through innovation. That is what we mean by imagine change.”
InfoTrends has named the Ricoh Pro C901 as the leading press, by units sold in 2011, in the 301K to 999K duty cycle segment. Buyers Laboratory (BLI) announced that the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition has won its PRO Award for the Mid-Production Colour category.
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