Based on unit placements reported by InfoSource Ricoh Europe remains the number one choice for colour, digital cut sheet presses in Western Europe for 2013.
The 36.2 % market share has been achieved as commercial and corporate printers selected Ricoh’s Pro C901 and Pro C751 series models for their digital printing services. It has also been further improved by the popularity of the Pro C5110 series light production press.
In addition, production printing buyers chose Ricoh branded mono systems over all others, putting the company into number one position for mono production printing unit placements for 2013 in Western Europe with a share of 24.0% (InfoSource).
This success comes ahead of the company celebrating the third anniversary of its digital press partnership with Heidelberg, which was announced in 2011.
Since drupa 2012 Heidelberg has been offering the Pro C901 and Pro C751 series as Linoprint C 901 and C 751. In combination with the Prinect Digital Print Manager both systems can be integrated in Heidelberg’s Prinect print-shop workflow enabling printers to integrate their offset and digital technologies in one workflow.
Peter Williams, executive director and head of production printing business group, said, ‘The development of our technology and services focuses on supporting the changing needs of the commercial and corporate printer to grow their business in print and beyond while improving efficiency and profitability. We are delighted that these businesses have made us first choice for colour in Western Europe overall and also number one in the top seven markets by size: Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and Sweden. As well as in the fast emerging market of Turkey.
‘Furthermore, our partnership with Heidelberg is going from strength to strength. Print services providers are investing in digital colour cut sheet systems as a result of their deep long term relationship with Heidelberg and are contributing to the continuing popularity of Ricoh technology among commercial printers.’
Jason Oliver, senior vice president business area digital at Heidelberg, said, ‘Our partnership with Ricoh in Europe and around the globe is a unique success. Thanks to Ricoh print technology and our own Prinect workflow, we offer commercial printers a digital or an offset choice – all from one company. Customers who have bought our Linoprint C products are opening new value-added opportunities like hybrid applications as a combination of offset and digital technologies. Our clients are seeking to achieve the right digital/offset balance in their business, integrating digital capability into their existing print infrastructure; all driven by our Prinect workflow. For them, buying through Heidelberg is the natural choice. The feedback that we get from our clients who are investing in our Linoprint C digital devices has been exceptionally positive.’
