Ricoh India opens new chapter in operations

With rapid expansion plan, Ricoh India Ltd has made strategic foray into digital colour production printing solutions, while announcing the launch of two printing innovation centres and providing comprehensive office solutions as well as enhanced customer satisfaction. Senior staff coming from Japan and Singapore reassured the seriousness of Ricoh’s plans for business expansion in India, with 3-4 times increase in revenues, adopting customer-focused approach improving pre- and post-sale services. “Since inception, Ricoh has been driven by a single-minded objective of providing customer-focused products and solutions that are true value for money. Our mission is to enhance customer place efficiency with all products, services and solutions that will supplement human resources and make Ricoh a one-stop-solution company for all our customers,” stated N Maitra, managing director, Ricoh India Ltd at a press conference recently in New Delhi. As one of the new initiatives in India, the announcement to foray into the fast-emerging digital colour production printing segment came in the wake of Ricoh’s robust growth plans envisaged for India within the next three years. “Digital printing is leading the way because of its efficiency and short turnaround time. More and more production printers are opting for digital technologies over conventional offset for commercial jobs as well. In choosing an engine, they often have to decide between a low priced light production machine of which the performance does not live up to their requirements or a heavy production machine with a high total cost of ownership (TCO) that significantly affects their profits. The Ricoh Pro C900 series meets customer requirements by combining professional quality and heavy duty performance at a cost–effective price, specifically aimed at print for pay, graphic arts, commercial printers and publishing applications,” stated Tadashi Furushima, associate director, production printing business group, Ricoh Company Ltd, detailing the launch of digital colour production printer solutions.

“The new range of Pro C900, Pro C720 and Pro 907/1107/1357Ex will be backed by Ricoh’s first-of-its-kind ‘Pro-Partnership Programme’ that will offer a huge value proposition for customers. This programme will entail forging a close partnership with Ricoh’s production printing customers with respect to technology knowledge, training of people and after sales service to enhance the satisfaction of our customer’s customer,” elaborated Maitra further and announced plans to immediately establish, ‘Live Experience Centre (LEX), one each at Delhi and Mumbai with an investment of fifty million rupees. Two more LEX will be established at Chennai & Bengaluru, soon. LEX will offer live experience to potential customers to try out the various products – both hardware and software. Through this significant investment, Ricoh India will help customers realize the creation in value that would result from workflow re-engineering and increased customer support to secure the leadership position in the production printing segment.

Outlining the larger game plan for India, Sujit Sanyal, senior vice president (business operations) said, “India offers huge potential for our product mix. Environment today is highly competitive and collaborative, where convergence and convenience are the buzzword. Ricoh India will enter the field of office consulting and IT services for which separate business divisions have been set up. Our ultimate aim is to provide all the services that our customers require in the area of document and information technology.”

Long recognised as one of the leaders of office equipment with the top market share in America, Europe and Asia Pacific region, Ricoh has taken bold moves to strengthen their position in the printing sector. Since 2004, it has made strategic acquisitions of industry giants including Hitachi Printing Solutions and IBM’s Printing System Division. Today, the company is widely recognized as the emerging leader in the print production industry, leveraging its strong research and development as well as strategic investments to stay in the forefront of the business.

Ricoh India Ltd, a 73.6 percent owned subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd, Japan, is one of the leading players in the area of imaging solutions. All Ricoh products come with a hallmark of quality, technological excellence and after-sales service. Ricoh operates through a wide network of 18 branches and over 240 dealers and have well-trained sales and after sales service force. With a workforce of around 700 in India, Ricoh is planning to be a major player in the areas of document solutions, IT services, transaction printing, facility management/managed print services and of-course production printing.