Canon targets commercial printers in Australia

Craig Manson to implement successful New Zealand strategy as mid-range Imagepress  expands the production line-up.

The former managing director of Canon New Zealand – now GM marketing for the region – is expecting to have the new mid-range machine in the country before Christmas. He sees it as an important focus in the company’s offering to engage commercial printers.
It gives Canon a presence in the so-called ‘production lite’ market where it competes with such vendors as Fuji Xerox, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Océ. Manson sees the top of the range Imagepress C700VP competing in the high-end market sector against the likes of iGen4, HP Indigo and NexPress.

During his tenure in New Zealand, Manson successfully drove the market penetration of the Imagepress C7000VP and the C6000 into the commercial printing sector with over 30 installations, almost as many machines as in the much larger Australian market. He promoted the press to offset printers as a powerful production machine with top-end quality. His declared intention is to do the same in Australia.

In addition to production colour Canon is also active in mono production print with its Imagepress 1110, 1125 and 1135 series.

The refocus on the production market follows a reorganisation inside Canon following the appointment of Kenji Kobayashi, as managing director last year. The company is now operating with just two channels, direct and indirect sales. Former GEON executive, Mark Harvey, has made the transition to the supply side and is in charge of Canon's commercial printing operation.

Canon recruited a new channel partner for production print in MAN Ferrostaal, where Steve Brown, former Canon veteran is now responsible for the new digital printing division. Other partners are expected in the near future.
According to Manson wide-format printing is proving to be a booming sector, with Canon products on a number of stands at the recent Visual Image show.