Heidelberg adds Ricoh to Asian offering
Malaysia and Thailand have been announced as the first Asian markets in Heidelberg’s phased global rollout to sell Ricoh's latest colour digital press and monochrome portfolio.
The new strategic cooperation enables Heidelberg to sell Ricoh's Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition in addition to Pro 1107EX and Pro 1357EX, as part of its Asia market offering to support offset printers.
Bent Mortensen President of Heidelberg Asia says a common strategy was agreed upon for introducing Ricoh into its Asian markets "These countries are the first step and we will be introducing Ricoh into Heidelberg operations in other markets through a phased approach".
"This partnership is exciting for us and I believe for our customers. The combined offset and digital solution provides complimentary printing technology and cost efficiency along with the highest quality and support from two leading suppliers,” said Mortensen.
Pictured: Ricoh C901 Graphic Arts Edition
The combination of Heidelberg’s Prinect workflow with the dual platforms of offset and digital printing will enable print service providers to achieve greater profitability from shorter runs and job management.
"Using both technologies, customers are able to offer variable data printing and shorter runs, next to their established cost-effective and high-end quality offset printing,” he said.
Nobuaki Majima, Managing Director of Ricoh Asia Pacific says the two companies are committed to offering a broad and balanced range of solutions that embrace the era of digital and offset convergence.
"We are leveraging our strengths to help print service providers in the AP region to invest and grow with confidence. With our support, our customers can look forward to a more flexible and profitable future," said Majima.
Ricoh’s Pro C901 is already available to Heidelberg customers in Germany and the UK as of April 2011. Phased rollouts are due to continue in other Asian markets, North America, China and Latin America.
The targeted rollout into the Eastern European market will mark the end of the global process by drupa 2012.