Phil Chambers hands over to Andy Lambert at Fuji Xerox Australia

After 35 years with the company, the past eight as managing director of FX in Australia, – the first 15 with Rank Xerox in the UK – the 58-year-old is handing over active management on Friday and officially leaving the company at the end of July. His departure marks the end of an era of innovation and growth for the industry’s leading digital equipment supplier.

Having posted a high level of growth with a 12 per cent increase in revenue to approximately $630 million, fuelled by a 17 per cent increase in equipment sales and a continuing switch to colour printing, the company is at a crucial high-water mark in current market conditions. It is especially facing increasing competition in its dominance of the production digital printing market as other companies attempt catch-up.

This has prompted Fuji Xerox to focus on further developing its burgeoning Global Services division, which, at around $60 million, now accounts for 10 per cent of turnover, resulting from an annual growth rate for the sector last year of 40 per cent. The company has around 50 major ITC contracts, mainly among the blue-chip companies such as Deloitte, Deacons, EDS and Rockdale City Council, Woolworths and a host of large multi-nationals.



Some of this growth in the services sector has arisen from global contracts, where international corporations, especially American, require their subsidiaries to standardise their document processes which has been partly driven by the onerous regulatory requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley laws – the US law passed in 2002 to strengthen corporate governance. Japanese companies also have their own version of enhanced governance in JSOX.

Besides having to meet the reporting requirements itself, the multiplication of documents provides a major business opportunity for Fuji Xerox, which still likes to refer to itself as The Document Company. “And you must remember a document for us does not have to be printed,” said Chambers.(pictured above)

Ironically now that Japan is starting to catch up on the economic opportunities in document services, Fuji Xerox is turning to its Australian subsidiary to find out how it is done. “We’re a lot more advanced in the consulting and services sector than any other overseas subsidiary and by far the largest subsidiary in Fuji Xerox,” says Chambers.

Fuji Xerox currently has 260 people working in its services sector in Australia.

Colour is the growth engine

Apart from services the other major growth driver for Fuji Xerox at present is the rise of colour digital printing. Colour now accounts for approximately 50 per cent of the company’s print revenues with an installation growth rate of 31 per cent in office colour and eight per cent in production. Volumes have grown by 150 - 160 per cent over the past three years. It is the major force behind Fuji Xerox’s spectacular growth rates in the latter part of Phil Chambers' tenure.

But to Andy Lambert (pictured right) growth is only part of the equation. He is firmly focused on the sustainability of the company and was a major force behind the publication last year of its first Sustainability Report. “Sustainability is key,” he says. “Of course growth is important but there is no point if you don’t have a business model that will see you through to the next five, ten, fifteen years.”

He admits that pressures on margins are growing and concedes the growth and profit trends of the past few years are going to be a challenge, but he is sanguine about the next phase of Fuji Xerox’s development. “We are preparing for the next wave of development. There is some pretty exciting technology coming in the next few years. I believe there are plenty of opportunities ahead,” he said.

Phil Chambers is widely recognised for his leadership within the company. He has been especially been singled out by Fuji Xerox head office to implement the regional roll out of the company’s epicenters, locations of digital printing excellence in Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo based on the Australian original in Sydney. He is well known for his people management skills and has infused the company with a personal management ethos. Every quarter he communicated in some detail to the staff with a report on how they and the company was faring. It is a HR institution that Andy Lambert intends to continue.

While Chambers is heading out of the industry he still believes digital printing is a good business environment for people to enter, especially through established Bureaus, or franchise chains such as Snap, Kwik Kopy and Worldwide. “It’s essential to know what you’re doing and these chains provide a lot of back up.”

But he has no intention himself of going into the business.

“I’m taking some time off and looking at a number of options. ”

Chambers is leaving the business at a time when Fuji Xerox is in a very strong position and well positioned to maintain its reputation as the leader in document management products and services.