Vaughan Patterson has nearly eight years of tenure at Ricoh alone and brings decades of prior experience as vendor, customer and commercial printer to his new role in leading Ricoh SA’s Commercial and Industrial Print (CIP) division.
‘The market is keen for the right solutions,’ he said. ‘Cut-sheet, wide format, continuous, and industrial printing continue to play significant roles and we have found software to be a prime differentiator that helps our customers deal with a number of challenges and gain numerous benefits.’
He said that, besides the improvements in colour management, composition software, back-end print shop management, make ready and imposition, the market is receptive to the advantages provided by new output management and workflow, variable data printing, and that web-to-print solutions are especially high interest at the moment.
New colour capabilities have, he said, eased transactional and commercial printers alike into a new realm of colour-rich, completely variable and full dynamic printing. New processes, inks, heads, coatings, substrates and process tools are also making an impression.
‘The short run industry is facing opportunities like never before,’ he said, ‘which makes it an exciting time to be at the tip of the spear. Workflows and automation solutions are providing a competitive edge for a lot of customers, often integrated with short run and variable offerings. Book of one is really taking off, we have toners certified safe for food and the roadmap of what’s coming down the line is mind blowing. It’s all about convenience; customer convenience is driving the market at the moment because of the widespread digitalisation sweeping through almost every industry.’
‘The new era in production and commercial print is happening now and, based on the feedback from customers in South Africa and abroad, we’re bringing them the right solutions that help them provide their own customers with the solutions that fit their new lifestyles.’
RICOH SOUTH AFRICA (+27 11) 723 5000 info@ricoh.co.za http://www.ricoh.co.za
