Shortly before announcing impressive sales and profit growth, Ricoh's Pro L5130e and Ricoh Pro L5160e extended gamut latex printers (with green and orange inks) won the EDP 2021 Award for Roll-to-roll Printers 170cm. The awards highlight developments in print production tools, software, substrates, inks, materials and finishing systems.
It's been a good week for Ricoh, announcing increased sales & profit despite Covid and supply shortages.
Ricoh’s sales rose by 7% to ¥1,276.1 billion in the last nine months of fiscal 2021 and operating profit was up by ¥55.4 billion to ¥25.7 billion, compared to a loss of ¥29.7 in the previous corresponding period.
“Although impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, goods shortages, and higher procurement and transportation costs were greater than envisaged, operating profit was on target on additional recovery initiatives and accelerated structural reform measures,” the company said in its financial statement for the 3rd quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2021 (April 1, 2021-Dec 31, 2021).
“In addition to recovering from the business impact of office printing and commercial printing caused by Covid-19, we further strengthen our business structure by optimising our development, production, and service provide systems.
“The recovery of the global economy has been slower than expected due to COVID-19 pandemic and its re-expansion by the new variants, although economic activities are resuming in some countries and regions due to the spread of vaccines.
“In addition, the economic activity has been back and forth, due to shortage of semiconductors and other supplies, stagnation of shipping and other distribution networks, and widespread rise in prices.”
Graphic Communications continues to be Ricoh’s largest business segment. Graphic Communications sales were ¥135.5 billion and increased by 17.7% as compared to the previous corresponding period (an increase of 12.5% excluding foreign currency exchange fluctuations). In commercial printing business, we recovered from the resumption of economic activity in the main markets of Europe and the U.S., with particularly significant improvements in sales of non-hardware. In industrial printing business, the component business posted significant growth, in which we have competitive advantage. We also continued to steadily reduce costs through the digitisation of R&D and manufacturing and the streamlining of our services activities.
 |
| Ricoh Latex printers praised by the EDPA |
As a result, Graphic Communications operating profit was ¥1.8 billion and increased by ¥29.7 billion as compared to the previous corresponding period. ¥10.4 billion of the impairment losses on goodwill, some of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets in commercial printing business during the previous corresponding period was the one of the reasons of the large amount of recovery.
Ricoh Latex wins at European Digital Press Awards
"These systems are an evolution of the successful Ricoh Pro L5130 and Ricoh Pro L5160 latex large format printers,” the EDP said. "They opened up new opportunities to production printers, and sign and display specialists with the addition of green and orange inks to the already available white.”
The assocation said the Ricoh Pro L5130e and L5160e had also:
Enabled the accurate reproduction of a wider range of Pantone and brand colours.
Helped reduce ink consumption, for example there is no need to mix magenta and yellow to create orange, or cyan and yellow to create green.
Allowed print operations to run double CMYK for increased productivity and CMYK and White for transfer materials, metallics, and dark substrates.
The systems incorporate three staggered Ricoh GEN5 industrial print heads. They deliver variable dot printing at 46.7sqm per hour on outdoor high speed four colour mode and 25sqm per hour on indoor standard four colour mode. They employ a low print ink curing temperature for reduced energy consumption while the Greenguard certified latex ink enables sustainable and cost-effective production.
Efficient operation is supported by market leading RIP-software solution ColorGATE Productionserver that is tailored to the demands of large format printing.
Eef de Ridder, VP, Graphic Communications Group, Ricoh Europe, said: “It’s no secret that quick and simple accurate reproduction of vibrant colours helps deliver captivating print. These systems enable operations to produce memorable and vivid results on a broad range of applications. Their ability to reduce waste, ink, and energy consumption also supports sustainable and cost effective production. These are among the many reasons the technology was effectively used to create signage and social distancing applications during the pandemic.”
