Epson to establish printhead sales office in Switzerland

Develop new applications by collaborating with iPrint

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Epson
Marly Innovation Center, the location of the Marly Branch. Photo Epson

Epson Europe BV the European headquarters of Seiko Epson, has established a new sales office in Switzerland in collaboration with iPrint Institute and Competence Center (iPrint) as part of the company’s efforts to strengthen its printhead sales business in Europe. The branch will begin operations on 1 April.

Epson is reinforcing its inkjet printhead sales business and expanding its lineup featuring leading-edge ‘PrecisionCore’ printheads in response to an expanding commercial and industrial digital printing market. In Europe, new applications are being developed to augment existing applications, and these new applications require technical and professional support. The new branch will serve an important purpose in the further expansion of the printhead sales business in Europe by providing a local center for technology staffed by professional engineers.

Meanwhile, Switzerland-based iPrint, a public institute affiliated with the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg (HEIA-FR), a member of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), has attracted engineers from around the world to address global needs through research and development and the provision of inkjet training courses. The new office was set up in the Marly Innovation Center, in the same research and development building as iPrint, because the environment and equipment are conducive to research and development. By collaborating with iPrint, Epson can immediately begin providing technical support in Europe.

“iPrint has numerous research and development projects that seek to develop digital and on-demand production by applying inkjet technology,” said Yoshinori Domae, iPrint’s director of Technology and Innovation. “We are confident that the partnership with Epson, which is actively working to expand inkjet applications, will have a strong synergistic effect on our activities. iPrint will continue to develop innovative technologies, build an ideal development environment, and drive the inkjet revolution forward with various partners.”

Masahiro Uchida, chief operating officer of Epson’s IJS Operations Division, said, “Inkjet technology reduces the environmental burden and achieves high productivity by digitalizing various types of printing, and has the potential to go beyond regular printing into new inkjet technology applications including electronics and bioprinting. Many applications are now being developed in Europe, so partnering with iPrint Institute and Competence Center and its advanced research and development in inkjet technology will allow us to strengthen printhead sales and further promote open innovation there.”

For Epson, partnerships are key to strengthening printhead sales while simultaneously growing its finished products business. This will allow Epson to expand the world of digital printing technology with benefits that include a smaller environmental footprint and further accelerate innovation through an inkjet. Epson will also embrace open innovation to develop technology for heads engineered specifically for commercial and industrial applications, serve a diverse and expanding range of printing applications, and create new markets in emerging areas such as electronics and bioprinting.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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