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In commercial printing, a field that encompasses the production of books, posters and direct mail, the shift to digital printing is progressing. Unlike analog offset printing, a formerly mainstream technology, digital printing’s inks and toners contain no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), thus presenting environmental advantages, states Canon’s 2024 Integrated report.
Canon Inc and Netherlands-based Canon Production Printing are providers of feed presses that deliver over 160 m/min printing on paper rolls, sheet-fed presses that print on standard-size paper, and large-format printers for media such as large-size posters. From graphic arts to newspapers and books, Canon is focused on providing solutions for the diverse needs of digital commercial printers.
According to Fujio Mitarai chairman & CEO, Canon Inc, “To improve productivity for customers, particularly by promoting the digital transformation of office work, we offer multifunction office devices with upgraded network functions. Meanwhile, to meet new printing needs in satellite offices and in the home, which have expanded with teleworking, we are rolling out a range of products and services to match increasingly diverse work styles. These include inkjet printers and a wide range of other equipment to cover both office and day-to-day household requirements. For commercial printing, to respond flexibly to customers with small-run, multi-item needs, we are promoting digital printing.”
Mitarai says, When we look back at history, we can’t talk about economic development, cultural succession, and scientific progress without printed paper. “Canon has contributed to the creation of new values along with the storage and transmission of the old ones. Although recent societal changes have led to paper being used in fewer situations, the immediacy and convenience of printing continue to surpass digital data and display functionality in many ways,” he adds.
Canon aims to continue providing printing products and services that cater to the evolving needs of the industry. It has seemingly contributed to the adoption of copy and printing by developing electrophotography and inkjet technologies.
“With the shift towards digital in over two decades, Canon has made several additions by utilizing digital technologies to facilitate rapid duplication and dissemination. With the industry expected to be based on cloud computing in the future, we are focused on improving security printing and content-on-demand technologies to enable the next generation on-demand services, in which user-designated content can be printed the instant it is required.”
Canon claims its policy is providing digital printing services based on cyber-physical systems featuring fully integrated hardware and software. Supplying products that help to solve social issues also contributes to the achievement of SDGs (Sustainability Development Goals).
“Canon’s development of high-performance multifunction devices capable of automatic high-speed scanning of documents is part of our response to digital transformation. In addition, services that seamlessly integrate such devices with the cloud are helping customers make efficient gains while also saving time and labor,” he said.
Through these initiatives, the printing division of Canon Inc is contributing to the achievement of goals such as SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
“In today’s competitive environment, we grew sales of new businesses, such as commercial printing, imaging solutions, and health equipment. And for office multifunction devices (MFDs) where demand remained firm, we steadily generated profit. Prices of components and logistics which had been rising previously began to settle down by the beginning of spring, which led to progress in reducing costs.”
As a result, consolidated net sales for this term were 4,181.0 billion yen (approximately 27 billion US$) up 3.7% from the previous term. Consolidated operating profit was 375.4 billion yen (approximately 2.4 billion UD$) up 6.2% from the previous term. Consolidated net income attributable to Canon Inc was 264.5 billion yen (approximately 1.7 billion US$) up 8.4% from the previous term. This marked the third consecutive year of sales and profit growth, the report states.
“As for our new businesses, which are the source of sales growth, we posted significant growth in this term as well, with consolidated net sales reaching nearly 1.2 trillion yen (approximately 770 billion US$) to account for 28% of the total. We are making steady progress in the transformation of our business portfolio as set out in Phase VI of the ‘Excellent Global Corporation Plan,” he concludes.
