Large Format Review - Business News

Epson has asserted its position as a leader in the professional imaging industry by winning three of the most important photo and imaging technology accolades at the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) Awards 2011.

Epson products recognised by TIPA were the Epson Stylus Photo R3000, named as the ‘Best Expert Photo Printer’, the Epson Stylus Pro 4900, which won ‘Best Large Format Printer’, and the Epson Perfection V330 Photo, which was judged ‘Best Photo Scanner’.

Kristin Saus-Opuszynski, Senior Business Manager ProPhoto, Epson Europe, said: “At Epson we continually look for new solutions and ways to enhance our product range, in order to meet the changing needs of our customers. Winning three prestigious TIPA awards this year is testament to that commitment and recognition of our achievements as a result.”

TIPA consists of 29 member magazines from 14 countries all over the world, making it one of the largest and most influential photographic and imaging press associations globally. Every year the TIPA editors vote for the best products introduced to the market during the previous 12 months, taking into account innovation, cutting-edge technology, design, ease-of-use and the price to performance ratio of the products.

Product information

The Epson Stylus Photo R3000 is an A3+ photo printer perfect for medium print runs, and fits even the smallest desk space with its compact footprint. A front-loading fine art paper feed makes insertion easier, reducing the likelihood of paper damage and reducing the need for space behind the printer.

The Epson Stylus Pro 4900 is a compact, 17-inch production printer setting new standards in colour precision for the photography market. It boasts outstanding colour consistency and accurate colour matching, and can reproduce 98 percent of all PANTONE®  colours.

The Epson Perfection V330 Photo is an A4 photo scanner offering high quality results and low power consumption. It is ideal for scanning photos, and users can feel confident that every colour, shade and detail will be faithfully captured thanks to the scanners’ CCD (charge coupled device) technology with an optical resolution of 4,800dpi.

EFI, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today announced the company's $45,000 donation to the Red Cross for the Japan earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. This amount was generated by a 30-day employee donation matching programme EFI put in place specifically for the relief fund.
 
"Our hearts go out to the Japanese people, who have shown such strength and resilience in the face of tragedy," said Guy Gecht, EFI's CEO. "With our EFI office in Tokyo and several long-standing strategic partnerships with Japan-based companies, our employees worldwide have developed many close friendships there. We have great admiration for the people of Japan, who have been an inspiration to us all."
 
With an office in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, and several of its OEM partners headquartered in Japan, EFI has close ties to many affected by the devastating events, which added to the company's already strong desire to help financially. EFI's operations in Japan include sales, customer service and support. Thankfully, no EFI employees or their immediate family members have been physically harmed in the disaster.

This contribution follows donations from EFI to the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations renowned for meeting people's immediate emergency disaster-caused needs. EFI continues to encourage its employees to consider making personal donations to the philanthropic organisations based on personal preference.

Over a month has passed since Japan was struck by the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami on 11 March 2011. In the meantime, Océ has carefully monitored and assessed the delivery situation of products and consumables as a consequence of the tragic events in Japan.

Based upon information received from our main suppliers, for the time being, Océ anticipates an ordinary product flow of its printing systems.

Océ is a Canon Group Company. For information on Canon printing systems, please visit www.canon.com .

The supply status can change during the coming period. If necessary, an updated statement will be provided.

Electronics For Imaging, Inc., a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today announced the appointment of Eric Brown to its Board of Directors. The addition of Brown increases the Board to seven members, with five of them independent. Brown will serve on the Board's audit committee.

Commenting on the appointment, Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI, said, "Eric is a great addition to our Board and a proven leader in the technology industry. We are excited to have him join the Board and look forward to benefiting from his expertise as we execute our global growth strategy."

Brown brings a wealth of financial and operational experience to the role. He is currently the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Electronic Arts, the $3.7 billion global interactive entertainment software company. Prior to his current role with Electronic Arts, he was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at McAfee Inc., after serving as President and Chief Financial Officer of MicroStrategy, Inc., the parent company of Strategy.com, where he served as Chief Financial Officer. Earlier in Brown's career he was co-founder and Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Business Development of DataSage Inc., after holding various financial management positions at the Haagen-Dazs Company, working in Hong Kong and Paris. Brown earned his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

"Eric's deep financial and operational experience with several high growth technology companies, will be a great asset to EFI at a time when the company is working to continue to take market share and grow shareholder value," said Gill Cogan, chairman of EFI's Board of Directors.

"I am impressed by EFI's success in diversifying the company's product portfolio and implementing a very solid, strategic growth strategy," said Eric Brown. "I look forward to leveraging my experience to help the company pursue the numerous opportunities before it."

 
 

 

The recently released Big Print Plan by the Canon UK Distributor, Velmex has seen impressive sales of the UK’s only pay as you go large format rental scheme. The high level of support and ease of upgrading products is thought to be the reason the plan is exceeding sales expectations.

Velmex the UK distributor for Canon’s large format printers has witnessed a significant sales response to the recently released Big Print Plan, pay as you go large format rental scheme. The Surrey based distributor devised the scheme for customers wanting an easy monthly payment solution to owning a large format printer. The Big Print Plan provides customers with a fully inclusive service and support solution, whilst offering a simple monthly billing system for rental and ink usage. 

"The introduction of the Big Print Plan gives users a fully supported, cash flow friendly approach to large format printing" says Brendan Wright, Velmex Sales Manager. "We have been very pleased with the customer take up and customer installations are well ahead of projected levels. The Big Print Plan has been very successful with both first time large format users and experienced high volume users. We have already seen clients upgrade within the scheme to meet their customer’s requirements. One client using a 24” printer on the Big Print Plan soon discovered a higher than planned volume of print meant a 44” printer was quickly needed. The Big Print Plan offers an easy solution, as customers can upgrade with no penalty. We simply delivered a 44” unit and removed the existing product."

All Big Print Plan installations have a highly specified support function that provides total support from the moment of installation. It’s this high level of support which is intrinsic to the success of the Big Print Plan.

"The advanced reporting and support system is a standard feature with the Big Print Plan and allows us to take our customer support to a new level" says Mark Keeley, Managing Director of Velmex. "We have completed a number of very successful support issues that would have been impossible to detect with a standard installation. We noticed that one customer’s ink usage was much higher than expected for the volume of prints produced. One of our technicians alerted the customer, connected into the system and found that the user had accidently set the wrong output settings. Within minutes we had corrected the problem and reduced the customers ink usage by over 50%. This level of customer support is only possible because of the advanced reporting system built into the Big Print Plan."

The Big Print Plan allows customers to rent the printer and only pay for the ink they have used. There is no large upfront outlay for ink. All inks, waste ink cartridges, print heads, warranty and support are provided for the full rental term. As part of the ongoing Big Print Plan agreement Velmex will update the printer software, drivers and add new media profiles as they become available. For any significant software upgrades they will not only install but also train customers on the upgrade.  Keeley said ‘The Big Print Plan customers will always have the latest options available to them giving them the best possible chance to maximise profit from their printer’.

The Big Print Plan covers the entire Canon image PROGRAF LFP range from 17” to 60”, including the twelve colour photo printers, the 24” to 60” eight colour production printers, all the 24” to 44” CAD printers and even Canon’s large format scan to print /copy systems. 

In LFR's travels around the show today, we have discovered that the NEC hosts The Gadget Show tomorrow which attracts in the region of 20,000 visitors - as well as Sign & Digital UK - and therefore the venue is likely to be extremely busy.  You may want to adapt your plans accordingly to allow yourself extra time...