CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Sep 9, 2013) - Ricoh (PRINT 13 #1931) -- The wrong color, or color inconsistency from printer to printer, can cost a printing organization dearly in time, money and business. That's why Ricoh Americas Corporation today unveiled Ricoh Color Management Services.

The latest in a series of Ricoh Business Information Solutions, Ricoh Color Management Services help ensure customers' color delivery is precise and consistent, every time, across the customer's entire production fleet. Consistent color helps customers stay productive and profitable, and confidently use their fleet at maximum capacity.

The new services include: a Color Conformance Audit Service and G7 Master Printer Qualification Services. The services were announced at the PRINT 13 production printing conference and exposition in Chicago.

Color Conformance Audit Service        

Ricoh Production Print Solution Engineers (PPSEs) will work with the customer to select a color specification such as GRACoL or SWOP or a custom reference point. The PPSEs will color manage each customer's device to that standard once per month or once per quarter depending on the customer's preference. Color managing all devices to a standard helps ensure that the colors customers expect end up in the printed products, regardless of which printer is used.

"Precise and consistent color is critical in a logo, advertisement, brochure, photograph and hundreds of other types of printed products," said Tim Vellek, Vice President, Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh Americas Corporation. "The vast majority of print-for-pay, advertising, marketing and design shops have some serious color management problems they haven't been able to solve. As a result, they're limited in when and how they use their equipment. We're uniquely equipped to solve these problems, leaving customers confident they can satisfy all their customers and keep all their devices busy."

Ricoh has the industry's largest number of IDEAlliance-certified Color Management Professionals Masters. In total, more than 80 Ricoh specialists are certified -- that's more than all the major printer vendors combined. ¹ Many in Ricoh's PPSE force are also IDEAlliance-certified G7 Experts and CDIA+ certified professionals.

G7 Master Printer Qualification Services        

G7 Master Printer Qualification Services consist of equipment calibration, personnel training and process control consulting leading to a G7 Master Printer qualification for the organization. The sought-after recognition of excellence identifies print service providers, prepress providers, and creative agencies that excel in implementing the G7 Proof-to-Print Process. G7 Master Printers can simulate color locally, globally and across all types of print systems and devices.

"Color management is an art, science and engineering challenge, with myriad variables affecting the color chain, including the eyes of the designer, the various design tools, cameras, scanners, computer screens, printers, paper and output devices," said Vellek. "We're experienced in this complexity and passionate about color management. We want to share that passion to benefit our customers."

About Ricoh's Business Information Solutions Through extensive analysis and experience, Ricoh has identified the major business challenges enterprises are facing today: globalization, increasing employee mobility, new generational work styles, exploding information volumes, mounting cost pressures and rapid IT infrastructure changes. The company directly addresses these challenges with its Business Information Solutions approach, which brings together technologies, services and expertise that can help to measurably improve business performance by optimizing the flow of business information.

The Business Information Solutions approach streamlines an organization's entire information workflow by improving:

• Input - capturing valuable information from employees, customers and partners.         
• Processing - creating business value from information.         
• And Output - distributing the information to the right person at the right time in the right form for productive action.

For details on Ricoh's full line of products, services and solutions, please visit www.ricoh-usa.com.

About Ricoh 

Ricoh is a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in about 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2013, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,924 billion yen (approx. 20 billion USD).

The majority of the company's revenue comes from products, solutions and services that improve the interaction between people and information. Ricoh also produces award-winning digital cameras and specialized industrial products. It is known for the quality of its technology, the exceptional standard of its customer service and sustainability initiatives.

Under its corporate tagline, imagine. change., Ricoh helps companies transform the way they work and harness the collective imagination of their employees.

For further information, please visit  www.ricoh.com/about/

© 2013 Ricoh Americas Corporation. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

¹ Based on review of data on certified color management specialists maintained on the IDEAlliance website, http://www.idealliance.com