Tokyo — Ricoh Company, Ltd. (President and CEO: Shiro Kondo) has announced the launch of a new projection system business that aims to provide solution systems as well as projector units. The company seeks to achieve annual sales on the order of 150 billion yen on the global market by fiscal year 2015. Ricoh has developed its imaging device and solution business focusing on information that is displayed on paper, but by expanding the business in the field of communications including projection and sound, we intend to increase the value provided to our customers.
Responding to the flow of major technical innovations in the market for projectors such as the development of a short-throw projector, microminiaturization and interactivity, Ricoh will expand the range of uses, locations and communication approaches (from one-way to interactive). Ricoh sees its role in projection systems going beyond merely selling projector units, to providing total solutions.
The outlook for future growth in this area is strong as the projector market is now entering a period of great changes with growing new demand and technical innovations. Ricoh aims to expand the existing market and create a new market around the following three points. On the technology side, Ricoh has optical system technologies and processing techniques for short-throw projectors that were acquired over many years. Adding to the fruits of new R&D, the company intends to provide innovative products. On the marketing side, Ricoh has already proven its prowess, achieving impressive sales of third party projectors in Japan. The company will focus on new latent segments and also proposing solutions that meet customers’ individual needs utilizing Ricoh’s powerful customer relations. On the service side, Ricoh has already built a worldwide technical support and services network. By utilizing this powerful infrastructure, the company is well positioned to provide high and uniform quality one-stop services globally in the projection system business, that is to say the same level of services already demonstrated for years in the printer and MFP arena.
By combining these strengths, Ricoh can provide the whole process from manufacturing components and units to solutions proposals and sales, installation and maintenance services to every customer as a one-stop service. This is the major advantage of the Ricoh Group.
As a first step of promoting its own brand, Ricoh will introduce five models of a thin, A4 size projector on the global market at the end of FY2010. In FY2011 and later, the company will also provide ultra-short-throw projectors and micro-miniature projectors in a lineup designed to respond to diverse needs. In addition, Ricoh is enhancing its portfolio of peripheral software so as to provide new value.
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