The Cannata Report interviewed Hironori Ando,
present and executive director of the Document Solutions division of Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company)
- Last fiscal year division achieved 363.6 billion yen ($2.8 billion) worldwide
- Profit of 33 billion yen ($256 million)
- “we are aiming to achieve 400 billion yen ($3 billion)” for this fiscal year
- Logistical situation has not improved at Kyocera’s factories in Vietnam and China
- Increase in in-transit inventory
- Backorders have particularly impacted A3 MFPs
- Most A3s were made in China, but now shifting some to Vietnam
- “We still have A4 backorders, and that is because of the lack of controller chips”
- Expect this to continue until March of 2023
- Will introduce some new A4s and ship by end of second quarter
- Believes that e-commerce has “loads of potential” for entry level and mid range products (Watch out Kyocera dealers)
- A new production color inkjet product for the graphic arts market is in development (will printed on coated paper unlike current 15000C model
- Also working on unit for textile industry
- Hardware pricing will be more for future models
- Hopes to expand into labeling and packaging markets
- Goal is that solutions/services revenue account for 50% of division’s business
- Is developing its own ECM (enterprise content management) solution
- (currently resells Hyland OnBase ECM in the US)