Recognizing the business of traditional document printing is in decline, the Japanese Big Six manufacturers are focused on developing new innovations to improve office and workflow efficiency and are prioritizing the development and scale of 1) “smart office” and office output efficiency, and 2) production/high-end print capabilities.
During meetings with leading executives at the Japanese Big Six—Konica Minolta, Canon, Ricoh, Toshiba TEC, Sharp, and Kyocera—conducted in Japan in May of 2018 by The Cannata Report’s editorial team, we confirmed that each manufacturer recognizes the business of traditional document printing is contracting and each is innovating aggressively to compensate for that decline.
In Access Japan 2018, our special summer 2018 bonus issue chronicling our meetings with leading executives at the Japanese Big Six—Konica Minolta, Canon, Ricoh, Toshiba TEC, Sharp, and Kyocera—conducted in Japan in May of 2018, we identify and report on additional business technology future trends, including:
- Emphasis on R&D will be with inkjet technology as opposed to conventional toner. While the current emphasis on inkjet is in wide and large format, that technology will be moved downstream to provide highly competitive products to be employed in the office.
- The manufacturers recognize MFP needs to evolve in a major way to remain relevant. Each is working to develop technologies to make their MFP products more efficient and productive, and to further differentiate their products from competitors.
- Most of the manufacturers are planning to leverage data through the MFP and other smart devices to improve business processes. The emphasis on big data and IT-related services and connectivity was notable.
- All manufacturers interviewed are looking to firmly establish themselves in the top three in market share.
Access Japan 2018, exclusively sponsored GreatAmerica Financial Services, reports on meetings with top global industry executives including: Shoei Yamana, president and CEO, Konica Minolta, Inc.; Yoshinori Ikeda, advisory director, deputy chief executive, Office Imaging Products Operations, Canon, Inc.; Hede Nonaka, corporate SVP and GM, Visual Communication Business Group, Ricoh; Sachio Koyama, vice president, general manager of products, marketing & service division, Toshiba TEC Corporation; Fujikazu Nakayama, senior executive managing officer – president & CEO, Sharp Marketing Japan Corporation; and Norihiko Ina, president, Kyocera Document Solutions Corporation.
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