OKI Data Americas has announced that Item Inc., located in Woodbridge, Virginia, will serve as the master consumables and spare parts distributor for OKI in the Americas. With this announcement, OKI will significantly enhance operational efficiency, as well as improve inventory availability and create a convenient, one-stop shop for all OKI products.

Item Inc. is well-established in the Americas with more than 40 years of experience in the distribution of printer parts, hardware and consumables, as well as delivering value-added technical and service support offerings for leading printer brands. It has served as OKI's primary spare parts distributor since February 2021 and was named an authorized consumables distributor in September 2021.

Under this agreement, Item Inc. will import consumables and spare parts directly from OKI production facilities in Asia and distribute them from its 70,000-square-foot facility in Virginia. Item Inc. will directly sell to OKI resellers in all countries in North, Central and South America, with the exception of Brazil, and it will work directly with OKI on demand forecasting, procurement and overall consumable and spare part management.

"We're extremely excited to announce that Item Inc. will serve as the master consumables and spare parts distributor for the Americas," said Dennie Kawahara, president and CEO, OKI Data Americas Inc. "After OKI's announcement in September 2020 that we would no longer sell OKI-branded hardware in the Americas, we shifted our focus to future operational requirements and best practices to support the channel with regard to consumables and spare parts. Item Inc. clearly positioned itself as a distribution partner that can manage a significant portion of our business operations and deliver added value that provides exceptional benefits to the channel."

In preparation for this transition, Item Inc. has been working closely with OKI to implement product forecasting processes, enhance e-commerce and operational support, and build sufficient on-hand inventory to support consumables and spare parts demand going forward.

"This long-term partnership with OKI will enable customers to maximize their OKI printer investments, as it's in everyone's best interest to keep these printers up and running well into the future," said Timothy Rizer, president, Item Inc. "Item Inc. has been on a strong growth trajectory and we're always looking to incorporate new deliverables that leverage our years of expertise. After successfully incorporating the OKI spare parts distribution into our business, which included direct importation from Asia and complete inventory management beginning in 2022, it was a natural progression for us to absorb the consumables business to deliver added value for OKI customers."