Ricoh has announced that a new IDC MarketScape report named the company as a worldwide leader in high-speed inkjet solutions that are driving growth in the digital production printing market.

"In today's rapidly evolving market, shorter average run lengths, increasing demand for personalized and variable-data capabilities, and constraints on labor and paper availability are changing the production print landscape," said Mike Herold, director of global marketing for production inkjet technologies, Ricoh. "Print service providers are increasingly investing in digital printing technologies, with high-speed inkjet solutions offering the productivity, print quality and automation necessary to convert jobs over from conventional technologies with faster turnaround times and less operator intervention. Our approach at Ricoh is to deliver the production capabilities our customers need to go digital while surrounding each one with world-class software, service and support that will drive their business forward."

The report, "IDC MarketScape: Worldwide High-Speed Inkjet Press 2023 Vendor Assessment," analyzes Ricoh's technological capabilities, product road map and R&D strategy, and support and services against the market and customer needs to conclude that "all print [service providers] considering an investment in high-speed inkjet should put Ricoh on their vendor list."

"Ricoh has a strong and growing portfolio that addresses the high-speed, high-quality needs of the commercial print market," said Tim Greene, research director, IDC. "One of the areas the company stands out is in support for customers before the sale, at installation and for as long as necessary for customers to be successful. From its software-as-a-service offerings to strategic business consulting to 24/7 mission-critical support, Ricoh brings a sense of partnership to its customers."

The report cites the company's "combination of image quality, speed and support" as the key characteristics of Ricoh high-speed inkjet press systems. It also names as a strength its use of a "platform approach" that protects customer investments by making updates in speed, print quality and automation available as field upgrades across its install base.

Advancements in platform capabilities are driven by customers, which is anchored in Ricoh's longstanding reputation for partnering with customers on their growth and success. The report notes that the company's responsiveness to customer feedback through its R&D investments has yielded significant advancements with direct market relevance. This is on display with the UC8100 Undercoat Unit, which has helped users greatly expand the range of media that can be used to produce saleable product and therefore better navigate recent paper supply chain challenges.

Ricoh was also recognized for this customer-centric product development when the RICOH Pro Z75 Digital Press won this year's iF DESIGN AWARD 2023 in the "Product" category. Customers were central to the development of the RICOH Pro Z75, which is a new, B2-sized inkjet platform engineered from the ground up hand-in-hand with print service providers (PSPs) based on their current and future real-world needs.

Ricoh continues to invest heavily in building and partnering with industry suppliers to create an end-to-end ecosystem to deliver value for customers across all aspects of buying, running and maintaining a high-speed inkjet press. This includes a commitment to education and support resources to equip PSPs to maximize their investment as soon as possible. The report noted that "Ricoh offers extensive training and business development support that matches or surpasses any other vendor."

With its vendor-agnostic approach to software, the company offers production management and print operations solutions like RICOH TotalFlow Production Manager and RICOH Supervisor to automate and simplify production on the shop floor, while converting operational data into useful information to steer decision-making. Strategic partnerships with third parties create an extensive ecosystem of software tools that span the entire production process.