Interact, the Ricoh customer event, initially was just an event for their production inkjet customers. As of Interact 2018, Ricoh opened it up to their entire customer base regardless of the type of equipment they have, and it was an immediate success. Interact 2019 took the event to new heights. Unlike many of the other equipment vendor customer events, which tend to focus on a specific type of hardware like toner-based presses, production inkjet, etc., or on specific applications like wide format, labels, etc., this event encourages disparate discussion and learning across different press and application types. It is designed as an event for their customer base, product teams and Ricoh management to “Interact” with each other, and this second year was a very engaging experience for all. 

There were almost 60 sessions which covered a wide range of high-level topics focusing on marketing, sales, business management, new application adoption, and process optimization. But Interact 2019 also included sessions that dug into the weeds like paper types and futures, color management, and how to use fifth-color techniques, to mention just a few. Some of the busiest sessions were those related to RPD (Ricoh Process Director) with discussions on enhanced data collection and analysis where Ricoh product experts and customers had very dynamic discussions. They discussed not just how the customers were using RPD, but also what Ricoh could do to develop additional features and functions to better support the ever-changing needs of the customer base and that of their customers’ customers. There were 31 partner sponsors covering paper, software, and services in a pavilion area that always seemed busy. 

Interact 2019 was also a great time to meet some of the new Ricoh leadership team, including Gavin Jordan-Smith the new VP of the Commercial Printing Business and Heather Loisel the new CMO of Ricoh USA. While only at Ricoh for about 90 days, Jordan-Smith met with media and analysts before the event to share some initial thoughts on Ricoh and the industry. He started by relating some of the history and lessons learned from the NPES book Challenge, Change and Opportunity: A History of NPES. While the book offered a lot of information dating back to 1933, it seems as though much of what is old is new again. A lot of the same problems that we discuss today can be seen at varying times in industry history. Ultimately though, we seem to be a very resilient industry.