London, – Ricoh Europe has secured the number one spot in colour production printers just three years after stating its intent to lead in the market. The recently published figures from Infosource for production devices/colour press cut sheet, for Western Europe, show that Ricoh's share of the market in Q1 2011 leaped from 22.2% to 33.1%.  

"Print service providers in the commercial and corporate sectors have confirmed Ricoh as their brand of choice," says Peter Williams, Executive Vice President and Head of the Ricoh Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh Europe.  "The Ricoh Pro C900, combined with our service ethic and Ricoh Business Driver Programme, proved to be an ideal asset in the print room. The launch of the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition has further accelerated sales, especially within the commercial printing sector."

Ricoh customer, Thomas Wiesinger, managing director of Wiesinger Media, operates six print shops in Germany. He says, "We chose the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition for its great quality, productivity and excellent registration performance.  Competitive pricing and Ricoh's customer-centric approach helped seal the deal," he adds.

Peter Verhoeven, General Manager Prepress4You is based in the Netherlands and is also the owner of a Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition. He says: "Ricoh has a thorough knowledge of the industry and immediately had faith in our plans. That creates a bond. When we saw the new system for the first time earlier this year, we were immediately hooked. It measures up to the much larger systems in terms of speed and quality, but it is much more cost effective."

Steve Taylor, managing director of UK commercial printing operation Wincanton Print, says, "The quality and stability of the colour output of the Ricoh Pro C901 is exceptional. We are feeding a lot of offset substrates through and it handles them all well.  Clients love it too, and it is opening up new doors of opportunity with them."

Former offset only firm Ripping Image, London, works in demanding colour environments such as fine arts, and its director Pete Cooper, says: "Absolute colour quality was our number one priority. Our reputation for great colour is important to us. So before investing in digital production colour for the first time, we examined all the main players' products but none could match the offset-like reproduction and colour consistency of the Pro C901. The fact it doesn't slow down for heavier materials is also a huge benefit for us, as well as its smooth integration into our prepress workflow."