Ricoh Europe, Dusseldorf, – Ricoh today signalled its entry into the vibrant signage market by adding EFI VUTEk flatbed printers to its offering, building on the success of its large format portfolio of print production solutions. The agreement, which allows Ricoh to offer systems from the EFI range, will officially be marked in a ceremony today at 11:00am on Ricoh's Hall 8a B46 stand at drupa 2016 in Düsseldorf. Ricoh Corporate Vice President, Business Solutions Group, Tad Furushima and EFI's Senior Vice President for Worldwide Sales and Marketing, Frank Mallozzi will represent the two companies.

The global agreement will commence with availability through Europe and Latin America, with North America and Asia Pacific to follow. The deal focuses on the solutions that offer the best fit for Ricoh's clients.

Added to Ricoh's AR Latex roll-to-roll Ricoh ProTM L4100 series, these UV flatbed new additions will bring even greater flexibility and opportunity to Ricoh clients in the commercial print and signage sectors. Today's announcement means that Ricoh's graphic arts offer expands further and is now a complementary product range encompassing flatbed, large format, continuous feed, cut sheet, software and consultancy services.

Natural progression

Benoit Chatelard, Ricoh's Vice President, Production Printing, Ricoh Europe, says: "This is a natural progression for Ricoh for two reasons. First, we have a long-standing relationship with EFI, who provide EFI Fiery as a digital front end for our cut sheet products. Secondly, we have already had a successful roll-fed large format offering in our portfolio; and the addition of UV flatbed options broadens the market possibilities our print service providers can embrace. We have been receiving client requests to expand our portfolio, and we are delighted to be able to do that with a long-time partner that is so well-respected in the industry. With this exciting announcement, we are again making clear our commitment to providing print service providers with a broad and comprehensive, integrated solution set."

Among the VUTEk flatbed printers included is the very popular EFI H1625 LED Hybrid roll/flatbed UV printer, featuring four colour print plus white and includes single pass and multilayer capabilities. Variable droplet sizes provide eight levels of grayscale. The 1.65m-wide printer also enables fast changeovers between rigid and flexible materials for optimum operational efficiency.

"LED curing is a tremendous benefit since inks are cured using EFI's Cool Cure technology," says Chatelard. "This means that thinner substrates can be used, reducing material, shipping and energy. This makes it one of the most environmentally friendly flatbed printers in the market, which we believe will be important to our clients in making their buying decisions."

Chatelard adds: "The affordable, hybrid printers will complement the sheet fed capabilities of many of our commercial printing clients."

One stop shop evolution

He concludes, "The agreement continues Ricoh's commitment to offering print service providers the opportunity to evolve into a one stop shop fully supported by tried and trusted solutions and services. Adding these outstanding printers gives our clients a wider range of choices while still taking advantage of Ricoh's territory reach to support them fully no matter where they are located geographically.

On Ricoh's drupa stand, visitors will be able to see for themselves what is possible using these flatbed solutions by viewing an application wall that will feature creative samples.