Visitors to Ricoh’s booth are invited to an immersive, interactive experience of the future of production print and customer communications

Chicago, Ill. (PRINT 18, Booth #3011) – Ricoh USA, Inc. today announced its plans for PRINT 18, showcasing the company’s unmatched commitment to making impactful, strategic investments in the people, processes and technologies that help printers grow their businesses. At PRINT 18, Ricoh will feature an immersive and interactive experience that features real-world applications in a real-world setting – in its retail shop, Eyes & Tees, and throughout its booth – that empower printers to achieve graphic greatness, put growth in motion and broaden revenue streams. These innovations, including six Red Hot Technology award winners, will be on full display at PRINT 18, September 30 to October 2 in booth 3011.

“We talk a lot about how much we listen to our customers to learn about their real-world needs, and how our portfolio is strategically built to reflect what we hear from them. At PRINT 18, attendees will see exactly how, in the real-world, we’re delivering,” said John Fulena, Vice President, Commercial & Industrial Printing Business Group, Ricoh USA, Inc. “We want to make it clear to customers: Our focus is on your success. Understanding and addressing customer challenges is how we stay on top of our business, and it’s how we help push the industry forward. It’s our goal each and every day.”

This year’s booth will serve as an informational hub showcasing the many ways Ricoh delivers the kind of innovative, effective applications that help customers stand out, secure business and grow.

A prime example of this is Ricoh’s commitment to educating through innovation. Three industry advocates will be in Booth 3011 throughout PRINT 18 to offer free, signed copies of their augmented reality (AR) enhanced books, made possible by Ricoh’s award winning Clickable Paper technology. Clickable Paper bridges the offline-online gap, offering immersive, interactive brand experiences via an intuitive interface that doesn’t require special markings on the page itself. They are:

- “The 25 Best Print Sales Tips Ever.” On Sunday at 1pm CT and Monday at 11am CT, Bill Farquharson will be available to sign his newly clickable book in Ricoh’s booth.

- “Introduction to Graphic Communication, Second Edition.” On Sunday at 3pm CT and Monday at 2pm CT, visitors can get clickable copies of the world’s first clickable book signed by authors Dr. Harvey Levenson and John Parsons.

Ricoh will debut two new offerings to enhance overall print operations, both delivered via Ricoh’s secured, cloud-hosted applications platform, offering instant upgradability and convenient, subscription-based pricing:

- RICOH Communications Manager, the award-winning scalable, secured, cloud-hosted platform, equips printers with a centralized, standardized access point into multiple enterprise customers’ communications and surrounding information. This software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform empowers users to easily control, manage and report on digital delivery and print production channels from one central hub, with unprecedented visibility into ongoing campaigns.

- RICOH Supervisor, the award-winning cloud-hosted, vendor-agnostic solution, empowers printers to accurately and quickly gather high-value data from across their operation to increase profitability and productivity. Scalable and secured, this offering collects, sorts and analyzes data from Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints and presents it in visual, intuitive, informative dashboards.

Ricoh Consulting Services, a dedicated services team focused on customer success that works closely with printers to tailor solutions to their needs, will also be in Booth 3011. Team members will be available on-site to answer questions and engage with attendees to understand how Ricoh can better serve and grow with them.

Ricoh’s digital presses are empowering printers to achieve graphic greatness at PRINT 18 through breathtaking color gamut, impressive substrate flexibility and best-in-class affordability:

- The award-winning RICOH Pro C7210X Graphic Arts Edition five-color digital press brings best-in-class price performance and predictability to the most demanding production print environments. Boasting in-line sensors and calibration along with expanded 5th color capabilities, this 95 ppm sheet-fed device aids better front-to-back registration and color consistency without the need for lengthy specialized training. Able to print on paper lengths up to 49.6 inches and weights up to 360 gsm, the C7210X prints faster and more accurately than its predecessor while offering even greater media flexibility. Eye-catching toners – including white, clear, neon yellow, neon pink, and Invisible Red options for the fifth color station – provide an incredible pop on a variety of media, including textured and synthetic substrates.

- The award-winning RICOH Pro C9200 Graphic Arts Edition, a 135 ppm sheet-fed press, offers printers a competitive edge, printing on stocks up to 49 inches long (40 inches auto-duplex) and 470 gsm. The C9200 delivers gorgeous color and impressive media flexibility at high volumes. The press also sets a new standard for best-in-class price performance in its category. In addition to impressive speed, image quality and substrate flexibility, this press provides an affordable, predictable way for businesses to maximize revenue, thanks to its uptime and reliability.

Put growth in motion by taking a first look at the inkjet system that delivers offset quality, media choices and speed to digital printers:

- The life-size, interactive RICOH Pro VC70000 experience in Booth 3011, will give attendees the chance to take a look “inside” of the platform. The award-winning VC70000 accelerates the transfer of offset print volumes to digital by delivering the production of quality applications traditionally expected from offset, such as high-end catalogs and magazines, with inkjet’s signature affordability and speed. The platform prints at speeds up to 492 ft/min, producing nearly 130,000 A4/letter impressions per hour. It leverages the industry's most popular and advanced piezo drop-on-demand printheads at up to 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution on uncoated, offset-coated, inkjet treated or inkjet-coated papers. The VC70000 brings with it a new set of Ricoh-developed inks and Ricoh-patented dryer technology to further ease the offset transition. The innovative technology creates drying capacity within the press itself, helping to minimize overall footprint without impacting print quality.

Ricoh’s commitment to helping customers broaden revenue streams will also be on display at PRINT 18, including:

- The EFI Pro 16h LED Wide Format Printer is a versatile hybrid printer that serves flatbed and roll-fed workflows, delivering ultimate high-definition imaging for a broad range of wide format applications. Users can print four-color applications plus white on an extended range of flexible and rigid substrates with saturated colors and smooth gradations. Production-level output speeds yield maximum productivity, while LED technology reduces operating costs and lowers environmental footprint.

Beyond the booth, Lawrence Chou, President and CEO of MGX Copy, a Ricoh customer, will speak to “Using Data Driven Management to Run Your Business” Sunday, September 30, at noon in Room S104ab. 

Additionally, Ricoh is continuing its sponsorship of and participation in the ever-popular Printerverse at PRINT 18. You can find Ricoh’s experts sharing insights on these Printerverse panels.

For more information on Ricoh at PRINT 18, visit www.TakeALookAtRicoh.com or follow along and engage on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter using #LookAtRicoh.