Is Avanti the Start of More Ricoh Acquisitions?
By Pat McGrew
Ricoh announced on January 18th that they had taken their strategic investment into Avanti Computer Systems to the next step by acquiring the company. The acquisition is not a surprise for those that have been watching the workflow story develop at Ricoh. The company acquired MarcomCentral (formerly known as PTI Marketing Technologies Inc.) in 2014 and expanded its software partnerships in recent years.
Avanti is best known as the provider of the Avanti Slingshot print management information system (MIS) targeted to exactly the types of print shops where Ricoh finds success for their Pro C product lines. With Slingshot, Ricoh now has a JDF-certified Print MIS that can be on premise or cloud-based. Its modular, open platform lays the groundwork for integration with other Ricoh software solutions. The platform also provides the ability to distribute business intelligence, plan production and integrate into fulfillment and logistics. For Avanti, they now have the resources of Ricoh to support expansion into Europe and then worldwide.
From the workflow perspective, this acquisition gives Ricoh a tested, mature print MIS. Coupled with the MarcomCentral acquisition and their growing professional services offerings, Ricoh is better positioned to grow their commercial customer base and become more deeply entrenched with the mix of customers they support today. This graphic from the Avanti web page illustrates the modular nature of Avanti’s solution and, as important, the partners that connect into it.
Avantiverse
Both companies have stated that the acquisition does not change any existing partnerships, but does this acquisition open the door to some other partnerships for Ricoh? Avanti has a slate of automation partners, including Ricoh competitors Xerox, HP, Esko, EFI, CREO, Aleyant, Konica Minolta, Agfa, Fujifilm and Kodak. Aleyant gives them a path to large format automation with a refined set of prepress tools. Esko opens doors into packaging.
The big question is if this is the slow continuation of an acquisition spree for Ricoh. Avanti makes Ricoh one of the few digital printer vendors who can claim a viable commercial print MIS product in their software tool kit. That gives them a strong foundation to move deeper into the general commercial print market with both their color toner and color inkjet products.
While it will take some time for Ricoh to fully integrate the power of the Avanti solutions into their workflow talk track, it is hard to believe that this is the last stop on the acquisition path Ricoh has been following.
piworld.com
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Ricoh to Acquire AnaJet, a Leader in Direct to Garment Printers Purchase Echoes Ricoh's Commitment to Empower Global Customers to Bring New Value to Their Markets
Jan 08, 2016, 09:31 ET from Ricoh Company, Ltd.
TOKYO, Jan. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricoh Company, Ltd. today announced that the company has reached an agreement to buy AnaJet, the leader in direct to garment (DTG) printing. This acquisition is the latest strategic investment by Ricoh to strengthen its industrial inkjet business while enabling its customers to move forward new ideas and drive imaginative thinking. Located in the U.S., AnaJet will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh Printing Systems America, Inc.
Founded in 2006, AnaJet was one of the first companies in the world to mass produce DTG printers. Today, the company is a global market leader in the DTG industry. The majority of AnaJet products available today leverage Ricoh's market-leading inkjet printheads.
Ricoh's experience has focused on office and commercial print technologies. The addition of the AnaJet portfolio will help Ricoh further its position in the industrial inkjet market, a market where Ricoh maintains global leadership in inkjet printhead development. With AnaJet's solutions combined with the broad Ricoh portfolio, customers will now have the ability to more effectively deliver a broader solution set to their end users.
"Ricoh has a long history of successful, strategic acquisitions that have helped our customers and partners around the world find new, effective ways to better serve their end users," said Junichi Matsuno, General Manager, Inkjet Business Division, Ricoh Company, Ltd. "With the addition of AnaJet, our collective customers benefit from a larger support team, added innovation and access to a services-led portfolio of solutions to ultimately help them grow their business. AnaJet already possesses a proven reputation as a leader in DTG printing and as such, it is a great complement to Ricoh's broad portfolio."
"At AnaJet, we have led the industry in establishing the trend of direct to garment printing," said Karl Tipre, CEO of AnaJet. "Today we are very pleased to announce that this acquisition will provide our expanding customer base with the services of yet another global leader in Ricoh. We are extremely excited for what lies ahead for the AnaJet brand and our customers."
AnaJet will continue to operate under its current name, management team and capabilities, which currently include more than 50 employees and is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California.
| About Ricoh |
Ricoh is a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in about 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2015, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,231 billion yen (approx. 18.5 billion USD).
The majority of the company's revenue comes from products, solutions and services that improve the interaction between people and information. Ricoh also produces award-winning digital cameras and specialized industrial products. It is known for the quality of its technology, the exceptional standard of its customer service and sustainability initiatives.
Under its corporate tagline, imagine. change. Ricoh helps companies transform the way they work and harness the collective imagination of their employees.
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