Ricoh Company, Ltd, Toshiba Tec Corporation and Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd, have announced that ETRIA, a joint venture company formed on 1 July 2024 to integrate Ricoh and Toshiba Tec’s multifunction printers (MFPs) development and manufacturing, will welcome a new partner, OKI.
ETRIA aims to become the leading manufacturing company by combining the development and production technologies of like-minded companies, optimising everything from product planning and development to procurement and production of raw materials and parts. As a manufacturing company that is agile to change, ETRIA will energise manufacturing in Japan. With OKI’s participation, ETRIA will strengthen its ability to respond to environmental changes and achieve the following:
- Strengthen development capabilities of engines, the internal mechanism of MFPs and printers
- Leverage OKI’s LED head technology to develop compact/resource and energy-saving products
- Accelerate cost reduction through commonisation – common use of ETRIA’s key parts and materials
- Acquire technologies and commercial materials for new business creation – synergy between ETRIA’s Auto-ID and OKI’s LED colour label printer businesses
- Establish a resilient production system – leverage OKI’s production site in Thailand.
Under its Mission and Vision of Fulfillment through Work, Ricoh is committed to transitioning into a digital services company, aiming for sustainable growth and further development. Through ETRIA, Ricoh will realise new business creation by offering competitive products in the printing field, further expanding supply sources, and integrating technologies and expertise.
Toshiba Tec aims to become a global top solutions partner, as a platformer that co-creates new value and solutions to social issues with customers and partners, by practicing its Corporate Philosophy: Creating with You. The participation of OKI in ETRIA is expected to enhance development capability through LED print head technology acquisition, increase profitability through commonisation of engines and key parts, acquire technologies and products for new business creation, and achieve production capacity expansion in the Asian region. As a partner company of ETRIA, Toshiba Tec will step up its efforts to contribute to supporting digital transformation of customers’ offices and frontlines and solving social issues.
OKI’s Corporate Philosophy, true to the company’s “enterprising spirit,” is to commit in creating superior network solutions and providing excellent information and communications services globally to meet the diversified needs of communities worldwide in the information age. By joining ETRIA, OKI will improve product competitiveness by accelerating technology integration, including LED print head technology and enhancing engine development. Also, through commonsation of engines and key parts and improved efficiency of production and procurement, OKI aims to increase profitability and resilient production system to respond to environmental changes. In terms of new business creation, OKI expects innovation creation, which was not possible by OKI alone.
Moving forward, competitive, high quality, high value-added products manufactured by ETRIA will be offered for the global market as Ricoh, Toshiba Tec and OKI brands. Through each sales channel, each company will provide solutions combined with various software and services and contribute to improving productivity through digitisation and workflow improvement tailored to the needs of each customer’s business by leveraging their customer base and strengths.
