Canon and Océ: Stronger Together How Customers Will Reap the Benefits
Canon and Océ have been uniting their operations since Canon announced the takeover in 2009. This unification took place on January 1, 2013 with the formation of the Canon Solutions America, Inc., which reports into Canon U.S.A. Canon Solutions America has three distinct divisions:
- Enterprise Services and Solutions (ESS)
- Large Format Solutions (LFS)
- Production Printing Solutions (PPS)
Mal Baboyian assumed the role of Executive Vice President for Canon Solutions America responsible for Production Printing Solutions and Large Format Solutions Groups. He elaborated on the integration of Océ and Canon as it relates to existing Océ Production Printing customers. “While Océ’s company name changed to Canon Solutions America, and Océ Production Printing became Production Printing Solutions, everything else associated with the Océ production customer experience will be largely unchanged. The products will continue to be branded Océ based on our long-term reputation for quality and service. The organizations are currently cross-selling cutsheet product lines. Our division focus will expand to include supporting the operation in Canada and Mexico.”
Mal Baboyian continued, “Canon and Océ are stronger together. The combination makes it possible to work even more effectively in collaboration with customers who, like us, are dedicated to improving marketing communications solutions and services for their customers.” With more than 30 years of sales and executive experience at Océ, Mal has been instrumental in transforming the company into a market leader. With hands-on experience on the front line, Baboyian will continue to lead Production Printing Solutions division with a strong customer-driven perspective and a thorough understanding of the overall document imaging market and industry.
According to Baboyian, customers will reap the biggest benefits from the Canon/Océ merger. He highlighted five key areas in which these benefits will be seen:
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The merger will deliver technological benefits because the organizations are building on each other's innovations and sharing the cost of research. Océ is a market leader in continuous feed, high-volume, and wide format printers. Canon, ten times the size of Océ, is strong in office printers. Baboyian elaborated, “Canon has an entrepreneurial culture for funding new developments. Our customers are seeing R&D projects leveraging both Océ and Canon technology. As an example at drupa, the organization launched a co-developed high-capacity stacker that extends the finishing range of the Canon imagePRESS® C7010VPS and the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP.”
SERVICE
Océ has strong knowledge of the production printing market as well as the requirements for mission-critical application service levels. Baboyian explained, “We have a two-hour response time and 24/7 service. Our system for servicing our customers is extremely responsive, and it is standard for the environments in which we play to expect this kind of service. We average 98% uptime in our continuous feed operation. This same philosophy will go into the cutsheet production mentality, and Canon production customers will benefit from this philosophy.”
WORKFLOW
Software has always been a critical part of Océ’s solutions. According to Baboyian, “The Canon line will benefit from the Océ PRISMA® workflow software for on-demand printing environments. The software will help print-for-pay environments and in-plants to sustain a competitive edge and support a multitude of applications, generated on a wide range of platforms, using an equally wide range of composition tools. This means handling new job types in shorter run lengths with the ability to support converging offset and variable data applications.”
CUSTOMER FOCUS
Baboyian stated, “Customers need a partner who understands their unique business needs, applications, and workflow to help them streamline their operations, identify new revenue streams, and build customer loyalty. There will be no change in our strategy and approach for providing best in class implementation professional services for production customers through our teams of systems engineers and analyst resources.”
FINANCING
Baboyian noted, “Canon clearly brings financial strength to Océ. Access to Canon Financial Services, Inc. – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A. – for financing and leasing of commercial equipment will simplify equipment sales and acquisitions for existing Océ customers.”
The bottom line is that completing the integration of Océ into Canon is a win-win situation for the two companies as well as customers and prospects. Baboyian concluded, “It means that we will be able to offer better products, service, support, software, and financing. We will keep the promise we offer all of our customers – old and new – a spirit of collaboration and focused customer service and support that is our hallmark.”