PRINT.IT
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DOCUMENT WORKFLOW
In November, OKI employees
from across the EMEA region
came together in Athens to
celebrate the establishment of the
company’s first European office in
1984 in Dusseldorf, Germany and
to relive 30 years of innovation,
including the launch of Europe’s
first LED printer in 1989.
Today, the company has offices in
23 European countries and operates
in 60 countries within EMEA.
At the event, Terry Kawashima,
managing director, OKI Europe Ltd,
said: “We are incredibly proud of
OKI’s significant contribution to the
EMEA printer market over the last
30 years and the major product
breakthroughs we have achieved. Our
continued roadmap of innovation and
strong European partner links have
been fundamental to our success and
will doubtless help us to accomplish
our vision for future growth.”
By the late 1980s, robust and
stable serial impact dot matrix
(SIDM) printers were still the most
widely used print technology.
However, there was also a growing
need for fast, quiet, high-
quality printers for a new
generation of office PC
users. In 1989, to meet this
need Oki launched the first
LED desktop office printers –
the OL400 and OL800.
In 1990, the acquisition
of Technitron, one of the
biggest European multi-
national distributors, proved
to be a defining moment for
the EMEA organisation, creating a
network of sales offices throughout
Europe, driving business growth
in the region and building the
foundations of OKI Europe today.
With it, the OKI Europe group
expanded its geographical coverage
beyond Germany to Technitron
sales subsidiaries in an additional
seven countries – the UK, Ireland,
the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway,
Sweden and Italy – tripling printer
sales in the region.
Other significant milestones in OKI
Europe’s 30-year history include:
• 1995:
The OKIPage 4w, the world’s
smallest printer with a footprint the
size of a piece of A4 paper.
• 1998:
The OKIPage 8c, OKI’s
first digital LED colour printer with
print speeds two times faster than
competitors.
• 1999:
OKIFAX5750/5950, the
world’s first real-time internet fax.
• 2003:
OKI C5000 Series, a ground-
breaking portfolio of small workgroup
colour printers.
• 2004:
OKI C3000 Series, bringing
fast, affordable desktop colour to
European users.
• 2005:
C5500 MFP, the world’s first
A4 colour MFP.
• 2006:
C8600, Europe’s smallest
and most affordable A3 colour page
printer at half the size and half the
price of its competitors.
• 2009:
OKI Europe introduces the
industry’s first standard three-year
warranty.
• 2012:
C711WT and C920WT, the
world’s first digital LED White Toner
Printers.
• 2013:
ES9541, the industry’s
first digital LED 5 colour A3 Printer
is launched, followed by the OKI
MB700/MC700 with embedded
open platform for improved document
management and Smart Managed
Document Solutions, OKI Europe’s
MPS programme.
• 2014:
Launch of the Shinrai
Partner Programme, OKI’s first pan-
European partner programme.
“OKI has a fantastic heritage of
product innovation,” said Kawashima.
“We have always placed the customer
at the forefront of our innovations
and developed technology to address
issues they may not realise they
even had. Our latest white toner LED
printers and 5 colour printer – the
ES9541 – are recent examples
of how we continue to exceed
customers’ expectations.
“Over the past 30 years, OKI
Europe’s dedicated team, along
with our strong partner network of
distributors and resellers, has helped
the business overcome some tough
challenges and grow to become a
market leader. The fact that they
have continued to drive OKI’s product
innovations has been key to our
ongoing success.”
For further information on OKI
Europe’s 30 years of innovation,
please visit
.
com/30Years-Innovation
.
OKI employees came together in Athens in
November to celebrate the company’s first
30 years in Europe
OKI celebrates
30 Years in Europe
Data Capture Solutions was
chosen for the implementation
partly because it is a Kofax platinum
partner and partly because
Nottinghamshire County Council,
which has a policy to reduce supplier
numbers, already uses Neopost for
mailroom services.
Data Capture Solutions provided
IT project management services;
handled the upgrade from Kofax
Capture 9 to 10 and migration from
legacy Microsoft Windows XP to
Windows 7; supported the Kodak
scanner selection and installation;
implemented new production and
disaster recovery servers; and is
delivering ongoing service and
support for Kofax software. The
scanners themselves are being
supported by Kodak Alaris.
kodakalaris.com/go/dinews
...OKI’s
strong
partner
network of
distributors
and resellers
has helped
the business
overcome
some tough
challenges...
