Epson’s drive to innovate

Balesin Island, Polilio, Quezon—Success is subjective. But at the same time there are societal markers that tell you are doing something right. For Epson, you might say their success lies in the fact that they continue to gain market traction and lead in the key segments they are involved in. How are they able to do this? Through innovation.
Back in late May, the Japanese company introduced its campaign “It’s in the details,” which highlights how they approach innovation and how that has helped them achieve the success they have so far.
“What customers get from our products and solutions come from the details we put into them,” said Toshimitsu Tanaka, managing director for SEA for Epson Singapore and president & country manager for Epson Philippines. “Our obsession with details enables us to turn big ideas into reality. It also gave us the opportunity to expand our portfolio of innovative products, dedicated to making their lives simpler and easier.”

Epson has what it calls a “vertically-integrated business model” where the company is focused on developing its own core technologies, as well as manufacturing and selling its products on its own. Epson boasts of how it has control over the entire process to make sure only quality products are manufactured.
Another way the company has been able to achieve market leadership and continue to gain market traction in the enterprise and business segments is through putting all their focus on developing core technologies in four key pillars: inkjet, visual communications, wearables, and robotics.
“Epson’s obsession with details runs through everything we do. We believe that by taking care of the little details, we ensure to bring forth products developed solely from homegrown core technologies and devices,” said Eduardo Bonoan, marketing director for Epson Philippines.

Bonoan shared how for fiscal year 2017, Epson’s planned investment in research and development is at US$1.4m daily. And according to Epson research, the company has the highest number of patent applications for inkjet printers, projectors, robotics, and quartz devices.
All in the numbers
This focus in the details and on developing its own key technologies is reflected in the numbers. Epson Philippines has recorded a 20 percent average growth in the past five years. According to a report by the IDC Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, Epson has a dominant 55 percent share in the local inkjet printer market.
Meanwhile, for the projectors segment, Futuresource Consulting claims Epson has achieved 58 percent of the market share for projectors over 500 lumens and above for 2017. This is up from 55 percent in 2016.
Aside from that, Epson has been named the number one projector brand in the Philippines as well as worldwide. This position has been held by the company for 17 consecutive years in the Philippines and 13 years worldwide.
Time for tech
Aside from highlighting its wins, Epson also wanted to talk about its latest innovations. We turn our focus on four of its key markets and some of the new exciting products from these segments.
Inkjet printer: Epson Workforce Pro WF-C869R
Epson highlights three key advantages of its technologies: a promise of lower total cost of ownership, lower power consumption, and fewer maintenance parts. With its PrecisionCore Printhead, you’re promised faster print speeds, precise and quality prints, scalability, reliability, and flexibility to print on a wider range of substrates.
One of the newest Replaceable Ink Pack System printers from Epson is the Workforce Pro WF-C869R. It offers better cost per print when compared with a laser printer. It’s a multi-function 4-in-1 machine with automatic duplex printing. Your print speed is at 24ppm with first page out time pegged at six seconds. It also offers one-pass duplex scanning with speeds of 25ipm for simplex and 45ipm for duplex. You’re promised a monthly duty cycle of up to 75,000 pages and with the option to add up to four cassettes, you’re total input capacity is at 1,835 pages. You control everything from a 5-inch touchscreen LCD display. The Workforce Pro WF-C869R also supports Epson’s suite of software to make it easier to manage and maintain the machine.

 
POS printer: Epson TM-P80
Epson hopes to simplify the business to customer interaction with its point of sale printers. And one of the newest additions is the TM-P80. It’s a rugged, ultra-fast printer built specifically for retail and logistics. Epson claims the TM-P80 offers the highest printing speed in its class with up to 100mm/sec. Battery won’t be much of an issue with promised battery life of up to 40 hours on a single charge. The TM-P80 will easily work with your mobile device of choice as it’s compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows and offers support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC.

 Projector: Epson LightScene EV-100/EV-105
One of the newest projectors to come out of Epson demonstrates the company’s push for innovation. The LightScene EV-100/EV-105 is a projector-spotlight combo that is capable of turning any surface into a screen. It can project in big spaces and utilize multiple projectors to create one big image (with edge blending, that’s possible). It also offers 360-degree angle for both portrait and vertical viewing. With its spotlight-style design, this easily blends into retail spaces, hotels, museums, and the like. Epson promises there is no visual noise nor light leakage. Other features include scheduled or direct playback of content, customizable lighting effects, and your choice of installation (from direct mount, to floor mount, to 360-degree free angle).

 Digital textile printer: Epson SureColor F2130
Epson has been making strides in the digital textile market as well. Last year, Epson Philippines worked with designer John Herrera to digitally print his Spring/Summer 2018 collection, which helped demonstrate to the public what its digital textile printers can do. Like it has done with its other businesses, Epson promises its machines simplify the digital textile process with guaranteed quick delivery, short run prints, and more sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices. Designers are also given more creative freedom as the patterns printed on its printers aren’t repetitive or constrained by the limitations of traditional textile printing technology.
One of Epson’s newest printers is the direct-to-garment SureColor F2130 printer. The benefits of this type of printer is it works directly with 100 percent cotton t-shirts, sweatshirts, and bags. You can print any design you’d want. This was demonstrated to us in Balesin and it took less than half an hour to have a printed shirt ready for wearing. The SureColor F2130 comes with new features and technologies like a white ink filter and multi-dot print mode. Of course, it uses Precision Core TFP printhead and has UltraChrome DG ink. Epson also offers optional interchangeable platens.

These new products demonstrate how Epson continues to play to its strengths to make sure its customers get the best time after time and we expect this to continue on many years down the line.