Manufacturing Magazine March 2016 | Page 11

HEADLINE INKJET HEADLINES REQUIRED areas , and in-fill with additional devices . I see a more comprehensive portfolio , followed by expanding the services organisation in Telford , UK , and then the rest of Europe .”
Williams says that the growth of AM is constrained by suppliers not having the support infrastructure boasted by Ricoh , holding up the manufacturing process . He sees a broader use of Ricoh ’ s system , he says : “ This will allow the market to develop . The commercial growth in this business proves that huge development is possible . It will be very interesting to see that .”
The company believes that what sets Ricoh apart is its ability to support its devices . In Europe , it has 6,000 staff members committed to the service of its products , from call tracking , service calls , and despatch , to remote sensing of devices : “ These are the things that differentiate us from competitors . Over a million of our printers are under service contract in Europe , and they need support . Then there is another tier which supports commercial print devices because that environment is very intensive on the use of colour technology and speed ; even the terminology is different . Other businesses in this industry tend not to have the same infrastructure as us . Part of our value is in better utilisation of that infrastructure .”
Ricoh ’ s European branch has two large distribution centres in the Netherlands ; one for parts and
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