This Week in Imaging: ETRIA Partnership Expanding

This week’s most interesting news was that addition of OKI to Ricoh and Toshiba Tec’s ETRIA joint partnership, with Ricoh the majority owner (about 80 percent) of ETRIA. The inclusion of OKI will feature leveraging OKI’s production site in Thailand and its LED-based print-head technology.

The aim of ETRIA – with all of the associated companies based in Japan – is to take on the participating companies’ development and manufacture of office MFPs to reduce costs and improve supply-chain stability. That’s done through common use of key parts and materials, and through reducing procurement and production costs by leveraging economies of scale. ETRIA, which opened its doors on July 1, 2024, also says it will expand new business areas for the companies by integrating each company’s technologies and expertise.

It’s still early to see if ETRIA has boosted any of the partners, but in its latest financial report, Ricoh attributed a boost in its MFP production and sales to ETRIA.

Overall, by joining together, the ETRIA partnership seems like a no-brainer for improving companies’ MFP development and production – stabilizing their  production to ensure consistent supply, and creating economies of scale to reduce cost. We wouldn’t be surprised if other companies join in the future.

This Week in Imaging

Partnerships

Toshiba Tec and Ricoh Welcome OKI to Joint MFP Manufacturing Partnership

Financial News

Profit Down for Ricoh’s Nine-Month Period, But Up Sharply in Third Quarter

Sharp Reports Big Jump in Operating Profit, Increases Forecast

Office Printers and MFPs

New Kyocera A4 ECOSYS Models with Long-Life Consumables, Cloud Connectivity

Other News

Epson Announces Next-Gen PaperLab A-1800

Konica Minolta Wins First Place in Brand Loyalty for 18th Consecutive Year

Pantum Marks Production of 18 Millionth Printer