Heidelberg to Sell Ricoh Digital Presses

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—Ricoh Co. and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) announced a global strategic cooperation, starting with a global distribution contract for Ricoh's Production Printing Product portfolio. This agreement enables Heidelberg to sell Ricoh's latest color digital press, the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition, as well as appropriate future production printing offerings in Ricoh's pipeline.

The global strategic cooperation, which includes Ricoh services and support, will start next month. The first markets will be the United Kingdom and Germany, with a phased rollout to follow in other geographies, with completion targeted for Drupa 2012.

Entering into a global distribution contract is the first step of the strategic partner cooperation between the companies. Their plans reportedly will include integration with Heidelberg's Prinect workflow solution, as well as joint development activities in the future.