Ricoh Enhances Its ProcessDirector Software and Announces the Availability of the Pro C7100

MALVERN, Pa.—July 9, 2015—Ricoh Americas has announced enhancements to its software portfolio, which customers have long relied on to help ensure accuracy, efficiency and quality in their output operations. These updates to Ricoh ProcessDirector and InfoPrint Manager address key pain points for print service providers looking to adapt to the new world of work, including those hoping to broaden their reach into new channels of communication, such as e-mail and electronic presentment.

“We work with a lot of print service providers, many of whom have been trying to make the jump to multi-channel communications,” explained John Fulena, vice president, Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh Americas. “We identified the struggles they are experiencing as they try to efficiently operate additional communication channels. For some of our customers, three times as many channels could mean three times as much work – so we see an opportunity to enhance components of our legacy workflow offerings to help make their transition as smooth as possible.”

New capabilities to Ricoh ProcessDirector are part of Ricoh’s Critical Communications solutions suite, help users achieve key objectives, including goals to:

• Cut costs, change up an approach, or meet customer demands by sending all or part of a job’s documents via e-mail. E-mailed documents can be set to dynamically pull key information into subject lines, arranging the message in the manner most useful to the reader.
• Allow users easy, secure access to their documents on their terms by setting all or part of a job’s documents to be represented in an accessible electronic format. With these electronic presentment capabilities, users can set separate versions for different audiences, such as internal help desk and external customers, with different kinds of information available.
• Engage customers via the medium they prefer by leveraging a preference management system that matches communications addressed to a customer to their expressed preferred channel, pulled from a database collected from reader responses the user gathers.
• Reduce waste and increase workspace by utilizing preset AFP forms that are dynamically filled in at time of printing, so users no longer have to store preprinted forms, many of which can go unused.
• Keep data safe while making Ricoh ProcessDirector easier to use, integrating its security system into users’ own infrastructure and allowing user accounts to be more easily managed across users’ systems.
• Pinpoint errors and learn from past successes with the ability to archive one’s entire production history.

In addition to these workflow software offerings, Ricoh has also enhanced its InfoPrint Manager solution. With its strong legacy in enabling printers to have centralized control of their print operations to improve visibility and efficiency, InfoPrint Manager now offers added support for Linux platforms, bringing the power of the enterprise output management solution to a broader range of users. Watch the video below to see how.

These enhancements continue Ricoh’s work to help its customers drive efficiencies and increase control in their output environments. For more information on how Ricoh can help your business, watch this video series.

Ricoh Americas also announced the availability of the Ricoh Pro C7100 product line, its latest addition to its production print portfolio that offers customers color printing technologies with the ability to print on textured media and custom materials. This four-color Ricoh Pro C7100 helps printers expand their portfolios further into the graphic arts market at a price point not available in today’s market for this engine class.

This new addition to the Ricoh Pro C7100 series, first announced at GRAPH EXPO 14, enables small and mid-sized printers to create more revenue streams, offer more competitive applications and produce higher volumes with fewer delays. Printers can now create output that stands out from the competition by offering oversize prints, window clings, VDP, POP displays, printing on textured media and custom materials, at an affordable price point.

“Commercial printers face the ongoing challenge of completing a growing number of complex jobs, meeting tight deadlines, and doing so affordably,” said John Fulena, vice president, Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh Americas. “We developed the Ricoh Pro C7100 series as a cost-effective solution that meets our customers’ needs without sacrificing quality. With these latest models, printers can complete their most demanding workloads, expand into new markets and execute shorter print runs to help grow their business.”

As printers look to maximize operational throughput at lowered costs, device uptime becomes critically important. With Ricoh’s Trained Customer Replaceable Units (TCRU) program, customers can replace more than a dozen parts without the aid of a technician, minimizing downtime needed for maintenance. This allows printers to focus on running their business while keeping an eye on the bottom line.

The Ricoh Pro C7100 series, available in both printer/scanner and printer only configurations, also features the following customer benefits:

• An AC-transfer system and elastic fusing belt technology to enhance output on heavily textured media such as vellum and linen;
• Speeds of up to 90 pages per minute and a maximum sheet size of 13 x 19.2, with a monthly volume of 240,000 based on A4;
• Ricoh’s new vacuum feed LCT with an option to enable oversized prints of up to 27.5 inches in length;
• Tight sheet-to-sheet registration through a mechanical registration system that squares the sheet prior to imaging and can easily be adjusted from the user interface;
• A media library that allows users to adjust and associate different parameters per substrate to help ensure IQ and reliability;
• A self-contained liquid cooling system that keeps the developer at a constant temperature and minimizes disruptions in extended production runs;
• A complete suite of optional finishing solutions that result in collated, finished documents ready for distribution with no manual intervention. This includes in-line ring bind, perfect bind, as well as new Plockmatic Bookletmakers and GBC StreamPunch Ultra;
• The ability to expand in-line finishing options with the Ricoh Peripheral Interface Port (RPIP), enabling them to produce high quality finished work at higher speeds.

About Ricoh
Ricoh is a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in about 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2015, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,231 billion yen (approx. 18.5 billion USD). The majority of the company's revenue comes from products, solutions and services that improve the interaction between people and information. Ricoh also produces award-winning digital cameras and specialized industrial products. It is known for the quality of its technology, the exceptional standard of its customer service and sustainability initiatives. Under its corporate tagline, imagine. change. Ricoh helps companies transform the way they work and harness the collective imagination of their employees.

Source: Ricoh.