Canon, Fujifilm, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh report strong year-over-year growth in this segment.
Although the sale and use of office digital MFPs have been sluggish due to the global trend toward paperless offices, the sale and use of production printers continue to grow. From April to June 2024, the leading production print OEMs—Canon, Fujifilm, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh—recorded higher performance compared to the same period last year. This momentum is expected to continue through the remainder of fiscal year 2024. Although the production printer market also is affected by paperless trends, the shift from analog to digital commercial printers is driving growth in the production print sector.
Production Print OEMs’ Financials
Let’s examine the performance of each company’s production printing business based on their quarterly earnings reports and presentation materials.
Canon
Canon’s production print sales from April to June 2024 reached 111.2 billion yen, a 14.9% year-over-year increase. However, this includes a significant impact from the yen’s depreciation this year; the growth in local currency terms is 2.7%. Canon sees a steady shift from analog to digital in the commercial printing market, with growth expected to continue at an annual rate of around 5%. Canon’s forecast for production printing sales in 2024 is 443.2 billion yen, a 10.4% increase year-over-year, with local currency growth projected at 2.0%.
In the production print business, from April to June 2024, continuous-feed printers like the ColorStream and large-format printers like the Colorado M showed strong sales, as did three models from the cut-sheet imagePRESS V series. Additionally, Canon exceeded its order targets at drupa 2024 this past spring, which was expected to contribute to sales after July, and they foresee continuing stable growth. The growth rate of production printer hardware and non-hardware sales for April to June 2024, compared to the previous year, is 19% for hardware and 13% for non-hardware in yen terms, and 6% and 1%, respectively, in local currency terms.
Fujifilm
In Fujifilm’s Graphic Communication business, growth in the sale of printing plate materials, especially in North America and China, along with increased sales of production printers in the digital printing sector for Europe and the United States, as well as inkjet head sales, contributed to an April to June 2024 sales figure of 82.4 billion yen, a 9.4% year-over-year increase. At drupa 2024, Fujifilm introduced various solutions, from offset to digital printing and workflow-related DX solutions.
Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta’s Professional Print business recorded sales of 67.6 billion yen from April to June 2024, a 12.4% year-over-year increase. Within the company’s professional print business, production printing sales were 42.2 billion yen (an 11.9% increase year-over-year), industrial printing sales were 8.4 billion yen (a 9.1% increase), and marketing services sales were 17.1 billion yen (a 15.5% increase). Excluding the impact of the yen’s depreciation, the year-over-year sales growth rate was 1%.
Although Konica Minolta’s production printing unit had year-over-year growth, sales volume for color machines was at 95%, monochrome machines at 88%, and overall sales at 93%, with hardware sales benefiting from the yen’s depreciation. Sales of Konica Minolta’s heavy production print machines, a key product segment for the company, grew by 152% year-over-year. Non-hardware items, such as consumables and services, increased by 13% year-over-year. Regionally, although print volumes in Europe decreased due to economic stagnation, demand increased in the United States, India, and China.
The company’s industrial printing unit saw increased sales of the AccurioJet KM-1e inkjet printer, while non-hardware sales increased due to growing demand for digital printing in packaging, labels, and textiles. The marketing services unit benefited from increased promotional activity among major U.S. and Asian customers, with the print procurement support business and on-demand printing showing year-over-year growth. At drupa 2024, Konica Minolta attracted attention with the AccurioJet 60000 (KM-1 series), AlphaJET (MGI), and AccurioLabel, resulting in over 200 contracts signed during the event.
Ricoh
Ricoh’s Graphic Communications business recorded sales of 69.1 billion yen from April to June 2024, a 22.2% year-over-year increase. Within this increase, commercial printing sales were 58.3 billion yen (a 12.3% increase), and industrial printing sales were 10.8 billion yen (a 25.6% increase). The growth in commercial printing was driven by continued sales growth of production printers. Hardware sales increased across all regions, while non-hardware sales grew primarily in Europe and the United States. The year-over-year growth rate (in yen) from April to June 2024 was 32% for hardware and 16% for non-hardware, with local currency growth rates of 18% and 4%, respectively.
Regionally, the Americas showed the most growth, with a 24% increase in yen and 9% in local currency. Europe also showed significant growth, with 20% in yen and 7% in local currency. Japan experienced smaller growth at 4%.
Industrial printing sales continued to grow, driven by increasing demand in China for inkjet heads. Ricoh’s Graphic Communications business forecasts annual sales of 284 billion yen for 2024, an 8.4% year-over-year increase. The 2024 sales volume growth target for commercial printing is 25% for high-end color cut-sheet printers and 90% for high-speed inkjet printers.
Ricoh had a successful drupa 2024, including orders for over 200 units of the RICOH Pro C7500/9500 series.
