The company has ambitious plans for the future as it kicks off its joint venture with Ricoh.
On May 23, Toshiba Tec’s President, Hironobu Nishikori, held a briefing on the company’s 2024 fiscal year management policy and announced the mid-term management plan for 2024–2026. When Nishikori took office in fiscal year 2020, the world was in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a 5.5 billion yen operating loss in the workplace business. However, restructuring efforts, including establishing a joint venture with Ricoh and transferring the inkjet business to RISO, resulted in operating profits of 1 billion yen in 2021, 6.9 billion yen in 2022, and 13.6 billion yen in 2023.
In its 2024 mid-term management plan, Toshiba Tec aims to achieve an operating profit of 10 billion yen (operating profit margin of 4.3%) in the workplace business in 2024, 11 billion yen (5.1%) in 2025, and 13 billion yen (6.0%) in 2026. Key strategies for strengthening profitability include establishing a development and production joint venture with Ricoh and offering office solutions. The joint venture company ETRIA is set to be established in July 2024, enhancing cost competitiveness through what the company described as industry leading production scale and mitigating geopolitical risks.
The companies will also focus on developing competitive devices and strengthening regulatory compliance capabilities (safety and environmental standards) through industry leading development capabilities. The synergy between the two companies is expected to create new value. ETRIA will develop and manufacture multifunction printers with a common engine to reduce costs, but each company’s controller will be used, resulting in different products sold through separate sales channels.
Additionally, Toshiba Tec plans to accelerate growth in the workplace business by providing office and field solutions. In offices, the company will enhance MPS and document management systems using various storage solutions, and ECM/WF (workflow integration). In the field, it aims to upgrade manual labeling with barcode/RFID printers for automated labeling, with the goal of building a total office-field integrated solution.
Toshiba Tec President Hironobu Nishikori.
President Nishikori emphasized, “Toshiba Tec will accelerate the integration of RFID technology to transform business operations, production methods, and warehouse management.”
Recent and Future Innovation at Toshiba Tec
Last October, Toshiba Tec launched the industry’s first color multifunction printer, the e-STUDIO4525AC RFID, capable of simultaneous A3 color printing and RFID data writing. This multifunction printer can print in color and write RFID data on A3 or A4 paper embedded with RFID tags, automating item management with RFID data and allowing accurate reading of item information by humans through color printing. This product accelerates the fusion of multifunction printer technology developed in the office field and RFID technology developed in the retail field. Nishikori expressed the desire to deliver seamless solutions from manufacturing sites to store backrooms.
Toshiba Tec also plans to expand its customer base in the distribution and retail industries, cultivated through a strong retail business, integrating data from sales management, payment processors, logistics, advertising, manufacturers, and wholesalers to enhance and utilize data value for improving profitability. The two key strategies are vertical integration across industries and establishing an ecosystem through consortium activities.
To achieve a connected world across all areas of the value chain, Toshiba Tec plans to establish a new company in October 2024 to develop AI and AI platforms. The new business projects sales of 85.4 billion yen and an operating profit of 14.9 billion yen in fiscal year 2026. By adding high-profit services and software, Toshiba Tec expects to expand the business scale, targeting sales of 165.4 billion yen and operating profit of 34 billion yen by fiscal year 2030.
“Toshiba Tec aims to be a ‘global top solution partner’ by 2030 and, by 2050, its 100th anniversary, to blossom further, solving social issues and contributing to society,” said Nishikori.
