Epson Disrupts Business Printing With Cost-Slashing RIPS Technology

Epson announced the successful completion of 25 years of its operations in India. Speaking to the press on this occasion Mr. Minoru Usui – President of Seiko Epson Corporation, Japan announced the company’s entry into the copier segment with the launch of the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-R8591 and WF- R5691.

Usui said that Epson’s research a few years ago had indicated that consumers wanted the freedom to print, without having to worry about high ink costs, the inconvenience of replacing cartridges and the environmental impact of laser printers. Consumers around the world, including India, had been limiting their printing requirements to cut costs. Epson felt printers therefore, had to address these issues to be truly accepted. Because of Epson’s unique Micro Piezo printing technology, Epson was able to tackle this issue and were able to create InkTank printers a few years ago. Based on this technology, Epson have succeeded in eliminating the expense and inconvenience of ink cartridges for consumers.

Launched in 2011, Epson’s refillable InkTank printers have been a runaway success. They have challenged the perception that laser printers offer the most economic printing solution. A continuous focus on creating customer value has helped Epson gain huge market acceptance within a short period. In FY2014-15, Epson’s value market share for inkjet printers in India was 51%*, making it the No. 1 Inkjet printer brand in India. Since the launch of InkTank Printers in 2011, Epson has sold close to one million printers in India.

Now, according to Epson, the new Workforce RIPS printers represent yet another breakthrough business model. One that is going to completely disrupt the world of office printing. The Epson WorkForce Pro RIPS series utilize high capacity Replaceable Ink Pack Systems (RIPS) that can hold a far higher volume of ink compared to traditional ink cartridges. The system provides the ease-of-use of a cartridge-based system, combined with the high volume printing of an ink tank system. This new series of Epson printers exploit the reliability and extreme performance of the printer’s proprietary new Precision Core print head.

The Workforce RIPS printers can provide enough ink to print up to 75,000 A4 pages of Black and Color. That is enough for years of uninterrupted printing in a business environment without having to change cartridges. In addition, Workforce RIPS printers offer the lowest print cost in this category of 30 Paise for B&W and 75 Paise for Colour, and an amazingly low energy consumption of just 40Watts.

Epson claims this new system gives business owners and corporates the freedom to print without worrying about the cost or physical waste, but while retaining the quality, speed, versatile paper handling capability and more importantly the reliability for which Epson has become famous

Speaking on the occasion Minoru Usui said “At Epson we are focused on creating products that exceed the expectations of our customers. Our aim in India and around the world is to become a company that is truly indispensable to our customers and I believe RIPS is one way in which we will achieve that. Our unique technology offers significant benefits to office and professional customers in terms of cost, productivity and the environment. Based on our industrial grade PrecisionCore technology, I believe we have the potential to shift office printing from laser to inkjet, and this is one step in that direction. Ultimately when it comes to printing, my overall aim is simply “everything printed by Epson.”