"RICOH shared its Digital Micro Factory (DMF) concept workflow at the 19th International Textile Industry Exhibition (ShanghaiTex 2019), held from November 25-28 at the Shanghai Expo Center. Ramp up-RICOH’s partnership by Universal Platform was officially launched at the M2 Conference Hall on Nov 26 with a ceremony and press conference marking the new alliance and its fashion manufacturers"
RICOH shared its Digital Micro Factory (DMF) concept workflow at the 19th International Textile Industry Exhibition (ShanghaiTex 2019), held from November 25-28 at the Shanghai Expo Center. Ramp up-RICOH’s partnership by Universal Platform was officially launched at the M2 Conference Hall on Nov 26 with a ceremony and press conference marking the new alliance and its fashion manufacturers. Tetsuya Morita, Corporate Vice President of Ricoh Co and General Manager of Industrial Printing, Koji Miyao, Chairman and General Manager of Ricoh China Co and others of the Ricoh Group maintained a unified presence throughout the exhibition and conference.
Koji Miyao said Ricoh aims to expand its China business into a core market, as Europe and the Americas, following impetus from this year's China International Import Expo and 83 years of comprehensive market deployment. The Ricoh Group would continue to develop technologies and experience in Commercial Printing, but incorporating sustainable development and opening greater possibilities in Industrial Printing, with comprehensive and new, innovative technologies.
Tetsuya Morita, General Manager of Industrial Printing, announced that digital micro-factory DMF, a very important concept to the Group, and RAMP-UP the apparel consortium had officially launched, answering to social issues in the future such as environmentalism and safety within the apparel ecosystem. Ricoh would strive to create an open global business environment, so as to push forward social problems such as water pollution, electricity consumption and excess inventory, maintaining a comfortable and safe living environment, a common issue for all human beings.
Morita elaborated the proof of concept and the positive steps to be taken in testing from the first and second quarter 2020, with details on the company's website. His next remarks were given to the Ricoh Group's unremitting contribution to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) advocated by the United Nations, and to the role the DMF digital micro-factory so vigorously launched will play in solving various social problems and providing new customer value to more and more people in the garment and related markets.
Three additional companies including Hangzhou Dianshi Clothing Co also confirmed joining the consortium, while many companies were in the process of joining the consortium as well.
Morita acknowledged the highly developed nature of the Chinese apparel industry, but suggested the DMF concept was for the world market, including China. Ricoh hopes to expand sales of DMF workflow cloud solutions and textile printers, with a goal of JPY10 billion in revenue by the year 2025. DMF will produce significant social benefits using the advantages of industrial inkjet technology, such as diversity, customization, differentiation, multi-type small lot production and leading the industry trend.
Stepping up efforts to deploy the DMF concept itself, Ricoh entered a collaboration with Sweden's Coloreel (March 2019) to develop an on-demand thread dye and inkjet printer. Ricoh also acquired LAC Corporation (2018, renamed Ricoh Digital Painting Company, Ltd.) and ColorGate Digital Output Solutions GmbH, (2018) a leading software provider with strength in color management. The ColorGate acquisition marked an important first step in active capital cooperation, eliminating self-efficiency, and permitting Ricoh to RAMP-UP its partnership programs.
