Friday, May 30, 2008 Japanese imaging firm foresees growth in RP despite difficulties
ALTHOUGH the country’s economic growth has slowed down in the first quarter of this year, a Japanese manufacturer of imaging machines foresees a growing market in the Visayas and Mindanao, and in the Philippines in general.
With this expectation, Konica Minolta—manufacturer of imaging and photocopying machines, as well as camera lenses—held its annual conference among its distributors all over the world in Cebu City.
“The Philippines is a very important market,” said Atsushi Kodama, Konica Minolta Business Technologies Inc. executive director and general manager for sales and marketing.
Kodama announced during a press conference at the Marco Polo Plaza that Konica Minolta is also expanding the company’s product line to include multi-function products, such as machines that can function as printer, fax and document scanner.
Despite higher cost of colored printing, he said future growth in the industry will be in color-capable printing and imaging machines.
“Our emphasis is on expanding the ‘bizhub’ series (product line of high- and medium-speed color multi-function machines),” he said. “We also aim to provide a wide range of solutions that will address the offices’ needs to synergize both paper and digital documents, making business communication smooth and efficient.”
Products of Konica Minolta, which used to manufacture film cameras before their merger, are being distributed in the
Philippines by U-Bix.
In the same press conference, U-Bix chairman and chief executive officer Edilberto Bravo said more buyers—particularly schools and offices— prefer color imaging machines.
He said even small and medium enterprises prefer color imaging machines. “The shift is really towards color printing,” he added.
He said U-Bix plans to “aggressively expand” its customer base for color machines and “help customers realize that, in the long run, having a hybrid machine that can print and copy in both monochrome and color would more than double economic gains in terms of reduced costs, heightened efficiency and productivity.”
In the Visayas and Mindanao, he expects sales of Konica Minolta machines to grow by 15 to 20 percent this year even with the economic slowdown and the prevalence of the Internet.
But Kodama admitted that worldwide sales of imaging and printing machines have been affected by the Internet as more people now read the news, books and other content through their computers.
Tadahiko Sumitami, KMBT general manager of overseas sales division, said Konica Minolta has confidence its products.
“But we work very hard…to compete with competition,” he added. (LAP)
