Dutch firm partners with local Canon unit

MANILA, Philippines - Netherlands-based printing company Océ and Canon Philippines yesterday launched their joint venture in the Philippines for the expansion of their printing and imaging solutions business in the Philippines.

In a media launch yesterday, Canon and Océ executives said the joint venture targets to be the leading company in the printing industry.

Océ is a European company specializing in printing and copying systems, office document solutions, cursheet production, large-scale printing, and display graphic solutions. It has a size of 2.7 billion euros.

Michael Sak, managing director of Océ Singapore, Océ Malaysia and Océ Direct Export Asia, said the company is growing in Europe.

“We are growing fast in the US and Europe. Usually in services, we manage the entire document solutions of companies,” said Sak.

As of 2010, Japanese camera maker and digital imaging solutions provider Canon, owns 99 percent of Océ. Canon is yet to buy remaining Oce shares to complete the takeover.

The merged entities had announced that they want to be a global leader in the printing industry.

Canon is a $45.7 billion global company with extensive product lines in digital imaging services and products such as cameras and other imaging tools.

Canon Marketing Philippines. Inc. has offices in the National Capital region, North Luzon, central Luzon, south Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

In the Philippines, Océ will be represented by Canon, hence it will not have its own offices here.

“Canon and Océ will revolutionize the Philippine printing industry,” said Jose Abelardo Bolima, director of the Business Imaging Solutions Group and Regional operations of Canon Marketing Philippines.

While no sales projection data is yet available for the entire joint venture this year, Bolima said sales from business imaging is expected to reach P2 billion this year, a projected growth of 25 percent for this year from last year.

Canon Marketing Philippines president Allan Ching said Canon only take advantage of Océ’s strength in printing.

“Right now, Canon can only produce 105 copies per minute, while Océ can produce 4,000 copies,” he said.

Sak said: “We complement each other. We are very strong in printing and Canon is strong in office solutions,” he said, “We intend to be very aggressive in the Philippines.”