Upon becoming director of the commercial channel at Epson America in April 2023, it didn’t take Juan Carlos Castillo long to understand and appreciate the office technology industry’s growth challenge. But when it comes to the manufacturer and its PrecisionCore technology, Castillo knew he had the right arsenal to provide dealers (and their end-users) a bona fide point of differentiation. It continues to grow in stature as other OEMs perform the toner tango and jockey to align and reposition themselves.
Epson America
As numerous manufacturers have chosen to forge partnerships, Epson continues on its merry, independent way. The OEM is still pushing efficiency and productivity, seeking out ways to become a better partner and demonstrate a profitable path forward. And it’s not as if partnering is completely off the table, as evidenced by Epson’s acquisition of longtime collaborator Fiery.
Castillo sat down with ENX Magazine to talk about Epson’s ink track, how the Fiery acquisition impacts opportunities for both companies, the changing face of the manufacturer community and the growing need for sustainable practices among its clients. Most importantly, he’s focused on sharing Epson’s unique message with the dealer/reseller community, one that’s aimed at capturing a bigger piece of the business pie. It’s always been about innovation and the quest to drive it.
You’re a relative newcomer to the commercial channel. What can you tell us about your background?
Castillo: I started out in electrical engineering, then jumped into the test and measurement industry. It’s a very different world, closely aligned to the design, validation and testing of products in all their forms, from the validation in the lab to the manufacturing in huge facilities. My role all along really was B2B sales. While I was focused on a slightly different industry, my focus was always how to interact with customers in a B2B fashion, show the value that you can bring as a company and demonstrate how to solve their issues. A little more than five years ago, I joined Epson’s robotics team, and in 2023, I had the opportunity to move over to the commercial side of the business, where I’m responsible for the North American channel.
How did Epson fare in the U.S. during the first three quarters of calendar 2024, and what were some of the variables that played a role in shaping the year? How did expectations compare with results?
Castillo: I’d say we followed the overall macroeconomic trends that we’re seeing in the industry. Based on conversations I’ve had with Epson partners, it was a slightly challenging year for the industry as a whole. We’re quite happy that Epson maintained or increased market share in basically all its product lines. That’s encouraging. In terms of the variables, I believe the reduced budgets coming out of COVID were part of a common thread across the industry, as was the need to better manage inventories—from distributors to resellers to end-users and even consumers. It was a year when inventories had to be watched more closely and when the priorities of our customers moved toward safety and security. There was a big emphasis on the secure infrastructure, given the potential for hacks. It will be interesting to see how things shape up for 2025.
What stands out as some of the watershed moments for Epson over the past 12 months? What resonated the most with you?
Castillo: When we launched our WorkForce Enterprise AM A4 series, it filled a gap that we had in our portfolio, addressing the 40–55 pages per minute range. That was exciting. We also made a big push for sustainability. Epson’s concern for the environment traces back to its Japanese roots—we’ve been preaching it for 35 years. In the last year, we put special emphasis on the messaging around sustainability and print, which was something we wanted to accomplish. We’re also bringing all these innovations and products into markets that are hungry for them. The print market is quite mature, yet customers and partners are looking for what’s new, what can provide more efficiency and make them more productive. So we were quite happy to be able to bring those to the market.
Can you provide some insight into the acquisition of Fiery and how it dovetails with what Epson is looking to accomplish? What are some of the goals you’ve set for it?
Castillo: Fiery has been working with our large-format division for years, so the relationship isn’t something new. Our vision is to keep Fiery completely independent so it can continue serving its partners and customers. What we want to do is find opportunities for synergies where it allows us to leverage their cloud infrastructure and really strengthen the offerings both companies have. They’re a nice addition to the family, and this provides the opportunity to become stronger, support them and help them continue down the path they’ve been following for the last few years.
There’s much activity going on in the OEM realm, particularly when it comes to partnerships and acquisitions. What’s your view of the evolving manufacturer landscape?
Castillo: I think the industry will continue consolidating at all levels. The Xerox-Lexmark acquisition happened at the manufacturer level, and it was quite a large one. However, I would say that even at the smaller dealer/reseller level, that consolidation of the industry will continue to take place, and it must continue to do so in order to remain competitive.
How does that impact us? Epson is strong on ink, so we’re slightly unique in the market. As I mentioned previously, the market is hungry for innovation, hungry for ways to do what they’ve always done in an efficient and effective way. So for us, the opportunity there is to continue providing this kind of innovation with technologies such as PrecisionCore and with new and refined technologies for ink. The real challenge is communicating the message out there. People have great memories, and we all remember when we printed our first ink pager 20 years ago. But it’s like driving a car from that period—it’s nothing compared to what we have today. The industry will keep consolidating, and the consumer will keep asking for more innovative and productive tools. That gives us an opening to show the technologies that we have for our customers.
Is there a chance we could see Epson become engaged in one of these types of agreements, or is the preference to remain independent?
Castillo: I’m not aware of anything currently in the works, but you never say never. I think Epson is always looking for ways to grow and enhance partnerships. The thing to remember is that agreements can happen at multiple levels, and we have great partnerships with big distributors that cover North America—companies that have a global presence. Throughout our history, Epson has been open to establishing great partnerships. So I guess any deal would depend upon with whom and at what level.
What innovations can we expect to see during the coming year, and what has been the messaging you’ve shared with your dealer partners?
Castillo: Creating technology that’s very efficient, precise and compact is at the core of what we do. The innovations and efficiencies that you’ll see us bring into the market are related to energy. Everyone is concerned, as they should be, about energy consumption. So we’ll continue introducing products that consume significantly less energy than what the industry is accustomed to seeing.
We also have less waste in our plastics. And it’s not only on the consumables side. It’s also about how products are built by manufacturing in the first place. When you have a product that’s simpler with fewer moving parts and components, there are benefits to the environment and to the amount of plastic that you use. It all starts with the product design. When you look at our consumables, the ink lasts longer and you use fewer cartridges. That innovation truly helps our customers.
And finally, it’s important to be efficient in how you print. We see a shift in printing that isn’t exactly news to the industry. The world is printing less, but at the same time, the need for printing is still there. We talk to a lot of customers who believe the way they, their clients or students absorb information is much different when you have information on paper in front of them as opposed to when you have it on a tablet or laptop. Paper seems more effective as a learning/information dissemination tool. Volumes and batches have shrunk; rather than printing 500 pages, people are only printing 20. But they also want it printed quickly and accurately with vibrant colors. That’s part of the innovation we bring to the market.
Talk a little about the role AI will play in future Epson technologies.
Castillo: You have to keep in mind that what Epson and other manufacturers produce are peripheral devices, so our role in AI is different from the role AI would play in a computer, for example. The key for Epson is to make sure all our devices are AI-compatible and ready to play with whichever next wave of technology emerges. We want to be able to plug into the whole AI ecosystem. Ideally, it will make us more efficient and productive, and that fits right into our philosophy of having compact, precise and efficient products.
What will be the keys to Epson garnering a greater market share moving forward?
Castillo: The main thing is to be able to share our message with the consumer. Once the consumer understands what we’re all about and what we’re proposing to them, that will provide our best avenue to growth. What we’re proposing with our ink technology is significantly different from toner. Our ink technology is different: it doesn’t generate heat, it consumes less energy and the time to print a first page out is faster. It doesn’t require as much maintenance, which frees some customers from lengthy contracts. Demonstrating the value of our platform to customers is how we’ll grow our business and market share. It’s not always through undercutting your competition on price with the same product. It’s really showing a differentiated value with the customer gaining something by going with our product. What we have to do as a company is make sure that message is heard loud and clear and that it’s reaching the right ears. And we can back that message up with data and solid products that bring efficiencies to customers.
Is there anything on the horizon from a program or partnership standpoint?
Castillo: We listen to what our partners have to say, and we take their feedback seriously. They’ve asked us to be more agile, simplify our processes and be leaner in how we execute. We’ve taken all that feedback seriously, and we’re making continuous internal improvements to bring efficiencies to our partners. This ties back to our objective to help make their interactions with Epson faster and leaner, and to allow us to be more productive, grow faster and better serve our mutual customers.
What will a successful 2025 look like in your estimation? What are some of your goals?
Castillo: At the risk of sounding repetitive, one of the bigger goals is to communicate our message out there in terms of what our technology can do for customers. Another goal is to maintain all the relationships with our partners that we’ve built over many years. With all the markets changing and evolving, it’ll be a great accomplishment to finish the year with the same relationships we have now, but even stronger, and perhaps add a few net-new partners to the list. Lastly, I cannot stress enough the importance of Epson helping the environment and making sure we’re helping our customers achieve their environmental goals. They want to know how they can decrease their footprint, lower their energy bill and reduce the amount of plastic they’re putting out in the environment. If we can touch on all those points, I feel we’ll have achieved our goals for the year.
