Hollywood, FL—Giving many attendees a break from the doldrums of winter, Canon assembled more than 50 industry journalists and analysts to the annual One Canon Event, held at the sun-splashed Diplomat Beach Resort here Feb. 12-14. The venerable manufacturer used the gathering to give journos the financial pulse of the company, a peek into some of the recent and newest technological advances, as well as sit-down interview sessions with many of Canon’s top executives.
Fittingly, given the event took place during the opening week of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Canon brought in two-time Olympian and World Cup champion downhill skier Cary Mullen to deliver an inspirational closing address.
Toyo Kuwamura, Canon USA chairman and CEO
Canon essentially packed its presentations into one fast-moving morning session on the first full day of the agenda. With Eric Hawkinson, vice president of marketing at Canon Solutions America, serving as emcee, the event quickly kicked into high gear. Toyo Kuwamura, Canon USA chairman and CEO, provided an overview of the organization’s 2017 financial performance. Canon Inc. enjoyed phenomenal growth of 19.9 percent, elevating sales to $36.4 billion. Of the overall sales pie, 27 percent is represented by the United States (with 14.9 percent growth). Office sales represents a lion’s share of business on a global scale at 46 percent, with another 27 percent garnered by imaging systems.
Canon Solutions America’s Business Imaging Solutions Group (BISG) and Canon Solutions America (CSA)—Canon USA’s direct channel—each checked in at 1 percent revenue growth, with equipment sales increasing 4 percent year over year. Inkjet sales continues to be a dominant force for Canon, with sales billowing by 24 percent in 2017, compared to 7 percent for production unit sales and 2 percent for enterprise sales.
Visions of Future Techs, Today
Pointing out that Canon continues to be among the top five in patents for the last 32 years, Kuwamura also provided insight into Canon Inc.’s overall investment strategy in high-tech fields such as sensors, rockets and satellites. Attendees watched a video clip that demonstrated how National Geographic is using Canon cameras with high-sensitivity CMOS sensors to record its “Earth-Live” show at night and capture rare footage of animals in a nocturnal setting, without the benefit of light.
Another growth area for Canon Inc. came via the creation of Canon Medical Systems, which was enabled through last year’s acquisition of Toshiba Medical, which raked in $3.7 billion in revenue last year.
Touting the “super smart MFP of the future,” Canon is updating its imageRUNNER ADVANCE, which Kuwamura said will be a “game changer now and in 2020 and beyond.” This latest iteration boasts a number of key attributes, including high-level security, cloud-connected, specialized workflow for vertical markets and predictive maintenance, all while keeping pace with developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Inkjet Printing
Francis McMahon, executive vice president, Production Print Solutions (PPS) for CSA
Francis McMahon, executive vice president, Production Print Solutions (PPS) for CSA, touted the fifth anniversary of CSA, noting the division has hired 13 millennials. “I can’t think of a better time to be in this industry than today,” he exclaimed. He then walked attendees through PPS’ financial performance for the past year, which included a 6 percent increase in revenue year over year and a 4 percent gain in profit. The ColorStream product line showed 22 percent growth, with 84 units placed last year. The Océ VarioPrint i300 sheetfed production inkjet press exploded with 52 percent growth, with 65 units placed to date. McMahon added that 53 percent of all pages printed by customers included color, while Canon customers have printed a staggering 138 billion inkjet pages.
From a new product perspective, PPS has unveiled the Océ VarioPrint 6000 TITAN series, with one publishing customer already having placed an order for 30 units. Another new offering is the Océ ProStream 1000 continuous-feed inkjet printer, the first of which was installed at Darwill in Chicago (another is ticketed for installation in the Chicagoland area by the end of February).
Wide-format Printing
Noba Kitajima, vice president and general manager of BISG, and Rob Reddy, who serves as a vice president of BISG and senior vice president of LFS for CSA, provided a rundown of Canon’s success in the wide-format printing realm. The Arizona line boasted 68 percent year-over-year growth, while its imagePROGRAF line snatched away the top spot in graphics, slipping past Epson in that regard with 41 percent market share. Canon also holds a market-leading position in Productive CAD printing and is in the middle of the pack for flatbed printing, with a 12 percent share that is growing.
Last year, Canon released the Océ Colorado 1640 UVgel wide-format printer, and it was noted that office technology dealer EO Johnson has enjoyed success in selling them. A 10-foot version of the Colorado will be unveiled later in 2018.
Global Managed Services
Canon announced a reboot of sorts with its Global Managed Services (GMS), headed by Senior Vice President John Reilly. It meshes the Global Services Division with the Enterprise Managed Services Division in following the “One Canon” go-to-market strategy with leveraged managed services and streamlined support. Reilly anticipates a growth of up to 25 percent as it focuses on heavyweights such as Ford, CVS and Walmart.
ImageRUNNER ADVANCE 3.2
Adding perspective to Kuwamura’s announcement of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE refresh, Hiro Imamura, senior vice president and general manager for BISG, pointed out that the Third Generation, Second Edition machine (loosely referred to as 3.2), boasts 530 advancements. “The more it is advanced, the simpler it becomes,” he noted.
The line, which was awarded the A3 Line of the Year by Buyers Lab for the third consecutive year, has witnessed a 50 percent increase in mean copies between failure while service maintenance time dropped by 20 percent.
Channel Details
Mason Olds, senior vice president and general manager of Canon BISG
Providing a glimpse of Canon’s dealer success was Mason Olds, senior vice president and general manager of BISG. The dealer channel grew 5 percent last year and has reaped 28 percent growth overall between 2011 and 2017. Hardware grew 6 percent, while the aftermarket was flat for the year, according to Olds. Canon saw 17 percent growth in federal business channel, with a number of big wins within that channel. The distributor/retailer channel (Amazon, Staples, Office Depot), which is about a third of the size of Canon’s nearly $1 billion dealer channel, grew by 4 percent.
Olds discussed how M&A is drastically altering the landscape of the dealer community, with four or five private equity firms as well as some of Canon’s largest dealers (DEX Imaging, R.J. Young, Applied Imaging) making investments or acquiring segments of the independent dealer channel. “These are smart people,” Olds said of the private equity firms. “They see great opportunity in investing in the dealer channel.”
Olds introduced Ryan Jones, general manager of California-based American Business Machines, who discussed how his dealership has leveraged the full line of Canon products to make great inroads into a number of vertical markets, particularly education, with the uniFLOW print and scan management tool. American Business Machines also sells Canon’s Access Communication Security Systems and is actively working with a school district that is experiencing issues with graffiti vandalism to install security cameras in all of their buildings.
More Education
Valerie Belli, vice president of EMSD, spoke with representatives from Mount Ida College of Newtown Center, MA, about how the school is using Canon products to print out artwork displayed in its School of Design Gallery. After an update on Cybersecurity Services from CSA President Peter Kowalczuk, Sal Sheikh, vice president of marketing, LFS, gave a deeper dive into the Océ Colorado 1640 UVgel wide-format printer.
Next up was John Kaufman, senior marketing specialist of LFS, who interviewed a customer, Adam Carver, president of Minneapolis-based Pixelwerx. Carver discussed how the Colorado line has helped provide higher quality and more economical outdoor signage after frustrating experiences with other manufacturer devices. “The Colorado is like a tank,” Carver stated.
Only Results Matter
McMahon had the pleasure of closing out the interviews with a colorful and pointed conversation with Steven Hegna, president of Arna Marketing Group in Branchburg, NJ. Hegna has a number of Canon pieces, including trios of the Océ VarioPrint i300 and the VarioPrint 6000, along with two Océ ColorStreams. Arna puts all of its Canon gear through the paces, and they have been able to withstand volumes that would cripple other machines.
“I don’t know sh-t about this equipment,” said Hegna, whose firm provides printing, finishing, mail process and data management for industries including health care, financial, education, banking and retail. “Customers don’t care how sausage is made, they just want it to taste good.”
All Hegna needs to know is that the machines can fit the bill. “Canon has been a very supportive partner in growing Arna,” he said.
Canon’s aggressive approach to new technologies and willingness to step outside traditional tech boundaries, coupled with a solutions approach that is certainly scoring points with its customer base, bodes well for the future of the manufacturer. The real-world examples presented gave life to the statistics behind its success.
