The purpose of printing

THE PRINTER’S ROLE IN TODAY’S WORLD Technology companies have long been claiming to listen to customers. Now one of them is taking the conversation further.

It’s become almost a cliché that technology companies, gadget makers and high-tech service providers have been learning to listen to their customers. Examples abound, from Apple succumbing to the demand for large-screen smartphones despite a near-religious adherence to smaller formats, to Facebook putting more privacy controls in the hands of its users.

But now one company is taking the conversation further, listening to both the customer and the community. Seiko Epson, known for both its pioneering watches and its printing and robotics solutions, believes that it is no longer enough merely to give customers what they want.

“We have to listen to both our customers and to our society,” said Minoru Usui, president and CEO of Seiko Epson, speaking at the CeBIT technology fair in Hannover, Germany, last week. “We want to help make the world a better place and we are determined to make Epson a company that is indispensable in that process. But we can only do this by listening to society.”

The company has become focused on reducing the waste from one of the business world’s most wasteful activities: printing.

Three years ago, Usui declared that his company would “make printers that are faster, more beautiful and more efficient than ever before”. Now, he believes, the company has achieved its goal.

CeBIT saw the launch of the new Epson PaperLab, a recycling machine that can fit in any large office. Designed to allow printed paper to be reused, it shreds and pulps the used pages, and spits out clean paper.

But rather than it being the sole focus of Epson’s CeBIT presence, it 010 492-5227 was just one element of the organisation’s wide-ranging strategy to transform the office.

“We are exploring the world of tomorrow through the eyes and minds of the workforce of today,” Usui said.

“One thing is clear: there are going to be a lot of advances in internet and cloud technology, and we have to look at what we can do with our technology and see how we can adapt our products to make a contribution. For example, as technology evolves, there is a need for ever-higher productivity, and to make things a lot easier to use than they are now, while having less impact on the environment.

“If we look at what society wants and what we can deliver, there are environmental areas where we can contribute. We will focus on areas where our technology is suited to fill the gaps.”

The company is specifically fo-

One thing is clear: there are going to be a lot of advances in Internet and cloud technology, and we have to look at what we can do with our technology and see how we can adapt our products to make a contribution. Minoru Usui President and CEO of Seiko Epson Edited by