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In November, OKI employees from
across the EMEA region came
together in Athens to celebrate the
establishment of the company’s first
European office in 1984 in Dusseldorf,
Germany and to relive 30 years of
innovation, including the launch of
Europe’s first LED printer in 1989.
Today, the company has offices in 23
European countries and operates in 60
countries within EMEA.
At the event, Terry Kawashima,
managing director, OKI Europe Ltd, said:
“We are incredibly proud of OKI’s significant
contribution to the EMEA printer market
over the last 30 years and the major
product breakthroughs we have achieved.
Our continued roadmap of innovation
and strong European partner links have
been fundamental to our success and will
doubtless help us to accomplish our vision
for future growth.”
By the late 1980s, robust and stable
serial impact dot matrix (SIDM) printers
were still the most widely used print
technology. However, there was also a
growing need for fast, quiet, high-quality
printers for a new generation of office
PC users. In 1989, to meet this need OKI
launched the first LED desktop office
printers – the OL400 and OL800.
In 1990, the acquisition of Technitron,
one of the biggest European multi-national
distributors, proved to be a defining moment
for the EMEA organisation, creating a
network of sales offices throughout Europe,
driving business growth in the region and
building the foundations of OKI Europe today.
With it, the OKI Europe group expanded
its geographical coverage beyond Germany
to Technitron sales subsidiaries in an
additional seven countries – the UK, Ireland,
the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden
and Italy – tripling printer sales in the region.
Other significant milestones in OKI
Europe’s 30-year history include:
• 1995:
The OKIPage 4w, the world’s
smallest printer with a footprint the size of a
piece of A4 paper.
• 1998:
The OKIPage 8c, OKI’s first digital
LED colour printer with print speeds two
times faster than competitors.
• 1999:
OKIFAX5750/5950, the world’s first
real-time internet fax.
• 2003:
OKI C5000 Series, a ground-
breaking portfolio of small workgroup colour
printers.
• 2004:
OKI C3000 Series, bringing fast,
affordable desktop colour to European users.
• 2005:
C5500 MFP, the world’s first A4
colour MFP.
• 2006:
C8600, Europe’s smallest and most
affordable A3 colour page printer at half the
size and half the price of its competitors.
• 2009:
OKI Europe introduces the
industry’s first standard three-year warranty.
• 2012:
C711WT and C920WT, the world’s
first digital LED White Toner Printers.
• 2013:
ES9541, the industry’s first
digital LED 5 colour A3 Printer is launched,
followed by the OKI MB700/MC700 with
embedded open platform for improved
document management and Smart
Managed Document Solutions, OKI Europe’s
MPS programme.
OKI employees came together in Athens in November to
celebrate the company’s first 30 years in Europe
OKI celebrates
30 Years in Europe
• 2014:
Launch of the Shinrai Partner
Programme, OKI’s first pan-European partner
programme.
“OKI has a fantastic heritage of
product innovation,” said Kawashima.
“We have always placed the customer at the
forefront of our innovations and developed
technology to address issues they may not
realise they even had. Our latest white toner
LED printers and 5 colour printer – the
ES9541 – are recent examples of how we
continue to exceed customers’ expectations.
“Over the past 30 years, OKI Europe’s
dedicated team, along with our strong
partner network of distributors and resellers,
have helped the business overcome some
tough challenges and grow to become
a market leader. The fact that they have
continued to drive OKI’s product innovations
has been key to our ongoing success.”
For further information on OKI Europe’s
30 years of innovation, please visit
Innovation.
We are
incredibly
proud
of OKI's
significant
contribution
to the EMEA
printer
market over
the last
30 years...
