Sustainability is integral to every part of Epson’s operations, and with this in mind, it has launched a new range of products which uses heat-free inkjet technology. This technolody can reduce energy consumption and help limit resources during production and shipping. For 2023, Epson will continue its strategic focus of phasing laser out of the printing market through its heat-free inkjet technology. Richard Wells, Head of Office Print Sales UK&I, Epson, spoke to Intelligent CXO about how important sustainability is to Epson and how it intends to meet its Environmental Vision 2050, which is to become carbon negative and underground resource free by 2050.
Reaffirming its full commitment to inkjet printing, Epson has launched its new WorkForce Enterprise AM-Series of 40-60ppm products, leveraging its Piezo Heat-Free inkjet technology and closing a previous gap in its A3 business product portfolio.
The new products bring static line-head technology to the mid-range speed market and will simplify the sales process for Epson’s channel partners, ensuring end-users have the best product fit while still addressing the sustainability agenda.
Inkjet technology can reduce energy consumption compared to laser, and with a compact footprint and a lightweight design, these products help limit resources used during production and shipping. This reduced size also means they easily integrate into the office and save space. High yield ink cartridges also reduce material usage, shipping, storage and end of use management of consumables.
These products represent a significant shift in Epson’s printing strategy and support its commitment to sustainability. The launch comes a year after Epson announced its ¥100 billion investment into sustainable innovation and results from laser technology’s limited ability to make significant steps towards improved sustainability due to its requirement for heat during the print process and therefore increased energy use.
And with fewer moving and consumable parts to replace over the lifetime of the printer compared to lasers, service and maintenance needs of Epson inkjets are also substantially reduced, along with resulting printer downtime, improving productivity and end-user satisfaction.
Richard Wells, Head of Office Print Sales UK&I, Epson, told Intelligent CXO more about Epson’s sustainability focus and its strategic aim of phasing laser out of the printing market through its heat-free inkjet technology.
When did sustainability become a focus for Epson and why?
Epson was founded in 1942 in Suwa, a city within the environmentally-rich Negano Prefecture in Japan. From the start, Epson’s founders made a conscious effort to co-exist harmoniously with the local community, ensuring their rich environment never wavered. Epson wanted the environment to be in a better condition with the organisation’s presence than without it. This mission became a global benchmark for Epson’s global operations and remains the central guiding value for everything we do to this present day.
Besides launching a new range, how else is Epson improving its sustainability?
Sustainability is integral to every part of the company’s operations – from the smallest lightbulb to the largest factory. It fuels our innovation, drives our growth and motivates our workforce.
Epson has set clear and ambitious environmental sustainability targets – both near and long-term. These start with immediate initiatives around business travel reductions, switching to 100% renewable energy, and reducing scope1, 2 and 3 emissions in line with Science Based Targets by 2025.
Looking ahead, we’ve also committed to spending JP¥100 billion (around £650 million) by 2030 on decarbonisation, closing the resource loop and developing environmental technology. Our targets for 2030 include reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our supply chain by more than 2 million tonnes and reducing total emissions in line with the 1.5-degree scenario. These initiatives position Epson to meet its Environmental Vision 2050, which is to become carbon negative and underground resource free by 2050.
Epson’s environmental technology development is an exciting area of innovation, where it is pursuing additional dry fibre technology applications – the same technology behind PaperLab, our in-office paper recycling device – along with naturally derived materials, material recycling and CO2 absorption technology.
It’s also important to us to encourage businesses, governments and consumer to do all they can to reduce technology’s impact on the planet. Our Lower the Heat campaign and Climate Reality Barometer research have monitored consumer attitudes to climate change and highlighted what environmental impacts people can make based on the their day-to-day decisions.
Transparency is key to our endeavours, as is maintaining a company culture that prioritises stakeholder awareness of sustainability actions, which is why all of our short- and long-term pursuits to becoming a more sustainable organisation are outlined in our European Sustainability Report.
How do you develop new product technology?
Epson leverages its proprietary core technologies across inkjet printing, visual communications, robotics and wearables to help solve issues that that contribute to sustainability and enrich communities. Moreover, Epson products are produced by Epson technology, at Epson facilities, by Epson people, giving us greater control when integrating sustainability at each stage of the product lifecycle.
Why will it simplify the sales process for channel partners?
Products built to increasing environmental standards are longer lasting, require less intervention, consume less energy, have less packaging and alleviate strain in the supply chain. All these benefits give our channel partners a robust proposition that benefits both themselves and their end-users. A great example is managed print solutions (MPS). Taking advantage of this means companies can reduce and predict print costs accurately, have automatic replacements delivered and on-site servicing as required – giving them back time and more control of budgets. To provide measurable environmental, productivity and financial savings when switching from laser heat-free inkjet technology, Epson created the Optimisation Tool, a platform that empowers our partners to change the conversation about printers, from speeds and feeds to a whole lot more.
What about customers who are not using the new heat-free inkjet range – how are you ensuring that these products are sustainable?
Our increased commitments to decarbonisation, closing the resource loop and developing environmental technologies are constantly helping Epson to bring down the carbon footprint represented in any one of the technologies we manufacturer. Beyond this, reducing power consumption, increasing product longevity, reducing consumables and limited lifetime parts, creating smaller and more compact devices – or ‘miniaturisation’ – and digitalising printing are just some of the pillars in Epson’s new product development process to mitigate customer’s CO2 emissions.
What is Epson’s focus for the year ahead?
For 2023, Epson will continue its strategic focus of phasing laser out of the printing market through its heat-free inkjet technology, and thanks to the launch of our new AM-C WorkForce Enterprise series that nicely fills the middle market gap in our portfolio, Epson is much better equipped to achieve this goal. To this end, we will continue strengthening our partner network, not through growth in numbers, but investing into our existing partner base up and down the country to ensure we are as competitive as we can be at meeting the standards and expectations of end-user customers.
How is Epson driving innovations?
In addition to financial investments in decarbonisation, closing the resource loop and environmental technology development, Epson is investing US$1.2 million daily into research and development. Epson is driving innovations around the needs of people and the planet, and we are capitalising on the expertise and knowledge of our employees, our partners and independent organisations willing to collaborate with Epson in the pursuit of open innovation.