Epson Southeast Asia Celebrates 40 Years of Vision Beyond
Today, Epson, a leader in global technology who has built its business on innovative products that are quick, small, and precise, marks its 80th anniversary as well as 40 years in Southeast Asia. The company looks back on its achievements over the past 80 years as well as significant milestones that have been reached jointly over the past 40 years in the region.
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| Epson Southeast Asia Celebrates 40 Years of Vision Beyond |
Vision Beyond
Yasunori Ogawa, the distinguished guest of honor, was the keynote speaker at Epson's 40th Anniversary Seminar and Solution Tour, which was held to commemorate the occasion. The phrase "Vision Beyond" embodies Epson's commitment to its long history of excellence and its vision for the future of the commercial inkjet, large format printing, and robotics sectors.
Since 1982, Epson has served as the regional headquarters for Southeast Asia. Last year, it announced the opening of a new regional headquarters office in Singapore's Alexandra Technopark, along with two Solution Centers that will allow customers from across the region to see new business and industrial products.
Southeast Asia is expected to overtake North America as the fourth-largest market in the world by 20301, creating a massive market opportunity that the entire ecosystem can take advantage of for several commercial gains. The same goes for Epson, which has made significant investments in Southeast Asia over the past four decades, opening offices in Malaysia in 1991, Thailand and the Philippines in 1998, Indonesia in 2000, and Vietnam in 2018. Local Epson Solution Centers started popping up more recently, around 2022, in Vietnam, Indonesia, and eventually, the Philippines.
Epson's regional footprint is growing due to its industry track record, which includes routinely holding the number one market share in the SEA region for its Ink Tank Printers, Projectors, Dye Sublimation Textile Printers, SCARA Robots, Timing Devices, and many other products.
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Important product launch milestones in Southeast Asia, such as launching the World's First Ink Tank Printer in 2010 and the Epson Industrial Robot Series in 2012, demonstrate Epson's ambition and dedication to B2B innovation. Epson debuted the World's First 25,000 Lumens 3LCD Laser Projector in 2016, the Line Inkjet Business Printer in 2017, the Direct-to-Fabric Printer in 2019, and the PaperLab - the World's First in-office dry papermaking machine in 2021.
With the introduction of the M1170 and M2170 monochrome EcoTank printers this year, Epson SEA solidifies its leadership position in the category. These small office EcoTank printers are powered by PrecisionCore Heat-Free Technology and provide fast print rates and increased productivity.
Instead of constantly shifting workplace norms, Epson's line of commercial inkjet printers is made to support hybrid work settings. With solutions that allow for mobile printing and cloud printing, which guarantees privacy and ease of use, Epson can meet the evolving demands of printing to reach "Beyond Boundaries." To improve the hybrid work and learning environment, Epson has also introduced CO-FH02, a multipurpose projector that can go with an office worker from day to night. This Full HD Smart projector has a lightweight and compact design that makes it simple for users to bring it to work and home, and it will soon be available in the Philippines.
With its extensive line of large format printers and the slogan "Beyond Transformation," Epson has brought digital transformation impacts to industrial and commercial printing verticals such as signage, textiles, labels, and many more. Cloud technologies are built into Epson's large format printers to enable seamless business expansion over numerous sites while maintaining consistent quality and efficiency, as decentralization is the primary industry trend.
Going "Beyond Tomorrow," Epson is paving the path for smart manufacturing by offering a number of configuration options for its robots to achieve complete automation. This lowers the environmental impact while increasing the production line's output, precision, and accuracy.
The achievements and products described show how Epson has established overwhelming market leadership in B2C product categories while simultaneously making significant progress in securing critical market opportunities in B2B categories. 'Vision Beyond' aims to emulate Epson's level of success in B2C products and leverage this dedication to obtain significant market share in B2B categories.
Using sustainable solutions to transform the industry
The core of Epson's business solutions for advancing clients' organizations is sustainability. Through corporate responsibility advocacy and influence, Epson is dedicated to creating a sustainable business model that will, in the end, enable socially responsible manufacturing and consumption to be achieved across its sizable company and partner ecosystem. Epson offers an excellent example by using fewer consumables and adding more recycled material to the printers' main body and product packaging.
According to the company's Global Environmental Vision, all Epson's manufacturing facilities should run entirely on renewable energy by 2023. The Philippines' Epson factory is the first to achieve this target; Indonesia will follow later this year. All of these facilities are powered by biomass energy sources.
Community enrichment and value co-creation for a sustainable future
By working in tandem with social enterprises, channel partners, and end users, Epson seeks to develop a sustainable business culture for its clients. This is illustrated by Epson Southeast Asia's support for the UNSDGs 8, 9, 12, 13, and 17, which are the five United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). These were carefully selected because they best fit the company's global environmental vision, are most pertinent to Epson Southeast Asia's commercial operations, and offer the most significant potential for impact.
Epson and WWF are working together locally to support a trial habitat restoration program in Singapore's Southern Islands, where study results will be used to restore a degraded reef area. Motivated people can also contribute to the solution through the citizen scientist program.
“As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we remain committed to the vision of empowering lives with sustainable innovations. With sustainability being an imperative in today’s business environment, we recognize the pressing need for collective action,” said Siew Jin Kiat, Regional Managing Director of Epson Southeast Asia. “As an industry leader, we must make tangible commitments to the communities we operate in. Thus, sustainability will always be at the core of what we do in Epson. By harnessing a cohesive ecosystem effort, we will continue to drive societal solutions with our technology that will benefit community livelihoods while contributing towards environmental conservation.”
Epson's regional projects reflect the company's global commitment to sustainable innovation. Epson Global has made significant progress toward net zero with the construction of closed-loop metal recycling facilities in Kita Industrial Park, tied to its Global Environmental Vision 2050.
“We marked our 80th year in business in May of this year. Exercising constant creativity and challenge to deliver on products and services that continuously exceed customer expectations, we continue to be guided by Epson’s unique philosophy of efficient, compact, and precise innovation that we have evolved since our founding. Our aim is to take advantage of the tremendous value that this innovation yields to address sustainability and other societal issues, with the ultimate goal of helping to create a better world and enrich people’s lives.” said Yasunori Ogawa, Global President and CEO of Epson.
The goals of Epson are to improve communities, alter the industry with sustainable solutions, and eventually demonstrate market leadership in both B2B and B2C categories. Through joint initiatives with business partners and customers, Epson hopes to advance the boundaries of innovation for a sustainable future as part of its "Vision Beyond" strategy.