The event marked the first major public outing since the Océ brand was integrated into Canon, while they also claimed that its Colorwave 900 could  replace the 'lower end' of offset.

“It's a Canon brand with a Canon portfolio, and you will recognise Océ products within it,” says by Bart Geraads, European director, technical document systems and display graphic systems.

Geraads also says there were no worries that research and development at Océ, which was a big part of why it was taken over, would suffer.

He states: “The interesting part is that the products we were already having as product assortments were different from each other in terms of low volume and high volume. When we came together it was a good fit and there was a lot of things that we can learn from each other.

“Research and development is a very technical activity, so you can't take it away and position it somewhere else. We were very careful of managing it properly so today our facilities are in good contact and they learn from each other.”

Applications were a big theme at FESPA 2013 and Duncan Smith, channel director of Canon's wide-format group told SignLink how it was the job of manufacturers to inspire customers, but also customers were teaching manufacturers about how they were pushing the boundaries of their devices.

He says: “We have applications specialists who liaise with customers both pre and post sales. They are fonts of knowledge thanks to our customers. Users have so much motivation to come up with creative applications, and there are many throughout the world using these machines.

The Colorwave 900, which offers speeds of up to 1100 sq m/hr, was launched at the show.  Anne-Marie van der Laan, marketing manager technical document systems and display graphic systems says that it turns 'speed into productivity'.  

She explains: “It's a machine that is targeted at the high-volume market. It's based on Memjet engine with Océ capabilities in the areas of input, output and software. The product turns speed into productivity.”

Geraads added that the market demand was such that the 1100sq m/hr speed was required, even adding: “The bottom side of offset is moving into the top side of our market, so the demands are so much greater.”
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