Ricoh buys ColorGate

Ricoh has reached an agreement to buy German software provider ColorGate Digital Output Solutions.
 
Designed to strengthen Ricoh’s growing industrial printing business, the companies should complete the deal by the end of the month.
 
Peter Williams, corporate vice president and general manager of the Commercial and Industrial Printing Business Group at Ricoh, says, “By combining ColorGate’s proprietary software technology with our own industrial printers, Ricoh will provide solutions covering the whole printing workflow from Pre-Press to Post-Press.
 
“This acquisition will enable Colorate to expand its industrial printing business and global presence as together we become better able to support our customers to accelerate their transition from analogue to digital based production.”
 
Founded in 1997, ColorGate based in Hannover, Germany, provides software for the wide format and industrial printing sectors. It offers specific colour management technology to support printing and decorating a wide variety of materials used for packaging, floor and wall coverings as well as textiles and signage. It also provides performance-optimised colour management and workflow software to standardise and automate digital print markets including décor and textiles.
 
Thomas Kirschner, co-founder of ColorGate, will continue to serve as chief executive officer, says, “We are delighted to have been selected by Ricoh to contribute to this strong future growth strategy whilst we continue to serve our established customer base, OEM partners and reseller channel.”
 
In February this year, Ricoh announced its growth strategy plan, Ricoh Ignite, which sets out its intention to reinforce its value offering by expanding its printing technology portfolio. The investment in ColorGate forms the latest part of this plan.
 
To enhance its industrial printing business, Ricoh recently established a Global IP Technology Centre and a Global IP Marketing Centre, both located in Europe, increasingly seen as the centre of incubation for industrial printing markets. Ricoh says this allows access to cutting-edge technology and enables increased responsiveness to market needs. The centres aim to drive marketing, strategic planning and development of business and products with Ricoh’s alliance partners worldwide.