Océ technology centre opened in Singapore

The Netherlands-based Océ, an international leader in document management, has recently opened Océ Technologies Asia (OTA) in Singapore, which will control the company ’s Asian activities including research and development, product introductions, supply chain management and procurement.

OTA’s opening is part of an ongoing process to raise Océ’s visibility in Asia. In 2007, Océ generated approximately 5% of overall sales of • 3.1 billion in the region. Recently Océ has made substantial progress in building a professional distribution network in Asia. They announced that the Founder Group in China would sell Océ printers in the Chinese market and Fuji Xerox would be selling Océ wide format colour printers for the technical documentation market throughout Asia.

For the last five years, Océ has cooperated with contract manufacturers in the production of mainly wide format and some cutsheet modules, previously manufactured in the Netherlands. This generated average production savings amounting to as much as 30%, fully in line with Océ’s stated objective of relocating approximately 80% of the Venlo production value of the cutsheet and wide format printers to countries in Asia and Central Europe by the end of 2008.

According to Anton Schaaf, chief technology and operations officer at Océ, “The foundation of Océ Technologies Asia (OTA) fits within our strategy to achieve the lowest possible level of production costs. By opening OTA, Océ underlines how serious we are about doing business in Asia and in developing a more balanced operational portfolio.” Manohar Khiatani, assistant managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board added, “We are delighted that Océ, a world leader in document management and printing, has decided to set up its control tower for R&D, new product introductions and supply chain management activities in Singapore; and confident that Océ will find Singapore to be an ideal location for these high value activities given our strong talent pool and supplier base as well as our comprehensive logistics and R&D capabilities.”