Dozens of local printers were at the official launch of the new Océ Customer Experience Centre in Clayton, with Océ Oceania managing director Craig Nethercott saying the new centre is all about applications.
The new Customer Experience Centre has been developed as a place where printers can explore opportunities and business development, drawing on the global expertise and knowledge of Océ.
Speaking to Print21 at the event Nethercott said, "Tonight is an opportunity for customers and suppliers to share in our vision, and it is the launch of the new Océ Arizona 1300 in Australia.
"We are focusing on a broader vision. We are not about speeds and feeds - this is about looking at the endless opportunities, why Océ offers a point of difference to printers, and how we and they can add more value."
Nethercott says it is called the Customer Experience Centre rather than showroom "because the vision is to connect to our customers. It is not a product demonstration. It is to understand how we as a company can support our customers, and to understand the technology, and find opportunities to answer the question, where are we going to make money? We want to open the imagination."
The new Customer Experience Centre has the Application Wall as the centrepiece, which has print on a host of surfaces, including glass, metal, board, corrugated iron and ceramic tiles. Nethercott said, "The new generation of Océ print solutions really opens up multiple possibilities."
The new Arizona 1300GT on the floor is the Océ entry level print system. The Centre also currently houses an Arizona 1280GT, a Colorado 1640 reel to reel UVgel printer, and a Colorwave printer, plus an Océ ProCut cutting table.
Océ is a €1.2bn company with 3400 staff and an annual €145m R+D spend. It is celebrating its 65th year in Australia and is one of the five pillars of Canon. Arizona is the world's biggest selling flatbed UV printer, with a 30 per cent market share. The company has a 36 per cent market share in high speed inkjet systems with 1500 installed worldwide.