Dutch printing giant eyes on Chinese market, technology

Dutch printing giant Oce has cast more eyes on the Chinese market and technology as it signed here on Tuesday partnership pacts with Chinese company Founder to boost its operations in China.

Oce announced that it enters into a strategic distribution partnership with Founder Group in China and it starts to use Founder's software.

On Tuesday, an agreement for this partnership has been signed at Oce's Open House in Poing of Munich, Europe's largest annual digital printing fair.

According to the pact, Founder's nationwide sales organization will sell Oce's digital printing systems in the high volume printing and graphic arts markets.

"The partnership with Founder is an important element of our growth strategy in China," Oce Chief Executive Officer Rokus van Iperen told a press conference.

The production printing market in China is still 98 percent offset and 2 percent digital printing. Oce estimates that digital production printing growth rate is forecasted at a 17.5-20 percent year on year until 2015 in China.

Founder boasts to have a chain of digital printing franchise stores, currently numbering over 200 outlets throughout China, with plans to expand to more than 1,000 stores in the next three to five years.

In the meantime, the two company also signed an agreement on using "QuiQ" printer controller, a software developed by Founder. Oce will install the software into its printing equipment.

This is first time for an European printing company to use China's printer controller software.
Founder Group, which reported 2006 revenues of over 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, is a leading provider of advanced information technology, software products, business solutions, and other value-added services with more than 20,000 employees world-wide.

Oce boasts of achieving revenues of around 3.1 billion euros (around 4 billion dollars) in 2006 and it employs 24,000 people across the globe.