Epson Completes Construction of Innovation Center Building B at Hirooka Office

Seiko Epson Corporation (TSE: 6724, “Epson”) has completed construction work on a new four-story facility (Innovation Center Building B) on the campus of its Hirooka Office in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Construction began in the autumn of 2018.

Innovation Center Building B has a total floor area of 39,634 m². The first and second floors will house digital inkjet textile printer prototype production and volume production operations along with a digital printing solutions exhibition area. The third and fourth floors will be office space. Preparations are under way for an April start to operations. The new facility is designed to reinforce the company’s research and development capabilities and production technology in the growing textile printing space. It will also increase the strength and efficiency of business operations by consolidating printing solutions business operations.

Epson, which identified textile printing as a growth area in its Epson 25 Corporate Vision, seeks to drive a shift away from traditional plate-based analog printing of textiles and toward a digital printing environment that offers both high productivity and a smaller environmental footprint.

To accelerate this shift, Epson is installing prototype production and volume production systems for digital inkjet textile printers in Innovation Center Building B while simultaneously reinforcing its R&D and production engineering organizations in this area. The facility will also have an exhibition area and a space for viewing the assembly process. These, Epson believes, will help to strengthen customer touch points and expand sales in the textile printing segment.

Epson will increase the efficiency of its printing solutions business operations by consolidating in the Innovation Center and adjacent offices the departments involved in functions such as strategy, sales and marketing, development, design, and production engineering.

Epson will broaden the world of digital printing and further accelerate inkjet innovation by continuing to refine its technology and provide outstanding products and services built around original core devices.

Investment - Approx. ¥16 billion

Start of operations - April 2020

Total floor space - Approx. 39,634 m²

Building construction - Four-story steel-frame

Location - 80 Harashinden, Hirooka, Shiojiri-shi, Nagano-ken 399-0785

Operations - Printing solutions business R&D, design, production and new business development for Epson as a whole. New product R&D.

Lot area - 219,315 m²

Year operations began - 1970

The Hirooka Office is the heart of Epson’s printing solutions business. It serves as a center for administration, core device research and development, and production. As such, it works closely with Epson’s global sales and production sites. It shares the advanced production technology and know-how it gains through the development and production of core devices with Epson’s overseas sites to help maximize manufacturing capabilities across the Epson Group. In June 2018, Epson completed construction on Building 9, a facility for manufacturing PrecisionCore print chips. Now, with Innovation Center Building B, Epson has further strengthened its printing solutions R&D and production capacity and will accelerate actions to expand the business.

Digitization is steadily advancing in the commercial and industrial printing markets, where the demand for design diversity is driving the spread of short-run production. Here, Epson has designated the signage, textile, and label printing segments as growth markets where there is ample room for digitization and expansion.

To lead the transition to digital printing in the commercial and industrial sectors, Epson is developing platforms that can efficiently be deployed in products and services that meet diverse customer needs. Leveraging the advantages of Micro Piezo inkjet technology, Epson will build up its lineup of faster, higher quality products that support a wide range of media and materials. At the same time, the company will provide applications built around its Color Control Technology color matching software to capture replacement, additional printer, and distributed printing demand.

Epson is accelerating the global shift to digital printing by opening Textile Solution Centers, first in Italy and then in Japan. TSC Asia was opened in June 2019 at Epson’s Fujimi Plant in Nagano prefecture in response to the growth of active textile printing demand in Asia. Like its counterpart in Italy, TSC Asia recommends textile printing solutions and provides enhanced support to potential customers in Asia, who are invited to experience using Epson’s equipment first-hand as they produce sample works.

About Epson
Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to becoming indispensable to society by connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. The company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics. Epson is proud of its contributions to realizing a sustainable society and its ongoing efforts to realizing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of more than US$10 billion.
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