On the back of its strengths, printer giant keeps things humming

Minoru Usui, president and CEO of Seiko Epson Corporation. [Photo/Agencies]

If you take the innovation away from epson, there is no meaning for the company, says its chief

Innovation is the driving force of an enterprise, which is unquestionably true for Minoru Usui, president and CEO of Japanese electronics company Seiko Epson Corporation, commonly known as Epson.

Usui, the founder of the group's core technology－called micro piezo technology－said innovation was of great importance to a company and it needs to constantly innovate to create new products to help improve society and help people achieve more affluent lifestyles.

Since Usui became the CEO of Epson in 2008, he has adjusted the original business structure, after analyzing the strengths of the company, and decided to vigorously develop its inkjet printing instead of the laser printing business.

Founded in 1942, Epson had humble beginnings, starting with making watches.

The company, now one of the world's biggest manufacturers of computer printers and information and imaging related equipment, announced its Epson 25 Corporate Vision (2016-25) recently, which set out the direction it will take over the next decade.

Epson plans to step up the pace of its technological innovation, not only in traditional fields such as printers and projection equipment, but also by expanding its robotics and wearable devices activities.

Usui said his confidence in China was based on strong sales of its Epson products, including inkjet printers and projectors, which have enjoyed sustained steady growth.

Faced with a continuing labor shortage and a requirement for more elaborate production, Usui concedes more robots are needed to make the manufacturing processes smarter and contribute to greater productivity.

He told China Daily that the "Made in China 2025" action plan will provide a number of opportunities for Epson, a technology-driven company.

The following are edited excerpts from the interview.

How do you see your company's prospects in China in the context of the current economic situation?

China is changing dramatically. It has been growing for years and is now very stable. We are focusing on two categories: production and sales in China. The sales activity is very positive for Epson, which means we have a big opportunity for our new products, for example inkjet printers and projectors, and we hold a dominate position in these areas, so there is no problem for us generally.

However, the productivity problem is very severe in China as labor costs are dramatically increasing and we can't sustain labor quality and quantity as our employees are leaving us.

What is the biggest opportunity and challenge for doing businesses in China? Why?

We are now changing dramatically, not only in the consumer sector, but also in the business and industry sectors, which is the same situation as in China.

We are concentrating on consumer products or small-business products, and by using our micro piezo technology, we are now involved in high-performance business inkjet printers, an alternative to the traditional laser printer.

In order to achieve success in business, we must be a customer-oriented company, which is the biggest opportunity, but also the biggest challenge for us. We must establish collaborations with local Chinese companies to develop both software and hardware solutions.

With the 'paperless office' concept prevailing, the traditional printer sector is deemed as a "sunset industry". What is the future for Epson?

The reason people wish for the paperless office lies in the fact that it has less of an impact on the environment, the cost is relatively low, and electronic documents are easier to manage.

We have made efforts in two areas. On one hand, we hope to promote inkjet printers, which are more environmentally friendly, instead of laser printers.

On the other hand, because the use of paper can deplete forest resources, we have developed our PaperLab technology which takes used paper and creates fresh new sheets, to form a papermaking ecosystem in offices. And this is our future direction.

As to the printing technology, we don't only print on paper, but also on fabrics and other multiple media. We hope to provide our inkjet technology for the printing process, which is digital and causes less impact on the environment.

As the founder of the company's core technology of micro piezo, how do you map out Epson's strategy with that strong technical backgroud? What kind of change did you bring after becoming president in 2008?

We were facing tough times. First, we had the LCD display business, which was very uncompetitive and the business was shrinking. Moreover, our printer business also met with severe challenges in emerging countries.

Meanwhile, we were only making consumer printers, so the overall situation was not good. The financial crisis in 2008 made the Japanese yen appreciate very rapidly.

So we analyzed what Epson's strengths were and made an adjustment to the business structure and developed some new business models. Because we are good at technology, our technology shouldn't lag behind our competitors. But we noticed that our traditional technology, like the LCD screens, has lost competitiveness, so we transfered the business. We also reduced our semiconductor business.

Meanwhile, we considered areas where we could expand our business. After analyzing our strengths, we focused on inkjet printing technology and projector equipment.

We originally had a laser printer, but it had no competitive advantage in the market, so we abandoned this field in many countries and concentrated on inkjet printing, improving the technology to adapt to the office environment.

Generally speaking, we stand on our own merits, expanding our production line and the competitiveness of our products, and really analyzing the demands of consumers.

What is the role of innovation at Epson and how do you keep that innovation going?

If you take the innovation away from Epson, there is no meaning for the company. The innovation doesn't mean defeating other companies or winning in competition with our rivals, but providing customers with our products and services.

One characteristic of Epson's employees or engineers is that they focus very much on one thing and are diligent in achieving their goals. As the CEO of Epson, my job is to create value for customers, facilitate the whole corporate culture of innovation and push everybody in that direction.

How do you motivate your international team?

The role of our headquarters in Japan is to create the core of technologies, but we don't just create products in Japan and send them to other countries.

What is really important to Epson is to understand each of the customers in each single country. The local staff must be involved in creating business models and products that suit their individual area. I think China is a very good example for that.

So we want to have a maximum input from all the countries where we do business. That enables us to create products to suit customers in each market.

Epson has a lot of employees around the world and what is important is to create ways of sharing information between the countries, so everybody can access it and people from different countries can come together to discuss the direction Epson should go in.

How do you view the balance between work and life?

Work and life balance is very important. However, as a CEO of big company, it is very difficult to achieve that. I have some hobbies, and do them on the weekend.

While I am doing my hobbies, I am always thinking about work. I even get many good ideas about work when I am sleeping.

What Epson products are you using?

I always wear a Seiko watch made by Epson. At home, I have an Epson printer, a motion sensor for running, which can tell how fast you run with a GPS, and an Epson PC, smart glasses－a lot of Epson's products.

CV

Age: 61

Career:

2008 onwards: President of Seiko Epson Corporation

2007: COO of the production technology division and the R&D division

2005: COO of the production technology division

2002: Director and deputy chief executive of imaging and information products operations division

1979: Joined Shinshu Seiki Co Ltd (Currently Seiko Epson Corporation)

Education:

1970: Bachelor degree in Engineering Sciences from The University of Tokyo

Family: Married with three children