Epson Opens European Business Services Centre in Riga with €6 Million Investment
Japanese technology company Seiko Epson Corporation opened a European Business Services Centre in Riga on 22 October, supporting operations in 25 European countries. In an interview with Dienas Bizness, its chief executive outlined the company's strategy through 2035.
Seiko Epson Corporation, the Japanese technology company best known worldwide for its printers, opened its European Business Services Centre (EBS) in Riga on 22 October. The centre will support the company's operations in 25 European countries. Epson invested €6 million in setting it up, and 134 employees have already started work there. Riga was chosen over 30 competing cities, and the company described it as the most successful option.
Three core principles
In an interview with the Latvian business daily Dienas Bizness, the corporation's president and chief executive, Junkichi Yoshida, stressed that the company's philosophy rests on efficiency, compactness and precision. Efficiency means lower electricity consumption, compactness means using less space and material, and precision means getting things right the first time so that processes do not have to be repeated.
Vision for 2035
This year Epson adopted a new ten-year vision, "Engineered Future 2035", through which it wants to be seen as a technology company rather than merely a maker of finished consumer products. Its core technologies are microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), including inkjet technology, timing devices, semiconductors and sensors. The inkjet method, in which droplets of liquid material are applied only where needed, can be used, for example, in making flexible perovskite solar cells.
Over the next three years Epson has committed to investing in technology development and in expanding its manufacturing infrastructure. The company expects the fastest growth in precision innovations, commercial and industrial printing, and robotics.
Printing on paper currently accounts for about 70% of total revenue. By 2035 the company wants industrial and technology sectors to make up 50% of revenue. Epson's annual revenue is around 1 trillion yen. On the management side, Yoshida emphasises the idea of a single "Epson team".
