In 2022, ARMOR Print Solutions - the historic business - celebrates 100 years of the ARMOR Group. This is an opportunity for the leading European player in innovative and sustainable inks and consumables as well as printing services to look back on its strategic choices and investments and to unveil its new projects.
100 years of printing!
ARMOR was founded in 1922 to meet the growing need for carbon paper. The business quickly took on an industrial dimension and a factory was inaugurated on the Chantenay site (Nantes) in 1956. ARMOR first developed inked ribbons for typewriters and then fax rolls. In 1983, the company was the first in Europe to adopt Thermal Transfer technology. In 1990, a new factory was built at La Chevrolière, which has since more than doubled in size. The 1990s also saw the first investments in the remanufactured laser cartridge business and the development and launch of the first compatible inkjet cartridges.
ARMOR Print Solutions consolidates its business...
ARMOR Print Solutions is a pioneer in remanufactured laser and inkjet cartridges for the consumer and professional markets, with a range recently extended to include wide format, franking machines and, in 2020, copiers. "With +200% growth since its launch, our ambition for the copier range is very strong: we are aiming for a number one position in Europe" says Gerwald van der Gijp, Managing Director of ARMOR Print Solutions. With its OWA brand, ARMOR Print Solutions is now the European leader in remanufactured consumables, with constant growth in turnover over the last five years and a forecast of double-digit growth over 2022. The company's leadership position is also evident in its dense network of resellers and distributors across Europe, including more than a thousand in France.
"ARMOR Print Solutions has demonstrated exceptional strength and longevity in the printing industry. With our remanufactured print consumables, we cover 95% of the OEM cartridge references and 98% of the printer references on the market. To achieve this, we rely on our century-old industrial know-how in ink formulation and on a community of several hundred employees in Europe and Morocco, whose industrial site was expanded by 1,500 m2 last year," explains Gerwald van der Gijp.
Convinced that the future of printing within companies will also involve better management, ARMOR Print Solutions has been positioning itself for several years in the field of managed print services and various software solutions for managing printer fleets, with the launch of its Dyalog brand in 2020. Finally, with its Armor Industrial Ink offering, ARMOR Print Solutions is now extending its industrial ink expertise to the development and production of semi-industrial inks.
... And preparing for the future
The next few months are busy for ARMOR Print Solutions. Firstly, its R&D teams for inkjet consumables for professionals (large format, label printing, etc.) will be strengthened with recruitment planned. ARMOR Print Solutions is also strengthening its position in the DACH region by expanding its sales teams and offering its customers a 24-to-72-hour delivery solution. At the same time, the Moroccan industrial site in Bir Jdid is continuing to expand to support growth, with an additional 4,500 m2 by the end of June 2022. Finally, in the coming months, ARMOR Print Solutions will consolidate its range of reconditioned printers.
"The environmentally oriented trends in the market offer good opportunities for ARMOR Print Solutions: the AGEC law, which imposes a minimum of 20% of remanufactured products in public procurement in France, the European Green Deal, which aims to impose product reuse targets on manufacturers, and the growing awareness of the challenges of the circular economy," concludes Gerwald van der Gijp.
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