
Ed LaManna leading a Canon training class in 2023
Editor’s Note: Ed LaManna worked in the marketing department of Canon U.S.A. for 25 years. He retired in the spring of 2024. He talked with IRgA Executive Director Ed Avis twice, in May and July 2024, and the following Q&A is an edited version of those conversations.
When did you start at Canon?
I started at Canon in 1999 working for their new business division. That division took all new products that didn't fit into any of the existing product categories that Canon was handling at the time. And as we started getting more products, Canon also decided to rebrand large format printers from a subsidiary of Canon Inc. called Selex, and we started selling their products under the Canon brand. Canon wanted to see if there was an opportunity in large-format printers.
What was your job at that time?
I was a product marketing specialist. My job was to take a product that they gave me and determine what market we could sell it into. Once I did that, I would then go out on the road attending trade shows, go to conferences. We would go on reseller visits and I would talk about the product and its features and benefits. I wasn't a salesperson, but I was closely related to the sales team, my job was to develop a channel.
How long did it take to develop the large-format channel?
It probably took a year to a year and a half for us to develop different channels for our large format printers. When we started, the channel we focused on most was the technical documents because everyone knew what a plotter was. Everyone knew what a black and white printer was. The end users all had these big machines, but Canon was offering a much smaller, much less expensive inkjet engine printer. Canon was creating a new market for smaller companies, companies that didn't want to spend 15 or $20,000 on a printer, but they could spend probably around $5,000 for a printer. And there wasn't that much competition at the time.
Was this Canon’s own inkjet head, or something you had purchased?
This was Canon Inc’s technology known as Bubble Jet which was also found in their consumer printers. When Canon came out with this patented printhead in the early 2000s it was more advanced than other printhead technology in the market at the time. So for Canon, it was a boom.
The first printer we had was called the BJW 9000. It was a 42-inch printer that ran off a parallel port. It was super slow. And while the quality was good, it was kind of amazing back then that we would be at a trade show where people would bring a loupe and say “let me take a look at this,” and they would start comparing it to a photograph.
So professional photographers were using this printer?
Yes, a big part of our marketing strategy was to work with our camera division. This is where we had an advantage over the competition – being a camera and printer company.
When we first started out, it was a hurdle to try and get photographers to step away from what they were doing -- it didn't matter how much they were paying for a print -- to get them to use an inkjet printer -- they just didn't trust the quality. And they thought it was very expensive. So we always did a cost per print analysis and we would say, listen, I don't know what it's costing for the other different technologies, but it's only going to be about six bucks for this print.
In 2006 we introduced a five-color printer geared towards the technical documents market and a 12-color printer line that was targeted towards photo and graphics printing. So we were going after different and distinct markets with two different and distinct printer lines. And that's when our business really grew.
When did you start counting on the reprographics shops as customers and as resellers?
When Canon first started going into the large-format business, we realized the tremendous market that existed, the AEC market, and knew we had to get a good grasp of that market. In 2007 we realized that while the 5-color was great for the technical document market that reprographic shops were expanding what they were printing for their customers and they wanted to offer more graphics, so we then introduced an 8-color line of printers. We bundled and still do offer a poster creation software, PosterArtist, with the printers. This simple to use 4-step poster making program expanded what a reprographics firm could offer to the end user, which helped their revenue and profit.
It was also at this time we realized how important scanning was to the technical documents markets. Reprographic firms needed to have scanning capabilities in their portfolio. So we added scanning to the lineup to further broaden the offering.
When did you sense that Canon was carving out its own niche in this market?
In 2006 when we first introduced the 5 and 12 color lineup we sensed something had changed and we were making an impression. We would go to a lot of shows back then and bring our whole team and were overwhelmed at the booth with prospects asking questions and looking closely at the prints. Then once 2007 came upon us there was no looking back.
Were reprographics firms using the Canon printers primarily for color documents, or technical documents also?
We always thought color was important and that need was there, but we also realized how important black and white drawings were. So on our six-channel head we put two channels of matte black. So that would make printing black and white documents faster, because now we were using twice as many nozzles to deliver the ink. So we never really wanted to forget who the bread and butter was in the marketplace.
What do you think the future holds?
I still believe that printing is going to be around for a very long time. Is it going to decline? Yes but the experts have been saying that since 2007, and the industry continues to go on. We always listened to the industry experts and would prepare for less printing, but people have been continuing to print and since COVID there is more of a need to communicate through posters so the market is still evolving
However, speaking of COVID, this could have a negative impact on business in the long run because as the younger generation enters the workforce and work from home, they are less apt to look at a print versus using the computer. But having that physical document to look at on a construction site is tough to move away from. Also, I am now finding that more people are getting their pictures printed from their phones, because the quality is high enough to create 8x10s, 17x20s. As phones continue to improve the camera quality this could drive demand.
The signage market is totally unaffected. Everyone still wants signs and banners and posters, and those are very visual, tactile things that are much less affected by the move to digital. On a job site, people pull up their documents on a tablet or on one of those big I-Plan Tables. But the job site still needs signage, it needs banners, it needs safety signage, it needs marketing signage and it needs technical documents.
So while much is changing around us I think large format printing is going to be around for a long time to come.
What are you proud of from your time at Canon?
I think probably in the 24 years I worked for Canon, I'm most proud of the fact that when I first started, we weren't selling any printers and had no market share. And right now we sell printers that range from $700 to how much $500,000+. The lineup is one of the widest offerings in the industry and the market share has increased dramatically.