Serge Kral, President of Markem-Imaje, reveals the company’s 5 commitments with the launch of the 9232 inkjet printer and the SmartDate X40 thermal transfer coder. A new offering that redefines the standards of product design and customer service.

Cost reduction, operation optimization, extended reliability, high printing performance and eco-initiatives are what has driven Markem-Imaje in its mission to redefine the standards of the marking and coding market. President of the Markem-Imaje Business Group, Serge Kral explains.

The launches of 9232 and SmartDate X40 herald a new sales strategy. Where does this new market approach come from?
Serge Kral: It is the result of a large-scale survey of our customers in 2008 and 2009 conducted to give us a clearer understanding of their expectations and priorities.  Three major trends emerged.  First of all, sustainable development.  In other words, environmental protection now needs to be an integral part of our approach. The second theme is price – and, more specifically, what we call TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). The real cost of operating the equipment on the production line has been emphasized by the recent economic crisis which has substantially reinforced the drive to reduce costs linked to the overall use of printing equipment (maintenance, purchase of consumables, etc.).  Finally, our customers want efficient machines.  In our business, we measure the OEE, or “Overall Equipment Effectiveness” which implies our equipment needs to make the production line even more efficient.  On the basis of this study, we wanted to launch a global strategy aimed at meeting these three requirements and which incorporates the machine, consumables, maintenance and services.

How have 9232 and SmartDate X40 incorporated these requirements?
Serge Kral: We wanted to give our machines innovative new features, in line with customers’ needs.  Our teams have worked hard to improve the reliability ratio of these two machines.  This constant drive for progress means that we can now automatically offer an 18-month warranty as standard, instead of 12 months, with the option of extending it to 24 months.  Our commitment to the environment has also led to some concrete innovations: we have designed new ketone- and MEK-free inks and have reduced the consumption of our printers (air, electricity).  Last but not least, the material recycling rate is very high.  For example, 9232 uses recycled cartridges and thus generates less waste.

What are the benefits of these printers for your customers?
Serge Kral: Primarily, their ease of use! Our engineers dreamt up a number of features to make life easier for users.  Ink cartridges can be changed without stopping the production line with 9232 since there is no need to stop the printer. 9232 and SmartDate X40 demonstrate Markem-Imaje’s capacity to reinvent the standards of technology and its desire to make a tangible commitment to its customers.

The launch of these two machines is also backed by 5 concrete commitments to your customers…
Serge Kral: That is true.  These commitments are based on cost reduction, operation optimization, unmatched reliability, high-performance printing and eco-initiatives.  Each of these points can be concretely verified by our customers.  That’s why we talk about tangible and measurable benefits.  For example, we guarantee an availability ratio for 9232 of 99.6%. In other words, information is displayed in real-time on its touch screen; the machine indicates when it stopped, why and for how long and also displays, among other things, its additive consumption.  If the machine doesn’t live up to its promises, we will compensate by offering free additive cartridges.  These five “guarantees” embody Markem-Imaje’s commitment. It’s a major step forward for the market as a whole and a breakthrough for our customers!  And, obviously, every product we’ll launch in the future will follow this same philosophy.