Many of our customers make excellent use of both Océ and Canon equipment through our FM services, and for them, there is nothing to address (That’s the great part about our Facilities Management programs!). For those of you who own the machines, or are simply curious how two titans in their fields manage to marry, here’s a quick summary to keep you in the loop about Canon’s intent to acquire Océ.

When the news broke last month, Reuters reported that Canon intends to buy Océ “…in a challenge to rivals Ricoh and Xerox in the hunt for growth.” Analysts were expecting some move toward consolidation from Canon after Ricoh’s acquisition of Icon earlier this year.

Given how clearly focused their key competencies are, it’s not surprising that roles and responsibilities for the two companies will be initially be distinguished by Océ’s expertise in wide-format black & white and color, while Canon execs will focus on the small format business. And just for the record, our Océ account team was upbeat about the arrangement.

On November 19th, Océ management conducted a press teleconference to provide further details of its acquisition by Canon and a few new details came out of this conference, including:

•    Océ will consist of three strategic business units (SBUs):  Commercial Printing Systems, Wide Format Printing Systems (including Canon’s portfolio), and Business Services.
•     Océ, as a wholly owned division of Canon, will maintain its current responsibility for portfolio marketing, sales and services and the management of the SBUs will report to the Océ corporate board.  Océ will lead R&D and manufacturing in The Netherlands, Germany and Canada. Sales and marketing will be organized by country.
•    A steering committee is being established to lead the integration between Canon and Océ for the office, including regional integration teams that include both Canon and Océ representation.
•    The companies still plan to conclude the acquisition in the spring of 2010.