Applied Imaging, Michigan’s premier independent office technology dealer entered into a partnership with Royal Oak’s ArborOakland Group, one of Michigan’s largest commercial printers. When they completed the transaction for the state’s first Ricoh Pro C9110 Color Production Press the first week of September, it was a week prior to Ricoh’s official launch. With volumes up to 1.7 million impressions per month, speeds up to 130 pages per minute and 1200 x 4800 dpi, the Ricoh product has joined the segment 6 color market to replace high volume Kodak, Xerox and HP products.
Scott Gurke, the Applied Imaging representative, and Dave Hamilton, the ArborOakland Group representative who engineered the placement, felt especially positive about the agreement since this is very competitive environment to succeed in and great partnerships are hard to come by. According to Gurke, the decision-makers at the ArborOakland Group admired the special employee culture that’s been established at Applied Imaging and the fact they are annually named to the Top 101 Companies to Work For. Applied Imaging knew that a partnership with ArborOakland Group would be a true test of the Ricoh Pro C9110’s abilities and that in combination with their 40 years of experience in the Direct Mail and Marketing industries, the two companies were the best possible choice for each other in this segment.
“With our size and statewide capabilities, they felt we had the resources of a manufacturer,” said Gurke. “But it was our unique culture and local capabilities that truly made them want to partner with Applied Imaging.” ArborOakland Group is also very employee-focused and their management indicated they may potentially want to emulate something similar in their own business.”
With a motto of “Speak Visually,” the ArborOakland Group positions itself as a marketing solutions agency, which includes a full suite of printing, marketing, and direct-mail solutions. They’ve agreed to act as a beta test site and allow Applied Imaging representatives to bring prospects in for scheduled demos to view a product that will compete directly with most offset printing presses.
Applied Imaging was founded in 1987. From its roots in Grand Rapids, the company has grown to have 248 employees and offices in Kalamazoo, Lansing, Traverse City, Petoskey, Metropolitan Detroit (Novi), which was established in 2011, and most recently, Ann Arbor. Applied Imaging’s business includes the sales and service of copiers, printers, document storage and retrieval products, and software solutions that help customers be more productive and efficient when it comes to document workflow. Manufacturers represented by Applied Imaging include Ricoh, Canon, Kyocera, Océ, Samsung, OnBase, Microsoft, and more.
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