Ricoh is expanding its strategic partnership with Kyocera to distribute the TASKalfa 15000C, an SRA3 sheetfed inkjet press designed to provide commercial printers with a practical first step into production inkjet. Available for more than two years, the 150ppm four-colour device now gains Ricoh’s endorsement and market reach in Europe, following its adoption in North America. Ricoh Europe describes the move as a strategic initiative that enables customers to test inkjet economics with limited risk, serving as a bridge between toner-based production and higher-volume inkjet platforms while anchoring users into Ricoh’s workflow and service ecosystem.

The TASKalfa 15000C prints on uncoated stocks up to 160gsm, targeting applications such as direct mail letters and transactional documents. With low energy consumption and high productivity, it aligns closely with the needs of book and transactional print providers—markets currently served by Ricoh’s VC40000 continuous-feed press—while offering a more accessible entry point. Although Ricoh contributed input and delivery technologies to the collaboration, the press will retain the Kyocera identity within Ricoh’s portfolio, which also includes the VC80000 and Z75 platforms.

Ricoh will handle sales directly rather than through its dealer network and plans to install the press at its Telford Customer Experience Centre alongside its other inkjet systems. A successful pilot installation in the US has paved the way for European rollout. With Kyocera also supplying the press to Xerox under OEM terms, branded as the IJP900, the partnership signals growing industry interest in accessible sheetfed inkjet platforms. Further collaborations are not ruled out, particularly as Kyocera and Screen prepare to bring a coated-stock-capable SRA3 inkjet system to market later this year.