The Hochiki Corporation was founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1918. It is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of industrial fire detection products.
Hochiki’s activities started in Europe in the 1960’s. In 1986 Hochiki established a representative in London and then in 1992 moved to Gillingham, Kent, investing in a purpose-built production facility and technical support centre.
From the Gillingham site, Hochiki Europe with 90 staff, services fire detection equipment distributors and installation companies throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
In order to cope with a constant demand, a proportion of the company’s marketing material is designed and printed in-house by Hochiki Europe’s marketing department. In-house printing allows more control, less waste and more flexibility.
The marketing department produces 5,000 data sheets a month during busy periods. Hochiki Europe attends around 4 or 5 exhibitions a year, as well as producing and shipping ring binders, each containing over 30 data sheets, regularly to distributors. This all adds up to a lot of colour printing!
When the company’s 10 year old HP colour laser jet printer began to fail, the marketing department decided to submit a proposal to the management for their own dedicated colour printer. The requirement was for a fast, reliable, good quality printer with low production costs.
Initially, they took a HP printer on trial, but it constantly jammed and was returned. They then leased a colour photocopier/printer, but the output was too slow. Next they approached Canon, but Canon could not compete with the printers offered by the Xerox Corporation.
Following a visit to the Xerox website, for convenience they chose a supplier close to Gillingham to view a demonstration. To their surprise, First Choice Business Systems, based in Orpington, delivered a printer to their office and offered a trial for 10 days.
First Choice also suggested an optional finisher to accompany the printer enabling collating, stapling and hole punching.
“We were so impressed with the speed and quality of the Xerox Phaser 7400 A3 colour printer and finisher, we made a decision to enter into a lease arrangement with First Choice immediately,” claims Paul Adams, technical author, Hochiki Europe.
“Not only do we have a printer that matches our requirements perfectly, but the service we receive from First Choice is excellent. They are very attentive to our needs and offer a knowledgeable, personal service,” says Paul “we shall have no hesitation in taking another Xerox machine from First Choice for another department should there be a need.”