Epson Acquires Robustelli Textile Printer Manufacturing

July 2016

Strengthens product lineup and manufacturing expertise

SYDNEY, 5 July 2016 – Epson has acquired Fratelli Robustelli one of the industry’s leaders in the textile printing industry and manufacturer of the award-winning Monna Lisa digital inkjet textile printer. The acquisition will drive synergies and further increase customer value by expanding the scope of the two companies' longstanding collaboration in digital inkjet textile printing.

Monna Lisa digital inkjet textile printer

The entry of Robustelli into the Epson Group will allow it to leverage Epson's manufacturing capability to bring the advantages of its digital inkjet textile printers to more customers around the world. The move will assist Epson in using Robustelli's expertise to accelerate the development of digital inkjet textile printers that further enhance the companies' abilities to meet customer needs with a wider lineup of products. As part of the enhanced acceleration, the two companies plan to focus on joint R&D efforts to achieve this goal.

General Manager, Business Division, Epson Australia Craig Heckenberg said, "This is a very exciting development for Epson in Australia and New Zealand. The market for high-quality digital textile printing is expanding and acquiring Robustelli puts us in a great place to meet the technology needs of the growing numbers of customers who are seeking to leverage the advantages of advanced digital solutions that will help drive their businesses forward."

The digital textile printing market is expected to grow worldwide at an annual rate of approximately 25% ^*1 with Epson using its manufacturing network to meet this growing demand.

"We are happy and proud to become members of the Epson Group," said Valerio Robustelli, one of the proprietors of F.lli Robustelli. "Our cooperation with Epson led to the development of Monna Lisa, an industrial digital textile printer that is today a market benchmark for high-quality textile printing. The combination of our respective skills is the natural conclusion of a process of innovation to satisfy customers in Italy and the rest of the world."

Located in Como, the heart of the Italian and European high-quality printing textile industry, Robustelli specialises in the development, manufacture, and sale of digital inkjet textile printers, notably the Monna Lisa series, which it began developing with Epson in 2003. This product has established a strong brand image by providing beautiful gradations and colour reproduction, winning plaudits from customers.

^*1 Annual growth rate till 2019 (source WTiN Intelligence)
^*2 Monna Lisa is a registered trademark of Robustelli

Picture Credit
Monna Lisa digital inkjet textile printer

About Epson and Epson Australia
Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. With a lineup that ranges from inkjet printers and digital printing systems to 3LCD projectors, smart glasses, sensing systems and industrial robots, the company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises more than 67,000 employees in 90 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental impacts.

Epson Australia offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the commercial, industrial, consumer, business, photography and graphic arts markets, and is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the retail market. Epson is the market leader in Australia and worldwide in sales of projectors for the home, office and education. Established in 1983 Epson Australia is headquartered in North Ryde NSW and is a subsidiary of the Epson Group headquartered in Japan.
www.epson.com.au

About F.lli Robustelli
Operating in Villa Guardia (Como, Italy) since the 1950s, F.LLI ROBUSTELLI s.r.l. has always designed and produced photogravure and textile printing machinery and systems. Thanks to an ongoing relationship with its clients and the ability to blend textile and mechanical knowhow with new digital technologies, F.lli. Robustelli has developed partnerships across the world. Over 15 years ago, F.lli Robustelli developed an important partnership with SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION that resulted in the MONNA LISA® project. For this project, the company product engineered the first digital textile printing machine on Epson print technology resulting in a product that is known in the textile industry as the best digital textile printer in the world and making of F.lli Robustelli one of the major players in the digital textile printing revolution.
www.monnalisatdp.com

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