Latest technology Trend Tone Imaging, Inc, or better known as TTI, is an independent toner manufacturer established in 1990 in Taiwan. Today, TTI is distinguished as one of the largest toner manufacturers ranking at No. 3 in the world. The company focuses on intensive R&D, efficient production and offers top class toners for copiers and laser printers to the customers worldwide. TTI uses the most advanced manufacturing equipment to provide high quality compatible toners. In an interaction with Imaging Solution magazine, Ms. Kuei-Ying Sheu, President of TTI, shares their company’s policies, marketing strategy and future plans.
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Ms. Kuei-Ying Sheu reveals, “We have six production lines in Taiwan and two in China. Worldwide, we have 20% market share in toner sales. We are strong not only in monochrome toners, but also in color toners. We have the right technology to manufacture the best colortoners for the market. At present, globally color forms 25% of our toner sales and we are aiming to increase this to 50% in the coming years, as the future will be for color toners. Besides the current 11,000 tons capacity per year, including 6,000 tons in Taiwan and 5,000 tons in Suzhou, TTI is planning to install additional production lines in the near future. We maintain high levels of quality and consistency and that is our USP.”
As a part of the company policy, TTI focuses on listening to the voice of customers and understanding their real needs and accordingly developing new products to increase value and satisfaction for customers. TTI’s strategy is designed at providing top class professional services to solve customers’ problems; doing fact-based analyses and continuous process improvement; managing hazardous substances and producing ‘green products.’
Regarding their India strategy and branding, Ms. Kuei-Ying Sheu shares, “India is a big and growing market with a huge population and market potential so it is an important market for us. Demand for our products in India has been growing steadily increasing. In future, we see more and more opportunities in the Indian market. Regarding Make in India, we do not have any current plans to start manufacturing in India but in future we may investigate, and if found appropriate,think of manufacturing in India. As I said, quality is very important for us and we maintain high standards. In India, we market through some big distributors. For example, Aryan Trade World Pvt Ltd (ATWPL) and Sumanglam International are the distributors for us in India who are also our local brains for branding and marketing of our products in India. We are elated by our success so far in India and we are very optimistic about our future growth in India.”
Some important milestones of TTI: In 1990, TTI was established by setting up a factory; in 1997, TTI was acquired by Everlight Chemical Group; in2006, the company completed the color toner production line with spherical technology to make particle-shaped toners, similar to the chemically produced toners; and in 2007, TTI got QC080000 IECQ HSPM certification.
Talking about growing trend of color usage and also about the fact that color toner usage demands high accuracy and consistency, Ms. Kuei-Ying Sheu highlights, “In general, observing the trend over the past few years, printing industry is globally growing at 3% to 5% and color usage is growing at 5% to 10% but color costs 5 times as much as monochrome. As more information consumption is increasing so is the print consumption. In India, it will take another 3 to 4 years for color usage to become more common. In China too, first mono dominated the market and later color usage increased and in India too we are expecting the same pattern in the coming years. In Europe and UK color is growing fast and we have nearly 10% market share in these two regions. For us biggest competitors in color segment in international markets are Japanese companies. In 3D printing segment, maybe in future color will play a big role, but as of now our focus is not much on 3D segment.”
Comparing between the laser toner printing and the inkjet printing in terms of quality, Ms. Kuei-Ying Sheu clarifies, “Laser toner gives definitely superior quality print in document and photo printing. Toner can print on a wide variety of media with high quality, whereas suitable media for ink are limited.A new technology is already in process to easily to refill toner (like in the case of ink tank technology) without going through the current methods of refilling, which could become more common in future.”
Commenting on the shelf-life of toners, Ms. Kuei-Ying Sheu states, “For MFDs the toner shelf-life after it has been manufactured is 1-2 years and for copiers it is 3-5 years. There is a charging up procedure to determine the actual date the toner was manufactured.However our deals with our partners are always transparent and we never supply expired products to the market and furtherour partners have faith in us, so we never face such issues.”
Today, there are conventional and chemical toners in the market. Commenting on these two toners and their merits, Ms. Kuei-Ying Sheu concludes, “We do not provide chemical toners and our present focus is only on conventional toners—both black and color. Since the chemical toners are expensive, the market is not yet ready to use chemical toners in large quantities. We have special technology and equipment that will ensure spherical shape of our conventional toner particles to be nearly matches with the shape of the chemical toners; and on the other hand our conventional toners are much cheaper than chemical toners and give comparably good quality. So we do not see a significant shift to chemical toners in the coming years.”
TTI with already as one of the top producers of toners for printers and copiers see a great potential in the Indian market. Through their committed channels partners in India, TTI is aiming at increase their market share significantly in India.
