Inkjet & Digital Printing
Ricoh MediaMax expands application capabilities and opens new market opportunities
Wednesday 04. March 2026 - Ricoh has Co-innovated creative applications with its clients to enter new markets and improve enviromental impacts with Ricoh MediaMax. Ricoh MediaMax is a customisation option that enables the Ricoh Pro C9500 digital colour sheetfed press to print on a wider range of Ricoh-approved media, with thicknesses of up to 800 microns and weights of up to 600 gsm.
It enables clients to win new business and enter new markets across a range of high value, high margin paperboard applications – from gift cards and business cards to POS displays, short run packaging, luxury direct mail, and book covers.
To help drive and prove the ROI of new applications, Ricoh Europe has been working across the full value chain – from paper mills and specifiers to finishing partners and end clients – to disrupt traditional production models and deliver environmentally responsible alternatives to single use plastic cards.
“RICOH MediaMax has completely changed how we produce card-based applications. Being able to print the artwork and variable data in a single digital process removes an entire production step that used to sit on a separate line,” says Graham Lycett, Founder & Managing Director, Green Gift Cards. “That frictionless, single pass workflow has significantly reduced lead times, cut waste, and helped us get to market much faster. By extending the same process to complementary packaging and POS, we’ve streamlined production end to end and dramatically reduced our carbon footprint – from around 50 grams of CO₂ per card to less than five grams – while improving efficiency and margins.”
Early adopter clients have already achieved measurable business and sustainability outcomes using RICOH MediaMax:
1. ADC Plasticard, an Irish specialist manufacturer of plastic and eco-friendly cards, has expanded capabilities in sustainable and high end card applications. It has eliminated offline gluing to reduce waste and improve efficiency and achieved enhanced durability and finish for premium paperboard products.
2. Dutch card producer Cards Unlimited, which specialises in high volume gift, loyalty, and membership cards, for diverse markets, has enhanced its offerings in sustainable thick paperboard card production. The operation migrated volume from offset technology to its digital Pro C9500 press for greater flexibility and efficiency and moved to full production with minimal downtime, resulting in a rapid ROI.
3. Latcham, a leading British (Bristol) direct mail and personalised communications provider that specialises in membership services, including renewal letters and attached membership cards, is now producing approximately 150,000 paperboard cards per month. It has actively transitioned most of its clients from PVC to paperboard cards, reducing carbon footprint by 91%, while insourcing production and improving margins.
4. Also in Great Britain, Tag Systems (a member of Austriacard Holdings), who are a leading specialist in gift, payment, loyalty, and financial card production, has positioned itself for growth in high margin eco-friendly gift and loyalty card markets. By being able to print both PVC and paperboard cards with RICOH MediaMax, it is now positioned to capture growth in the high margin paperboard market, while lowering its total cost of ownership and increasing margins on short runs.
“RICOH MediaMax opens the door to new application opportunities that were previously impossible to produce on digital presses,” says Erwin Busselot, Director Business Innovation & Solutions, Graphic Communications Group, Ricoh Europe. “Crucially, our unique technology enables our clients to add high value, high margin, short run, data driven applications. By collaborating closely with the full value chain along with our engineering teams and early adopter clients, we are continuing to bring new products to market through our Co-innovation principle of HENKAKU.”
RICOH MediaMax* is currently available (in EMEA only) for the Pro C9500 digital colour sheetfed press only. It can also be retrofitted to existing systems, enhancing the value of our clients’ original investment.