Digital printers can expect better customer service thanks to the continued integration of Océ and Canon, said Océ Australia's managing director.

Simon Wheeler, who has just joined Canon Australia's senior leadership team, said local Océ customers would see no change in day-to-day service procedures, although they would benefit from a greater number of engineers and account managers.

Wheeler told ProPrint that Océ was expected to eventually disappear as a corporate entity, although its brand name would probably live on.

Canon and Océ have been uniting their operations since Canon announced the takeover in 2009.

That will continue on 1 January 2013 with the formation of the Canon Professional Printing division, which will bring together Océ Australia operations and Canon’s Production Printing Systems, Large Format Printing and Commercial Inkjet teams under Wheeler's leadership.

He said integrations were complicated and lengthy procedures, but the time had come for the two parties to stop thinking about internal matters.

"Now we're married and can get on with life," he said. "We only make money if our customers make money, so we've got to look after them."

Wheeler said Océ was performing quite well despite the reluctance of customers to invest in new equipment.

"We're making money and budgets are being met… Our volumes of print are holding up, but that's probably because we're taking volumes from offset."