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Can Widecom re-invent itself?

Introduction

Widecom 72 inch SLC (Single Line Contact) Large Format Scanner
The Widecom SLC972C 72" color scanner.
Undoubtedly Ultra Wide ... But is it the Wisest Choice?
Photo credit: The Widecom Group Inc.

Search the internet for "wide format scanners" and a company that comes up on the first page of Google is the Widecom Group Inc of Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

At first glance Widecom's website reads like any other large format scanner manufacturer's. What distinguishes it from standalone manufacturers like Colortrac and Contex is Widecom's claim to also manufacture wide format printers and copiers.

Among its curious claims, Widecom's website states: "WIDECOM has created an industry standard for innovative, wide-format document scanning, printing and copying. Our vision is to maintain being the world’s most successful manufacturer of Single Line Contact - SLC scanning equipment for handling wide-format documents".

We find this claim intriguing as Widecom is undoubtedly the least known and active of all the large format scanner manufacturers today. What exactly is SLC scanning?

If SLC is an "industry standard", who else uses it? An industry standard is a convention, like TWAIN, USB, DXF or PDF, which companies voluntarily adopt to share functional conformity within an industry. We do not know of a single large format scanner manufacturer which uses Widecom's SLC "standard" today. What does Widecom mean exactly? Who uses SLC technology in today's wide format scanner market?

Clearly, as the only manufacturer of "SLC scanning equipment", it is not difficult for Widecom to remain the most successful! However, it has now gone almost nine years without a new large format scanner and five without significantly updating its website. Does this means that Widecom has failed in the pursuit of its stated vision - "to maintain being the world’s most successful manufacturer of SLC scanning equipment"?

These are just some of many questions about Widecom which we have.

Who is the Widecom Group Inc?

The 1990s were Widecom's heyday. Back then Widecom was an innovative wide format manufacturer intent on grabbing market share. It took big booths at shows, ran double page ads and used PR to loudly proclaim its products and notable achievements. One leading wide format industry veteran recalls the seminal moment he saw his first scan-to-print solution on a Widecom booth at a US trade show in the mid-90s.

"I hadn't seen that before" said Randy Geesman, then a much impressed visiting Contex wide format scanner reseller. Today, as president of Paradigm Imaging, the American distributor of Graphtec large format scanners, Geesman is a leading supplier of bespoke EIS (Express Imaging Station) multi-function scan-to-copy wide format solutions which combine Graphtec scanners with popular, usually Canon, printers.

"Widecom certainly set the pace back then!" he said.

But as the 20th Century drew to a close, various factors conspired to foil Widecom's ambition. The exhaustive cost of R&D and declining sales slowed the early pace it had set for itself. Widecom limped into the 21st Century and by 2003 slowed to a crawl. Its website has changed little since 2003, if at all. Yet Widecom's website continues to suggest that it is as active today in large format scanning as it was in 2003.

We asked a cross-section of the large format industry, i.e. Widecom's rivals, for an assessment of Widecom in the market today. Industry insiders were unanimous in agreeing that today Widecom is not offering any challenge to Colortrac, Contex or Graphtec, the leaders in standalone wide format scanners. None said they had encountered Widecom's products in a competitive situation in the last few years.

So, much to our surprise, while we were writing this article and during the course of correspondence with Widecom, a company representative advised us that it is bringing out a "next-generation product scheduled to be introduced for Christmas this year." The inference was that this will be a new large format scanner. If true, wide format scanning is going to get more interesting. And, we hope, more competitive.

As a result, we decided to find out more about Canada's Widecom Group Inc.

A Blast From The Past...
SLC vs SLI vs CIS
More Widecom Firsts
Things Start To Go Wrong
Claims On Widecom's Website
Widecom Wide Format Scanners - An Overview
Scanners4CAD Large Format Scanner Comparison Chart
Conclusion