Fujifilm’s Planned BI Spin-Off Offers a Lesson for the Imaging Aftermarket

At first glance, Fujifilm Holdings’ consideration of a partial spin-off of Fujifilm Business Innovation could be read as another negative sign for the global copier and multifunction printer industry.

Office printing is a mature market. Paperless workflows continue to expand, print volumes face long-term pressure, and manufacturers are increasingly looking for ways to reduce costs through partnerships, shared production, common platforms, and procurement alliances.

But Fujifilm’s move should not simply be interpreted as an exit from the copier business.

The more important message is how a company manages a mature business while preparing for its next generation of growth.

Fujifilm Business Innovation remains one of Fujifilm Holdings’ largest businesses, accounting for approximately 35% of group revenue. It has an established customer base, recurring service and consumables revenue, and significant cash-generating capability.

Rather than abandoning the business, Fujifilm is considering giving it greater independence.

That distinction matters.

Greater independence could allow Fujifilm BI to make faster decisions on investment, partnerships, procurement, manufacturing cooperation, and potential industry consolidation without competing internally for capital with Fujifilm Holdings’ faster-growing healthcare and semiconductor businesses.

In other words, the objective is not necessarily to leave a declining industry. It is to find a better way to compete and continue generating profit within it.

Winning in a Mature Market

This is particularly relevant because Fujifilm BI is not the dominant player in the global A3 copier and MFP market. According to figures cited by Nikkei from IDC, the company held a 7.2% share in 2025, ranking eighth worldwide.

For a company in such a position, maintaining every element of development, production, procurement, and distribution independently may not always be the most effective strategy.

Collaboration can become a competitive tool.

Fujifilm BI has already established a joint procurement company with Konica Minolta, while other Japanese office equipment manufacturers have also moved toward closer cooperation in development and manufacturing.

More such moves are likely.

In a mature industry, consolidation should not automatically be viewed as evidence of failure. It can also be a rational way to remove duplicated costs, improve scale, strengthen purchasing power, and protect profitability in the remaining market.

The question for Fujifilm BI is therefore not simply whether the copier market will shrink.

It is whether the company can find a winning position within that shrinking market.

A Cash Cow Can Still Have Strategic Value

There is another side to Fujifilm’s strategy.

A mature business does not need to be a high-growth business to remain valuable.

If it continues to generate strong cash flow, that cash can support investment in the company’s next growth engines.

Fujifilm has already demonstrated this approach once before.

As photographic film demand collapsed in the digital era, the company did not simply try to defend its traditional business indefinitely. It restructured aggressively while transferring technologies, capital, and management resources into healthcare, advanced materials, and other new areas.

Today, Fujifilm is making another portfolio transition.

President and CEO Teiichi Goto has described biopharmaceutical CDMO services and semiconductor materials as businesses with the potential to remain relevant and avoid long-term market contraction.

That thinking explains why Fujifilm is prepared to reconsider the structure of a business that still generates more revenue than any other segment in the group.

The strategy can be summarized simply: Protect the profitability of today’s business, generate cash from it, and invest that cash in tomorrow’s business.

A Message for the Imaging Supplies Aftermarket

The same lesson applies to the global imaging supplies aftermarket.

The toner, ink, cartridge, parts, and remanufacturing industries cannot assume that overall print volumes will return to the growth rates of previous decades.

That does not mean these businesses have no future.

Even a contracting market can remain large and profitable for companies that build the right competitive position.

For aftermarket companies, that may mean consolidation. It may mean specialization. It may mean expanding geographically, improving manufacturing efficiency, developing stronger intellectual property capabilities, or moving further into services and solutions.

OEM consolidation could also create both opportunities and risks.

Common engines and shared product platforms may reduce the number of unique components aftermarket suppliers need to develop and could improve manufacturing scale.

At the same time, stronger OEM alliances could bring tighter control of firmware, chips, authentication systems, intellectual property, and service ecosystems.

Successful aftermarket companies will therefore need to understand where they can continue to win in the existing market rather than simply waiting for market growth to return.

But that is only half of the challenge.

What Comes After Printing?

The other half is deciding where to invest the cash generated by today’s business.

Fujifilm’s transformation from photographic film into healthcare and semiconductor materials did not happen overnight. Those businesses were developed over many years through technology transfer, acquisitions, investment, and persistent management commitment.

Imaging supplies companies should be asking a similar question.

Not necessarily, “What business will still exist 100 years from now?”

But perhaps:

“What business can we begin building today that could become meaningful five or ten years from now?”

The answer will be different for every company.

It could involve digital services, industrial printing, packaging, materials technologies, recycling, automation, managed services, or businesses that have not yet emerged.

What matters is the discipline of using a profitable mature business not only to survive, but to finance the next one.

That may ultimately be the most important lesson from Fujifilm’s proposed restructuring.

The copier market may continue to contract.

Fujifilm BI still needs to compete, consolidate where necessary, and generate profit from that market.

Meanwhile, Fujifilm Holdings is preparing for the industries it believes will drive its future.

For the imaging aftermarket, the message is equally clear:

Manage the decline. Win the remaining market. Fund the next growth engine.

About Author

Koichi Yoshizuka is the founder and CEO of QRIE Ltd., established in 2005. QRIE specializes in importing and wholesaling compatible inks and toners for printers. The company has successfully expanded its online presence through its e-commerce site and major platforms, including Rakuten, Amazon, and Yahoo! Shopping, serving a diverse clientele that ranges from corporate clients to individual consumers. Renowned for quality and affordability, QRIE has won Rakuten’s Shop of the Year award in the Electronics category three times.

In addition, QRIE is actively developing new digital businesses and products driven by employee innovation. Today, QRIE boasts annual sales revenue of approximately USD 14 million and employs 45 dedicated staff members. Under Koichi Yoshizuka’s leadership, QRIE continues to thrive and innovate in the competitive printer supplies market.

Koichi Yoshizuka was also a featured speaker at the RemaxWorld Summit 2024, held in October during the RemaxWorld Expo in Zhuhai, China. In his address, he highlighted the unique characteristics of the Japanese printing and copying market.

For communication, you can contact Koichi Yoshizuka on LinkedIn.

Other posts from Koichi:

• If Epson Is Moving Beyond Printers, Why Shouldn’t We Move Beyond Cartridges?
• Canon Marketing Japan’s Valuation Surge: Lessons for the Aftermarket
• What ASKUL’s Pivot Teaches Us About Surviving a Shrinking Market
• Japan’s Journey to Paperless: Digitization and the Decline of Office Printing
• The Inevitable Decline of Postal Services in a Paperless World
• How Tokyo’s Digital Reform Threatens Japan’s Office Supply Industry
• Japan’s Digital Address Revolution Reshapes Logistics
• Japan Post’s ¥370 Billion Logistics Overhaul: Implications for QRIE and the Wider Printing Supplies Industry

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