Plans for the joint venture spanning multifunction printers (MFPs) and other products were announced just over a year ago.

Today (1 July) Ricoh and Toshiba Tec confirmed the partnership and business integration had been completed, which includes manufacturing operations related to MFPs in Japan and overseas.

Etria begins operations with capital of ¥500m (£2.45m). It is a consolidated subsidiary of Ricoh, and an affiliated company to Toshiba Tec.

Katsunori Nakata, president of Ricoh's Digital Products business unit, is president and CEO of the newco.

As well as MFPs, the venture will involve collaboration on new products to help customers with their digital transformation initiatives in the workplace.

Etria will also integrate image recognition tech from the two firms, using Toshiba Tec’s barcode printer and RFID know-how, and Ricoh’s optical and image processing technologies.