International, innovative and multidisciplinary

Canon Production Printing manufactures high-end printers and workflow software for the commercial printing market and is part of Canon, a global provider of imaging technologies and services. Because Canon Production Printing develops most of the components itself, it is an employer that offers a huge variety of roles. Employees can participate in many different multidisciplinary projects and they have a wide range of opportunities for career progression, according to Femke Cornelissens.

The high-tech activities related to high-end printers and workflow software for the commercial printing market and the graphics industry cover a lot of different disciplines: not only mechanical engineering, but also chemistry, physics, electrical engineering, software development and more. All these disciplines are involved for every product and every project, which makes Canon Production Printing a very varied place to work. Much of the work is done collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams. You’re involved in the product development from beginning to end, and you see your own contribution to a new product. The work offers lots of technical depth and challenges, while the high degree of teamwork ensures plenty of interaction with colleagues.

Own direction

But Canon Production Printing also offers various possibilities for engineers who want to pursue their own unique direction, as Femke Cornelissens illustrates. Femke has a Master in Biomedical Engineering from TU Eindhoven, with a specialization in bioorganic chemistry. “Biomedical engineering is a combination of biology, maths, physics and chemistry, which really appealed to me. It’s a broad programme that enables you to work in many different disciplines later on, but as a student I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do later on.”

Different involvement in tech

“I went in search of an interesting internship and I ended up at Canon Production Printing in Venlo, where I worked in the R&D department as part of a project to develop a new, sustainable ink technology. I gradually got to know the company and its products better during my graduation internship, and I joined the payroll as soon as I finished studying. I spent seven months working in R&D on the development of UV-gel ink. That project was strongly built on chemistry, which was in line with my own background. My studies had entailed quite a lot of lab work and experiments, but to be honest I knew that I wanted a different kind of involvement in tech. I like innovations and inventions, but I don’t necessarily need to be the one doing the inventing.”

Legal rights

“Eventually, I discovered that I’m most interested in the legal rights associated with innovations. Canon Production Printing has its own intellectual property (IP) department that manages that side of things. When an internal vacancy opened up I applied immediately, and I now work as Patent Information Professional in the Legal & Intellectual Property department.”

“What I love about this role is that I get to hear about all the new developments within the company, but I also still have contact with R&D because that’s where the inventions come from. Besides that, protecting IP is an important issue for the organization because it’s a way of creating a competitive edge. Canon has been a world-leader in terms of patents for more than 36 years.”

In the first few months after Femke joined the Legal & IP department in May 2022, she did a patent information course for three days a week and worked on the other two days. She was immediately able to put everything she learnt on the course into practice in her work. “When R&D invents something, the IP department sets to work to investigate whether the invention can be patented. Once a product is ready for the market, it’s important to conduct a thorough search to make sure that Canon doesn’t infringe on any existing patents. Besides that, we check that all our new technologies in the product are legally protected. To do this, I make use of my knowledge of IP law in combination with the technical knowledge I gained during my studies and from working in R&D. Additionally, I work closely with my immediate colleagues, each with their own specialization. As a result, our job is very diverse and closely linked to tech.”

Major technical advancements

“I’m very happy here. The work is really interesting, varied and always involves the very latest techniques. It’s exciting to be part of major technical advancements, plus Canon is a large, international and innovative organization with a huge number of tech-related disciplines and a rich history of innovation, so it has a lot going for it. I really liked it here as an intern, and I became increasingly certain that I wanted to stay on afterwards.”

“There’s a really nice atmosphere; colleagues are always happy to help you. The culture is open and approachable. Besides that, the company offers you endless possibilities. In my case, I was able to switch to a completely different department. And in addition to career opportunities, you also get opportunities to work on your own development in other areas. For example, alongside my work I’m also secretary of the IP Steering Committee, which exposes me to a lot of what’s going on at management level and makes things even more interesting. I’m definitely very happy here!”

Canon Production Printing

Canon Production Printing develops and manufactures high-tech printing products and workflow software for the commercial printing market and is part of Canon, a global provider of imaging technologies and services. Canon Production Printing operates on three continents, with approximately 3,400 employees (as of late 2022) and has its global headquarters in Venlo, the Netherlands.

Its product offering includes continuous-feed and cut-sheet printers for high-volume printing and publishing, and largeformat printers for display graphics and technical document systems (TDS).

Canon Production Printing Netherlands B.V.

Van der Grintenstraat 10

NL - 5914 HH Venlo careers@cpp.canon careers.cpp.canon