Inkjet & Digital Printing
Ricoh Europe takes the lead in making everyday business processes more sustainable
Monday 04. April 2011 - Ricoh Europe, a specialist in office solutions, managed document services and production printing today launched its unique Sustainability Optimisation programme. The offering, accredited by the British Standards Institution (BSI), helps businesses to improve the efficiency of their document workflows while at the same time taking a carbon balanced approach to managing information.
The Sustainability Optimisation Programme is available as a part of Ricohs Managed Document Services and builds upon its successful Pay Per Page Green consultancy. Sustainability Optimisation enables medium to large organisations to reduce environmental impact and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by more than 30 per cent, govern the sustainable performance of their business documents, and neutralise any remaining, unavoidable carbon emissions.
The programme is a continuous improvement cycle consisting of five stages. First, Ricoh analyses a businesss existing document workflows and fleet, to understand the baseline TCO and carbon emissions from paper and energy consumption. Second, a plan is designed to reduce TCO and carbon emissions, setting clear objectives including optimising the fleet, workflows and end-user behaviour. Third, the plan is implemented. Devices with Eco Mode energy-saving settings are installed, workflows are optimised, and end users are educated to enhance their environmental awareness and to understand how to use the devices in the most sustainable way – resulting in an average energy reduction of 36%.
The fourth stage of the programme is governance, which involves continuous tracking of actual carbon emissions versus set goals. By analysing this data Ricoh can identify how each printing device is being used and implement improvements to drive further reductions in carbon emissions.
The final step is to neutralise remaining unavoidable carbon emissions. Businesses can offset the unavoidable carbon emissions through carbon credits1 generated by clean energy projects in which Ricoh has invested, creating a carbon balanced printing environment.
Generali Switzerland, part of the Fortune 500 global insurance and financial products company Generali Group, is already benefiting from Ricohs Sustainability Optimisation programme. Through carbon balanced printing, Generali Switzerlands 30 million pages of printing annually – equating to 452 tonnes of carbon – will be neutralised.
“The launch of the Sustainability Optimisation programme is timely, given the increasing pressure on businesses to lower not only costs, but their environmental impact,” said Yuji Koyanagi, Vice President Group Marketing, Ricoh Europe. “The workplace is changing, driven by powerful trends – new technologies, changing demographics, globalisation and other economic developments – and Ricoh is committed to helping its customers manage these challenges. Sustainability Optimisation is just one way were helping our customers be more efficient and sustainable.”
Listed for the 7th consecutive year as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations2, Ricoh is a recognised leader in the development of innovative green offerings. With aggressive targets to be more sustainable and to lower carbon emissions, Ricoh is both reducing the environmental impacts of its own business, and helping its customers do likewise.
Hans Breuker, Senior Manager, BSI, the worlds first national standards body which is renowned for its vigorous testing, says: “Our independent audit conclude that Ricoh’s method for analysing, continuously optimising, and neutralising carbon emissions from document processing is transparent and robust. Ricoh has developed a best practice offering for businesses seeking to optimise their sustainability.”