LONDON, April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 (
http://www.ricoh-europe.com/reduce2grow) is available as a part of
Ricoh's 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 business's 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 credits[1] 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 Ricoh's Sustainability Optimisation programme.
Through carbon balanced printing, Generali Switzerland's 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 we're helping our customers be more efficient and
sustainable."
Listed for the 7th consecutive year as one of the Global 100
Most Sustainable Corporations[2], 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 world's 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."
To find out more about how Ricoh's five step Sustainability
Optimisation programme can help businesses save money and reduce
carbon, visit http://www.ricoh-europe.com/reduce2grow
For video, images and other materials about Sustainability
Optimisation, visit the Ricoh media centre:
http://www.ricoh-europe.com/press
About Ricoh Europe
Ricoh Company, Ltd ("Ricoh Company") is a global technology
leader, specialising in the office and production printing markets.
Ricoh works with organisations around the world to modernise work
environments and optimise document efficiency.
With over 108,500 employees worldwide, it operates in
Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, China and Japan. Ricoh Europe Holdings Plc is a public
limited company and the EMEA headquarters of Ricoh Company with
operations located in London, United
Kingdom and Amstelveen, the
Netherlands. In the fiscal year ended 31 March 2010, revenues from Ricoh's EMEA
operations totalled over YEN 458.5
billion ($4.5 bn) Ricoh
Company's worldwide sales totalled over YEN
2,016 billion ($21bn) during
the year ended 31 March 2010.
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[1] Carbon credits are generated from UNFCCC-approved clean
energy projects in developing countries.
[2] Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. Visit
http://www.global100.org
Home page: http://www.ricoh-europe.com
Register for the Ricoh media centre at:
http://www.ricoh-europe.com/press