ISMS in Action (Japan) Case 3:
Ricoh Unitechno Co., Ltd.

ISMS Activities Combined with Kaizen Activities Implemented together for Higher-Quality Corporate Management

Established in 1968 as a manufacturing company of the Ricoh Group, Ricoh Unitechno will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2008. It develops and manufactures wide-format digital MFPs and facsimile machines and recycles products and components.
Its parallel implementation of ISMS activities and Kaizen activities resulted in simultaneous achievement of higher business management quality and greater corporate value.
Of the activities initiated by Ricoh Unitechno, this section focuses on its risk assessment and the “One-Entry System“ implemented in tandem with the documentation of tasks in manuals.

ISMS Activities as an Integral Part of Efforts for Increased Efficiency

Initiatives designed to strengthen security by Ricoh Unitechno (RUC) include a rigid encryption measure, a measure to prevent the use of Winny file-sharing software on PCs on the work premises by compulsory search, and entry/exit control using employee ID cards with IC chips, in addition to authentication activities carried out across the Ricoh Group. Additionally, RUC has launched indirect UTOPIA * activities and integrated them into ISMS activities. RUC’s ISMS activities are described below.

  • *Unitechno Total Optimization Process Improvement Activity was designed to bring improvements by relentlessly reducing muri (overburden), mura (inconsistencies) and muda (wasted eff ort). And to increase production efficiency, UTOPIA consists of actions carried out on manufacturing floors. Also in place is “indirect UTOPIA“ for workplaces not directly involved in manufacturing.

Activity flow chart
Activity flow chart

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(1) Documenting Tasks into Manuals

RUC’s UTOPIA activities aimed at higher manufacturing efficiency have been in place for some time. In recent years, they have penetrated beyond the manufacturing floors to spheres not directly involved in manufacturing, resulting in higher efficiency across a greater area. Indirect UTOPIA requires personnel to organize output documents (information assets) in good order and carry out process improvement activities, both of which are implemented together with task inventory-taking. Personnel proceed with process improvement activities by first asking themselves whether the output in question is really needed, whether a task process in question contains any muri, mura or muda, and whether any unevenness is detected in the work handled by more than one person.
Having improved the identified problem, they then document the tasks in manuals and further refine them through the use of IT for higher operational efficiency.

(2) Risk Assessment

RUC successfully leveraged the results of indirect UTOPIA activities to achieve a smooth transition to risk assessment using the RFG ISMeasures. It was able to perform ISMS risk assessment efficiently by relying on two documents generated from task-inventory results: the “Task Process Extraction Sheet,“ which defines the tasks and information assets guaranteed by individual business units, and the “List of Task Functions and Key Information Assets by Business Unit,“ designed to correct unevenness in the levels of information assets.

(3) One-Entry System

In the past, the same data had to be input individually into separate systems, resulting in muda and the risk of unintended variations.
To solve this issue, work has been under way since 2007 for the development of a “One- Entry System,“ which allows any data input once at the point of origin to be shared by all systems of the company. The system will enable higher operational efficiency based on resources already available and will facilitate centralized information management to ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Kaizen to be induced by the One-Entry System
Kaizen to be induced by the One-Entry System

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