We are promoting
Green Partnership with suppliers and customers.
In order
to reduce the environmental impact of our
activities, it is vital to establish Green
Partnership among suppliers, the Ricoh Group,
and customers for the benefit of all. The
Ricoh Group supports environmental management
systems (EMS's) for suppliers and, in return,
asks them to provide the Ricoh Group with
raw materials and parts that have less environmental
impact. Suppliers are thus able to develop
and manufacture parts that have less environmental
impact at more environmentally sound plants,
while the Ricoh Group is able to manufacture
products for customers that have less environmental
impact. The Ricoh Group is continuing its
efforts to develop the Green Partnership
at production sites in Japan, the Americas,
Europe, and China as a part of our global
sustainable management program.
Definition
of Ricoh Group Green Purchasing
 |
 Green
procurement
(green
purchasing of materials and parts)
Green
purchasing
(green
purchasing of office furniture and
stationery)
Green
marketing
(green
purchasing by customers) |
|
Supporting Suppliers  (International)
|
| The
Ricoh Group established Green Procurement
Guidelines to procure raw materials
and parts from more environmentally
sound plants, and it is promoting
this effort worldwide. The guidelines
are aimed at helping small- and medium-size
suppliers to efficiently establish
EMS's. Under the guidelines, Ricoh's
internal auditors visit suppliers
to better understand their operations,
thus streamlining the preparation
of management materials. Additional
efforts include work by the Ricoh
Group's highly experienced engineers
to improve supplier quality, meetings
to share technologies with suppliers
and introduce the Ricoh Group's activities,
and promotion of awareness of environmental
impact through reports on successful
green procurement. Although ISO 14001
certification usually takes 10 to
12 months, these efforts have shortened
the time needed for EMS implementation
to only four to six months. |
 |
The Ricoh
Group Green Procurement Guidelines
(available in Japanese,
English, and Chinese) |
Promoting Green Procurement (International)
|
In order to provide customers with products
that have less environmental impact from
an LCA standpoint, it is important to reduce
the environmental impact of both suppliers'
manufacturing processes and production of
raw materials and parts. With this in mind,
the Ricoh Group is developing its business
activities in partnership with its suppliers.
- Reducing environmental impact in manufacturing
processes
To reduce
environmentally
sensitive substances at the manufacturing stage, the Ricoh Group has requested
leading suppliers to completely eliminate the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
and chloric organic solvents by the end of fiscal 2004.
- Reducing environmental impact in production
of raw materials and parts
To reduce environmentally sensitive substances
(e.g., lead and hexavalent chromium) in the production of raw materials and parts,
the Ricoh Group requests suppliers to submit certification showing they do not
use banned substances; it conducts surveys of the chemical substances contained
in parts and materials; and it encourages suppliers to switch to the alternative
substances wherever possible. Our green procurement standards (in Japanese, English,
and Chinese) are available to the public on the Ricoh Web site, and we actively
solicit proposals from suppliers in the development of these standards. A briefing
was held in Japan on purchasing policies, during which the Ricoh Group presented
specific goals, namely, reducing environmentally sensitive substances in products,
promoting reuse of parts, and reducing power consumption in products. In fiscal
2002, a supplier submitted a proposal to develop parts made from PET bottle materials,
and this proposal was successfully put into practice. At the 2nd Ricoh Group Green
Procurement Meeting held in February 2003, a case study was presented on the significant
reduction of environmental impact resulting from the partnership between the
Ricoh Group and one of its suppliers. The Group will continue working to strengthen
such partnerships.
Green Purchasing  (Japan)
|
Recognizing green
purchasing as a Group-wide effort, the Ricoh
Group has developed a green purchasing list
to promote efficient green purchasing for
fiscal 2001. The list includes office automation
(OA) equipment, supplies, stationery, sales
promotion giveaways, and gifts. In October
2002, a new online purchasing system was
implemented for the ordering of green products
that is expected to cut costs by ¥2
billion per year.
Europe
|
 |
| Global
Information |
|
Ricoh Europe B.V., the regional sales
headquarters for Europe, drew up its
own detailed guidelines for the green
purchasing of office supplies, paper,
and ink used in the making of sales
promotion tools such as brochures.
The guidelines also cover selection
of banks, cleaning companies, and
airline companies for business trips,
and are to be adopted by Lanier and
NRG, which are Ricoh Group sales companies,
as well as by all Ricoh European Sales
companies. |
|
