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Nikkei Ecology, January 2002 |
Ricoh will report on its new business model that realizes both environmental impact reduction and production/logistics system innovation. |
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Members from Gotemba and Atsugi Plants engaged in the development of internal kitting and reusable racks
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In the laser printer business, there were many cases of bulk order taking and in order to have products smoothly delivered, customers and people in charge of sales voiced that they wanted to have options incorporated and networks set in advance. Ricoh aimed to reform the production system to have it directly connected to the market so the company picked up detailed requirements of the spot where the products were delivered, and realized the tasks, such as lengthy lead time, transportation/warehousing/personnel cost and environmental impact of packing materials.
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"Factory kitting" and "Easy rack" have realized time shortening and cost reduction. |
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In the case of a printer that requires option incorporation, individual packing for each option separately from the main body, a multistage transportation route to temporarily gather them in the warehouse and the work to assemble them into the main body at the sales company or customer's site are required.In order to solve the waste of time and cost, Ricoh considered the method called "factory kitting" whereby machines were equipped with options already in the factory and directly delivered to the customer. But the product furnished with the "kitting" had larger dimensions and required packing material different from the conventional corrugated cardboard box. On the other hand there was the task of disposing of packing waste after delivery. Thus an "easy rack" that used pipe material was developed. By adjusting pipe length, we can flexibly respond to changes of product dimensions; and further, by disassembling the packing material, we could bring the material back for repetitive use. About 5 kg of packing waste that used to be generated from 1 printer unit became zero!
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"Easy rack" was born from an idea and materials in the factory. |
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The trigger of for the birth of "easy rack" was direct delivery to the customer of the printer, of which duplex units were furnished with "factory kitting". The factory members in charge of the development had many meetings. During the course, of the meetings, attention was paid to pipe material for a "shelf cart" that is placed at manufacturing line side to keep parts and tools. Members conducted trial and error to cut the pipe material by themselves, assemble them and reduce the cost; and they completed "easy rack", a new flexible type of packing, in the short period of one month. The vibration test of the packed product was cleared, by which direct delivery from the factory was realized. Lately, the use of "easy rack" is increasing in line with customers' needs for green purchase; and accumulated units shipped reached 5,584 (as of the end of September 2001).
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Database to realize more efficient delivery is constructed. |
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In order to ensure speedy correspondence to increase direct delivery through "factory kitting" and "easy rack", Ricoh has developed a new database system and has set it in operation. To have a full lineup of printers and to make detailed response to customers' demands, accuracy of the database is further improved. Thanks to this, if the person in charge of sales inputs kitting details, the factory side can arrange options, calculate the estimate and make allocation to the production schedule. It has realized a large reduction of total lead time and contributes to improvement of satisfaction for the customer to whom delivery is made. It is also highly appreciated by the system vendor that is our green partner and we expect to use it as new business model.
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| Cyclic society will be realized by a logistics system without packing. |
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In the future, also for the process of purchasing parts and options for manufacturing, "no packing" will be promoted, whereby corrugated cardboard material is not used, like in the case of "easy rack". At all stages of logistics, by realizing a cyclic type system without packing, further environmental impact reduction and economical effect is targeted. And in the future too, Ricoh will practice higher quality environmental business management with the purpose of realizing a cyclic society with a viewpoint and idea in all areas of business activity.
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