To realize sustainable environmental management with the full participation of all employees, clear instructions from top management and the active involvement of each division are essential. But also important is to give each of the employees opportunities to learn how to be proactive in pursuit of sustainable environmental management in their own operations. While sustainable environmental management is indeed a corporate act, it is also an act that can be realized only by the actions of individual employees.
The outcome of sustainable environmental management activities of the Ricoh Group, therefore, greatly depends on the awareness and recognition of our 100,000 plus employees around the world. Through training and awareness-raising sessions, Ricoh employees learn to become good global citizens, good Ricoh Group employees, and specialists in sustainable environmental management.
Environmental education system chart  |
Elementary and intermediate environmental e-learning for employees
 (Ricoh Group/Global)
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| Elementary e-learning material with English subtitles |
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In fiscal 2006, an elementary e-learning course, "First Steps to Sustainable Environmental Management," was conducted over the in-house LAN for Ricoh employees. The curriculum covered "Companies' Missions in Global Environment Problems," "Activity Cases in Respective Divisions," as well as other subjects, and aimed to enhance understanding and awareness towards sustainable environmental management.
In fiscal 2007, the program was expanded to cover employees of other Group companies in Japan. In fiscal 2008, a digested version of the elementary environmental e-learning was published in compact disc form with English subtitles and distributed outside Japan. In addition, intermediate e-learning material was developed to include such information as how to effectively incorporate environmental perspectives into daily business operations and how to evaluate the effects of sustainable environmental management. The new e-learning material has been used to train the managers and those in charge of environmental promotion in each division.
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Organization of environment-related specialized training courses
 (Ricoh Group/Japan)
To develop personnel who can manufacture environmentally-friendly products or manage chemical substances properly at their workplaces as sustainable environmental management specialists, environment-related specialized training courses, such as LCA and recyclable design, are organized for employees.
Environment-related specialized training courses
| Name of course |
| Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (basic) |
| Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (application) |
| Safety of Supplies (elementary) |
| Safety of Supplies (advanced) |
| Environment-Related Laws and Regulations |
| Noise (basic) |
| Recyclable Design |
| Thermal Design for Office Equipment |
| Ricoh Group's Chemical Substance Management System (outline) |
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Ricoh parent-child nature school held (Ricoh Group/Japan)
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| Participants sharing their thoughts and feelings at Afan Woodland |
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The seventh Ricoh parent-child nature school was held in July 2008 at Afan Woodland of Kurohime in Nagano Prefecture under the joint sponsorship of Ricoh and the C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust. The aim of the two-day nature-experiencing program for Ricoh Group employees and their families was to learn the importance of nature conservation through hands-on experiences. Writer C.W. Nicol started buying parcels of land in abandoned community forests- now Afan Woodland-20 years ago, hoping to restore them to rich natural forests where wild animals and people could coexist. The 25 adults and children who participated thoroughly enjoyed the experience through activities, such as art therapy, a night hike, and a forest treasure hunt.
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Ricoh Group's Sustainable Environmental Management Conference
(Ricoh Group/Global)
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| Masamitsu Sakurai addresses Ricoh Group employees |
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Ricoh Group's 15th Sustainable Environmental Management Conference was held in February 2009 under the theme "Let's Accelerate Sustainable Environmental Management Now!" About 370 participants gathered at the Ricoh Ohmori Office to attend the conference. During the opening lecture, themed "Roles of Corporations in Realizing a Low-carbon Society," Masamitsu Sakuari, chairman, told the audience he expected the members to act quickly to determine the targets of the technological revolution and move on to its promotion.
Shiro Kondo, president and CEO, then encouraged employees to enjoy the process of examining what each of them can do and what he/she wants to try and to put the ideas into action in his talk titled "Ricoh's Ideal Sustainable Environmental Management." Two Grand Prizes and four Encouragement Prizes were awarded in the 7th Ricoh Group Sustainable Development Awards. Upon announcement of "Treasure Program" by Ricoh Electronics (Award for Sustainable Environmental Management Improvement Activities) and "Development of OPC Compact Line" by Ricoh RS Division (Award for Innovative Process Technologies), the improvements these two Grand Prize winners achieved were also explained.
In October 2008, the Second Green Communication Strategy Meeting (Promotion of Sustainable Environmental Management by the Coordinated Efforts in the Four Areas) was held at the Shanghai head office building of Ricoh China Co., Ltd.(RCN), the China Regional Headquarters, with the participation of a total of 136 people from 13 family groups in China. In the China Region, sustainable environmental management is carried out as coordinated efforts of member companies that serve in four functions, namely, development/design, procurement/production, sales/services, and logistics. At the conference, the activities of these four sections in the previous year were reported.
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Sustainable Environmental Management
with Full Participation |
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 (Ricoh Electronics, Inc./U.S.)
"Treasure Program" helps all employees to recognize improvement opportunities and participate in sustainable environmental management.
"Treasure Map," a tool to find opportunities for improvement of environmental impact and cost reduction
A manufacturing subsidiary in the U.S., Ricoh Electronics, Inc. (REI), has long been promoting full participation of employees in sustainable environmental management. In 2002, REI started the Treasure Program to boost the effects of such activities. In the Treasure Program, any waste ("MUDA") found in manufacturing processes and business operation is treated as "treasure" that can be turned into an opportunity for improvement ("Kaizen"). Using the Treasure Map, which lists the areas where large scales of MUDA are constantly found, including procurement, assembly, quality assurance, logistics, office operation, environmental conservation, employees look for treasures and submit a proposal for improvement.
Waste found creates opportunities for improvement. The results of improvement in environmental impact and costs are made visible
Employees at REI have found many "MUDA" items and turned them into treasure. The improvement activities carried out so far include "energy saving with skylights," "reuse of pallets," and "efficiency improvement for die-cuts." The improvement projects and their results are recorded in the Treasure Database, which is readily accessible and provides effects that would come from specific environmental impact and cost reduction activities. Based on the effects, the proposal is evaluated and "Treasure Points" are given to the proposer. Accumulated Treasure Points are converted as a bonus and paid to the employees with their regular salary. In fiscal 2008, this easy-to-understand and highly motivating system generated a total of 1,515 improvement activities, reducing 1.3 million tons of CO2 emissions and $2.28 million in costs.
Treasure Map
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