Ricoh 2007 Annual Report Download - page 16

ANNUAL REPORT 2007
15
Expanding business area from
office to business low-end
With the advance of IT and with the ris-
ing popularity of home offi ces and of the
concept of ubiquity, the low-end business
printer market is expected to grow. By
embracing higher value added through a
strengthened lineup, by shifting to color
and to MFPs, and by making proposals
optimized for customers' needs, Ricoh
intends to build and expand this market.
This fi scal year, Ricoh is creating a new
low-end business color printer market by
launching such products as the "Afi cio SP
C411" color laser printer, which supports
a wide range of uses from general offi ce
applications to commercial applications,
and the “Afi cio GX series,” which incor-
porates Ricoh's advanced GEL JET tech-
nology for higher resolution and faster
printing.
With worldwide manufacturing, sales,
and support, the Ricoh Group boasts top
share in the copier/MFP market in every
region of the world. In April 2005, Ricoh
established Ricoh Global Services, with
branches in Europe, the Americas, Asia-
Pacifi c, China, and Japan – and we are
focusing on document solution proposals
aimed at global major companies.
Ricoh Global Services thoroughly ana-
lyzes a corporation's document manage-
ment structure and costs and proposes
improvements that greatly enhance pro-
ductivity, reduce costs, improve infor-
mation security, and raise operational
effi ciency. In addition to this proposal
capability, Ricoh earns high marks for its
comprehensive strengths that include the
range of its product lineup and its sup-
port organization. Ricoh is winning over
major global clients one after another.
Afi cio GX 3050 series
With such well-known brands as Knorr, Hellmann's, Dove, Lipton, and Surf, Uni-
lever is the largest consumer goods manufacturer in the world. Every day it sells
150 million items in 150 countries. In February 2004, Unilever selected the Ricoh
Group's NRG (headquartered in the U.K.) as document technology partner for the
Unilever Europe 5-year plan. Ricoh was cited for its cutting-edge product lineup,
superior solution proposal capacity, and core print service competitiveness. NRG
has placed a total of over 4000 units in Unilever's branch companies across Europe
and has reduced costs 30% compared to the previous system.
Fortis Bank, one of Europe's largest fi nancial institutions, solicited solutions for en-
hancing its operating effi ciency so as to strengthen its business in the Benelux
countries. The Ricoh Group's NRG Benelux (headquartered in Belgium) developed
a solution fi nely tuned to the needs of Fortis Bank, and was selected from among
15 companies, later delivering 1628 units. The main challenges for this project were
system integration among the 1400 branches in Belgium and the Netherlands and
security that at the touch of a button. With Ricoh's engineering support, NRG was
able to complete installation of the new system.
R
4 Strengthening low-end products
5 Strengthening organization for targeting global major accounts
Solution case study 1 Unilever
Solution case study 2 Fortis Bank
Ricoh group brands
around the world
"Aficio GX series" new generation of GEL JET models
Further strengthening the features of GEL JET printers, high print quality on ordi-
nary paper, high-speed printing, and high-speed duplex printing, the Afi cio GX
3050 (IPSiO GX 3000 in Japan) has been favor-
ably received as a business printer for easy color
printing in general offi ces, stores, ticket windows,
and the like. It has received high marks, for ex-
ample receiving the "Pick of the Year" from BLI of
the USA in the color ink jet printer category.