Ricoh 2012 Annual Report Download - page 70

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Ricoh Group Sustainability Report 201269
Sustainable Environmental Management
Electric furnace at Tokyo Steel
While many customers use electric furnace steel sheets
because of their price rather than their quality, Ricoh has focused
on the environmental friendliness of the products, and presented
us with a joint development opportunity. The biggest challenge
we faced was the time constraint. We were fully confident that
our engineers would be able to overcome the technical challenges
involved but were not sure if we could make it by the agreed
deadline. What enabled us to complete this tough project within the
demanding time frame we were given was our unwavering passion
for the project; we shared with Ricoh the belief that we should and
will develop environmentally friendly materials.
I think it is fair to say the development of this electric furnace
steel sheet for application to MFPs is a testament of our world’s
best technological capabilities in this field. I hope the success of
this project will demonstrate the high performance and value of
electric furnace steel sheets and attract greater market attention.
Tokyo Steel looks forward to continuing and expanding its
collaboration with Ricoh in the recycling of steel sheets and many
other initiatives.
Joint development of the industry’s first electric furnace steel sheets for MFPs
● Electric furnace steel sheets
Using steel sheets made of 100% steel scrap
to produce parts for MFPs
Ricoh became the first office equipment manufacturer to develop
electric furnace steel sheets1 with properties required for use in office
equipment parts. The steel sheets, jointly developed with Tokyo Steel
Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Tokyo Steel), are used in parts for the imagio MP
9002/7502/6002/6002GP series released in July 2012.
Traditionally, electric furnace steel sheets were used for construction
purposes due to their high strength. The newly developed steel sheets
attain a sufficient level of quality features that are required for the
production of office equipment, namely, suitable width (a thickness of
2 mm or less), electrical conductivity and ease of processing.
In its joint development activities, Ricoh identified necessary material
properties and Tokyo Steel then worked to meet those properties by
reducing thickness, achieving thinner plating, improving electrical
conductivity and ease of processing, and adding more improvements.
Combined with Tokyo Steel’s advanced impurity-removal and rolling
technologies, the joint development project succeeded in manufacturing
high-performance steel sheets to be used for office equipment.
Currently, application of the new steel sheets is limited to specifically
selected parts due to a lower ductility level than blast furnace steel
sheets2. Despite this limitation, Ricoh believes that using electric furnace
steel sheets, or recycled steel sheets, carries significant meaning,
particularly considering the finite availability of natural resources. As its
next step, Ricoh will continue joint development efforts with Tokyo Steel,
aiming to improve the properties of the materials.
1. Steel sheets normally made of 100% steel scrap
2. Steel sheets made of pig iron extracted by an iron ore reduction reaction
Using recycled materials
MFP part using electric furnace steel sheets
Resource Conservation and Recycling
Development of recycled materials and use of
renewable resources
To reduce new resource input, we are striving to develop recycled materials and
use more renewable resources while aiming to improve profitability and decrease
environmental impact.
nterview
I
Gaku Ito
Manager
Sales Department
Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
www.ricoh.com/about/company/technology/voice/f_runner/fr12/
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