Products:Procurement of Materials / parts
–Green Procurement–

In February 2010, the Ricoh Group established the groupwide Regulations　of Ricoh　Group Products Made of Wood. The new rules were developed　based on the 2003 Environmental Standards for Paper Product Procurement　to expand control over the procurement of wood raw material beyond that　used in paper products. And they were to be applicable to the entire group.
These wood raw material procurement rules apply to two groups　related to products　under the Ricoh or Ricoh Group company brands,　namely, paper products (plain　copier paper, heat-sensitive paper, etc.) and　articles/materials made from wood　(manuals and instructions, packaging　materials, cushioning materials, pallets, etc.) provided along with any lines　of products¹. Through this application, the rules aim to　help protect HCVFs²,　or forests with significant and critical value in terms of global　environment　and biodiversity conservation, by avoiding the use of wood sourced from
these critical forests as material for the Ricoh Group products. The rules　mainly　provide for the prohibition of the use of wood sourced from HCVFs　as raw material and for requirements to be met by suppliers, including　provision for the suspension of business with non-compliant suppliers. The　Ricoh Group will use these new rules to　exert control over wood material　procurement for products made from wood, mainly　paper products,　thereby ensuring that the Group’s procurement process contributes to the　conservation of HCVFs.

• 1Recycled materials, including used paper, leftover wood material and wood chips, are excluded, as it is difficult to trace the original sources of such materials.
• 2High conservation value forests (HCVFs), as defined here, fall under any of the following categories:
  • Old growth forests;
  • Primary forests/virgin forests;
  • Natural forests containing habitats of endangered species; or
  • Forests for which multiple environmental
  groups claim protective measures need to be taken mainly from the perspective of biodiversity.
• 3For the outline of Procurement Rules Regarding Wood Raw Material for Ricoh Group Products, please refer to the specific section of our website.

Ricoh’s support for suppliers’ environmental conservation activities is provided in three areas: resource conservation and recycling, pollution prevention, and energy conservation and prevention of global warming. As part of this support, we have assisted suppliers in building the foundations of their environmental conservation activities, namely environmental management systems (EMS) and chemical substance management systems (CMS), since fiscal 1998.
To support the CMS establishment effort across its entire supply chain, in fiscal 2005 the Ricoh Group started a CMS examiner certification system and began providing necessary training to employees of partner companies. In addition to conducting internal audits at their own companies, certified examiners are responsible for audits of their upstream suppliers (second- and third-tier suppliers of Ricoh) that use environmentally sensitive chemical substances in important processes, and for assisting these suppliers in establishing a CMS. As of the end of June 2012, there were 1,622 certified CMS examiners for nearly 900 suppliers and CMS was in place at 1,955 sites from 930 first-tier suppliers, including 248 carrying out important processes involving environmentally sensitive substances. The CMS’s of suppliers are reviewed every two years for certification renewal and in fiscal 2011, a total of 409 suppliers had completed the renewal procedure.

The Ricoh Group has been working to reduce its products’ lifecycle CO₂ emissions, but most of the parts used in Ricoh products are manufactured and supplied by external vendors, who also often procure materials for their products from others. In order to reduce CO₂ emissions from its production activities, the Ricoh Group therefore needs to have a system to collect and communicate a vast amount of environmental information in an accurate manner in cooperation with its suppliers. To this end, the Group built a system to conduct environmental surveys on materials and parts used in its products and communicate the obtained environmental impact information on RaVenderNET, a network infrastructure operated jointly with its suppliers. The system has been in operation since 2001.
For the information communication flow, Ricoh’s design department first selects the products and parts to be included in the information collection target, and then the materials procurement department specifies the information to be collected, such as the chemical substances contained in a particular material and the environmental impact caused by the production of the material. Subsequently, Ricoh asks suppliers to collect the necessary data and helps them operate the data collection tools and manage the collection process. Suppliers then submit the information to Ricoh. The submitted information is checked and an investigation is conducted as required. Information assessed as usable is then tabulated and disclosed.
For smoother and more accurate information collection and communication, Ricoh has been continuously conducting activities for suppliers in five global regions, such as providing them with education and training and creating manuals and guidelines in local languages.
Managing product information becomes more difficult the more materials and parts there are in them, and the risk of unexpected errors also increases. Based on this recognition, the design and production departments are implementing projects to collect information about materials, processing methods, and secondary materials used in production processes earlier than initially planned, in order to eventually narrow the target of information collection.