Ricoh starts operating office printing press factory in Dongguan Guangdong, China in April 2020

Rebuilding China's manufacturing base to strengthen its global production capacity

TOKYO, January 9, 2020 - Ricoh today announced the start of operations of the new manufacturing organisation, "Ricoh Manufacturing (China) Ltd." in April 2020.

This company was established as part of Ricoh's strategy to strengthen its global production capability. As the central production site for Ricoh office printing machines, it will also help to further improve the accuracy of our production planning by using advanced sales and production data analysis through IoT (Internet of Things) and installation of state-of-the-art robots and factory automation, to enhance our manufacturing process. In addition, by unifying production data and data from office machines operating at our customers' facilities, we can further improve machine quality. In addition, the Ricoh Group's state-of-the-art factory works to reduce CO2 by using solar energy equipment, replacing natural ventilation and air conditioning, lighting and ventilation systems, to support a carbon-free society. GREEN BUILDING DESIGN LABEL "3-star" CERTIFICATION, the highest level of certification, which is expected to be achieved in April 2020.

With the start of production at the new manufacturing organisation, the existing production sites in China will be reorganised. Production at Ricoh Industry (Shenzhen) Ltd. will be completed in spring 2020 and production at Ricoh Components & Products (Shenzhen） Ltd. will end in autumn 2020.

Through this reorganisation of production sites, we will accelerate the construction of next-generation systems that have leveraged digital technology into a global production system. In addition, we will strengthen the parallel production of flagship multi-functional devices in cooperation with Ricoh Manufacturing (Thailand) Ltd. This is a centralised mass production site in the Asian region that supports the construction of optimal supply chains to meet customer needs. We will build a system that can respond quickly and strengthen the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to respond to various risks.