Review of Operations
Office Equipment Copiers and Related Supplies
per minute (cpm) to serve the complete customer demand spectrum. A major highlight of the year was the launch of the ultrafast Aficio 850. This high-end machine can output 85 cpm. Two of them can be combined to double this speed. The Aficio 850 almost eliminates downtimes. You can scan new documents to memory and replace toner or paper while the machine is outputting another copy job. This model can also serve as a high-speed printer. Other popular offerings included the 35-cpm Aficio 340/350 and the 45-cpm Aficio 450. Both these multifunctional copiers won top markets for resolutions of 600 dots per inch (dpi) in printer mode.
Ricoh’s Position Ricoh pioneered digital copiers and is the world’s No. 1 manufacturer of this equipment. Networking is essential to boost productivity in today’s office environment. Ricoh has drawn on years of development in digital technologies to serve the digitally networked office with multifunctional printers that combine copier and printing functions. The Company dominates the digital copier market in Japan. Overseas, it has launched an array of networked models. It has remained top in Europe and one of the leaders in the United States in its core business of digital monochrome copiers for the past four years.
Fiscal 2000 Performance In fiscal 2000, sales of copiers and related supplies declined 4.0%, to ¥870.3 billion ($8,449 million), or 60.1% of net sales. In Japan, sales of color and other digital models rose 0.6% despite the domestic recession. Internationally, Ricoh performed generally well, owing to the popularity of Aficio brand digital copiers and more efficient sales channels. Overseas sales dropped 8.6%, however, reflecting the yen’s appreciation. Digital models are now the core of the Company’s copier business, with speeds ranging from 15 to 85 copies • Sales of Copiers and Related Supplies 1000 891.0 906.9 870.3 828.4 800 654.5 600
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Cocinelle Srl, an Italian leather goods firm, selected the Aficio 650, a PCconnective 65-cpm machine, to bolster creative and administrative productivity in a networked environment.
Review of Operations
The University of Liège, Belgium, chose the flagship 85-cpm Aficio 850 to process massive volumes of documents quickly, efficiently, and costeffectively.
Midland Realty International Ltd. in Hong Kong chose the highly affordable Aficio 180 to output property information for clerical and customer usage.
Hong Kong-based Satellite Television Region Asian Ltd. uses its Aficio 650, which is popular worldwide for its multifunctionality and printer and copier resolutions of 600 and 400 dpi, respectively. The City Government of Solingen, Germany, relies on the Aficio 270, a 27-cpm machine that outputs at 600 dpi and features a space-saving wingless design.
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Review of Operations
The 22-cpm Aficio 220 and 27-cpm Aficio 270 also output at 600 dpi. Both models feature a space-saving wingless design. In recent years, Ricoh has introduced many multifunctional color digital copiers, sales of which have soared. Major sellers during fiscal 2000 were the compact, 6-cpm Aficio Color 3000 and 4000 series and the 10-cpm Aficio Color 6000 series. Our range includes network controller models that double as color printers. In Japan, Ricoh is pursuing a document solutions strategy. Sales in this area are growing swiftly. For example, we combine digital copiers with software that helps users integrate their management of electronic and paper-based files to enhance workflow. We are helping streamline the efficiency of office work with applications and multifunctional copiers that can scan documents and distribute them automatically to networked personal computers. We also make high-resolution wide-format copiers and stencil duplicators, many of which are digital and networkable.
Looking Ahead Ricoh has responded decisively to the emergence of the digitally networked office by innovating ways to help users work more efficiently and creatively. Our lineup in the year ahead will include even faster machines—one model launched after the close of fiscal 2000 can output up to 105 cpm. We will strengthen our capabilities in all product segments. And our range will include more high-resolution color copiers. Over the next few years, we will launch successive digital monochrome and color machines and supporting software to provide more document solutions. We now manufacture digital copiers in Japan, the United States, Europe, and China to match local demand trends. We will further strengthen our global production capabilities to support our policy of producing the right equipment in the right place and maintaining local supplies bases.
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W S Atkins, a British firm that serves a global client base with an array of consultancy, management, and technical services, takes full advantage of the Aficio Color 4106, which can output up to six color copies per minute, making it perfect for duplicating proposals.
The Gold Coast City Council in Queensland, Australia, uses 42 networked Aficio 340 machines that all draw on our powerful PC-based Aficio Manager software to track and control print runs.
Review of Operations
Office Equipment Communications and Information Systems
Ricoh’s Position
Franco Maria Ricci SpA, an international publishing company based in Milan, Italy, chose the Aficio Color AP305, which can output five color or 17 monochrome A4 pages per minute at 600 dpi, for its quality and accuracy.
Ricoh’s activities in this area encompass printers, scanners, CD-Recordable/CD-ReWritable (CD-R/RW) drives and media, fax machines, personal computers, and software and services. As in other operations, customers in this category demand solutions to help them use their • Sales of Communications and Information Systems hardware more efficiently. Ricoh opti400 382.8 mizes its equipment and systems to 344.0 308.3 322.4 match networked office environments. 320 287.4 We are strengthening our proprietary document solutions capabilities, cen240 tered on networkable printers incorporating our advanced digital and 160 image-processing technologies. 80
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Review of Operations
Fiscal 2000 Performance Sales in this category climbed 11.3%, to ¥382.8 billion ($3,716 million), and represented 26.5% of net sales. Printer operations in Japan drove this growth and also boosted sales from our solutions business.
The Aficio AP2700, a 27-page-per-minute printer, is a favorite at Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association, a major insurer in Jacksonville, North Carolina, that uses only Ricoh-made office equipment.
Printers Ricoh makes color and medium- and high-speed monochrome laser printers for office networks. In the less than two years since concentrating on this business area in Japan, we have built a solid range and sales structure. This effort has been massively successful. In the first quarter of calendar 2000, we seized the No. 1 spot in Japan in the color laser printer category. One particularly popular new model in the year under review was the IPSiO Color 5000 series. This machine can output six color or 24 monochrome A4 pages per minute at 600 dpi and can also print out A3sized documents. Another strong seller was the compact and affordable IPSiO Color 2100 series. This A4 model outputs four color or 16 monochrome pages per minute. During the year, we introduced the IPSiO NX900 and IPSiO NX800. These monochrome laser printers output up to 45 and 28 pages per minute, respectively. They also perform several key finishing functions, such as stapling and punching. Most of these models are also sold overseas under the Aficio brand.
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Modis Professional Services, a large temporary staffing agency in Jacksonville, North Carolina, bought the Aficio AP4500, a monochrome laser printer that outputs up to 45 pages per minute and performs key finishing functions like stapling and punching.
Pelikan Hardcopy International AG, an Italian subsidiary of Europe’s leading maker of inks for inkjet printers, values the Aficio AP204 highly for its speed, precision, and durability. This A4 model outputs four color or 16 monochrome pages per minute.
Review of Operations
Ingram Micro Inc. of Santa Ana, California, manages its data storage needs easily with the MP9060A drive, which handles CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-ROM discs.
Personal Computers and Software
Baxter N.V.-S. A. of Belgium takes full advantage of the FAX2900L, a compact, plain-paper machine that allows PC workgroups to fax from the desktop.
In Japan, sales of personal computers contributed significantly to revenues. Ricoh has reinforced marketing in this area as part of its document solutions approach. The Ricoh Group is now the world’s largest seller of IBM PC servers and clients. IBM Corporation named us its No. 1 partner for 2000. Ricoh enjoyed steady growth in packages of document solutions software and image processing equipment that allow customers to seamlessly manage electronic and paper-based information. In software, we continued to do well with Ricoh Solution Group Office, based on Lotus Notes groupware that we originally modified and deployed to streamline internal operations.
Particularly popular overseas were the FAX2000L and the Aficio FAX5000L. The former is a compact, plain-paper model that can be upgraded to perform printing, scanning, and PC faxing. The latter is a versatile, high-volume machine that can handle LAN printing, faxing, scanning, and Internet or G4 mode faxing. In Japan, we further reinforced our line of Super G3 machines, which can transmit an A4 page over regular telephone lines in just three seconds. We also introduced models that can fax through the Internet to streamline efficiency and lower communications charges.
CD-R/RW Drives and Media
Looking Ahead
Ricoh focuses heavily on CD-related technologies for storing multimedia data. We helped formulate the global standards for CD-R and CD-RW media and are a major player worldwide in both areas. In the year under review, we scored a hit with the MP9060A drive, which can handle CD-ROM, CD-R, CDRW, and DVD-ROM discs.
In fiscal 2001, we plan to expand our range of Aficio brand networkable printers. We will also bolster our range to include 600-dpi color printers and high-speed monochrome models. At the same time, we will expand our software and support capabilities to deliver more innovative document solutions. In CD-related businesses, we will embrace DVD technologies to introduce a whole new range of drives and media.
Communications Systems Networkable and multifunctional fax machines sold well in fiscal 2000.
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Review of Operations
Other Businesses Ricoh’s Position This category draws on and complements Ricoh’s broad technological resources. Here, we make electronic devices, photographic equipment, and unit models, as well as other computer parts and components. We also provide leasing and logistics services to support customers’ operations.
We recently introduced the RICOH RDC-7, which incorporates a 3.34-megapixel charge-coupled device in an ultrathin, stylish body.
Fiscal 2000 Performance
The RICOH RDC-5300 features a 2.3-megapixel resolution and a 3X optical zoom lens and makes digital photography child's play.
Sales of other businesses jumped 10.9%, to ¥194.1 billion ($1,884 million), reflecting the steady progress of electronic devices operations.
Electronic Devices Ricoh develops and manufactures large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs), which are crucial to innovating highresolution copiers and printers. Our semiconductor operations supply high-performance integrated circuits (ICs) and LSIs to customers around the world. For example, we make power and battery ICs for cell phones and other mobile equipment, as well as real-time clock ICs. All these devices draw on Ricoh’s acclaimed complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. We boast a massive share of the global market for digital LSIs for CD-R/RW drive and notebook
computer controllers. Our swift responsiveness to emerging trends in information and portable communications demand has helped us capture top shares in various market niches, and thus grow faster than the industry average.
Photographic Equipment In this category, we concentrate on digital cameras. We pioneered such cameras, which have tremendous potential as input devices. During the year, we introduced the RICOH RDC-5000 series. These user-friendly models feature a 2.3-megapixel resolution and a 3X optical zoom lens.
Looking Ahead
Ricoh aims to further expand sales of devices by developing more components for core business equipment and systems, as well as LSIs for information and • Sales of Other Businesses mobile communications equipment. 200 189.9 194.1 We will position our digital cameras 179.4 175.1 171.2 as “image capturing devices” to reflect 160 their growing importance as input tools within our solutions strategy. 120 The RL5E821 CD-R/RW controller chip is one of countless Ricoh-developed application-specific standard products and power management ICs for devices like CD-R/RW drives, mobile telephones, and personal digital assistants.
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