Ricoh reaps dividends of bold new direction

A major employer in Telford and a landmark for travellers passing its big factory beside the M54, the business has been on a 10-year mission to adapt to modern life.

Traditionally a manufacturer of office printers, that sector went into decline as the digital revolution took hold, placing one of Telford's most important businesses under threat.

The changes that have taken place have accelerated in the last three years, and have been driven by the company's 700-strong Shropshire-based workforce.

Colin Weaver, managing director of the European operation which is centred on Telford, said: "This was purely a manufacturing site five or six years ago, and we have really concentrated on changing our business model from so we are also supporting sales organisations and developing new business.

"Our journey was one of finding a new role within the group. It's really centred on focusing on how we can use Ricoh's own technology in new ways, and industrial applications.

"There's a lot of work being done on technological development.

"People don't print any more. Office print is definitely on the decline as we all know, as we have tablets and phones. But everything in this room is printable – the carpet, the table, the pictures on the wall."

The business now has various aspects, among them 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, which is a growing area of the business.

As well as printing prototypes for the automotive and aerospace industries, and parts for injection moulding to allow big runs of products to be worked on quickly, Ricoh is also doing some more pioneering work in Telford.

It is using hydrogels to 3D print realistic bodily organs which can be used by doctors to practice operations.

"We are doing some work for a company in Spain that are customising prosthetic limbs," Mr Weaver said. "They want a bespoke customised cover for a prosthetic leg, and are using 3D printing to do that.

"We have technology that we will soon bring to market using a material called hydrogel, for mimicking organs to help surgeons practice operations.

"It is 3D printing using data from an MRI scan or CT scan."

He added: "A lot of our work at the moment is definitely automotive. We are working with most of the large automobile companies that produce prototypes or functional parts, ranging from bumpers to parts of pumps."

The company still has more traditional manufacturing lines in Telford, including a growing toner bottling operation, which turns out more than 700,000 bottles of toner each week, an assembly line for bespoke commercial printers, and a remanufacturing operation for printers.

It also has its inkjet operation, which specialises in printing on a variety of surfaces and in a variety of ways, and a customer experience centre for supporting businesses.

The inkjet side of the business is helping companies with rapid and changeable print runs.

For example textiles designs can now be quickly translated from the catwalks to the high street, and paper products such university prospectuses can now be delivered rapidly but for individual needs.

That means that letters which are fundamentally similar such as bills, but which have similar information on them such as customer data, can now be printed off in high speed rounds.

Mr Weaver, who has been with the company since its arrival in Telford – "I was here before the buildings," he says – became managing director just over a year ago, in doing so becoming the first non-Japanese boss at the site.

He paid tribute to workers who have helped drive the transformation of the long-standing Telford business.

"Printer assembly has all been transferred to China or the Far East for production," he said. "It was our intention to understand what our new role was and our plan is always evolving.

"Trying to re-use skills that we have, particularly the engineering skills, has been the key to finding new areas of activity.

"Making them happen has been about our staff being able to change quickly what they have been doing, to be flexible enough to be able to do what they have.

"This location serves Europea, Russia, South Africa, also the Middle East. We have visitors from all over."

Mr Weaver added: "We have got newer challenges now. We are working with lots of different industrial organisations to help them improve their businesses.

"The year ahead has a focus on industrial print applications, while maintaining our traditional activities.

"It's really key for us to explore new markets for industrial print applications. The opportunities for 3D printing, ink jet and commercial printing are absolutely massive."