Ricoh is facing the biggest crisis in its long history and will need to make drastic cost reductions in order to survive, Nikkei reports.
Nikkei quotes the new President and CEO of Ricoh, Yoshinori Yamashita, as saying that the company’s new policy is to rid itself of the “emphasis on market share above all else.”
Worst hit is Ricoh’s Imaging and Solutions division, which mostly produces printers. This division accounts for 90% of Ricoh’s consolidated sales
As this division has struggled, Yamashita has set a target of reducing costs by 100 billion yen ($912 million) through March 2020.
Most of these cost reductions will come from Ricoh’s global sales and services network. Ricoh employs some 100,000 people across its group, and more than two-thirds comprise its office equipment sales reps and repairmen.
As Nikkei states: “Ricoh is staring at huge losses as the market for multifunctional printers, Ricoh’s cash cow, evaporates and its global sales network racks up high costs.”
It’s not clear yet how the cost reductions will affect Ricoh’s imaging brands, which includes Pentax. Recently, the company has found success with its Theta brand of 360 cameras, with the Theta 360 launching earlier this year. And Ricoh’s new R Development Kit has just started shipping.