Ricoh Company Ltd and ETRIA Co Ltd have introduced a circular manufacturing concept designed to reduce the use of newly sourced materials, lower product carbon footprints and strengthen manufacturing competitiveness through localised production.
In a media release, Ricoh said the concept, called Circular New, will initially be applied to Ricoh’s A3 black-and-white multifunction printers, with localised production and launches planned in Japan and Europe in the first half of 2027, according to Ricoh Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.
The companies said the approach could reduce the proportion of newly sourced materials used in manufacturing from approximately 76 per cent to as low as 21 per cent, depending on the use of recovered components. They also expect localised circular production to reduce product carbon footprints by up to 25 per cent.
Circular New integrates product design, manufacturing, collection and reuse into a continuous cycle, recovering components from products already in the market for use in new-generation models. Production in Japan and France is intended to establish regional systems for reusing resources and components while reducing transportation distances.
Ricoh and ETRIA said the approach would retain consistent product quality, functionality and warranty coverage across centrally manufactured and locally produced models.
The companies are also incorporating design principles intended to extend component lifespans and simplify disassembly and replacement. These include sharing frames and components across product generations, alongside digital insights, sorting technologies and quality assurance processes to support component recovery.
Katsunori Nakata, executive corporate officer and president of Ricoh’s Digital Products Unit and CEO of ETRIA, said the concept challenges the assumption that manufactured products must follow a linear lifecycle.
“Through this localised circular production model, we are committed to demonstrating that resource circulation can drive both customer value and manufacturing competitiveness,” Nakata said.
James Loginov, director of ESG governance at Ricoh Asia Pacific, said the model could reduce dependence on newly sourced resources while helping build supply chains more resilient to disruptions.
“Customers and stakeholders increasingly expect sustainability to be measurable, not just promised,” Loginov said.
Ricoh said Circular New also supports its broader growth strategy. Under its Mid-Term Management Strategy ’26, announced in March 2026, the company set a target for ETRIA to achieve a 30 per cent engine market share by fiscal 2030.
The companies said the initiative builds on their existing work to incorporate recycled materials, including plastics and steel, while extending resource recovery to components that can be reused directly in new products.
The projected material and carbon-footprint reductions will vary according to the proportion of recovered components used and transportation distances, Ricoh noted.
