Kyocera

Case Study

Kyocera A case study of best practice in the integration of materials technology and design to improve innovation

“What I would like to see is outcomebased tenders whereby a target is given to us or other manufacturers, and we can provide really innovative solutions.�

Tracey Rawling Church, Kyocera Document Solutions (UK) Ltd

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Best practice in materials and design

Best practice in materials and design

FOUNDATIONS

corporate motTo

Kyocera was founded by Dr Kazuo Inamori in 1959 as Kyoto Ceramics, and is now a global corporation employing over 71,000 people and operating in many business sectors - from telecoms to dental implants - but all driven by ceramic technologies.

Kyocera’s headquarters are in Kyoto, Japan and having invested in its own R&D facilities and manufacturing factories, it can control the entire product development process, including sourcing of raw materials and the integration of Dr Kazuo Inamori

hardware, consumables and software.

Kyocera also have a policy of working with ‘best in class’ software developers so that rather than reinventing a viable

Respect the Divine and Love People Preserve the spirit to work fairly and honorably, respecting people, our work, our company and our gobal community.

existing software solution they may license and sell it under their own brand, or promote it as ‘Kyocera recommended’.

This InnoMatNet case study focuses on the Document Imaging division, which accounts for about 20% of Kyocera revenues.

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Best practice in materials and design

Best practice in materials and design

WHY SUSTAINABILITY IS IMPORTANT TO KYOCERA INNOVATION

management rationale

management philosophy

To provide opportunities for the

To coexist harmoniously with nature and

material and intellectual growth of all

society. Harmonious coexistence is the

our employees, and through our joint

underlying foundation of all our business

efforts, contribute to the advancement

activities as we work together to create

of society and humankind.

a world of abundance and peace.

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Kyocera’s deep-rooted corporate

This philosophy, and how it can be

philosophy of “harmonious co-existence

applied in daily business, is annually

with people and planet” and “doing the

discussed at central and local workshops

right thing as a human being” is based

and seminars attended by all Kyocera

on Buddhist values and has naturally

staff. It is believed to have led to

led to the company taking a sustainable

unusually long-term retention of staff

approach to all its activities. It believes

whose personal values coincide those

that business exists to serve society and

of the business, as well as a high level of

that profit is its reward for doing that.

trust among partner businesses.

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Best practice in materials and design

DRIVERS FOR INNOVATION

Best practice in materials and design

Part of the Kyocera culture is to always

INNOVATION IN OFFICE PRINTING PRODUCTS

be looking to make products which are

In 1992 Kyocera discovered a way of

better, more sustainable, even if this means sometimes operating outside the commercial mainstream and not following the existing market. For example, it took 15 years before the innovative ceramic photocopier drum technology could be promoted on its sustainability benefits rather than a total cost of ownership argument.

Kyocera’s biggest challenge was to encourage organisations to think holistically about the cost of running a printer, so that they understood that any initial price premium was worth paying for the operational benefit of reduced consumables costs and machine downtime.

applying their expertise in ceramics to create an exceptionally long life laser printer drum. This led to a substantial reduction in parts needing disposal once machines ran out of toner, and to increased reliability.

Conventional laser printers use a drum made of a soft organic photoconductor material. This is very good at holding the magnetic charge that takes the toner and transfers it to the paper, but the action of paper rapidly abrades the surface leading to frequent replacement.

Amorphous Silicon (A-Si) drums, as used in Kyocera printers and mulitfunction copiers.

Kyocera drums last many times longer than the drums in cartridge-based machines, reducing the environmental impact and financial cost of printing.

Kyocera decided to use an amorphous silicon which is as hard as sapphire and unaffected by the friction of the paper.

The majority of rollers and other parts then were designed to be permanently built-in to the printer, and not included in the consumable ink powder cartridge.

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Best practice in materials and design

standard laser printers, which needed

R & D PHILOSOPHY BASED ON LONG LIFE TECHNOLOGY

to have their integrated metal and

The Ecosys printer design was based

Its first generation ‘Ecosys’ printers lasted for 300,000 pages, compared with a 10,000 page drum life in

plastic drum components replaced each time, with 47 million now going into land fill every year. p A Kyocera toner cassette contains

q The ‘toner’ cartridge in a typical

just 5 parts made of 2 types of plastic.

cartridge-based machine cantains over 60

Such cassettes are easily recycled by a

parts made from numerous materials. These

UK partner.

are replaced every time the toner runs out.

Such cartridges are complex to recycle.

on economy and ecology being in balance. Ecosys has evolved into a R & D framework through which products

Current Kyocera ‘lifetime’ models can

are designed to offer maximum user

last for up to a million pages and have

economy, minimum environmental

evolved to cope with the higher speeds

impact and easier integration with

needed by customers, and consequent

customers’ existing network systems.

demands on the drum technology,

As part of this, life cycle analysis is

while reducing replaceable items to a simple toner container with entirely plastic parts.

carried out on every new product and compared with its predecessor, while products are designed for simple disassembly with minimum use of metal fixings and process identity coding on all plastic components.

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sc a n co p y t

Gree Netw n Card ork theg

reen

Having an internal sustainable agenda

p r in

WORKING WITH OUTSIDE PARTNERS TO INNOVATE IN SUSTAINABILITY

fa x

Best practice in materials and design

card

.org.

uk

is not enough, and Kyocera believe it is important to look outside for ideas and philosophy is to be turned into practical

Kyocera Green Card Network

innovation of new products and services.

While Kyocera spent many years

With the subsequent mainstreaming

The UK subsidiary’s relationships with

marketing its products on cost

of sustainability in industry, there was

organisations such as The Green

of ownership rather than their

no longer a need for the Green Card

Alliance and Forum for the Future

environmental credentials, they

Network, but Kyocera believe that its

are therefore very much about

occasionally came across organisations

pioneering work had several benefits:

innovation. They enable

and individuals who were receptive

Tracey Rawling Church and

to a sustainable message.

her colleagues to meet and

Their ‘Green Card Network’ was

other people’s perspectives if its core

explore solutions with people facing similar challenges, yet in completely different industries.

established in 2000 as a small, noncommercial community of interest for those people, becoming one of the UK’s first ‘green’ professional networks in the UK. It grew to a membership of 4,000 from universities to small design

• Sharing knowledge and experiences about making sustainable business a reality • Creating a reputation for Kyocera as a supplier that was serious about sustainable office practice • Bringing a diverse external perspective and provoking new ways of thinking.

agencies, with regular events to share best eco-practice and learn about opportunities to improve sustainability.

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Best practice in materials and design

Forum for the Future Forum for the Future works with

Early insights from the Forum are that

Kyocera and other Forum for the Future

members such as Kyocera UK to

corporate budgeting, and the way

members find that government invitations

understand and develop ‘best practice’

people are managed, motivated and

to tender are usually for supply to a very

learnings on sustainability for the benefit

remunerated, makes it difficult for them

specific hardware specification (e.g. 500

of the wider business community,

to buy products on a consumption-based

printers of x resolution) rather than being

interviewing executives, channel

model. It doesn’t fit with their internal

based on an understanding of customers’

partners, and customers.

systems and, according to Kyocera, can

actual needs. And that while questions

only be solved over time by advising

about life cycle analysis, carbon footprint

customers on the financial and carbon-

etc. will influence short-listing, decisions

saving benefits and collaborating on the

are invariably made on price.

They recently started exploring the trend towards consumption-based supply of products, and particularly why this has worked in some industry sectors but

(gradual) adaptation of new systems.

This makes it difficult for companies like

not others. For example, Kyocera are

This effectively means shifting from

Kyocera to innovate and provide better

leaders in a movement towards managed

a pure product supplier to offering a

solutions to government, while a similar

document services, whereby the customer

procurement consultancy role, and

request from the private sector might

may never own the hardware but instead

Kyocera now have a professional services

lead to imaginative ideas for reducing

contracts delivery of agreed service levels,

division for that purpose.

paper consumption.

including monitoring of usage patterns and early alerts for engineering calls.

In another example of the benefits of their ethical values, Kyocera rely on the

By contrast, carpet supplier Interface

trust of their third party dealers to jointly

was unsuccessful in its move from

introduce the consumption-based model

selling to leasing carpets despite

to customers, and discover tailor-made

taking responsibility for replacement/

solutions for them.

refurbishment to an agreed standard.

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Best practice in materials and design

Best practice in materials and design

What Kyocera propose instead is an

Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs)

outcome-based tender system for the

could be an important channel for

public sector, e.g. ‘provide a solution

such initiatives. For Kyocera, successful

to reduce print costs by 50% and

KTN involvement is about a genuine

energy consumption by 40%’. They

desire to learn, improve and grow as

believe this procurement model would

an organisation through contact with

drive industry innovation, save costs,

likeminded organisations. In an echo of

improve efficiency and reduce carbon

the company’s founding philosophy, they

emissions faster. It could also have

feel that while KTN activity can sometimes

applications in many industries – not

lead to commercial opportunities, this

just imaging - particularly information

should not be the main aim.

and communications technology.

Such a system would need to include funding for initial fact-finding to discover customer needs, but the outcomes would ultimately cost less to own and operate due to the efficiencies that could be built in. They believe it would succeed because it removes boundaries to innovation and satisfying customer needs.

The Green Alliance - Designing for the Circular Economy While Kyocera consciously design for end-of-life dismantling of components etc, they recognise this is entirely dependent on the availability of local reprocessing infrastructure, and are seeking solutions to the current gaps as contributors to The Green Alliance Taskforce on the Circular Economy. In addition to Kyocera, members include Boots plc, EEF The Manufacturer’s Organisation and WRAP. The Green Alliance is a think tank which engages business and policy makers to (a) benefit from the innovation that’s already taken place in technology, and (b) improve sustainability as part of the drive towards a ‘Circular Economy’. This means that instead of a linear progression from raw materials – to product – to use – to waste, in a circular economy resources remain which can be re-used or recycled.

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Best practice in materials and design

Blue Angel Label – sustainable accreditation in Europe Kyocera have also been invited to collaborate in joint marketing of the longestablished ‘Blue Angel’ sustainability accreditation, which is backed by the German Department of the Environment.

This will be an opportunity to test if the programme can have a international as well as local impact.

Best practice in materials and design

Benefits of collaboration on sustainability

Regional feedback into R&D and design

By actively participating in initiatives like Forum for the Future, The Green Alliance and Blue Angel accreditation, Kyocera UK are able to keep their R&D offices in Japan updated with the latest European legislation and thinking on sustainability and how to deal with products at end of

Kyocera takes full advantage of its

life – potentially influencing both product design and business model formation.

For instance:

worldwide distribution network, enabling European product managers to give region-specific feedback about customer requirements, local price positioning, competitor strategy etc. to its Japan-based R&D and design teams. This includes bi-annual faceto-face meetings in Japan as well as regular electronic contact.

• Should there be a global distribution and re-use infrastructure?

Also informing this feedback loop,

• Which, if any, parts should return to the factory at end of life, and which should go to regional reprocessing hubs?

Group collects information about

• What are the intellectual property implications?

Increasingly these approaches are part

• Is this something the company should arrange independently, or in

which involves active engagement

collaboration with industry partners?.

their European Sustainability Work the legislative road map, customer demands around sustainability and any interesting local competitor initiatives. of an integrated systems approach with stakeholders from business customers and EU legislators to third party dealers and resellers.

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Best practice in materials and design

Interviewee Tracey Rawling Church The company’s relatively open culture makes it easier for staff to inform Head Office or subsidiaries if they feel something can be done better or in a different way, though the challenges of communicating across continents, languages and cultures should not be under-estimated, and are key to successful international innovation.

Having a senior Japanese General Manager based in the UK has recently improved understanding of local markets and communications considerably, because he is able to

Tracey Rawling Church is a marketing specialist who joined Kyocera UK in 1993, having been attracted by its sustainable printer technology and ethical business values. Her current role as Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is focused on developing sustainability strategies for business–to–business product marketing. She is a regular contributor to seminars and conferences on sustainability and CSR topics, a 10:10 Pioneer and a member of both the Reading Climate Change Partnership and the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP SME Action Group.

act as a bridge – expressing the UK perspective directly to colleagues in “A global network that constantly strives

Japan and vice versa.

to earn the trust of our customers in every aspect of business from technology development to support.”

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Best practice in materials and design

Best practice in materials and design

disclaimer

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report forms part of the

We are grateful to the following individuals and organisations for their contribution to the InnoMatNet case studies: Tracey Rawling Church, Kyocera Document Solutions (UK) Ltd

deliverables from the InnoMatNet project which has received funding from the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° 290583. The report reflects only the author’s views and the European Commission is not liable for any use that might be made of the content of this publication.

The project runs from the 1 April 2012 to 30 September 2014. It involves eleven partners and is coordinated by Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (SPI).

More information on the project can be found at www.innomatnet.eu The lead contractor for the case studies was InnoMatNet consortium partner the Institute of Materials, Minerals

Case study suggestions taken from the InnoMatNet survey. Reviewed by: Claire Claessen and John Conti-Ramsden, Chemistry Innovation KTN John Bound, The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (MaDE, Materials KTN) Research & editing: John Bound, The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (MaDE, Materials KTN) Graphic design: Lara Collins, The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining

and Mining, with delivery through the Materials and Design Exchange (MaDE), a group within the UK Materials Knowledge Transfer Network. www.iom3.org.uk www.materialsktn.net/made © InnoMatNet 2013

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Images pp. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 17, 19 © Kyocera

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Best practice in materials and design

Contact KYOCERA Document Solutions (UK) Limited Eldon Court, 75-77 London Road, Reading, RG1 5BS, England www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk

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