All Covered Helps Construction Firm, Aspire Design, Inc. Leverage Cloud Computing

Provides Cost-Effective Managed IT Services and Business Continuity

All Covered, a division of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. and one of the nation’s leading IT Services companies, helped Aspire Design, one of the nation’s largest construction firms, migrate to a cloud-computing technology model.

For many years, Aspire Design has relied on All Covered to provide IT services and to maintain its computing network infrastructure. As the company expanded and added project managers that work from homes across the country, Aspire Design determined with input from All Covered that the best move for the business was to migrate to a cloud-computing model.

Aspire Design deployed a Cloud Services solution that includes fully-managed virtual servers hosted in the All Covered data center. Aspire Design end-users can now access business applications with remote desktops and laptops from any Internet connection anywhere in the country. Since employee numbers fluctuate at the company, All Covered regularly adjusts the processing power and monthly cost appropriately to meet their need.

All Covered also ensures that Aspire Design does not experience any downtime by having effective business continuity plans in place that include system backup and disaster recovery services.

“We trust All Covered – they have kept our IT infrastructure running and advise us on which new technologies to adopt,” says Michele Jalovec, vice president of Human Resources/Administration for Aspire Design. “IT services are now a monthly operational expense that fluctuates as we add or subtract users. We can forecast costs and don’t have to capitalize hardware—the cloud delivers worry-free IT at a lower cost.”

“The cloud model is ideal for companies such as Aspire Design,” says Todd Croteau, president of All Covered. “Any time a customer requires a system update, we can apply the changes immediately at the hosted data center, which eliminates the need to wait for on-site visits and takes care of changes remotely during off hours. With All Covered Cloud Services, our customers do not need to worry about hardware upgrades or systems monitoring. All Covered’s 24/7 remote monitoring team provides all the support necessary to ensure that cloud servers are reliable and always up and running.”

Click here to view the full Aspire Design case study.

Cruising To Success With Konica Minolta

International cruise company and holiday provider RCL Cruises Ltd. partnered with Konica Minolta Business Solutions to help improve efficiencies around customer information management through the implementation of a streamlined end to end document / content management program including a range of print hardware and document solutions including eCopy, SharePoint and Equitrac.

ABOUT THE RCL CRUISES LTD.

RCL Cruises Ltd. is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the 2nd largest cruise company in the world with a combined total of 41 ships operating diverse itineraries around the world that call on approximately 460 destinations on all seven continents. Brands include Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara Club Cruises along with the Pullmantur brand, which has been custom tailored to serve the cruise markets in Spain, Portugal and Latin America and the CDF Croisières de France brand which provide a custom tailored product targeted at the French market. Travel Weekly Globe Awards have recognised Royal Caribbean International as the ‘Best Mainstream Cruise Company’ for 2013 and 2012.

THE CHALLENGES FACED

As part of this on-going success, Royal Caribbean was increasingly challenged with ensuring records were efficiently managed within their back office operation. Realising that their existing systems had become dated and no longer able to assist in the increasing demands placed upon it, Royal Caribbean felt they needed to update their document management system. To this end, Royal Caribbean sought a single supplier to provide MFDs, Equitrac print management solution (an existing solution running on their server, which they wished to retain), a scanning / workflow solution and a document repository to replace their existing Domino Database which was being phased out.

After speaking with Konica Minolta, the business critical priorities that were identified was to provide a complete end-to-end solution, utilising the MFP as a digital on-ramp to a document repository and then provide the required search capabilities that make finding documents quick and easy.

Ultimately, and perhaps most critically to this project, was ensuring that any change in technology would not hinder Royal Caribbean’s end customer relationships and that a continued seamless service was delivered.

HOW KONICA MINOLTA HELPED

Aware of Royal Caribbean’s requirement, Konica Minolta carried out a comprehensive document workflow assessment to understand the existing document / content management processes. Following this consultancy phase, Konica Minolta was able to recommend appropriate solutions to meet the existing and foreseeable needs of Royal Caribbean. Specifically, Konica Minolta delivered an end-to-end solution, encompassing a mixture of hardware and software. Specifically, print / copy / scan hardware (which included a number of bizhubs ranging from 30 page per minute devices to 55 page per minute C552 devices) and a suite of software that included a new installation of Equitrac Secure Print, Microsoft Sharepoint and eCopy.

These solutions in particular were able to provide a range of tangible benefits to the customer, which has been outlined opposite.

EQUITRAC

Equitrac Office creates a unified view of print, copy and scan activity for all the devices on the network. This innovative output management solution enables the Royal Caribbean to:

• Keep track of document-related activities on the network by: 
  • Monitoring all print / copy volume, and where appropriate, allocate individual job costs to specific users / departments / clients / job codes 
  • Keeping costs down by redirecting print jobs from desktop printers to  multifunctional product with lower cost per page
  • Tracking costs by file size, paper size, media type, colour or duplexing
• Employ user authentication to ensure the security of every print, copy and scan job
• Implement Follow-You® Printing which holds documents in a secure server until users authenticate — so documents are never left unattended in an output tray
• Establish permission-based access to systems and features
• Create an audit trail, so you can see who printed what document at what time, on which device
• Provide secure copy / print / scan facilities via the integration with Konica Minolta Equitrac Embedded Software
• Automatically enforce rules (such as for colour output), authenticate users, protect sensitive documents
• Reduce wasted paper and toner

In addition to implementing Equitrac, Royal Caribbean was already utilising RFID Card technology for print authentication on existing equipment, a facility they wanted to continue to use. As part of the upgrade, Konica Minolta implemented a fresh installation of Equitrac Office on a new server and supplied USB RFID Card readers to all devices.

In doing so, Royal Caribbean is able to ensure:

• Full control of all printing / copying and scanning activity on all Konica Minolta devices which integrated with Active Directory
• Konica Minolta provided RFID USB Card Readers for all devices including desktop printers to provide a total secure printing facility throughout the site – which was only previously available on the larger MFDs
• Konica Minolta replaced desktop printers with Bizhub C35s which were incorporated into the Equitrac solution – therefore reducing waste paper previously left on printers, reducing costs.
• Secure print on desktop printers – no security provided previously
• A ‘Follow-you’ print solution was provided via 2 queues – mono and colour – this allows users to retrieve print jobs from any Konica Minolta device securely

ECOPY

Konica Minolta implemented eCopy Scanstations which securely puts paper-based data directly into electronic workflows – where appropriate it will enable Royal Caribbean, through the MFP, to scan, extract, classify, index and convert paper information into digital information that flows effortlessly into and through the electronic channels of the business. This is done with Microsoft Sharepoint Connector, Lotus Notes Connector and a developed bespoke connector (Scan to Siebel – Oracle CRM system – which was provided by NSI via internal scripting). Konica Minolta was required to provide this functionality as it was critical to the business’s requirement. This integration and development helped to deliver scanning into Sharepoint via eCopy Sharepoint Connector and provide full OCR for rapid search functionality so documents can easily be found.

With the eCopy Connector for Microsoft SharePoint, Royal Caribbean are able to quickly convert hard copy documents into digital files that can be stored in folders within SharePoint repositories in defined locations which can therefore be made immediately available for retrieval by authorised users.

SHAREPOINT SERVICES

Konica Minolta’s installation and configuration of SharePoint 2010, an enterprise-class collaboration and content management platform, was done with the intention of replacing Royal Caribbean’s existing customer database, Domino. By proposing the Sharepoint solution, Konica Minolta was also able to offer full migration of existing data currently stored in Lotus Database – Royal Caribbean therefore did not need to retain the existing database for historical look-ups, as they had originally anticipated. All documentation, new and historical, could now be retrieved via Sharepoint. In doing so, Royal Caribbean had a single SharePoint server which in turn has the following features:

• Managed Metadata
• Secure Storage
• Search facilities (with PDF icon and iFilter installed)
• State Service

This in turn has enabled Royal Caribbean to do the following:

• Work collaboration: such as team calendars, discussion boards, and document libraries that allow users to “check out” documents and track changes. Users can be notified by email of new items or changes.
• Multi users access to portals: intranet sites or public web pages can be created in SharePoint using templates and component parts (e.g., a Help Desk ticket system) which can be added to the portal.
• Content Management and Document Workflow: SharePoint helps users review, edit, and track documents. Administrators can control access to specific documents by team member or groups, and SharePoint is also useful for other policy, auditing, and compliance features like setting document expiration and retention.

Other notable SharePoint features and functions include: a search component, forms-driven process integration, and business intelligence capabilities (such as the ability to create dashboards to easily see key business information). In implementing SharePoint, Royal Caribbean’s customer information is more easily accessible and can be shared across the enterprise securely among business users.

MANAGING THE CHANGE PROCESS:

As part of this process, Konica Minolta project and change managed this process to ensure continuity and minimal impact to staff across Royal Caribbean. All existing data was migrated across to the new document management system to provide users access to all legacy documents.

BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH KONICA MINOLTA

Overall, this new document / content management program has offered Royal Caribbean:

• Full migration of existing data stored in out dated systems into new user friendly systems
• Reduce costs in the longer term
• Provide tools to assist with collaborative working
• Ensure continuous document security
• Business process improvement

Kodak has a new chairman of the board

James Continenza replaces Antonio Perez

 

Eastman Kodak Co. has its first new board chairman since 2005.

The Rochester-based printing and imaging company said Tuesday that James V. Continenza had been elected chairman, effective immediately. Antonio M. Perez has been chairman since 2005, when he also was promoted from company president and chief operating officer to CEO, replacing retiring Daniel Carp.

Perez remains a member of the board. The move comes as the clock is counting down on Perez’s tenure at the helm of the company. He previously said he would remain as CEO for a year after the company ended its bankruptcy, or until a replacement was found, whichever came first. Kodak exited bankruptcy early this month.

Continenza joined the Kodak board in April. Kodak — at that time in the midst of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy — said one of his key attributes was his experience “as a manager and director with diverse companies that have successfully emerged from corporate restructuring.”

In a statement, Continenza said Kodak “is a company poised for growth. I look forward to providing leadership as the company realizes its potential as a technology company focused on the packaging, graphic communications, and functional printing markets.”

Continenza also serves on the board of Tembec Corp., a Canadian paper products company. He previously has been on the board of such companies as Arch Wireless Inc., Rural Cellular Corp., and Anchor Glass Container Corp.

 

Article originally published in: Democrat & Chronicle

Konica Minolta Supports International Coastal Cleanup 2013

Konica Minolta’s concerned about environmental problems.

This year, it has joined “International Coastal Cleanup 2013 Hong Kong” coordinated by Green Council as a Gold Sponsor. The kick-off ceremony was held on 21 September 2013 (Saturday) at Stanley Plaza. Konica Minolta’s volunteer team participated in the morning’s cleanup together with other schools and organizations, demonstrating their environmental caring and promoting marine conservation.

“International Coastal Cleanup” (ICC) is a global event initiated by Ocean Conservancy in 1986. Its aim is to engage citizens to remove trash and debris from beaches and waterways all around world, identify the sources of debris, and change the behavioral patterns that contribute to pollution.

In the ceremony, Ms. Linda W.P. Ho, Chief Executive Officer of Green Council, and Mr. C.W. Tse, JP, Deputy Director of Environmental Protection Department, delivered speeches on ocean protection and presented appreciation certificates to sponsors, supporting organizations and volunteer teams for the morning’s cleanup. Mr. Robert Ip, Director of Marketing, Sales and Technical Service of Konica Minolta received the award on behalf of the company and shared environmental experiences with other guests.

“International Coastal Cleanup 2013 Hong Kong” and “ICC 2013 School Photo Competition” which is solely sponsored by Konica Minolta are held from the day of the kick-off ceremony to 9 November 2013. Data of the cleanup activities and results for the competition will be announced on 15 December 2013. A photo exhibition will come after the presentation ceremony day.

3D Scanning Fallen Soldiers in Russia – Immortalization of the Battle of Borodino

Even though most recent news on 3D scanning has been about prosumer-targeted desktop solutions, the majority of which are currently still lying on the design tables with a sole focus on winning the price-race to the bottom, in the professional field the attributes making up for a useful product are compiled very differently. In disciplines like archeology, where the field work is a core part of the job description in the everlasting quest to discover new relics and other artifacts in trying to better understand humanity’s history; portability and suitability for handheld usage are obviously important factors at excavation sites old and new.

Two hundred years ago saw the battle of Borodino between the defending Russian army and the invading troops led by Napoleon. The fight was crucial – Borodino was the last line of defense standing between the French soldiers and the capital city, with the number of participating troops certainly reflecting that relevance – estimated at more than 250,000 men taking part in the battle, with over a quarter of them not returning home alive. Even though tragic – as a war situation always is – this massive death site has been a valuable source of knowledge for archaeologists and others interested in what lies beneath the surface. One of the latest efforts in this sector was organized by the Russian Academy of Sciences and their Institute of Archeology with an intent to better map out – and scan – the discovered (rather gruesome) remains of the fallen soldiers and their equine companions.

On the technological side, the Academy partnered up with Artec, a company specializing in pro-grade 3D scanning solutions – at least for designers and institutions not shy of spending $10k+ on their scanning hardware. For this purpose the team used Artec’s MHT scanner, which enables 24 bpp results in up to 0.5mm resolution/0.1 3D point accuracy – to scan every remains of bones and bits found in the excavation sites in the area.  Using 3D scanning instead of the traditional archaeological weapon of choice – 2D photography – proved to be a superior choice, as the added dimension gave the field researchers much more accurate and further analyzable data of the found objects, and it was also possible to post-process this data in a fraction of the time that traditional data would have taken.

As the technology evolves even further, innovative solutions such as the one used by the Russian Institute of Archeology are bound to shed more  light on many mysteries that the past still holds. This approach can also serve as a basis – to enable leaving the remains – in this case humans and horses – to rest in their shallow graves but also immortalized physically, if 3D printing was also to be used to finish the project before bringing the results before the eyes of the general public. Whether or not the Russian archaeologists plan to do this or not is unknown, but we’re definitely going to see this paradigm being put into practice more and more in the future.

Article by Juho Vesanto

Structure Sensor 3D Scanner for iPad Obliterates Kickstarter in 3.5 Hours

Just three and a half hours after its launch, the Structure Sensor, a 3D scanner for mobile devices, met its funding goal of $100,000 on Kickstarter.  And, at the time of this writing, the crowdfunding campaign has already exceeded its goal by a multiple of five, raising over half a million dollars.  This is indicative of two things: people are thirsty for an affordable, high resolution 3D scanner and they have a lot of faith in the company developing the device, Occipital.

Occipital has been, until now, traditionally, an app developer, releasing the Red Laser and 360 Panorama apps.  After working with outside tech companies, like PrimeSense, the geniuses behind the original Microsoft Kinect, the software team was able to teach themselves how to be a hardware team.  With their immense funding, they’ll be able to release an affordably priced – around $360 – sensor for the iPad.

By capturing laser light reflected off of the surfaces of objects, the Structure records depth information for multiple distances simultaneously. The team built the current version of the sensor specifically for the iPad so that it slides over the tablet’s camera.  As Jeff Powers, founder of Occipital, told Mashable, “Our camera is actually axially aligned with the built-in camera. That’s important because we’re fusing the data from those two sensors. We’re also fusing the gyro and accelerometer that’s on board. In the iPad, you kind of have the rest of the story, but it was missing this active 3D sensing.”

The sensor is meant to be hackable, with APIs for highly skilled users and for the not-so-highly-skilled users. It also includes a USB hacking cable, open source drivers, and CAD files so that developers can adapt the Structure Sensor to other devices. What I learned at the Inside 3D Printing convention in San Jose is that, by making aspects of a project open source, you’re not only making your project more accessible, but you’re making it cheaper.  The team can have their tech spread at the same time as they save time and money by not putting in the legwork to adapt the scanner to other devices.

What I also learned from the conference is that quality handheld scanners are so expensive that I’ll never get to own one. The Artec Eva, for instance, runs at about $18k. Even the Fuel3D, which conquered Kickstarter with “a handheld 3D scanner for less than $1000”, seems expensive now for people who already own an iPad. The Occipital scanner doesn’t look as though it captures the colour data, the way that the aforementioned scanners do, but, by integrating it into smart devices, the Structure Sensor opens up new possibilities for augmented reality.

In addition to the object scanner, useful for 3D printing objects, the Occipital team has developed a room-capturing app, which allows you to map an entire room and then measure the distances between objects, obviously useful for trips to IKEA. They’ve also created ball physics and virtual fetch demos, demonstrating the potential for AR.

Check out the Kickstarter video for more details: https://d2pq0u4uni88oo.cloudfront.net/projects/621548/video-291772-h264_high.mp4

Article by:   Michael Molitch-Hou

The Secret Role That Copy Machines Have Played In Modern Art

The Secret Role That Copy Machines Have Played In Modern Art

The copy machines of today get a lot of action from office temps and owners of lost dogs, but did you know that the xerox machine has played a small—but crucial—role in modern art? Xerography, a new exhibition at a UK gallery called FirstSite, explored how this 75-year-old technology has been leveraged in the most unlikely of ways.

The first greyscale xerographic image was made in 1938 by Queens-based inventor Chester Carlton, who used electrostatic charges and dry toners instead of liquid chemicals to make a print. The technique was developed by the Haloid Photographic Company, later renamed Xerox after the success of its first commercial photocopier that used the concept in 1959. The 1960s and 70s saw a boom in conceptual experimentation with this new, unexpectedly creative tool, and the introduction of full-color into the mix in the early 70s further expanded the possibilities.

Full Article here: http://gizmodo.com/the-secret-role-that-copy-machines-have-played-in-moder-1295212435

Lexmark Appoints (Another) New GM For Australia and New Zealand

Paulussen hops the pond with Lexmark

Lexmark has appointed Arjan Paulussen as its new general manager for Australia and New Zealand.

“Arjan’s leadership skills and customer-centric approach, when combined with Lexmark’s award-winning imaging technology and software solutions, will help partners and customers succeed in the ANZ market,” said Leonel Jose Da Costa, Lexmark’s vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific.

Mr Paulussen was previously Lexmark’s US director of sales.

Before joining Lexmark, he held senior sales, sales management and corporate business development positions at KPN Royal Dutch Telecom in Europe and the US.

Mr Paulussen holds a BA in Business Administration from the Amsterdam School of Business and an MBA degree from Bradford University.

“I am excited to join the A/NZ team and look forward to developing a greater understanding of our customers’ challenges and helping them solve them through our unmatched combination of technology ownership, industry expertise and customer intimacy,” he said.

 

Article by  Stephen Withers

Toshiba to Implement Organizational Reforms towards Creative Growth

-To establish new business development division in corporate staff organization –

19 Sep, 2013

 

TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) today announced that it will implement comprehensive reforms in its business segments and corporate staff organization that will allow Toshiba Group to secure the main objective of its current management strategy: creative growth through innovation. Through the reorganization, Toshiba will realign key businesses, promote internal synergies, and seek sustained growth without excessive dependence on market growth.

In a business environment of fast changing customer need and requirements, Toshiba will initiate reforms on October 1 that will allow it to take full advantage of its group strengths. The company’s four current business segments, “Digital Products Group,” “Electronic Devices & Components Group,” “Infrastructure Systems Group,” ,and “Consumer Electronics Group,” will be reorganized into five: “Energy & Infrastructure Group”, “Community Solutions Group,” “Healthcare Systems & Services Group,” “Electronic Devices & Components Group” and “Lifestyle Products & Services Group”.

At the corporate staff organization level, Toshiba will improve management quality and maximize enterprise value, Toshiba will reform of corporate divisions from 27 to 13 aiming to strengthen its strategic functions and improve productivity. In addition, Toshiba will newly establish new business development division that creates new businesses through marketing and products planning taking full advantage of technological assets and resources across business segments.

Business Segments

The new segments, their business organizations and objectives are described below.

1. Energy & Infrastructure Group

• Power Systems Company
• Social Infrastructure Systems Company

To provide low carbon and high efficiency power systems and wide ranging social infrastructure systems and solutions, including transmission and distribution systems and their related power electronics.

2. Community Solutions Group

• Community Solutions Company (newly established, which will oversee Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation (TELC), Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation (TLT) and Toshiba Carrier Corporation (TCC))
• Toshiba TEC Corporation

To strengthen the smart community business and deliver multiple urban and regional solutions that includes building, factory and home energy management systems and solutions for urban facilities and the retail sector.

3. Healthcare Systems & Services Group

• Healthcare Business Development Division (newly established)
• Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (TMSC)

To integrate TMSC’s diagnostic imaging business and related Toshiba Group businesses and to extend the scope of business from medical diagnostics to new health care related business, including disease prevention and patient care based on analysis of medical records and sensor data.

4. Electronic Devices & Components Group

• Semiconductor & Storage Products Company
• Materials & Devices Div.
• ODD Div.

To strengthen integrated storage products and to continue to operate a world-class semiconductor business that also contributes to Toshiba Group’s other products and systems businesses.

5. Lifestyle Products & Services Group

• Digital Products and Services Company
• Toshiba Home Appliances Corp. (THA)

To integrate Digital Products and Services Company and THA in a more efficient consumer-oriented business. Toshiba will aim to strengthen overseas sales in both areas, primarily in emerging markets where demand growth is expected, and to promote use of shared resources and cost optimization.  In this group, Toshiba continues to seek the optimized organization for the TV business, which is still undergoing structural reform.

Note:

Toshiba Consumer Electronics Holding Corporation (TCEH) will be integrated into Toshiba Corporation effective on January 1, 2014.

6. Other business

• Cloud & Solutions Company (new, which will oversee Toshiba Solutions Corporation)

To integrate ICT cloud services and storage systems and promote global outsourcing services, including information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) for Toshiba Group and as a business.

Corporate Staff Divisions

1. Reform of Organizations

Toshiba will improve management quality and maximize enterprise value by reorganizing its current 27 corporate divisions into 13.

•  Corporate Audit Div.
•  Strategic Planning Div.
•  Technology & Innovation Div.
•  Productivity Planning Div.
•  Procurement Div.
•  Marketing Div.
•  Quality Promotion Div.
•  Risk Management Div.
•  Legal Affairs Div.
•  Corporate Communications Div.
•  Finance & Accounting Div.
•  Human Resources & Administration Div.
•  Information Systems Div.

2. New Business Development Div.

Toshiba will meet new and fast evolving customer and market needs by promoting new concept innovation that creates businesses and value for customers with a new business development division. The new division will draw on Toshiba Group’s wide ranging technologies and capabilities and promote product and marketing planning across business segments.

Attachment

• Attachment:TOSHIBA_201309019_2_Attachment.pdf [PDF:278 KB]

Konica Minolta Publishes CSR Report 2013

New Ideas for a Sustainable World

Tokyo (September 19, 2013) – Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) has published its CSR Report 2013 (English version) online to inform all of its stakeholders about the Group’s corporate social responsibility initiatives:
http://www.konicaminolta.com/about/csr/

Based on the management philosophy “The Creation of New Value,” Konica Minolta strives to drive strong growth and become “a company essential to society and worthy of its support.” Throughout its business activities, the company is committed to create new value that improves the quality of society, such as environmentally responsible actions, and contribute to solutions to address societal challenges.

On April 1, 2013, Konica Minolta reorganized its management system to run businesses directly while managing the Group as a whole. The reorganization has enabled Konica Minolta to step up its endeavors toward a sustainable company that can strategically utilize the global management resources and deliver new values to society in its own distinctive way, taking advantage of the strength in proprietary technologies and mobilizing whatever is required to solve the problems, under the communication message “Giving Shape to Ideas.”

CSR Report 2013 features a cross-border project for Konica Minolta’s OPS (Optimized Print Services). OPS combine consulting, hardware, software implementation and workflow management to respond to the dramatically changing office needs with today’s constantly evolving business technologies. OPS leverage those changes to bring innovation to offices by streamlining printing infrastructure, reduce costs and environmental impact and enhancing security. OPS are an optimal solution for multinational corporations with global operations. In this case study, Konica Minolta shared the customers’ unique requests and challenges and delivered innovative solutions that only come from its new ideas and strong capabilities to give shape to those ideas.

Konica Minolta has also been making progress in reducing environmental impact throughout the product life cycle. Multifaceted programs have been put into action around the world to meet the environmental protection targets, based on Konica Minolta’s long-term environmental vision, Eco Vision 2050, and the Medium-Term Environmental Plan 2015 which establishes major objectives and specific goals to be implemented by the target year of 2015. Along with the progress report of the medium-term environmental plan, CSR Report 2013 highlights development of three Green Activities that support the medium-term plan: the Green Products Certification System; the Green Factory Certification System; and the Green Marketing activities.

In addition, CSR Report 2013 unveils calculation of the entire carbon emissions associated with the Konica Minolta Group’s activities across its entire supply chain, from upstream to downstream of its operations. Generally based on the widely-used international standards of GHG Protocol*, CO₂ emissions throughout the supply chain in the fiscal year 2012 were approximately 1.507 million tons. Among them, emissions from the Group’s activities (Scope 1) plus indirect emissions from consumption of purchased electricity, heat or steam (Scope 2) totaled approximately 453,000 tons, or about 30% of all emissions. Other indirect emissions (Scope 3) associated with the Group’s activities through the supply chain, including manufacturing of purchased goods and use of sold products, totaled approximately 1.055 million tons, accounting for about 70%.

For additional information on Konica Minolta’s CSR and environmental efforts, please visit
http://www.konicaminolta.com/about/csr/

*

GHG Protocol: Guidelines for calculating and reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Originally published @ http://www.konicaminolta.com