ABOUT THE CUSTOMER
SKF is a leading global supplier of rolling bearings, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems and services. Founded in 1907, the company has over 200 manufacturing and operational locations and is represented in more than 130 countries. It is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden and employs more than 40,000 people worldwide. Its products and services are used in a wide variety of markets, including automotive, wind energy, rail, machine tooling, healthcare, paper and more.
CHALLENGE
Unsatisfied with its configuration of multiple manufacturers and providers, beginning in 2009 SKF Group IT chose to work with Ricoh as their primary provider. One of the main reasons why Ricoh won the business was its strong commitment to environmental sustainability. Another was its proven ability to help large organizations streamline their document management fleets, enabling companies to improve productivity using fewer devices.
The pilot project for the global solution was SKF’s North American headquarters, where they identified the perfect opportunity to put these two capabilities to the test. SKF had decided to consolidate three separate eastern Pennsylvania locations into a single new facility in Lansdale, PA. At the same time, the company knew its locations tended to have high device-to-person ratios. As every aspect of the new building would be planned to
meet LEED® standards, in accordance with the SKF Group’s broad-based sustainability initiative called SKF Care, it was a good test ground for Ricoh and SKF to develop a solution that could be rolled out globally.
Moving to a new facility gave SKF and Ricoh a chance to redesign the device fleets in three locations simultaneously, using the new headquarters as proof of concept, to show other SKF sites how an efficient, consolidated multifunctional device environment could not only reduce spending, improve transparency and workflow efficiency, but make a considerable impact on sustainability as well.
Working alongside SKF decision-makers, the Ricoh team began an intensive analysis of the fleets at three locations. What they found were 293 devices, ranging from printers, scanners, and copiers, supporting 400 employees, with multiple providers, supplies and service contracts in the mix. It was, as Mike Durante, Technology Manager for SKF, put it, “a very segregated and complex environment.”
With an existing host print vendor contract set to expire, an industryleading insurance company was in search of a moreaffordable printing solution. Previously, the company printed large batches—up to 4,500 pages—of customer policies at a select number of print facilities, using host printing hardware that was expensive to own and operate. And because host printing output was declining as the company transitioned to digital document management, driving print jobs to existing multifunctional products (MFPs) was a much more affordable option.
Lean, optimized product development Xerox Corporation is the world’s leading document management technology and services company with the industry’s broadest product portfolio. Xerox offers digital color and black-and-white printing and publishing systems, digital presses and “book factories,” multifunction devices, laser and solid ink network printers, copiers and fax machines.
Company Profile
Unilever, one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods, has extended the scope of its Managed Document Services Agreement with Ricoh from five to twenty seven countries across Europe. Ricoh will provide efficient and cost effective solutions for Unilever’s office and home working employees. The new services will provide a further return on investment by delivering increased efficiency across all Unilever’s European operations.
Toshiba America Electronic Components (TAEC) is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a leader in advanced electronics. The San Jose, California division, which is responsible for the company’s semiconductor engineering, was facing significant challenges as it approached a lease-rollover necessitating a hardware upgrade of its NetApp™ Network-Attached Storage (NAS) environment as well as a major software upgrade. Toshiba needed a solution that would enable it to perform a complex migration of 70 terabytes of data without disruption to the critical design, verification, and test processes. By implementing F5 ARX® file virtualization, the company was able to complete the data migration without downtime. ARX has also enabled Toshiba’s IT staff to reduce operational expenditures and achieve greater flexibility in responding to changing business demands.
Pay Per Print
Document Capture and Microsoft Records Management System Enables Documents to be Captured, Archived and Retrieved Easily and Efficiently 
Replacing a Legacy System
Networks have traditionally been designed for resiliency, not for flexibility, and often performance suffers as the network grows and becomes increasingly complex and fragile. Service providers targeting enterprises operate “networks within networks” and are particularly challenged with the costs and issues of maintaining and scaling these complicated infrastructures.
