Energy / Climate Change

June 1, 2004

 

Oki's Web-Based Catalog On-Demand System to Reduce CO2 Emissions

Keywords: Climate Change Energy Conservation Manufacturing industry Policy / Systems Transportation / Mobility 

Oki Electric Industry Co. of Japan has announced that it will introduce a "web-on-demand" catalog system to reduce its catalog inventory to zero, starting in May 2004. With this system, the company expects an annual reduction of 800,000 sheets of paper consumption, the equivalent of 70 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from transportation and other energy uses, and 16 million yen (about U.S.$150,000) in expenses, including storage and delivery costs.

Oki currently issues 200 kinds of catalogs. They have conventionally been printed in large quantities, stored in warehouses, and then sent out by truck for sales purposes. The company typically had an average of 230,000 catalogs in stock, which generated storage and delivery costs. Every time product specifications were changed or the sales of certain products were terminated, the company had to discard many catalogs.

Under the new system, catalogs can be ordered on Oki's intranet website and the required number of catalogs then printed, bound, and delivered to the party making the order by the existing in-house mail routes. This zero-inventory system will allow the company to reduce the storage and delivery costs to near zero. This on-line system also will make it possible to reduce operational steps, from ordering to billing. Moreover, the catalog database will make it easier for sales personnel to use the contents for drawing up presentation documents for customers.

Oki's management policy places an emphasis on environmental efforts. The company has been actively expanding its environmental program since 1993.



Posted: 2004/06/01 12:58:39 PM
Japanese version

 

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