Ricoh Europe, a leading European supply chain organization, is committed to a sustainable transport sector and is taking a pioneering role in this field, resulting in its first Lean & Green Star for the international program. Martijn Spee, Manager of Transport at Ricoh Europe, shares recent insights into the company’s efforts in sustainability and the role of the Lean & Green program.
Inbound and outbound
As the head of the European transport network, Martijn Spee has a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities in sustainability within the transport sector. With a large network of 50 carriers, Ricoh Europe has focused on measuring and improving both inbound and outbound transport networks.
“We started by mapping our CO2 emissions for the inbound processes,” explains Martijn. “This was relatively easy to measure, but the challenge lay in measuring the outbound processes. With four million packages shipped annually, we wondered how we could measure all those shipments. We knew we needed advanced software for this.”
The start of the Lean & Green program
After a careful evaluation of various software options, Ricoh Europe contacted Lean & Green, a renowned program in sustainable logistics. In collaboration with Dirk van der Lee (program manager at Lean & Green) and the introduction of BigMile software, Ricoh Europe decided to partner with Lean & Green. “We chose Lean & Green because of the recognition of our achievements and efforts in recent years, as well as the strategic possibilities that the combination with the BigMile software offers to make our outbound performance measurable and transparent,” says Martijn.
Measures taken for sustainability
Ricoh Europe has already taken earlier steps towards sustainability, particularly by promoting modal shift. The company has largely replaced road transport with rail transport. Additionally, Ricoh Europe has made adjustments to the network and introduced double-decker trucks to make more efficient use of transport capacity and reduce emissions.
The future
Regarding future steps, Ricoh Europe is focused on gaining more insight into the diesel consumption of partners within the supply chain. Although Ricoh Europe does not have its own fleet, it is crucial to collaborate with carriers and partners to make the necessary data available. Martijn explains, “That is our challenge: making partner data available. It is the next step we want to take. It is easier to obtain insights when carriers have their own wheels. In our case, it is quite challenging. We simply need to collaborate as much as possible to obtain that data. Our strategy is to get as many carriers on board as possible in the coming years and provide us with that data.”
Pride
Ricoh Europe is proud of its status as a pioneer in its field. They want to radiate this sense of pride and inspire other fellow shippers as well. Standing still is not an option for Ricoh Europe; they want to move forward, not lag behind or follow others. With determination, they take the lead. They are also proud of the fact that despite the challenges they face, they continue to take action. Challenges such as reliability and lead time should not be an excuse for inaction. Martijn believes that everyone, regardless of obstacles, should contribute their part.
TIP FROM THE STAR WINNER!
Martijn: “Keep sustainability on your radar. We now have a Lean & Green Star, but we must not sit back. We must keep actively working on it. The goal should not be to continuously achieve Lean & Green Stars. The goal should be to develop a well-thought-out strategy in collaboration with the Lean & Green program. I also think it’s important to collaborate, especially for shippers. Carriers often have insights into their emissions, diesel consumption, and fleet. For shippers, this is much more complicated.”
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