Australia safeguarded from Ricoh job cuts

Steady local growth has shielded Ricoh Australia as its Japanese parent announces plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next three years.

Les Richardson, managing director of Ricoh Australia says it is enjoying steady growth, with “strong performance supplemented by recent acquisitions and an expansion into new markets such as IT services.”

“We always look for efficiencies in our operations, in line with Ricoh's global strategy. At present, however, we are actively recruiting for positions to support our continued growth and success,” said Richardson (pictured).

As its overall workforce shrinks by 10 per cent, Ricoh will shift personnel within the group to reinforce more profitable growth areas, such as software and information technology services for corporate clients to make its office equipment business more competitive.

The global company plans to reinforce its line-up of products and services targeting emerging markets, which account for only 6.7 per cent of group sales.

Ricoh President Shiro Kondo stressed no area of the company would be exempt from streamlining, yet did not disclose job cut details regarding which countries and business segments would be affected.

Some of its Japan-based production facilities have recovered to nearly normal operations since natural disasters struck the countries north coast in March, with quake-related damage to cost the company around 9.4bn yen.

Ricoh's announcement follows Panasonic Corp’s recent statement declaring its plans to cut 34,600 jobs worldwide over the next two years.