Ricoh has cut the ribbon on its brand new purpose-built facility in NSW’s Eastern Creek, which will accommodate the company’s distribution centre and other national functions.
More than 100 employees are now based at the 10,470sqm site, which marks a return to the western suburbs for Ricoh, though head office will remain in Frenchs Forest.
Ricoh Australia managing director Les Richardson says the project started when the company realised it needed a single home for all its technical and logistic functions, long before breaking ground about 18 months ago.
“This building will not only be for our warehousing and spare parts, it will also be our national customer response centre; our national technical support centre, which provides support to all of our technicians around the country; our national technician training centre; national run up centre, where we test every machine before it goes to the customer; and our national workshop, where we recover and recycle machine components,” he says.
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The building and fitout boasts a five-star green rating, through energy-efficient lighting design, rainwater collection and metering and monitoring.
It features digital displays detailing the site’s water and energy use through air conditioning, lighting and power – and will allow visitors to check out targets and comparisons of previous performance periods.
A rainwater collection and reuse system is expected to save more than 12,000 litres of water a week, and other sustainable design features, including a garden of native plants designed for limited water use, mean the company achieved all 10 of the available points in the green star water category.
Richardson says the building matches the company’s overall commitment to sustainability.
“In the future we want to continue to build around environmental initiatives, introducing toner cartridge collection and refilling, remanufacturing and second hand machines and recovery of usable parts,” he says.
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Ray Waterhouse at property developer Jacfin says the centre is the first distribution facility in NSW to be awarded the five-star green star.
“Jacfin is proud to be associated with Ricoh. We wish them good business not just today but into the future,” he says.
Andrew Rohan MP, Member for Smithfield, was present to cut the ribbon, and thanked the company for investing in the western suburbs.
“We are assembling a great team, consisting of long term Ricoh staff who have transferred to this facility, but more importantly I think we have been able to recruit from the local community,” he says.
“We are looking forward to being to deliver on our vision of what we are trying to achieve with this centre.”
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