Big Tom Out as Prez at Ricoh

Just the beginning...?


It has now been a little over six months since the merger of Lanier and Ricoh into Ricoh Americas Corporation. During that time, there have been many changes in our organization and we have all experienced some of the good and some of the bad that change brings.
The merger of two organizations having different cultures, systems and business methods is a difficult undertaking and what we have seen since April 1 certainly confirms that fact. I am aware of how hard all of you have worked, the extra workload that so many of you have taken on, and it is no secret that there have been bumps in the road. We are making good progress towards our goals, even though the financial results of our recently concluded first six months of operation have been disappointing.
As Chairman of Ricoh Americas Corporation, I have the responsibility for our results as well as the overall well being of our company as a sound and effective organization. Some of the changes that I am announcing today may seem surprising to some of you, but after careful consideration, I am convinced that they are necessary to enable us to address and fix some of the issues that we are facing.
Effective immediately, I am implementing the following restructuring:
First, I have eliminated the position of Chief Operating Officer of Ricoh US. I spoke with Tom Salierno last evening and explained my decision to him. Tom has provided many years of loyal and dedicated service to the Company and I am sure that all of you join me in wishing Tom the very best as he pursues other career options.
Martin Brodigan, currently President of Ricoh Canada, assumes the position of CFO of Ricoh US with overall responsibility for Ricoh US Finance and Accounting operations as well as Customer Administration, Ricoh Financial Services, and IT. In his new role, Martin will report directly to Nori Goto. While Martin's new responsibilities with Ricoh US begin immediately, he will also be working to transition from his role as President of Ricoh Canada.
The Direct Marketing and Indirect Marketing groups in Ricoh US will consolidate into one group under the leadership of Hugh Urabe and reporting to Nori Goto. This will facilitate the exchange of information and leverage all our strengths to build an even stronger, more cohesive Ricoh US. Hugh retains his leadership role in Corporate Marketing and will continue to report to me in that capacity.
Nori Goto remains CEO and also assumes the title of President of Ricoh US. Martin Brodigan, the Direct Channel under Barry Ward, the Indirect Channel under Alan Nielsen, Technology Services and Ricoh Professional Services under Mark Miller, as well as Ricoh US Marketing and Major Account Support will report directly to Nori.
In addition to Nori, Corporate Finance, Supply Chain, People Excellence and Legal will report directly to me.
This restructuring has been designed to flatten our organizational structure, eliminate certain redundancies and enable us to be more agile, cohesive and responsive as we move forward. I fully expect that these changes will also improve both internal and external communication, unify our management structure and make us a more flexible and responsive organization for our customers and employees.
Please join me in welcoming Martin Brodigan to Ricoh and continue to use your very best efforts to help us reach our goals.
Best regards.
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Susumu "Sam" Ichioka
Chairman & CEO
Ricoh Americas Corporation

Ricoh Americas Eliminates COO Position along with Tom Salierno

Ask me if I am shocked! NO, however it was a piece of interesting news. Eliminating a position to me is a polite way of saying you services are no longer required.

Go here for the rest on my blog......arts blog

He was clueless. They should have done this months ago. Ricoh is taking some big hits from Xerox/Global, KMBS & Sharp. They better wake up before it's too late!

It is becoming clearer that Lanier is taking over Ricoh. The new name will soon become Ranier.

With X/Global hitting Ricoh hard and Sharp taking a couple of distribution points (so far), it could get interesting at the big, red "R."

When they replace that dratted "iSuite" Oracle system (and fire the genius responsible), then they will have made some real progress!!!!

Ricoh is starting to cut staff, heard the 16 were let go in Marketing and PSG and this is just the beginning..

this is from an email I got today from someone who was high up at Ricoh!

The immediate trend (KMBS, Xerox) is Japan direct to dealers in the USA. Global dealers are able to purchase for 30+% off of DMAP 6 equivalent. If Ricoh is going to survive this war they will have to eliminate Ricoh USA. Which got me wondering: What does Ricoh USA do for their dealers...really?!

quote:

Global dealers are able to purchase for 30+% off of DMAP 6 equivalent

Do you know this or is it a guess? 30+ points off Level 6 is a pretty deep discount for Xerox. Maybe 30 pts off LDP? My guess is a smaller discount with a "pot" of discretionary funds available.

I recentley spoke to local Global CFO, and he stated that they went to Xerox and demanded prices lower than the japanese manufacturers so they could compete. There are no spiff programs for sales people just rock bottom pricing. Keep in mind that most of the Xerox equipment is from overseas also.

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It's fact. Also the Global boys tell me how easy selling Xerox is compared to other brands they have sold in the past including Ricoh. The power of a name!

All of Ricoh is restructing with Nrg and Rioch merging in the uk after lanier was merged with NRG a year or so ago.
I think they woken up to the fact they were paying for two lots of backroom staff compared to companies of a similar size.