BOULDER, CO, December 4, 2007 - InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today announced the appointment of Joe Czyszczewski as its first Chief Sustainability Officer, responsible for helping customers, partners, and InfoPrint enhance their business transformation while keeping environmental concerns front of mind. This is supported by parent Ricoh's vision to reduce the environmental impact of society to a level that the Earth's self-recovery capability can deal with.
Czyszczewski, and a newly formed team, will accelerate InfoPrint's sustainability initiatives with Ricoh's environmental accounting programs and concepts. These include the Comet Circle used to represent a sustainable society that re-circulates resources and its Three P's Balance - combining the planet, profit, and people. In its Extra-Long-Term Environmental Vision, the Ricoh Group expresses its recognition that advanced nations need to reduce their environmental impact to one-eighth the fiscal 2000 levels by 2050.
"We listened to our customers - 80% of whom said in our recent survey that they are being asked or expect to be asked soon by their own customers or management teams to become more environmentally aware. And just as important, we listened to the environmental concerns of society. Joe's appointment is part of our pledge to be a good corporate citizen, working alongside Ricoh striving to be a valued and respected member of society by contributing to its sustainable growth," said Jeff Paterra, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Technology & Solutions Development for InfoPrint.*
The appointment reflects a growing number of innovative offerings by InfoPrint such as "TransPromo", which combines transactional and promotional documents to reduce paper waste and provide more targeted marketing for end users.
"As a solutions company we can look beyond the printer at the end-to-end supply chain and full life cycle, focusing on helping customers print less, print for less and print with less as well as understanding the difference in impact between digital and printed output. Print-on-demand books for instance, mean no waste, no warehousing, no returns. We're also regarding TransPromo as a way of reducing waste in direct mail," said Joe Czyszczewski, Chief Sustainability Officer at InfoPrint Solutions Company.
UK-based InfoPrint customer CDMS, a leading marketing services provider, is one example of a company already working to offer a sustainable approach to its customers. The communications specialist issues 300 million statements and letters annually on behalf of its financial services and retail clients, and is responsible for all data and image asset management, document personalization, selective insertion and postal fulfillment. The company has installed InfoPrint Workflow and production print systems - four InfoPrint 4100 HD5/6 and two InfoPrint 4000s - to offer alternatives to mass-marketing direct mail. Options like a cross-media direct marketing service with a choice of integrated communications channels, from email through to text message, can be selected depending on customers' preferences and previous behavior.
This move is following a recent Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) report on waste in direct marketing, and in anticipation of direct mail taxation in the UK. As similar US-based rulings, such as proposed State Do Not Mail Registry Bills, come into play in North America, US companies are expected to follow the lead of their European counterparts.
According to Sue Lyon, Research Director, IDC, "Print providers are pressured by both their customers and their cost base to look for green printing options. Print providers are requesting improvements in recycled or recyclable media and energy efficiency from their equipment suppliers. We anticipate that a growing number of local, state and federal agencies will soon require sustainability initiatives from their print suppliers."
Prior to joining InfoPrint Solutions Company at its inception in June 2007, Czyszczewski completed a 30-year career with IBM as a Distinguished Engineer in document and print technologies. He holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and is an active inventor with multiple patents issued. Czyszczewski is also responsible for the InfoPrint advanced technology program with IBM's worldwide Research centers gaining access to IBM's extensive innovation portfolio.
*A recent survey conducted by analyst firm, InfoTrends, for InfoPrint Solutions determined that 80% of InfoPrint production print customers are being asked or expect to be asked soon to become more environmentally sensitive by their management and clients.