Ricoh is planning to close down its UK office print toner production unit in Telford, but is stressing that other activities at the sprawling site are unaffected. This includes assembly of toner machines, refurbishing printers, 3D inkjet development and its customer experience showroom for the graphic arts. It is not known whether toner cartridge recycling will remain at Telford.
Production of toners will instead be moved to Etria in Le Havre, France. Etria is a jointly owned venture between Ricoh and Toshiba Tec to handle development and sales of office printers and toners. It was set up in July 2024. In October last year OKI joined the business with its toners and LED printing units.
This results in a business that is 81% owned by Ricoh, 14% by Toshiba Tec and 5% by Oki. The concept has been to produce MFPs and other office printers with common parts and enabling the partners to load with their own software. Sharing production of toners is part of this. Around 70% of the toner produced at Telford is for office printers.
The move follows closely after the closure of Xerox toner production in Dundalk, indicating the reduction of office print in particular. Digital communications are also eating into the low end of digital printing, while at the upper end, inkjet printing is taking a greater share of electrophotographic print.
The move will begin in a phased way in May says Ricoh and is expected to take 14 months to complete. An unknown number of jobs will be affected. This has provoked a vocal reaction in the Shropshire town with petitions by local MP Shaun Davies and the local council stepping in to help those affected find jobs.
While the complex employs around 600 it is not clear how many could be affected by this move. “The proposed changes relate to only part of our Telford based business,” says the company.
