Inside Story
The pursuit of the environmental care
“The size of a box influences the environment.” (Yukiko Sato)
GR Digital designing policy extends to the care for the environment. The designers have used the environment friendly parts, which meet Ricoh’s “Green Procurement Standard”. Green Procurement Standard meets the environmental standard set by various countries worldwide as well as very severe Ricoh’s internal standard. For example, the lead-free solder is used to all the parts of the camera instead of the conventional solder which is harmful to the human health. “To make this realize, you need advanced technologies: to use lead-free solder higher temperature is required, which means the parts must stand for higher temperature. Furthermore, the parts are soldered to the miniaturized flexible board in the order of micron between the parts. You need cutting edge technologies to make an environment friendly products,” says Mr. Yokoyama.
“The package for the camera is also designed with environment conscious mind,” says Ms. Yukiko Sato, a package designer. By designing a box with optimum length for each of the three dimensions, you can load maximum quantities in a standard container. You may ask why the box size affects the environment. If you carry a lot of boxes in a container, you can save more energy for the transportation per unit,” explains Ms. Sato.
Durable and quality package
The environment friendly package has quality finish.
Of course, she has used soy ink made from soy for printing the package because it is an environment friendly ink. Next, she has studied and test to find out the quality finish best represent GR Digital image including various kind of paper and paper coating materials. The package must be durable as well; in case the box is dropped, it needs to protect the camera inside. You also consider that the scratch or damage on the surface to be prevented while transporting. Otherwise, the customer received the camera in such a box will disappointed. She felt pity and almost the tears gathered in her eyes when she opened the container and found out the damaged boxes made as engineering sample. “The moment I was most excited was when I opened the container and found that any boxes were not damaged at all,” say Mr. Sato.
The comments from the users prove GR Digital reliability
Now one month has passed since GR Digital was on the market and we have started to hear the comments from the users. “The straight line of the subject is straight on the image in spite of wide angle lens”, “Very natural image”: these are for the high quality pictures”. “I like the optional viewfinder for 21mm super wide angle adapter,“ “I like the finish of the camera because I can comfortably hold the camera like a 35mm conventional camera”: these are for the extended capabilities and quality surface of the camera. Some says “Once I have seen and touched the camera I cannot control my desire to buy one and keep it by my side for a long period of time,” These comments prove that GR Digital is a highly reliable camera.
