Two announcements from Ricoh in the first week of October 2026 deserve attention from anyone selling into the printer consumables aftermarket. On 6 October the company confirmed a Strategic Review; on 7 October it detailed a remanufacturing concept called “Circular New”. Read together, they describe an OEM that is rethinking both its economics and its relationship with used hardware.

The strategic review

Ricoh, with roughly US$16.4 billion in annual sales, has launched a Strategic Review led by its independent Outside Directors. The company states that its capital profitability has remained below its cost of equity, and that its previous mid-term management strategy fell significantly short of its original targets. The announcement is not a bankruptcy notice, a sale or a layoff plan — but it opens the door to changes in strategy, investment levels, operations and the shape of its printing and MFP portfolio.

‘Circular New’: recovered parts in new machines

Alongside the review, Ricoh and ETRIA are pushing further into circular manufacturing. The “Circular New” concept incorporates recovered components from used products into newly manufactured A3 monochrome multifunction printers. Ricoh reports that the approach can reduce newly sourced material usage from approximately 76 per cent to as little as 21 per cent, and that localised production can cut the product carbon footprint by up to 25 per cent.

The first models in the programme — the RICOH IM 6010, IM 4510, IM 3510 and IM 2510 — are scheduled for production and shipment in Japan and Europe from the first half of 2027.

Why the aftermarket should care

• Longer machine life means steady consumables demand. Circular hardware is designed around reuse, which keeps A3 mono fleets in service longer. Every extra year of service life is another set of cartridges, drum units and parts — much of it bought outside the OEM channel in price-sensitive markets.
• The category gains legitimacy. When an OEM puts recovered components into machines it sells as new, “remanufactured” stops being a niche claim and becomes a mainstream one. That helps independent suppliers in conversations with cautious buyers.
• But expectations rise. Buyer questions shift from “is it compatible?” to “what is the provenance, the yield data and the warranty?” Suppliers without test records and traceability will feel that pressure first.
• More refurbished fleets, more demand for supply. Remanufactured and refurbished A3 mono machines increasingly flow into Africa, the Middle East and CIS markets. Dealers who follow those fleets need a consumables and spare-parts supplier who already stocks the right SKUs.

Practical steps for dealers and importers

• Track which A3 monochrome models are being rebuilt in volume, and make sure you hold consumables for them rather than only for the newest launches
• Ask suppliers for ISO/IEC 19752 yield data and batch traceability, not just a unit price
• Build take-back or collection arrangements where EPR rules require them — circular stories increasingly need documentation
• Treat cost per page and failure rate, not purchase price, as the comparison metric in quotes and tenders

ZCV Image supplies brand-new compatible toner cartridges and drum units for Kyocera, Canon, Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp and Xerox copiers and printers, including the high-volume A3 monochrome segments used in rebuilt fleets. Batch-level test records and yield data are available on request at zcv.image@gmail.com or +86-755-28753582.