Canon U.S.A. Breaks Ground On New Americas Headquarters

(MELVILLE, N.Y.) - Canon U.S.A., Inc., a worldwide leader in digital imaging and advanced office solutions, today broke ground on its new North and South American headquarters campus in Melville, N.Y. The new facility will be a model for environmental stewardship and innovation and will serve as one of Canon Inc.'s three worldwide headquarters, with the others located in Tokyo and London.

"Over the past 40 years, Canon U.S.A. has developed strong roots in the Long Island community and we are thrilled to continue to make Long Island our home," said Joe Adachi, president and CEO, Canon U.S.A. "Canon is very grateful for the support we have received from every level of government and the local community to bring this new, state-of-the-art facility from concept to reality. We are committed to continuing our role as an active member of the Long Island business and local community and look forward to moving into our new home in Melville."

The new headquarters will also feature several environmentally friendly elements including a design emphasizing the use of natural lighting, the incorporation of energy-efficient equipment and materials in construction, as well as a landscape design that will utilize native species and drought-resistant vegetation.

"Environmental sustainability is a pillar of Canon's corporate culture," said Seymour Liebman, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel, Canon U.S.A. "We view the development of our new headquarters as an opportunity to set a precedent for environmentally conscious development throughout the design and construction process. We are pleased to announce that the new facility is being designed to meet LEED Gold Certification Standards."

"Since the beginning of my administration, I have worked with communities to craft policies that create jobs and boost local economies," New York Governor David Paterson said. "Canon U.S.A. has more than 1,200 Long Island employees and is a major investor in the area economy. In agreeing to remain on Long Island, Canon U.S.A. will construct a new, state-of-the-art headquarters, which will not only provide long-term economic security for thousands of New Yorkers, but will also provide a great economic boost to Long Island and New York State."

"The groundbreaking of Canon U.S.A.'s Americas headquarters in Melville is truly a win-win for Long Island. This landmark project will be an anchor for the Route 110 corridor and will provide a boost to the local economy by creating thousands of jobs," said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. "During these tough economic times, that is outstanding news. I'm proud to have worked so hard on behalf of all Long Islanders to see this project come into fruition."

"I am proud to support Canon as it breaks ground on a new Canon Americas headquarters in Melville. This development will bring Long Island what we need most right now: jobs. Canon's new headquarters is a welcome addition to our business community and an important boost for our local economy," said Rep. Steve Israel (D – Huntington).

"Our aggressive economic development agenda focuses on attracting and retaining businesses ranging from start-up firms to some of the world's leading technology companies," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. "Having the Canon Americas headquarters of this international giant located here in the Route 110 corridor will provide a major economic boost to our area."

The Huntington Town Planning Board recently approved plans for the five-story office building, totaling close to 700,000 square feet, including two multi-level parking garages. The 52.17-acre parcel is located at the southwest corner of the Long Island Expressway South Service Road and Walt Whitman Road.

"Canon breaking ground on its new Canon Americas headquarters represents a major milestone in the redevelopment of the Route 110 corridor, bringing a total of 2,000 immediate and future jobs and spurring additional, related growth. We look forward to working with Canon as the construction progresses, to the eventual ribbon-cutting, when we will formally welcome the Canon employees who will call Huntington their working home," said Huntington Town Supervisor Frank P. Petrone.

Canon U.S.A. began in 1955 with five employees as the New York branch of an up-and-coming camera company. Today, the Company is a global imaging brand leader that every American looks to for consumer and business innovations and technologies. Canon has been a fixture in the Long Island community since 1971 when the Company moved its headquarters to Lake Success, N.Y., from Woodside, Queens, N.Y. When Canon moved to Long Island in the 1970s, the Company employed approximately 80 people, and currently has approximately 1,200 employees in Lake Success. The new facility will eventually create 750 new jobs over a number of years once Canon moves to Melville.

Canon Americas Corporate Headquarters is responsible for more than 11,000 employees in 35 facilities across North and South America.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2009†, with global revenues of US $35 billion, is listed as number four in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies 2009 list, and is on the 2009 BusinessWeek list of "100 Best Global Brands." Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei – "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" – Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.

8 Document Management Practices that are Cost Effective and Eco Friendly

As leading economic indicators continue to signal a global economic slowdown, companies are looking for effective steps to take – such as lowering costs and streamlining operations – in order to weather the storm and achieve a competitive edge in the eventual recovery. At the same time, recent industry research shows that businesses also want to be more environmentally responsible.

There are several document management practices that can help companies reach both their environmental and cost-reduction goals. From the sustainability perspective, these practices can significantly reduce the use of paper, thereby saving trees, gas in shipping the paper, physical space to store it, and halting the eventual destruction of many files that end up in a landfill. According to the Environmental Paper Network, “If, for example, the United States cut its office paper use by roughly 10 percent, or 540,000 tons, greenhouse gases would fall by 1.6 million tons. This is the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road for a year.”

Here are eight guidelines highlighting document management practices in the office that can benefit the environment and reduce costs:

1. The workgroup alternative

To the extent possible, replacing personal desktop printers with workgroup MFPs (multifunction peripherals that combine print/copy/scan/fax functionality in one machine) shared by departments can have a strong positive impact. One financial services company replaced 1,100 copiers and printers and 1,000 fax machines with 400 MFPs. The initiative eliminated 1,700 machines that no longer consume resources based on their manufacture, transportation, operation, maintenance, and eventual disposal.

2. Adopt scanning practices

Instead of copying and storing physical documents, organizations can scan and store electronically. Employees can retain digital copies that they can distribute electronically, and at the same time avoid accumulating files filled with paper.

As a conservative estimate, scanning can reduce paper consumption by one to three percent. In a recent industry survey, senior executives involved in document management indicated that document scanning has a high impact across the greatest range of business goals that include reducing costs, increasing competitive advantage, enhancing regulatory compliance, and improving customer service.

3. Default to duplex

Most multi-page documents don’t require the text to be printed on one side of the page. Newspapers, magazines and books use both sides (duplex printing). With effective fleet management it is possible to change office practices and make duplex printing of multi-page documents the norm. This can potentially decrease paper use by up to 50 percent.

4. Eliminate printing banner pages

A banner page is the extra page that prints before an employee’s file prints with username and machine name information. Gartner’s research estimates that organizations can reduce their consumables cost by up to 20 percent by eliminating banner pages from office print jobs. Banner pages can represent up to a quarter of pages printed for some typical office print jobs. A 1,000 person organization could cut up 1.6 million pages and save $33,500 per year by eliminating banner page printing (“Cost Cutting Initiatives for Office Printing,” Sharon McNee and Ken Weilerstein, Feb. 2008.)

5. Bulk up

Buying paper and toner in bulk can reduce transportation, packaging, and storage resources. Buying in bulk also often results in cost savings.

6. Leverage “smart” technologies

Enterprises can use MFP “smart” technologies such as Personal Mail Box, Fax-from-Desktop, Scan-to-Email/File Folder, and Document Routing in order to decrease paper and chemicals used in printing. This can reduce paper usage by up to three percent.

7. Implement user authentication

With as many as one in 10 documents sent to the printer and uncollected or sent again before collection to correct user errors, enterprises could reduce ad hoc print costs by up to 10 percent by implementing a PIN authentication system.

8. Put more text on each page

Paper usage can be reduced by changing a few default settings that will result in more text on each page. For example, in MS Word, you can go to “File,” then to “Page Setup” and set the margins to accommodate more text. Compared to the normal settings, this could use up to 14 percent less paper. Additionally, when printing, you can reduce font size to 10 point to decrease the amount of paper required.

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Originally authored by Ken Neal, a Certified Enterprise Content Management Practitioner.