A surge in e-commerce demand for and a shortage of truck drivers resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has led the Japanese OEMs are looking to pool their resources.
For several years Japan has had a shortage of truck drivers, mainly as a result of and aging workforce and more recently the pandemic. Japan is rolling out internet-connected trucks, but there are gaps in Japan’s Truck fleet, especially delivering to residential addresses where there is a growth in e-commerce demand.
Nikkei Asian Review reports that as part of trying to lower costs coupled with the falling demand in office equipment and the truck driver shortage the country is facing, Ricoh and Canon and “other office equipment companies” in Japan are looking to pool their resources and “offer a joint delivery service”.
It is expected that the streamlining of delivery services will significantly reduce the demand for drivers the companies previously needed and used.
Nikkei Asian Review wrote: “Under the new strategy, around 15 office suppliers will test the joint delivery plan by March regionally. The Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association, an industry lobby group for office supplies, has established a committee to work out the logistics of such a plan.
“Large suppliers such as Fuji Xerox, Konica Minolta and Kyocera Document Solutions, as well as sales companies of various manufacturers, are all represented in the group, which will also look into cooperating with overseas office suppliers as well.”
The plan is to deliver the machines to a central logistics centre from which the shipments will go directly to the clients. Installations will still be undertaken by the individual companies themselves.
