Rico CEO Kim Geun-ho was selected as the winner of the 'Service Excellence Award' in the private CEO category at the '2025 Korea Service Management Association Spring Conference' held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This award is a result of high recognition for improving the efficiency and transparency of the waste collection and transportation industry through digital technology and leading sustainable innovation in the industry.
The Korean Service Management Association annually selects and awards companies and individuals who have contributed to enhancing the competitiveness of the domestic service industry. This year’s academic conference was held under the theme of ‘Development Direction and Agenda of the Korean Service Industry in the Age of Uncertainty’, and CEO Kim Geun-ho was selected as the winner in the private CEO category.
Ricoh was recognized for maximizing efficiency and transparency by incorporating digital technology into the small and analog waste collection and transportation industry. In particular, through its self-developed smart waste management service ‘UpBox’, it is creating innovative cases within the industry by ▲digitizing the entire process from discharge to processing, ▲measuring discharge amount and preventing recycling mix-ups using AI technology, and ▲optimizing dispatching.
These innovations have resulted in a 15% reduction in waste management costs, a 90% reduction in work hours, and a service churn rate of less than 1%, and Upbox is growing rapidly, securing over 5,000 customers as of 2024.
At this academic conference, CEO Kim of Rico also gave a keynote speech on the topic of ‘Innovation of waste management services through digital transformation.’ CEO Kim emphasized that data and platform-based waste management is the core of resource circulation and ESG management practices, and the driving force behind fundamental changes in the collection and transportation industry. In particular, he shared a case where the entire process from discharge to processing was digitized based on Upbox Cloud, and efficiency and reliability were increased across the industry through AI technology and dispatch optimization.
CEO Kim said, “The waste collection and transportation industry is the starting point for recycling and ESG realization, and a key area for strengthening publicness and transparency within the industry.” He added, “Based on a sense of responsibility for this role, Ricoh aims to establish itself as a leading domestic waste management company.”
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