With Earth
Tackling the climate change problem — Reducing environmental impact
At the Sansha Electric Manufacturing Group, we are accelerating activities to protect the global environment, believing that the conservation of the global environment is a duty that must be fulfilled for the good of future generations and the reduction of the environmental impact of business activities is one of the Group's most important tasks.
Environmental management system
The Board of Directors determines the basic policy on environmental initiatives and the Corporate Planning Conference, which is attended by the President and Executive General Managers, discusses specific actions and studies measures. Specific initiatives related to environmental protection and energy conservation are planned by the Environmental Management Implementation Committee, which meets regularly. The plans are discussed at the Corporate Planning Conference and decisions on them are made by the Board of Directors.
The Environmental Management Implementation Committee is composed of managers from individual departments and bases, and the Quality and Environment Planning Department acts as the administrative office for this committee.
Sansha Electric Manufacturing Group Environmental Policy
The Group is aware that conservation of the global environment is a corporate social responsibility. We will work to reduce environmental impact and consider biodiversity to aid the realization of a sustainable society.
- Observance of environmental laws and regulations
We will observe environmental laws and regulations and meet equivalent requirements. - Prevention of global warming
We will work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from business activities - Contribution to a recycling-oriented society
We will strive to minimize waste and efficiently use resources to aid the realization of a sustainable recycling-oriented society. - Reduction of hazardous substances
We will work to reduce emissions of substances that adversely impact the environment and to prevent pollution - Consideration of biodiversity conservation
All our personnel will be aware of importance of conserving biodiversity and act in due consideration of it. - Reduction of the environmental impact of products
We will always strive to create environmentally-friendly product designs to provide products with little environmental impact throughout their life cycle - Continuous improvement of the environmental management system
We will be aware of impact our business activities and products have on the environment and work to continuously improve our environmental management system.
May 2010 Established
April 2023 Revised
Observance of environmental laws and regulations
We understand the laws and regulations that apply to group companies as well as those that we should observe, and evaluate compliance regularly to ensure laws and regulations are observed.
ISO certifications we have acquired
| Certification body | Japan Quality Assurance Organization | |
|---|---|---|
| Registration number | Semiconductor Manufacturing Division | JQA-EM7548 |
| Power Supply System Manufacturing Division | JQA-EM7051 | |
| Date of registration | Semiconductor Manufacturing Division | June 28, 2019 |
| Power Supply System Manufacturing Division | February 14, 2014 | |
Environmental initiatives
Towards carbon neutrality in 2050
At the Sansha Electric Manufacturing Group, we recognize the importance of constantly lowering CO2 and waste emissions from production activities. Based on this understanding, we set the following goals in FY2021.
Reduction of CO2 emissions — Achievements and goals (Scope 1 and 2)
Waste reduction achieved by ending the use of plastic packing materials
Waste emissions and recycling ratio
Our plants have been using reusable shipping containers and taking other actions in an effort to minimize waste emissions from business activities and to reduce packing materials and cushioning materials. In the future, at the Okayama Plant, we will successively replace plastic packing materials with cardboard for new products in a bid to reduce plastic consumption.
Compliance with the RoHS Directive
Sansha Electric Group's power semiconductor products are compliant with the RoHS Directive and can be used with peace of mind. In terms of other environmental measures, we are working to replace materials, solvents and other substances used, selecting substances with low environmental impact and managing them appropriately.
What is the RoHS Directive?
The RoHS Directive is an EU law on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, etc. Abbreviation for Restriction of Hazardous Substances, also known as the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Substances Directive in Japanese The restrictions on use began on 22 July 2019.
Actions at Shiga Plant
Since April 2014, the Shiga Plant has installed a photovoltaic system (630 solar panels) on its roof as part of its efforts to protect the global environment.
Actions at Okayama Plant
Achieving a departure from fossil fuels
The Okayama Plant accounts for approx. 80% of the entire Group's total power consumption. At the plant, we have replaced the lighting system with an LED lighting system and introduced an Energy Management System (EMS). In addition, of two cleanroom buildings (Buildings A and B) that consume huge amounts of electricity because of the strict air-conditioning management that is required, we improved the efficiency of Building B's outside-air-processing air conditioners by renovating the existing heat source equipment (cold water chiller and steam boiler) to use a high-efficiency, air-cooled heat pump chiller and we also introduced variable flow control. Further, we have begun to use waste heat from production equipment to preheat and reheat outside air and we adopted a dry fog system for humidity control, which has led to the termination of steam humidification, which was the greatest challenge.
High-efficiency air-cooled modular chiller at the Okayama Plant- Heavy oil consumption at the Okayama Plant (liters)
Efforts to efficiently use water resources
Water consumption
In recent years, we have seen various problems related to water occur, including water shortages attributed to droughts associated with climate change and flooding damage. The semiconductor manufacturing process necessarily consumes a vast amount of pure water for the removal of etching and cleaning chemicals and the cooling of equipment. At the Okayama Plant, we are striving to reduce water consumption by setting a reduction target for water consumption per wafer production volume, with the goal of promoting the efficient use of water resources.
In FY2022, water consumption increased due to the increase of production volume, but consumption per wafer decreased.
Initiatives for controlling water quality
Wastewater volume and chemical oxygen demand (COD) load
Our Okayama Plant runs wastewater treatment facilities to purify the wastewater from the manufacturing process and discharge treated wastewater that fulfills our standards which are more strict than specified in laws and regulations. To control wastewater contamination, we are working to reduce and detoxify hazardous substances and to collect non-detoxifiable hazardous substances. We also inspect water quality regularly and monitor wastewater quality.
