With the achievement of Zero Waste Level 2 at five additional manufacturing sites – one in China, one in France, two in the United States and one in Malaysia – the Konica Minolta Group has met this standard at all of its manufacturing sites worldwide.
To achieve Zero Waste Level 2, very strict conditions have to be met: the three Level 1 conditions must continue to be satisfied, and simultaneously, the volume of all materials generated during the production process, excluding products, has to be reduced, regardless of whether they are recycled or not, by 30 percent or more per unit of sales from the fiscal year 2001 level.
Characteristically, Konica Minolta conducts its zero waste activities taking into consideration both the economy and risk management. All of its domestic manufacturing sites already met Zero Waste Level 2 criteria during FY2007. The five manufacturing sites that have met Level 2 criteria are: Konica Minolta Opto (Dalian) Company Ltd., Konica Minolta Supplies Manufacturing France S.A.S., Konica Minolta Supplies Manufacturing USA Inc., American Litho Inc., and Konica Minolta Glass Tech Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. Thus, the achievement of Level 2 at these five sites marks the successful completion of Konica Minolta's zero waste efforts at all of its manufacturing sites.
Konica Minolta Opto (Dalian) Company Ltd., which is mainly involved in the production of optical lenses and the assembly of optical units, has succeeded in reducing waste by promoting various measures, such as introducing reusable cardboard boxes for the procurement of parts, reducing glass abrasive sludge from the polishing process, and encouraging employees to take personal waste back home.
Konica Minolta Supplies Manufacturing France S.A.S., which engages in the filling of toner for digital multi-functional peripherals (MFPs) and printers, has achieved reduction in both waste and cost by introducing reusable boxes used to deliver toner packaging materials from Japan, sending the boxes back and forth between Japan and Europe, and changing the packaging form of parts that had been formerly delivered in the cardboard boxes. The company has also improved the efficiency in the way it fills bottles with toner.
Konica Minolta Supplies Manufacturing USA Inc., which also engages in the filling of toner for digital MFPs and printers, has also succeeded in reducing waste and cost by reusing the packaging materials of toner sent from Japan for the shipping of finished products and by reducing loss when filling bottles with toner.
American Litho Inc. mainly produces pre-sensitized plates, focusing on Computer-to-Plate (CTP)* for newspaper and commercial printing. In its efforts to reduce loss arising from stopping production line to switch to products of different widths, the company introduced an online system to change product widths without stopping production line. The company also improved production yield by improving its cutting equipment and recycled the solvents recovered from the coating process as cleaning solvents, thus achieving reduction in both waste and cost.
Konica Minolta Glass Tech Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. manufactures glass substrates for HDDs, and most of its waste takes the form of sludge discharged during the glass polishing process. Though sludge is generally disposed of by landfill in Malaysia, the company has succeeded in recycling sludge as cement-making material through negotiations with relevant governmental agencies and cement manufacturers, and has drastically improved its recycling rate. In addition, the company introduced a state-of-the-art filter press machine as part of its plant reinforcement, which has resulted in a reduction in the water content of sludge and in the amount of external discharge. Through these efforts, the company achieved both Level 1 and Level 2 at the same time, in only its second year after beginning the operation.
Konica Minolta has also formulated "Eco Vision 2050," a long-term environmental vision with the prevention of global warming at its core, and has set the target of reducing CO2 Wastes by 80 percent from the FY2005 level throughout product lifecycles by 2050. To achieve an intermediate goal by FY2015 as a step toward the target of Eco Vision 2050, Konica Minolta has also created Medium-Term Environmental Plan 2015. As part of its efforts to support a recycling-oriented society, zero waste activities have been further expanded with an aim to reduce the volume of waste discharged externally from its manufacturing activities by 50 percent per unit of sales from the FY2005 level. While zero waste activities have been successfully completed, Konica Minolta will remain committed to achieving higher goals under the Green Factory Certification System, a new system that comprehensively evaluates the environmental impacts of production sites, as part of Medium-Term Environmental Plan 2015.
* CTP: A method used to output an image directly to a digital plate, instead of using film, when producing a plate for printing.