Making Eco-Friendly Products; 15 Years of Progress by the Shimadzu Group
The summer season will bring more news articles on climate change, including reports of record-breaking heat and unexpectedly strong rains.
The Paris Agreement on a framework for addressing climate change was adopted in 2015. In 2020, the Japanese government announced its goal for the nation as “carbon neutrality,” net zero greenhouse gas emissions, by 2050. There is now no time to waste in enacting climate change countermeasures.
The Shimadzu Group is also taking a variety of measures regarding environmental issues. Today’s topic is “Eco-Products Plus,” our initiative to make our products eco-friendly.
Eco-Products Plus
In the Shimadzu Group, one of our distinctive environmental initiatives is to include in our review criteria for new product development that products must reduce their environmental load in comparison to previous models. Furthermore, products with outstanding environmental performance are certified as Eco-Products Plus products through an in-house review. The conditions for certification are that the product meets at least one of the following six criteria.
When people hear “eco,” they typically think only about a reduction in power consumption (i.e. energy savings). However, miniaturization as well as reduction of the amount of consumables used and reducing noise production are also important points. This is because reducing the parts and materials required to make a product, and reducing the consumables that a product needs to use leads to a more efficient utilization of resources.
Certification Criteria for Eco-Products Plus Products (At least one of the following criteria must be satisfied in comparison to previous Shimadzu models)
| 1 | At least 25 % lower energy consumption |
|---|---|
| 2 | At least 25 % smaller size (in terms of weight, volume, or footprint) |
| 3 | At least 25 % less use of consumables such as gases and solvents |
| 4 | At least 25 % reduction in CO2 emissions based on life cycle assessment due to longer life |
| 5 | At least 25 % reduction in noise level |
| 6 | At least 25 % improvement in energy density |
Initiatives to Contribute Directly to Solving Environmental Issues
At Shimadzu, initiatives to create eco-friendly products began in earnest in 2010 under the banner of the “Save the Energy Project.” Akira Nakamoto, then President of Shimadzu (now Senior Corporate Advisor) positioned environmental initiatives as a top priority in business management. He also clarified the associated certification standards and announced these to the public.
This initiative strongly underscored not only our indirect contributions, such as the use of Shimadzu instruments by customers working to solve environmental issues and the development of materials capable of reducing environmental load, but also our direct contributions, such as advances in energy savings by all Shimadzu products.
Release of the Industry’s First GC-MS Equipped with Ecology Mode
In May of that year, Shimadzu released the GCMS-QP2010 Ultra. This gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC-MS) is equipped with Ecology Mode that can turn the power off or enter into sleep mode during standby, a first for the industry.
GCMS-QP2010 Ultra, Equipped with the Industry’s First Ecology Mode
A GC-MS is an instrument that vaporizes an experimental sample, and then investigates its components by separating and detecting them. A characteristic of such instruments is that they use an oven to separate the components in the analysis sample, and keeping it hot takes a lot of power. In releasing this product, we showed that even with GC-MS instruments it was possible to reduce power consumption without reducing performance.
Since then, it has become commonplace for us to develop and design products with a focus on environmental issues, and to date, more than 250 products have been certified as an Eco-Products Plus product.
Certified as an Eco-First Company in 2020, a First for the Precision Equipment Industry
These and other initiatives are highly regarded by the public, and in 2020, Shimadzu became the first company in the precision equipment industry to be certified as an Eco-First company. This designation by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment identifies businesses that engage in progressive, original, and industry-leading business practices in environmental fields.
From the left, then Minister of the Environment Shinjiro Koizumi, with then President & CEO Teruhisa Ueda
Comment by the Global Environmental Management Department
Shimadzu’s management principle is “Realizing Our Wishes for the Well-being of Mankind and the Earth.” This was instituted in 1992, and we have consistently taken initiatives in our business activities while mindful of protecting the global environment. We were the first company in the industry to initiate measures for making products eco-friendly, which had been commonplace in the home appliance industry. More recently, our Eco-Products Plus initiative has been highly regarded by our customers.
We will continue to contribute to resolving environmental issues and reducing environmental load by increasing the number of such certified products for use by our many customers.
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