Green Process
Using Green Process Activities to Reduce the Environmental Burden in our Manufacturing Processes
The Group promotes Green Process activities with the aim of further lightening our environmental burden by reducing energy usage in our factories, rigorously controlling chemicals, reducing waste, etc.
These activities are conducted in parallel with cost-reduction activities, and consist of initiatives such as optimizing the amount of energy and raw materials used in manufacturing processes and switching to alternatives with a lower environmental burden. In these activities, we first identify the total input of materials (raw materials, chemical additives, etc.) and energy into the process, together with their purchasing costs, and then establish our own original CG (Cost Green) index(*1). We then set quarterly reduction targets (planned values) at the production line level for each factory and evaluate the degree of attainment of these targets while rotating through the PDCA cycle. Based on the results, we try to continually improve our production processes through initiatives like introducing new manufacturing technology, revising our processes, and improving the work procedures.
(*1)CG index: Cost/Green index
This index describes the product of input volume used per product, the cost, and the environmental impact (on a scale from
1 to 10).
PDF Details on Our Green Process Activities [28.9KB]
Improving Final Testing in a Semiconductor Production Process (Fujitsu Integrated Microtechnology Ltd)
At Fujitsu Integrated Microtechnology Ltd's Aizu Plant (which offers LSI package assembly and testing services), the components of the testers used in the testing process, and their method of disposal, were improved as part of the factory’s Green Process activities.
For example, a plated alloy was used as the material for the contact parts used in the test measurements, and the plating wore off slightly with every measurement, eventually leading to spurious results. Changing the material to a different alloy that requires no plating alleviated this problem.
It is still necessary to replace the contact parts periodically, but this used to be done by replacing the entire circuit board (with the contact parts soldered onto it) and throwing the old one away. Now, the worn-out contact parts are removed from the board, and both the board and the parts are recycled.
Measures like this have enabled the factory to purchase new parts and replace old ones far less often, and (by recycling) to greatly reduce the amount of material disposed of. In addition, costs have gone down because new parts are purchased less frequently.
As a result of a series of detailed improvements like this carried out on the testing process, both the CG value and costs have decreased by approximately 11%.
