Development of Environment-conscious Products

In accordance with the Nabtesco Group Corporate Philosophy, we are committed to ensuring mobility and the lives of people are safer, more secure and more comfortable by fully taking advantage of our unique motion control technology.

The stage of product life cycles that is most likely to affect the environment is the product usage stage.

For this reason, we ensure that energy and resource conservation, minimization of environmentally hazardous substances and other environmental considerations are taken into account and further enhanced from the development and design stage of product life cycles. We do this while promoting functional upgrading, downsizing, weight reduction, safety and comfort of products during their commercialization to meet the needs of both customers and society. Our efforts to date in this regard have won high praise and recognition in the market.

We have also developed highly efficient wind turbine drive units as part of our efforts to promote alternative energy to halt global warming, and are working hard to accelerate their wide utilization throughout society.

Prevention of Global Warming (Energy Conservation)

The Nabtesco Group is actively promoting efficient use of energy resources as a means to prevent global warming.

These efforts include the establishment of energy-saving activities, quantitative and overall evaluation of the effects of the activities, and revision of priority activities based on the evaluation results, as well as daily operational management measures such as power saving and equipment inspections.

Although energy efficiency decreased in FY2006 due to the removal of an on-demand cogeneration system that oil price surges necessitated, the increase in fixed energy consumption caused by the inauguration of the new facilities at the Tsu Plant, and other factors, FY2007 saw the per unit CO2 emissions decrease 10% from the standard year (FY2004), far exceeding the company’s original goal of 3%.

Reduction of Waste (Zero Emissions)

We promote the reduction of all types of emissions generated in the course of business based on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), the basic practice for establishing a recycling-based society, in order to realize zero emissions.

Although total emissions have increased since FY2004 due to increased production, FY2007 saw both landfill waste and inefficiently used waste decrease in accordance with the plan. Inefficiently used waste was reduced by 6%.

We achieved these results through a variety of efforts, such as the reuse of wastewater as fuel or auxiliary fuel, recycling of grinding sludge, reduction of sludge produced in the iron removal process through effective reuse of groundwater, reduction of sludge by improvement of the wastewater treatment system, and recycling of waste plastics and other packaging materials that had previously been incinerated.

Through these efforts, the ratio of landfill waste to total emissions improved from 7% to 4% in comparison with the standard year (FY2004), taking us one step ahead as planned toward our ultimate goal of zero emissions.

Control of Chemical Substances

The Nabtesco Group performs such activities as the identification of amounts of Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) substances handled, as well as the appropriate management and reduction of use of such substances, in accordance with the PRTR >Law enforced in March 2003.

In FY2007, despite increased production, the amount of PRTR substances handled decreased by 1% from the previous year, thanks to such measures as the use of alternative paints and the improvement of processes.

Of all PRTR substances handled, we are focusing particularly on the reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as toluene and xylene, which account for 60% of the total emissions.

The greater part of the toluene and xylene emitted was the result of the painting processes, and we are working hard to reduce the environmental burden of these processes by further promoting alternative paints and a once-through coating process.

The Nabtesco Group reports all PCB-containing transformers, capacitors, etc. to the authorities and stores them appropriately in accordance with the Law Concerning Special Measures against PCB Waste (a law established to ensure that polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) waste is disposed of properly) promulgated in June 2001. The disposal of these products will be completed by 2016.

Based on the understanding that harmful substances accumulated in soil are a great threat to society, the Nabtesco Group is working hard to prevent contamination of soil and groundwater as one of its most important CSR tasks.

A survey on the soil and groundwater conducted in May 2005 at the site of the former Yokosuka Plant revealed that the site was contaminated by volatile organic solvents and other harmful substances. We reported it to the authorities in accordance with the law, and are currently engaged in soil melioration and groundwater purification in close collaboration with the authorities.

The excellent properties of asbestos once made it a convenient material in a wide range of applications in both industrial and consumer uses. The Nabtesco Group has performed extensive investigation on present and past use of asbestos in products, processes, facilities and constructions within the Group, and is implementing appropriate measures based on the results in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.

Although the Group has little to do with the asbestos dust issue except in a limited number of cases in the past, all ex-employees are notified and recommended to undergo the relevant medical checkups.

Although we have long adopted every possible measure to discontinue the use of products containing asbestos, we discovered in February 2007 that shipped gaskets containing asbestos had been used in some parts for railroad cars, some repair parts for aircraft, and in limited equipment for construction machinery. We reported this to the relevant authorities and customers immediately upon discovery, recalled those products and took the necessary corrective actions. We would like to express our deepest apologies for all the inconvenience caused to customers and other parties concerned. We will commit ourselves to further reinforcing the management system in the future.

Since the asbestos used for those products was of a solid type and sealed within the machines, there was no risk the harmful substance would scatter.

Health and Safety Management

Maintaining the health and safety of employees provides the basis for effective and continuous business processes. The Nabtesco Group is highly committed to the improvement of working environments and the implementation of measures to combat the effects of earthquakes, fires and other disasters.

FY2007 saw an increased number of accidents. Since accidents involving young workers and holiday workers particularly are on the increase, training and education for such workers are becoming an important issue.

We will therefore reinforce training and education, while continuing to actively promote preventive safety management and inherent safety measures by performing strict risk assessment. In this way we will create safe and comfortable work environments that are less susceptible to human error.