Eco-conscious Factories

We aim to reduce our environmental impact to as close to zero as possible in all our factories worldwide, and our Green Factories (GFs) are engaged in activities that will help us achieve this goal. Specifically, we include plans to reduce the environmental impacts in our production activities focusing on our factories’ CO₂ emissions, total waste generation, and chemical substance releases and transfers in our midterm business plan and business goals, and implement those plans as well as progress control.

We started our internal GF accreditation system in fiscal 2006 to evaluate the activities of our factories and we certify factories that meet certain standards as GFs. After achieving a fiscal 2011 target of 90% or higher GF accreditation rate for all factories in fiscal 2009 and 2010, we upgraded the GF accreditation system to the GF assessment system to further improve the standard of measures implemented across our factories.

Under the upgraded system, our factories evaluate themselves on a one-to-five scale across 15 environmental activity items classified into five groups, and visualize the progress to address issues and make improvements. In addition to the existing indicators of “emissions reduction” and “reduction activities,” “environmental performance strengthening,” “risk reduction,” and “HR development” have been added to promote GFs with a wider view.

In fiscal 2011, we achieved a “Level 3.8” average score across the entire Panasonic Group, and we continue to make progress toward achieving a “Level 4” average score across the Group in fiscal 2013. We are determined to reduce environmental impacts and at the same time enhance our management structure through the PDCA of these activities.

Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display’s Himeji Plant, another example of a leading eco-conscious factory, started mass production of the IPS Alpha liquid crystal display panels in April 2010. The Himeji Plant aims to be the “most advanced recycling eco-factory,” delivering high production efficiency while achieving environmental contributions and business growth. The Himeji Plant increases production efficiency by implementing the latest equipment to yield 18, 32-inch panels, streamlining processes with an “exposure process,” and reducing the overall number of core processes. As a result, the Himeji Plant has dramatically improved processing times and yields. Compared to our existing plant, the Himeji Plant has shown a 1.6 times greater return on investment, has reduced CO₂ emissions by 33% and water consumption by 35%. In addition, initiatives to achieve a recycling rate of 100% in water conservation is underway.

Additionally, both factories have received the highest evaluation rank of “S” based on the CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency) scale, a methodology to comprehensively assess and rank the environmental performance of buildings.