Energy Conservation

Basic Concept

The Nisshinbo Group's Business Conduct Guidelines include Awareness and Concern towards its environmental impact. The Group provides energy-saving technologies, products, and services, as well as its own energy-saving measures, and faithfully realizes a safe and secure society for all people. The Group manages key performance indicators (KPIs) as part of systematic measures to achieve its environmental target of reducing energy use per unit of sales.

【Main measures】

  • ①Promoting activities to curb energy consumption through ISO 14001 activities
  • ②Selecting environmentally friendly equipment when renewing equipment and continuously implementing energy conservation measures through improvement activities
  • ③Systematic use of LEDs for lighting
  • ④Pursuit of the introduction of energy-saving equipment in new buildings and warehouses and the reduction of energy consumed by air conditioning

Please refer to "Promotion System" in "Environmental Activities" for the promotion system.

Specific Initiatives of The Nisshinbo Group

Energy Use by Type of Fuel

The Nisshinbo Group’s energy usage amounted to 8.94 million GJ, down 10% year-on-year (YoY). Energy usage per unit of sales was 17.32 GJ per million yen, down 11 % YoY.

PT. Nikawa Textile Industry in Textiles business stopped using coal boilers to generate electricity and switched to purchasing electricity from November 2021, which resulted in a significant reduction in coal consumption and a decrease in energy consumption per net sales.

By type of fuel used, electricity accounted for 86% of the total, and gas accounted for 9%.

Trends in the Amount of Energy Consumed and the Amount of Energy Consumed per Unit of Sales

Trends in the Amount of Energy Consumed and the Amount of Energy Consumed per Unit of Sales

* In 2018, we changed our fiscal year-end from March 31 to December 31. As a result, the consolidated fiscal year, which is a transitional period, is an irregular accounting period. For this reason, the period used for reference to FY2018 is adjusted to the period from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, to match the period of other consolidated fiscal years.

Amount of Energy Consumed by Business

The automobile brakes business accounts for the largest portion of energy consumed, at 2.99 million GJ, followed by the micro devices business at 2.13 million GJ.

Amount of Energy Consumed by Business

Amount of Energy Consumed by Business

*1 In2018, we changed our fiscal year-end from March 31 to December 31. As a result, the consolidated fiscal year, which is a transitional period, is an irregular accounting period. For this reason, the period used for reference to FY2018 is adjusted to the period from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, to match the period of other consolidated fiscal years.

*2 In FY2019, the Electronics business was separated into the Wireless and Communications business and the Micro Devices business.

Effect of Introducing LED Lighting

The energy conservation impact of new conversion to LED lighting in FY2022 was 919 MWh, as indicated in the table below.
Nagano Japan Radio Co., Ltd. in the Wireless and Communications business and TMD Friction Services GmbH in the Automobile Brakes business each reduced electricity consumption by more than 200 MWh.

Reduction in Electricity Consumption

Business Category Reduced Consumption(MWh)
Wireless and Communications 378
Microdevices 160
Automobile Brakes 240
Precision Instruments 132
Chemicals 5
Textiles 3
Real Estate 1
Total 919

* In FY2019, the Electronics business was separated into the Wireless and Communications business and the Micro Devices business.

Specific Activities of the Group Companies

LED Lighting Fixtures

Japan Radio Co., Ltd., is promoting energy-saving activities by converting lighting fixtures installed in its Ueda Logistics Center to LEDs as part of a five-year plan starting in FY2021.

In FY2022, the second year of the plan, 460 lighting fixtures on the third floor of the north building and the second floor of the south building, 65 emergency lighting fixtures, and 39 guide lights on the first floor of the north building and the first floor of the south building were converted to LED. During the installation of LED lighting fixtures on the second floor of the South Wing, wall switches were added to improve workability.
Because of the shortage of parts and materials, the acquisition of the fixtures was delayed by three to four months from the original schedule, but the conversion to LED lighting fixtures resulted in a reduction in electricity consumption of 136 MWh per year (CO2 reduction: 53 t- CO2). In addition, the replacement of one aging air-conditioning unit on the first floor of the south building with an energy-saving unit resulted in a reduction in electricity consumption of 8 MWh per year (CO2 reduction: 3 t- CO2).

The company will continue to promote further energy saving at the Ueda Logistics Center by switching to LED lighting fixtures in the next fiscal year and beyond.

Reduction of Electricity Consumption by Renewal of Facilities

Nisshinbo Micro Devices Inc., Kawagoe Plant, has taken two measures to reduce CO2 emissions by reducing electricity consumption in FY2022.

①Conversion of lighting fixtures to LED
Approximately 900 fluorescent lamps in plant buildings (including clean rooms) were replaced with LED base lights, resulting in an annual reduction of approximately 110 MWh (42.3 t-CO2 emissions). Since it is difficult to update lighting fixtures in the clean room on production operation days, it is done on non-operation days of the production line. Therefore, it will take another five years to update all the equipment, but the company will continue its efforts.
②Renewal of commercial air conditioners
By updating to high-efficiency equipment (six units), the company was able to reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 26 MWh (10.0 t-CO2).
There are many pieces of equipment that have been in use for a long time in the plant, some of which cannot be repaired by the manufacturer. In the future, the company will work to reduce electricity consumption and CO2 emissions while continuing to upgrade these facilities.
LED lighting fixtures
LED lighting fixtures
High-efficiency commercial air conditioners
High-efficiency commercial air conditioners

Energy Saving Thermal Barrier Coating on Roofs

Nisshinbo Micro Devices Fukuoka Co., Ltd., promoted the energy conservation measures of using thermal barrier coating on roofs with the goal of reducing electricity consumption by 1% or more compared to the previous fiscal year and by 10.0% or more compared to FY2014.

The previous coating of the plant building's long, folded half-length roof with silicon resin thermal barrier coating (useful life of approximately eight years) was applied in 2011. Eleven years have passed since then, and a ceramic-based thermal barrier coating (developed by NASA) was selected for the purpose of roof protection and energy conservation. The company then carried out the painting work from April 2 to May 21. The roof surface temperature (when the outside air temperature is 23°C and sunny) was improved from 47°C to 32°C, leading to a reduction of approximately 5.8 MWh of electricity (CO2 emissions: approximately 2 t-CO2) as of August 2022.

As a summary of electricity consumption, in FY2022, the production load was reduced by 4.0% from the previous year and energy-saving measures led to a reduction of 738 MWh (CO2 emissions: approx. 289 t-CO2) compared to the previous year.

In addition, the company plans to start operation of a non-CFC inverter-turbo refrigerator (HFO-1233zd (E) refrigerant) in March 2023, which will further reduce energy consumption.

Painting with ceramic-based thermal barrier paint
Painting with ceramic-based thermal barrier paint

Energy Conservation Activities by Changing Equipment Control Methods

Nisshinbo Micro Devices (Thailand) Co., Ltd., in Thailand is strengthening its activities to reduce power consumption. In May 2022, the control method of heatless air dryers was changed from time control to dew point control, thereby reducing the amount of electricity used by shortening the operating hours of equipment.

With the conventional time control method, the two tanks were switched at regular intervals to operate constantly. In this case, the dew point was always kept well below -40°C, the company's standard value, but there was an aspect of unnecessary equipment operation.
Therefore, the company changed the control of the air dryer to the dew point control method, which monitors the dew point as a reference value to ensure optimal equipment operation. When the dew point is below the reference dew point, the equipment is placed in standby mode. This has resulted in a 32.6% reduction in unutilized time compared to the conventional operating time of air compressors. The number of facilities in the company is five.

This initiative has made it possible to reduce annual electricity consumption by 516 MWh (CO2 emissions: 230 t-CO2).

Flow diagram of the time control method
Flow diagram of the time control method
Flow diagram of the dew point control method
Flow diagram of the dew point control method

Promoting Energy Conservation by Installing Central Mist Filter Equipment

Nisshinbo-Continental Precision Machining (Yangzhou) Co., Ltd., in China changed the collection of mist* generated from each facility in the plant from the use of stand-alone mist filter equipment to the use of central mist filter equipment as in 2021.

In the case of the collection by stand-alone mist filter equipment, mist is collected by motors attached to individual equipment (181 units), but in the case of collection by central mist filter equipment, mist can be collected by suction through piping to each piece of equipment using motors attached to the VOCs equipment.
This means that the inefficient motor drive of individual mist filters can be efficiently covered by the large motor of a single VOCs facility, which significantly reduces electricity costs, resulting in an annual electricity consumption reduction of approximately 180 MWh (CO2 emissions: approximately 76 t-CO2). In addition, the company has been able to significantly reduce the use of filters, which in China are treated as hazardous materials and disposed of by designated contractors.

* Mist (oil mist): Particulates of lubricating oil used in machine tools that are dispersed into the air when the machines are operated, causing adverse effects on the human body and the environment.

Mist treatment flow with central mist filter facility
Mist treatment flow with central mist filter facility

Reducing Electricity and Fuel Consumption by Changing Reaction Vessel Cleaning Process

Nisshinbo Chemical Inc., Tokushima Plant, manufactures "Carbodilite®," a resin additive, in batch production in a reaction vessel. After the product is manufactured, the reaction vessel is washed with a cleaning solution to prepare it for the next product manufacturing process, which in the past required approximately eight hours. The washing process requires fuel and electricity because the washing liquid in the reaction vessel must be agitated while repeatedly adjusting the temperature by heating and cooling.

The company focused on the fact that the background value measured by the FT-NIR device (near-infrared spectrometer) introduced in June 2022 indicates the cleanliness of the reaction vessel and decided to first control the condition of the inside of the reaction vessel after the washing process using the background value. Next, the company changed the liquid temperature setting and shortened the washing time on the assumption that the condition would stay within the controlled range. As a result, the company confirmed that the process was shortened by two to three hours per batch and achieved a reduction of approximately 15 MWh of electricity and 470 L of kerosene fuel per year.

Saving Energy through Productivity Improvement

PT. Naigai Shirts Indonesia in Indonesia has been working on variable production under T-KAIZEN (Nisshinbo Textile Group's original improvement activities) with the aim of minimizing the deterioration of profitability due to increases and decreases in order quantities. The target was achieved because the number of sheets produced per person per day (productivity) improved by approximately 10% from 9.3 to 10.2 sheets, and the power consumption per sheet of electricity not directly related to production, such as commercial air conditioners (38 units) and electric lights, was reduced.

Variable manufacturing allows the company to minimize increases in staffing and costs by shifting staff assignments as production increases. Currently, the company's manufacturing process consists of a parts manufacturing process and an assembly process. When production increases, employees from the parts manufacturing process are transferred to the assembly process, and personnel to support the parts manufacturing process are transferred from the inspection and finishing process.

The amount of electricity used per sheet decreased due to improved productivity. As a result, the average power consumption was 1.18 kWh/sheet, a 15.1% reduction from the previous year (1.39 kWh/sheet in FY2021).