Initiatives

Product Initiatives

Lifetime maintenance	Even for discontinued models, we provide lifetime maintenance as long as they are used by customers. As a result, FANUC products can be used at economical cost for several decades, and therefore generate minimum waste. Lifetime maintenance
Beneﬁts of high-performance products	ROBOSHOT's high molding performance reduces plastic molding defects, and its function to support the automation of production setup will reduce downtime between production lots, and reduces losses of materials. In addition, we will help reduce the amount of plastic waste by increasing the yield rate when using recycled materials from plastic scraps and waste.
By designing products in small size, we reduce weight and number of components	We have reduced the use of resources by designing products in small sizes and with fewer components. We apply modular designs to standardize parts, thereby reducing the variety of procured components, as well as maintenance components.
Proper maintenance	Grease and oil can be replaced at the most appropriate time with the intelligent grease change reminder function, reducing the amount of grease and oil waste.

Production Initiatives

Reducing failure rate	We have made efforts to optimize solder printing settings and to reduce scratch defects. It has improved the failure rate of CNC equipment from 0.0073 to 0.0066 per unit. Automatization of robot assembling has enabled 24-hour continuous operation and achieved labor savings and reduction of failures arising from handling errors.
Changing our casting method	By changing the casting method of the arm of high-performance ROBODRILLs from a wooden die to a metal die, we have reduced cutting expenses. This has also reduced the cycle time (per machine) from 18 minutes to 16 minutes.
Reduction of paint used	We have reduced paint waste by precisely calculating the amount of paint used per each type of paint robots.
Reduction of waste oil	We are replacing release agents for die casting machines from water-soluble ones to oil-based ones. The replacement of release agents for flanges was completed for all machines and that for rotors is currently underway. This replacement has contributed to prevention of oil dripping and reduction of the waste oil. We have adopted distillation equipment to treat water-soluble waste oil, which has resulted in reducing the amount of discharged waste oil.
Reduction of man-hours for unpacking	We ceased to individually pack gear parts, etc. with plastic packages in cardboard boxes and adopted circulate boxes without individual packaging, which has significantly reduced man-hours for unpacking and contributed to labor savings.

Initiatives in Packaging Materials

Signiﬁcant reduction in the use of steel cases	In transporting products in containers directly from a port to a warehouse, we used to pack ROBOTs and ROBOMACHINEs in steel cases. However, we are now able to signiﬁcantly reduce the use of steel cases by using the containers as the packing cases. It means that we are directly packing ROBOTs and ROBOMACHINEs onto steel skids as much as possible.
Reducing weight and increasing density	We have changed the shipping packaging of SCARA Robots from steel skids to cardboard packaging to improve transport efﬁciency. We also introduced recyclable cardboard packaging for the new collaborative robot CRX. The new Genkotsu robot model has a more compact cargo form by removing some of the links, which significantly reduces the amount of steel required to transport the robot compared to previous models. Tier stacking is now also possible, thereby improving transportation efficiency.
Saving resources	We have changed the shape of steel skids used in transporting, while maintaining their strength, to reduce the amount of steel used.
Reducing use of cardboard	We have stopped using cardboard in the delivery of eyebolts from suppliers, and introduced reusable mesh pallets. This has led to an estimated annual waste reduction (paper waste) of 120 kg.
Adopting reusable shipping boxes	We have stopped using packing materials in the delivery of sheet metal covers, and adopted reusable shipping boxes with interior padding. This has led to an estimated annual waste reduction (paper waste) of 99.6 kg.

Initiatives for Reuse

Transport packaging, pallets	We have changed shapes of the cardboard (boxes used in delivering CNC systems to machine tool builders in Japan) to be reusable and by arranging delivery trucks to collect the empty cardboard boxes to inspect them and repair for reuse. We also send the steel skids, which are the packing material used when importing castings, back to the foundry for reuse.
Waste liquid	We reduce the amount of waste liquid from ma chine tools by using waste-liquid-recycling devices. This has resulted in an estimated annual reduction of waste liquid of 852 t. At our Headquarters Factories, Tsukuba Factory, and Mibu Factory, we are promoting the reduction of waste liquid by using long-life cutting ﬂuids. In addition, at our Headquarters Factories and Tsukuba Factory, we are reducing waste liquid by reusing the cutting ﬂuid adhered to chips (metal chips) generated during machining. Die-casting factories in Headquarters and Mibu are promoting the reduction of waste liquid by using mold release materials.
Chips and cutting tools	We hand over chips produced during cutting at our factories, as well as cutting tools that have become unusable due to heavy wear to recyclers, so that they can be reused as raw materials.

Initiatives in Offices

Reduction of paper consumption	We reduce the use of paper by digitizing company documents.
LED lighting	We promote the use of LED lighting, which does not use the mercury, lead, or cadmium contained in ﬂuorescent lamps, etc., thereby facilitating reduction in disposal of lighting.