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| Environment-friendly "ECO-GREEN® " series cable | Halogen-free highly flame-retardant cables |
| Low outgas PVC cable | Electronic wires and wiring devices for RoHS-compliant equipment |
| Discarded wire reclamation and recycling system |
| Environmental Friendliness in the Manufacturing Process | |
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| Hitachi Cable has long been committed to environmental protection as a major element of its corporate management strategy. Here we will explain some of our activities: environment-friendly products and technologies, for example (including those involving wires and cables), as well as green procurement activities designed to comply with the RoHS Directive. |
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| In a rapid response to the RoHS Directive scheduled to take effect in 2006, Hitachi Cable has developed a wide assortment of products that are free from the six restricted substances-PVC wires, flame-retardant polyethylene wires, fluorocarbon resin wires, wiring devices, magnet wires, and more. |
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| Working toward the establishment of a recycling-based society, in May 2000 Hitachi Cable established its pioneering "Discarded Wire Reclamation and Recycling System. " Under this system, a network of group companies (such as Kuniosa Metals Co., Ltd. and Hitachi Cable MEC-Tech, Ltd.) reclaim discarded electric wires and scraps from construction or demolition sites. A conventional gravity separator and Hitachi Zosen's electrostatic separator are used for fine separation of these materials. Separated materials such as polyethylene, PVC, and copper can be reused as fuel or recycled as materials for wires, cables, and other household and industrial products. |
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In addition to work on environmental friendliness in products, the Hitachi Cable Production Environment Team has focused on energy saving measures within our factories. As a result of these efforts, we successfully established an energy-saving system for clean rooms, indispensable facilities in semiconductor manufacturing. |
| In a clean room, a large amount of energy is consumed to maintain constant temperature and humidity, and a significant amount of carbon dioxide is emitted due to the operation of a heavy-oil boiler heat source. To improve this system, the Team analyzed the energy usage pattern throughout the entire energy consumption processes in a factory, and discovered that the waste heat from one process could be used in another. We then devised a system to reuse coolant water from the electric furnace as a heat source for the air-conditioning and utility equipment. In cooperation with manufacturing facility personnel and the air-conditioning equipment staff, we increased the capacity of the heat exchanger and revised the preset room temperature; as a result we were able to eliminate the need for a heavy-oil boiler. |
| For this achievement, Hitachi Cable received the Director-General's Award from the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy in 2003. We filed a patent application for this technology, and in cooperation with the MONOZUKURI* Engineering Division of Hitachi Ltd., we are now using similar technologies for improvements at the plants of Hitachi Group companies. Further, in the future we intend to promote this energy-saving system outside the Group. |
| * MONOZUKURI : Japanese for "production of goods " |
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