| Environmental Protection Activities |
| 1993 |
Seiko NPC completely abolished any use of trichloroethane, one of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), adversely affecting the global environment by the ozone layer depletion, in our company and also our subcontractors. |
| 1995 |
Seiko NPC was given the Award for Excellence in Energy Control from Director-General of the Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry, winning approval for being an excellent factory in the energy management over many years. |
| 1996 |
To enhance our activities to protect the global environment, Seiko NPC acquired the ISO14001 accreditation, which is an environment management system standard. |
| 1998 |
Seiko NPC started recycling inorganic sludge as an ingredient of concrete, which previously had been buried as industrial waste. |
| 1999 |
Seiko NPC began operation of our co-generation system. This environment-friendly system uses LPG, which generates the least amount of carbon dioxide among fossil fuels. |
| 2000 |
Seiko NPC ceased use of incinerators in accordance with our compliance with the Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxin of Japan. |
| 2001 |
Seiko NPC was given the Award for Excellence in Energy Control from Director-General of the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, winning approval for our continued achievements in energy management since 1995, when we first received the Award for Excellence in Energy Control from Director-General of the Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry. |
| 2001 |
Seiko NPC started neutralizing acidic sludge, which previously had been one of the most profuse industrial wastes in our production. By recycling that sludge as an ingredient of concrete, we greatly improved our factory's recycling ratio. |
| 2001 |
Seiko NPC began using lead-free materials for soldering of IC package pins, which conventionally contained lead, a material well-known to be harmful to humans. We have started limited mass production with this material and are planning to make all our products lead-free by the end of the fiscal 2002.
Customers' cooperation are essential for the shift from lead-based soldering to lead-free soldering, since this shift assumes the completion of their acceptance system for the new product. |
 This co-generation system is friendly to the environment. Another consideration when we purchase electricity is the amount of carbon dioxide generated from the fuel used for power generation in the electric utility and also generated from the fuel used for heating and water heating. The co-generation system does not produce the latter carbon dioxide because the heat generated by power generation is utilized for heating and water heating. Although it is difficult in practice to cover all water heating and heating applications with our co-generation system, it obviously reduces generation of carbon dioxide on the whole. We use LPG for the system's fuel since LPG generates the least amount of carbon dioxide among all fossil fuels.
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Conservation efforts
