Environment

Reduction in Environmental Burden through Business Activities

Initiatives to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Business Sites

Sysmex is working on energy conservation through the introduction of equipment such as highly efficient air conditioning systems, LED lighting, and motion sensors, as well as demand-control systems for measuring and monitoring the amount of electricity needed, to reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from our business sites.
i-Square, an equipment production factory, switched all the electricity it uses to electricity derived from renewable energy sources as of fiscal 2022. From fiscal 2023, Sysmex will switch the electricity used by all its facilities, including domestic production factories and R&D centers, to renewable electricity.
Sysmex Europe’s reagent production factories have introduced ice thermal storage air conditioning systems,1 in addition to the installation of solar panels, covering approximately 35% of energy requirements for reagent production. In addition, Sysmex business locations in EMEA2 and the Americas have been increasing their usage of electricity derived from renewable energy.
Sysmex America has formed a cross-departmental Green Team to promote environmental activities with a view to obtaining LEED certification3 for its head office. It has also installed charging ports for electric vehicles, improved LED lighting and installed solar panels as well as continuing to undertake various initiatives to acquire the certification.

  • 1 Thermal energy storage technology using ice
  • 2 Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
  • 3 LEED evaluates the environmental performance of a building from the viewpoints of environmental burden reduction and the health of its users. Evaluation items include the efficiency of water usage, optimization of energy use, conservation of resource materials, and building air quality.
  • Solar panels (i-Square)
    Solar panels (i-Square)
  • Air conditioning system using ice thermal storage (Sysmex Europe)
    Air conditioning system using ice thermal storage (Sysmex Europe)

Major Initiatives at Each Business Site

Initiative Company Description
Increase the efficiency of equipment and facilities Sysmex Corporation Switch to highly efficient air conditioning and LED lighting
Increase productivity through a production optimization initiative
Sysmex RA Introduce power-saving air conditioning equipment with timers
Sysmex America Use LEDs for all lighting
Sysmex Europe Use LEDs for lighting in major reagent filling rooms and introduce motion sensors
Sysmex Asia Pacific Use LEDs for lighting in factories and warehouses
Introduce a control panel that puts the equipment to sleep to save energy when the air compressor is not in use
Sysmex India Use LEDs for lighting in factories
Jinan Sysmex Use natural gas boilers (switching from oil boilers)
Sysmex Wuxi Utilize the setting of air conditioning temperature limits (26°C in summer and 22°C in winter)
Introduce renewable energy Sysmex Corporation Install solar panels and save energy by bringing in natural light (i-Square)
Sysmex America
Sysmex Reagents America
Ensure that 50% of energy used is derived from renewable energy sources
Sysmex Europe Ensure that 100% of energy used is derived from renewable energy sources and install solar panels
Raise employee awareness Sysmex Europe Provide incentives for using trains for business trips, establish an inhouse website for car sharing, and provide bikes for commuting
Sysmex Malaysia Provide incentives to employees who use hybrid vehicles for commuting
Sysmex India Ensure that all personal vehicles used by employees to commute are PUC certified*
Sysmex Brazil Switch to biofuel for company vehicles
  • PUC is an acronym for Pollution Under Control, which certifies that vehicle emissions are below pollution regulation standards. Indian law requires vehicle owners to take a PUC test every six months to obtain PUC certification (PUC certification is valid for one year for a new vehicle).

Decreasing CO2 Emissions from Fleet

Charging point (Sysmex UK)
Charging point (Sysmex UK)
In order to control fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions for the approximately 400 company vehicles in Japan, Sysmex Corporation has installed telematics in each of them to be able to visualize driving quality by assigning scores for distances traveled, fuel consumption, and driving behavior. It also conducts eco-driving training for all the employees to improve the environmental awareness of each driver. With these activities being evaluated highly, Sysmex received a certificate of excellence in the fiscal 2022 Eco-Driving Activity Contest sponsored by the Foundation for Promoting Personal Mobility and Ecological Transportation. It has also promoted the replacement of its company vehicles with more fuel-efficient ones. In fiscal 2022, approximately 30% of all our vehicles were replaced with hybrid vehicles.
Sysmex Brazil started switching fuel for its company vehicles to sugarcane-deprived biofuel from fiscal 2022, while Sysmex UK proceeded with the removal of diesel vehicles and the replacement of all company vehicles with hybrid vehicles, and added charging points at the company sites.

Using Water Resources Efficiently

Reducing Water Consumption

Sysmex uses water as a raw material in reagent production. Both tap water and groundwater are used. Recognizing that reducing water use is an important issue, Sysmex has set targets for decreasing water use in our Eco-Vision 2033, and is making efforts to improve the efficiency of water use at reagent production sites.
At the Ono Factory, a reagent production factory, cleaning used to be conducted with some liquid remaining in part of the piping of the production line after the production of reagents. However, we revised the production process and acquired the technology to commercialize the reagents without discarding remained liquid in the piping. At the Seishin Factory, we also changed the lot size, which contributed to an improvement of the yield. These measures reduced product liquid loss, decreased water use, and lessened the environmental burden of waste liquid. Sysmex Brazil reduced water consumption and costs by changing programs so that the cleaning system for purified water manufacturing equipment, which used to operate 24 hours a day, operates only on weekdays.

Major Initiatives at Business Activities

Company Initiatives
Sysmex Corporation
  • Reduce water consumption by improving the production efficiency at each factory
  • Use water taken from wells as water for green belt irrigation and toilet flushing
Sysmex Asia Pacific
  • Improve its ultrapure water plant to recycle RO water (purified water), utilizing times when the plant is not in operation
  • Reduce water consumption by monitoring efficiency of purified water production equipment
  • Reduce consumption of water for washing production facilities after the reagent production
Sysmex India
  • Introduce a waste water processing system to purify water discharged during reagent production, and use the purified water to irrigate green areas around the factory
  • Reduce water consumption per reagent production by improving the production efficiency
  • Reduce consumption of water used to wash production facilities after reagent production
Sysmex Brazil
  • Recycle water generated in the production process for use as domestic water
Sysmex Wuxi
  • Set a target for reducing water consumption and assign an officer dedicated to environmental, health, and safety issues. Conduct periodic environmental, health, and safety inspections.

Water Risk Assessments

Sysmex assesses risks related to water stress. Through analysis using Aqueduct, an assessment tool provided by the World Resource Institute (WRI), we identified China, Brazil, and India, where we have reagent production sites, as countries with relatively high water stress. Although water risk is not yet evident at our production sites in these countries, we continually monitor their situation. In the meantime, we are taking measures against risks by optimizing water usage in our production processes and reducing supply risks by securing safety stocks.

Wastewater Management and Processing

Sysmex prioritizes the protection of water quality. We have created our own emission standards that we use to manage the wastewater from development centers and factories that use chemical substances, ensuring that waterways and groundwater are not affected.

Major Initiatives at Business Activities

Company Initiative
Sysmex Corporation
  • Introduce a system to set off an alarm in the event that BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) standards are exceeded at the Ono Factory, a diagnostic reagent production plant, preventing waste fluid containing organic matter from spilling out
Sysmex RA
  • Introduce waste fluid processing equipment, making infectious waste fluid harmless by heat sterilization, and discharge the harmless fluid directly into the sewage system
Sysmex America
  • Introduce a wastewater processing system to remove boron-containing substances from waste fluid generated during reagent production
Sysmex Asia Pacific
  • Introduce a wastewater processing system to purify waste fluid generated during reagent production before discharging it to the sewage system
Jinan Sysmex
  • Commission third-party institutions to appropriately process recyclable waste such as waste drums and waste paper generated during the production process

Global Kaizen Activities at Reagent Production Factories

Sysmex has initiated a “Kaizen Activity” project for all global reagent production facilities to promote Group-wide initiatives to reduce environmental impacts.
In its domestic reagent production factories, Sysmex promotes environmental initiatives in collaboration with its business partners and has successfully reduced the waste of packing materials for delivery by reusing cardboard and changing the practice of over-packaging. In fiscal 2022, cardboard waste was reduced by 30 tons from the previous fiscal year. Sysmex aims to achieve zero cardboard waste by fiscal 2025. In addition, it continuously works to save energy by repeatedly designing and prototyping “Karakuri” devices that utilize gravity, natural energy, and the principles of leverage, and solving issues at production sites. Since 2021, we have exhibited at the Karakuri Kaizen Kufu Exhibition and have received the Institute Special Prize and other awards.
Sysmex Reagents America replaced packages for ingredients with recyclable containers in collaboration with its business partners. Sysmex Asia Pacific successfully reduced waste and costs by recycling containers made from chemical ingredients that were previously discarded. We will continue to promote activities to reduce environmental burdens.

Kaizen活動
Kaizen活動

Involvement with Biodiversity

Interfacing with Nature and Protecting Biodiversity

Sysmex understands that it receives a host of benefits from the world's living things as it conducts its business activities. We use a tool called ENCORE, which was developed by the United Nations and financial institutions, to analyze our interaction with nature, and the results suggested that our production process depends on water and impacts water quality and soil to a relatively large extent.
Each production facility strives to reduce its water risks by effectively using water resources and minimizing its impact on nature through measures such as environmental considerations in product design, appropriate management of waste, and forest conservation activities. Thus we make efforts to protect biodiversity.

Forest Conservation Activities

Tree planting by HITADO employees (1,300 trees planted)
Tree planting by HITADO employees (1,300 trees planted)

Sysmex Corporation regards the conservation of forests that contribute to water resource protection as an important social responsibility. Since 2013, Sysmex has been leasing part of the Kawai Kaiteki Forest in Ono in Hyogo Prefecture, where its reagent production factory is located. Named the “Sysmex Forest”, this is a place where we practice forest conservation through activities such as planting trees, weeding the undergrowth, and thinning the forest.
In addition, HITADO, a Group company in Germany, has been participating since fiscal 2021 in a local forest conservation project called Waldlokal, providing support through voluntary tree planting by employees and through donations.

Managing and Recycling Waste

Reducing Waste and Promoting a Stable Recycling Rate

Sysmex carries out initiatives to reduce waste and increase recycling rates.
Each reagent factory engages in various initiatives, including reducing consumables used in production and reducing defective products to minimize the use of packaging material. At Kakogawa Factory, an equipment production facility, we review packaging and cushioning materials used to provide materials to production lines, reducing annual waste. In order to reduce food waste from its in-house canteen, Kakogawa Factory uses a specialized garbage disposal system to convert food waste to organic fertilizer for farmers. The factory purchases agricultural produce grown by the farmers who use this fertilizer, contributing to realizing a recycling-oriented society. At Technopark, we introduced polystyrene foam melting machines and large shredders for confidential paper in fiscal 2023, converting all the used polystyrene foam (PS) from the office into recycled plastic materials and selling them as a valuable resource, and processing waste from the shredders to be reused as toilet paper, thereby contributing to the reduction of waste.

Promoting Digital Data

Sysmex works to reduce its use of paper by utilizing personal computers, tablets, and smartphones to send and receive data. These efforts have reduced paper use and waste. Our manufacturing facilities are also working to switch to electronic production records and manuals, promoting our paperless initiative.

Major Initiatives at Each Business Office

Company Initiative
Sysmex Corporation
  • Reduce waste by introducing food waste processors in its in-house canteen
Sysmex Asia Pacific
  • Replace aluminum foil used for weighing drums with reusable materials
Sysmex Malaysia
  • Recycle or donate to charities cardboard boxes and plastic materials
Sysmex Canada
  • Improve recyclable products
Sysmex Brazil
  • Use chemical waste in clinker kilns instead of having sanitary landfills saturated (this contributes to the reuse of energy and improvement of recycling rate)

Managing Harmful Substances

Managing Chemical Substances

Sysmex uses chemical substances in its R&D and manufacturing processes. In addition to preventing losses or leaks, we strive to manage chemical substances appropriately to prevent damage to the health of our employees working onsite.

Managing and Processing Harmful Substances

As a precaution against the danger of infection by biological substances, we strictly control the locations in which such substances are stored and used. These substances are carefully segregated from general waste for proper disposal. For other harmful substances, we work to prevent aerial drift, dispersion, and groundwater permeation through countermeasures that address both facilities and management methods. In these ways, we endeavor to keep emissions below standard statutory levels.

Managing and Processing Atmospheric Emissions

In response to the Fluorocarbons Emission Control Law, a revised version of which went into effect in 2015, each Group company in Japan established a response manual, identifying and appropriately using fluorocarbon-containing equipment owned or managed by it, conducting inspections, and monitoring calculated leakages.