Environment
Environmental Consideration through Product Lifecycle
Product Lifecycle and Initiatives at Each Stage
Sysmex undertakes a variety of initiatives at different stages of its business activities to reduce environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle.
Environmental Friendliness in Product Design
In our global regulations concerning product lifecycle management, Sysmex specifies its efforts to protect the environment that it believes appropriate in terms of its business at each stage of the product lifecycle in order to help reduce the energy needed for our customers to use our products and cut down waste from their use. Accordingly, we strive to develop products designed to save electricity necessary for IVD instruments and reduce reagent usage. The Automated Hematology Analyzer that was released for sale in 2021 achieved 30％ less volume than conventional equipment, consumed 25％ less electricity, and its reagent consumption was reduced by approximately 30％.
Fiscal 2020 Results
The sales of large, high-power-consumption hematology analyzers including newly launched models increased, but with the reduction in CO2 emission factors, CO2 emissions per device from the use of our equipment products fell 8％ from fiscal 2016 (the base year specified in Sysmex Eco-Vision 2025). Water consumption of equipment products in use decreased by 6％ as sales of products requiring less reagent consumption increased.
Biodiversity Consideration in the Production of Raw Materials
To reduce the use of natural resources, Sysmex has established a production method using recombinant silkworms as an alternative to animal-derived proteins in its reagents. In the past, producing these substances required substantial amounts of energy. However, as silkworms can be cultivated at room temperature, simply by using shelves and breeding containers and providing them with food, we anticipate a stable supply as well as energy savings and waste reduction.
We use proteins produced by silkworms in the reagent for hemostasis tests we launched in fiscal 2017. This is the first reagent using proteins from silkworms to receive manufacturing and marketing approval in Japan. We also offer protein production contracting services using this technology and provide raw material substances to pharmaceutical companies, universities, research institutions, and other entities.
We use proteins produced by silkworms in the reagent for hemostasis tests we launched in fiscal 2017. This is the first reagent using proteins from silkworms to receive manufacturing and marketing approval in Japan. We also offer protein production contracting services using this technology and provide raw material substances to pharmaceutical companies, universities, research institutions, and other entities.
Environmentally Conscious Procurement (Green Procurement)
Cooperating with Business Partners to Promote Environmentally Conscious Procurement
Sysmex has established Green Procurement Standards, which set out the company’s fundamental stance on environmental considerations in procurement activities. To that end, we promote the procurement of raw materials and parts that have low environmental impact and are expanding our business with suppliers who are impacts to protect the environment. We also conduct annual CSR surveys of our business partners to confirm that they have environmental management policies in place, as well as targets and plans for CO2 reduction and energy conservation.
Furthermore, based on its Green Procurement Standards, Sysmex discloses prohibited substances and substances to be reduced with regards to chemical substances (substances with environmental impacts) contained in the products we manufacture and sell, as well as their constituent parts, devices, and materials.
Environmentally Conscious Transportation
Efforts to Lower CO2 Emissions in Domestic and Inter-regional Transportation of Products
As Sysmex’s global business continues to expand, we are working to curb CO2 emissions by reviewing our logistics processes and systems designed to handle diversified logistics, packaging materials, and inventory management.
Fiscal 2020 Results
By switching from air shipments to shipments by sea even more proactively, we succeeded in reducing CO2 emissions for logistics by 25% from fiscal 2016 (the base year specified in Sysmex Eco-Vision 2025) and continuing on from the previous fiscal year, we achieved the fiscal 2025 target reduction of 15％ early. We will work to promote a modal shift toward transportation methods that have a lower impact on the environment, such as utilizing railways.
Realized Ultra-Low Temperature Transportation That Uses Less Dry Ice
Sysmex, in a joint effort with Yamato Logistics Co., Ltd.* has succeeded in ultra-low temperature transportation while cutting down the use of dry ice.
In transporting reagents to be used for gene testing, the use of a dedicated truck and dry ice was required regardless of quantity, to fulfill advanced quality requirements, and this created a burden on the environment. To tackle this, we jointly conducted demonstration experiments with Yamato Logistics, and by using a specially designed carrier box, we were ableeliminate the use of dry ice in transportation in the frozen temperature range (negative 20 degrees C or below) and reduced the use of dry ice by half for ultra-low temperature transportation (negative 65 degrees C or below). Additionally, now that it is possible to load and transport together with regular transportation, we are able to reduce CO2 emissions from the dedicated trucks.
Moving forward, we will jointly conduct demonstration experiments to enable the long-distance transportation of items in the ultra-low temperature range without dry ice.
In transporting reagents to be used for gene testing, the use of a dedicated truck and dry ice was required regardless of quantity, to fulfill advanced quality requirements, and this created a burden on the environment. To tackle this, we jointly conducted demonstration experiments with Yamato Logistics, and by using a specially designed carrier box, we were ableeliminate the use of dry ice in transportation in the frozen temperature range (negative 20 degrees C or below) and reduced the use of dry ice by half for ultra-low temperature transportation (negative 65 degrees C or below). Additionally, now that it is possible to load and transport together with regular transportation, we are able to reduce CO2 emissions from the dedicated trucks.
Moving forward, we will jointly conduct demonstration experiments to enable the long-distance transportation of items in the ultra-low temperature range without dry ice.
- Merged with Yamato Transport Co., Ltd. since April, 2021
Environmental Considerations for Distribution Packaging
With growing exports from Japan of bio-diagnostic reagents, we began the global reuse of cold storage materials necessary for transportation, and we are working toward reducing the disposal of plastic cold storage materials. In fiscal 2020, we implemented such reuse between Japan and China, Singapore, and Europe, which led to the reduction of approximately 2.0 tons of waste.
Sysmex International Reagents works with its suppliers to promote a switchover from cardboard to returnable boxes (plastic containers) for transporting materials, and the company reduced all packing material waste by 20％.
Saving Resources by Revising Packaging Materials
Sysmex is continuing to work on reducing packing materials to conserve natural resources. We downsized our package boxes for optimization and switched our packing method from bag-shaped cushioning materials to plastic film, thereby reducing the amount of petroleum-based cushioning materials used in fiscal 2020 by approximately 50％ from fiscal 2017.
Saving Resources by Promoting Review of Inventory Management
Sysmex promoted a company-wide review of its supply chains to reduce product waste, thereby cutting the proportion of waste to total sales in fiscal 2020 by approximately 10％ from fiscal 2018. Our instrument manufacturing factory i-Square densely houses dedicated containers and uses AutoStore, an automated warehouse picking system in which robots retrieve and store containers, for higher efficiency.
Our overseas Group companies also engage in various logistics measures.
Our overseas Group companies also engage in various logistics measures.
Activities at Other Group Companies
| Company | Approach |
|---|---|
| Sysmex International Reagents | - Coordinating with suppliers to reduce package boxes for shipping (approximately 22,000 boxes) |
| Sysmex Reagents America | - Increasing the size of the equipment disposal container by six times to reduce shipping frequency - Changing the box for raw material transportation to a reusable container |
| EMEA | - Considering integrating and combining shipments and transportations to reduce shipping frequency - Using recyclable vegetable fibers for reagent containers - Considering alternative products for Styrofoam cool boxes (such as wool insulation) - Switching from Styrofoam cushioning materials to scrap paper - Reusing packaging and cushioning materials - Using electric forklifts |
| Sysmex Malaysia | - Using reusable insulation panels when shipping products - Reusing packaging from maintenance parts shipments |
| Sysmex Australia | - Using reusable insulation containers when shipping products |
Environmentally Conscious Use and Disposal of Products
Use of Concentrated Reagents
For some analysis devices in the hematology field, reagents that are 25 times more concentrated than traditional reagents can be used. Such concentrated reagents not only contribute significantly to improving usability by reducing the frequency of reagent replacement in laboratories and saving warehouse space, but also enable us to be considerate of the environment by reducing the amount of disposed containers and packing materials and reducing CO2 at time of transportation. Also, since fiscal 2021, we have set the rate of adoption of concentrated reagents and the rate of transfer of reagent production to local production as sustainability targets, and we will contribute further to reducing environmental burden.
