Engineering Focus on Products Design and Engineering Stages
Our environmental focus starts from the product design and engineering stages.
Regulations controlling chemical substances in products have been or will soon be enforced in many countries. They include some major regulations that are relevant to Toshiba Semiconductor & Storage Products Company Group, such as the EU's RoHS Directive, End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive, and Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. Similar regulations to EU RoHS also went into effect in China and South Korea. Since June 2008, the EU has enforced a regulation called REACH, which requires evaluation and registration of all chemical substances manufactured in or imported into the European Union. It also requires clarifying and understanding of chemical substances contained in products and provision of information for customers.
Semiconductors and storage products are used in an extremely wide range of applications, such as in electrical/electronic equipment, control systems, and vehicles. Hence, the control of information on chemical substances which comprise the products is an important factor for product quality assurance. Toshiba Semiconductor & Storage Products Company Group has designated certain chemical substances used by the Group as "Procurement Prohibited Substances" and "Procurement Controlled Substances" in order to either prohibit or restrict content in products in accordance with applicable laws and regulations of each country.
We procure components and raw materials through green procurement activities that reflect our prohibitions or restrictions on certain substances. In addition, we investigate the content ratio of chemical substances and use of rare resources that might give significant impact to the environment and endeavor to select parts and raw materials with a lower impact on the environment. This information is stored in the database, and used to inform the authorization of new procurement, to determine when currently procured materials should be replaced, and to develop products (see the figure below). We offer information to our customers through proactive utilization of Japan Green Procurement Survey Standardization Initiative (JGPSSI) and Joint Article Management Promotion (JAMP) and other common formats advocated in the industry.
At the stages of product design and engineering, Toshiba Semiconductor & Storage Products Company Group conducts assessments of the environmental impact of products as a part of its engineering process (please refer to the chart below). Information on chemical substances contained in new raw materials and products is reviewed to identify the existence or use of "Procurement Prohibited Substances" and "Procurement Controlled Substances" as designated by Toshiba Semiconductor & Storage Products Company Group.
