COVER STORY:GLOBAL INNOVATION REPORT
Environmental Initiatives at Hitachi Elevator (China) Group
In its Hitachi Environmental Innovation 2050, Hitachi Group has set long-term targets based on a vision for the environment that seeks to realize a decarbonized society, resource-efficient society, and a society harmonized with nature. The Building Systems Business Unit is also playing its part in activities directed at these targets. Meanwhile stakeholder expectations for corporate action on the environment are on the rise in recognition of the crisis in the global environment. In particular, the People’s Republic of China has announced the establishment of a green manufacturing system and Hitachi’s Building Systems Business Unit, which has many production facilities located in China, has been pursuing environmental measures that anticipate this development. This article describes the environmental activities of Hitachi Elevator (China) Co., Ltd., which manufactures elevators in China.
The environmental activities of Hitachi’s Building Systems Business Unit involve environmental management for creating a sustainable society and realizing Hitachi’s environmental vision of a decarbonized society, a resource-efficient society, and a society harmonized with nature, primarily at its major production facilities at Mito Works in Japan and the seven factories operated by the Hitachi Elevator (China) Co., Ltd. group of companies in the People’s Republic of China (see Figure 1).
Alongside this, China published its Made in China 2025 plan in 2015, setting out a roadmap to becoming a manufacturing powerhouse. The establishment of the National Green Manufacturing System formed part of this project. Hitachi Elevator (China) Group made a planned entry into the system, obtaining green factory certification for six of its finished-product manufacturing sites in September 2020. This article describes this work together with recent trends and what Hitachi Elevator (China) Group aims to become.
Hitachi Elevator (China) was established in 1995 and engages in the research and development, manufacturing, sale, installation, maintenance, and upgrading of elevators, escalators, travelators, and intelligent security systems. The Group has more than 70 branch offices spread across the major cities of China and manufacturing plants in Guangzhou (Guangzhou factory, escalator factory, motor factory, and electrical parts factory), Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chengdu. It is the largest elevator and escalator business in the Hitachi Group with annual production capacity in excess of 120,000 units.
The National Green Manufacturing System project forms part of the Made in China 2025 plan formulated by the Chinese government to boost manufacturing competitiveness.
Green manufacturing is a modern manufacturing model that includes comprehensive consideration of the impact on the environment and efficiency of resource use, without compromising product functions, quality, and cost. Through technological innovation and system optimization, green manufacturing seeks to harmonize and optimize corporate economic and social value, maximizing the efficiency of resource and energy use and minimizing impacts on not only the environment, but also society and human health across the entire product life cycle, including design, production, logistics, use, recovery, disassembly, and re-use.
The National Green Manufacturing System aims to establish green manufacturing systems that are highly efficient, good for the environment, low-carbon, and incorporate recycling. It is divided into four categories (green factories, green products, green industrial parks, and green supply chains), covering companies that seek to become leaders in global markets and model green manufacturers able to serve as benchmarks for their industries(1).
Of these, green factories are defined as factories that feature intensive land use, non-harmful raw materials, clean production, waste recycling, and low-carbon energy while also engaging in green manufacturing and placing a high priority on making the shift to green processes. Certification is obtained by means of a third-party assessment and auditing by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology based on the requirements specified in the General Principles of Green Factory Assessment (GB/T 36132-2018) (see Table 1).
Similarly, the green supply chain concept refers to spreading consideration for environmental protection and resource efficiency to all steps along the supply chain. Along with harmonizing corporate economic activity and environmental protection across all processes from product design, materials procurement, production, transportation, warehousing, sale, use, and disposal and increasing the efficiency of resource use by both upstream and downstream companies to improve their environmental performance, green supply chains also aim to make the companies in the supply chain greener by getting them to use resources more efficiently and minimize the load they place on the environment. Certification is obtained by means of a third-party assessment and auditing by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology based on the requirements specified in GB/T 33635-2017, China’s standard for Green Manufacturing – Green Supply Chain Management in Manufacturing Enterprises – Guideline (see Table 2).
The following sections describe what Hitachi Elevator (China) Group did to acquire green factory and green supply chain certification.
Table 1 | Requirements and Evaluation Criteria under China’s General Principles of Green Factory Assessment (GB/T 36132-2018)
Table 2 | Requirements and Evaluation Criteria for Green Supply Chain Management
Alongside improving economic efficiency, Hitachi Elevator (China) Group has also for many years placed a top priority on relationships in which the environment and society are in harmony, holding to its philosophy of achieving a win-win coexistence between society and the environment. It has remained one of the leading companies in the industry, actively participating in green activities such as environmental protection, energy efficiency, decarbonization, and waste reduction in the supply chain.
Hitachi Elevator (China) has expanded its environmental protection activities, combining protection of the environment with productivity as it has gone about the ongoing optimization of green production, selection of green raw materials, enhancement of product energy efficiency, adoption of green packaging, and improvement of installation practices. It has established a green supply chain management system and built production systems that use green manufacturing through the computerization of its factories and the adoption of smart practices. The following are some examples.
Hitachi Elevator (China) Group has been actively working to realize China’s National Green Manufacturing System ever since it was first formulated, with six of its seven manufacturing facilities having been certified as green factories. Certification of the seventh and final facility is currently in progress. Hitachi Elevator (China) Group has also established a position for itself as an industry leader, having received certification for engaging in green supply chain management.
When its Guangzhou motor factory became the first Hitachi Elevator (China) Group facility to receive green factory certification, it was one of only 27 companies in all of Guangdong Province to have done so(2). The advanced nature of the work being done by Hitachi Elevator (China) is also exemplified by the fact that, at the time of its receiving certification for green supply chain management, there were only 11 other companies in Guangdong Province that had gained the same certification(3).
The certifications received under the green manufacturing system also confer benefits in the form of preferred supplier status on public projects and other government support. Being a certified company is a mark of trustworthiness and enhances competitiveness in the product tendering process by boosting the brand image of Hitachi Elevator (China) and making its name more well known. It has also provided the opportunity to receive CNY600,000 to CNY1,000,000 in grants (see Figure 5).
Figure 5 | Certification as Green Factory (left) and Company Certification for Green Supply Chain Management (right)
Hitachi Elevator (China) is running an energy efficiency project and installing photovoltaic power generation to achieve Hitachi Carbon Neutrality 2030, Hitachi Group’s plan to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from its factories, offices, and other workplaces by a net 100% relative to emissions in 2010.
In response to the announcement of the Hitachi Carbon Neutrality 2030 target of making Hitachi’s factories and other workplaces carbon neutral by 2030, Hitachi Elevator (China) is pursuing plans based around improving energy efficiency as much as possible and maximizing the installation of photovoltaic power generation. Hitachi is helping to bring about a decarbonized society by aggressively pushing ahead with these activities to achieve carbon neutrality at an early stage.