Murata designs products with reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle, from material procurement, design & development and production to use, disposal and recycling.
Murata is Implementing Environmentally Conscious Design, in which it promotes reduction of the use of environmentally hazardous substance and effective use of resources by designing compact, energy-saving products.
To ensure Environmentally Conscious Design, in November 2004 we began product assessment throughout the Group in which we evaluate environmental impacts in advance and incorporate changes to reduce these impacts.Product assessment takes place prior to Design Review, which takes place in the development stage. The evaluation is then repeated during the prototype stage and at market launch.
Product Assessment Category
Murata conducts product assessment to reduce the environmental impact of its products throughout their life cycle. Murata’s representative products, such as monolithic ceramic capacitors and chip ferrite beads, are assessed using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Not only products, but also production machines are subjected to LCA at their design stage.
What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ?
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method for quantitatively evaluating the environmental impact of a product at each stage of its life cycle. Murata evaluates mainly the environmental impact of products in terms of global warming.
[Features] These are electronic components that regulate DC voltages for driving IC. Murata’s original ripple detection control system not only reduces the number of external components (condensers) required, but also rapidly corrects voltage fluctuations, ensuring stable IC operation.
Contributes to conservation of resources by reducing number of parts
Stabilizes IC operation with rapid voltage tracking
The European Union REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) Regulation, which came into effect in June 2007, requires the registration of several tens of thousands of types of chemical substances. In addition to efforts by individual companies to properly manage chemical substances, creating an industry-wide standardized management system is also an effective way to maintain strict compliance with this regulation. Based on this recognition, Murata has participated in the Joint Article Management Promotion-consortium (JAMP) to establish a standardized mechanism to facilitate the smooth transmission of information on chemical substances contained in parts and materials, from upstream industries that produce chemical materials to downstream industries that produce end products. We are also working on establishing a chemical substance management system that employs JAMP-compliant tools and techniques.
Chemical Substance Management System
What Is JAMP?
An active cross-industrial organization to formulate and spread concrete measures to facilitate proper management and smooth disclosure and communications throughout the supply chain of data on chemical substances contained in articles.
Murata formulated the first edition of the Regulation Program for Environmentally Hazardous Substances as its own standard in 1996, to respond to the chemical substances regulations in Japan and overseas. While revising the Program according to the trends in relevant laws and regulations, we have established our voluntary management standards. Our voluntary regulations aim to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemical substances and to secure information for their risk management, by designating four levels of response: Immediate Prohibition, Prohibition, Reduction and Preparation for Reduction. We have set up a system that disallows selection and orders to be made for substances restricted by law, by making a database consisting of only the substances deemed usable in light of our voluntary provisions. Through such measures, we have enhanced management systems for all work processes, from development to materials procurement, production and delivery.
Furthermore, Murata informs suppliers of its environmental philosophy and standards, requests that suppliers create chemical substance management systems and verifies the effectiveness of such systems through research reports and audits. Guidance and other corrective measures are taken for unsatisfactory areas.
Murata has created databases for environmentally hazardous substances contained in chemical substances and preparations handled as parts and materials, environmentally hazardous substances contained in articles handled as parts and materials, and environmentally hazardous substances contained in Murata’s products. We appropriately manage such environmentally hazardous substances.
Coordination among these databases enables efficient management of environmentally hazardous chemical substances contained in our products. The databases are also used as needed to supply information required for reporting to regulatory authorities and local authorities and to accommodate customer demands.
Product Regulation Program for Environmentally Hazardous Substances in Products
| Rank | Target substance group | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prohibition | Prohibit use | Asbestos | Azo compounds |
| Short-chained chlorinated paraffin (SCCP) | Cadmium and its compounds | ||
| Metallic carbonyls | Metallic nickel | ||
| Hexavalent chromium compounds | Inorganic cyanide compounds | ||
| Acrylonitriles | Mercury and its compounds | ||
| Dioxin/Dibenzofuran | Thallium and its compounds | ||
| Lead and its compounds (lead chromate, lead carbonate, organic lead compounds, lead sulfate, lead and its use regulated by RoHS Directive, and lead other than categorized under “Reduction” and “Preparation for reduction”) | |||
| PBBs | PBDEs | ||
| Chlorine-based flame retardants | Arsenic and its compounds (with some exceptions) | ||
| Beryllium and its compounds (for use in ceramics) | |||
| Benzene | Pentachlorophenol (PCP) | ||
| Polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs) | Polychlorinated naphthalenes (Cl ≥ 3) | ||
| Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) | Formaldehydes | ||
| Organotin compounds | Organophosphorus compounds | ||
| Heavy metals in packaging materials (Cd, Cr6+, Hg, Pb) | Red phosphorus and red-phosphorus-based flame retardants | ||
| Cobalt chloride packaging materials | PFOS/PFOA | ||
| Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and mixtures containing PVC (with some exceptions) | |||
| Reduction | Systematically reduce use | ead and its compounds (for use in specific glass, ceramics, high-temperature solders, etc.) | |
| Xylene | TrichloroBenzene | ||
| Toluene | Thallium (contained in gold plating) | ||
| Arsenic and its compounds (for use in copper foil of printed circuit boards) | |||
| Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and mixtures containing PVC (for wire coating and in-vehicle use only) | |||
| Preparation for reduction | Control and voluntarily prepare to reduce use | Chlorinated paraffins | Antimonous oxides |
| Ethylene glycol ethers and their acetates | Arsenic and its compounds (for use in semiconductors only) | ||
| Organ cyanide compounds | Cobalt and its compounds | ||
| Compounds such as flame retardants containing bromine | Selenium and its compounds | ||
| Tellurium and its compounds | |||
| Lead and its compounds (contained in glass, ceramics and alloys, excluding those categorized under “Reduction”) | |||
| Foaming polystyrene packaging materials | Chlorine based organic compounds | ||
| Beryllium and its compounds (for use other than in ceramics) | |||
