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Chemical Substance Strategies
Assessments improved through development of chemical substance database and guidelines
NEC Electronics Corporation takes the utmost care to minimize the effects of hazardous substances. Toward this end we have completely phased out specified CFCs and trichloroethylene, and are working towards the reduction or phasing out of other substances such as lead.
We are also taking particular care to perform upstream management, eliminating or minimizing hazardous chemicals in the earliest stages of production, such as at the R&D stage. This involves minimizing or controlling any hazardous substances that may be included in new materials that are adopted.
The chemical substance database being developed by NEC Electronics Corporation contains various information concerning green procurement as well as laws and regulations. We use this database as a reference when performing various assessments and R&D for the development of green products and factories.
(Note1) Assessment refers to the following types:
- Advance chemical assessment: advance assessment of environmental impact and safety of new chemicals intended for use in new products
- Advance facility assessment: advance assessment of environmental impact and safety of new facilities and fixtures
- Product assessment: assessment of environmental impact of newly developed products and the production processes thereof
- Manufacturing method assessment: assessment of environmental impact of new production processes and production flows
- Life cycle assessment: assessment of the environmental impact of a product during each stage of its life cycle, including materials procurement, manufacture, use and disposal
Internal chemical management regulations tightened
NEC Electronics manages chemical substances with the strictest care. Besides responding to social trends and the needs of our customers, we also perform our own voluntary toxicity tests on each of the chemicals we use. The results of these tests are recorded in our Guidelines for the Handling of Chemical Substances with each chemical being graded according to its level of toxicity (graded as "banned", "to be phased out", "to be avoided", "to be controlled"). All chemicals we use are strictly managed in accordance with these guidelines.
The following table contains excerpts of our guidelines in September 2007. The guidelines are accessible to all employees through our company intranet, and are updated on a regular basis.
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NEC Electronics has made efforts to reduce or phase out hazardous chemicals such as processing-use CFC gases. Furthermore, we have established a database containing information on laws, customer demands, in-house regulations, and the toxicity of chemicals contained in the materials we use. The database helps us to update our Guidelines for the Handling of Chemical Substances to ensure proper treatment of materials at each stage of production, including implementation, storage, use, and disposal.
Furthermore, we perform various assessments of the materials and chemicals we use to ensure that environmental considerations are built into product manufacturing processes and factory designs.
