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| Responding to Calls for Guarantees concerning the Absence of Regulated Substances in Products |
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TDK established the Product Environment Committee in May 2002 with the aims of completely eliminating the use of regulated substances and establishing a product environmental management system. This is in response to the trend of providing environment-conscious products that are free from regulated substances as a minimum requirement in business transactions and against the background of adopting the EU End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive1, the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive2, and the EU Restriction on Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive3.
Effective July 2003
Effective August 2005
Effective July 2006
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| Complete Elimination of Regulated Substances |
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In response to legal controls and customer demands, TDK endeavored to completely eliminate the use of Regulated substances. As a result, TDK eliminated the use of six substances in applications regulated by the RoHS Directive in general purpose electronic components. The six chemical substances are lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE). For information on TDK products that comply with the RoHS Directive, please refer to the following.
Japanese version http://www.tdk.co.jp/rohs/index.htm
English version http://www.tdk.co.jp/tefe02/rohs.htm
In addition, TDK voluntarily reduces the use of
these substances in applications exempted from the RoHS Directive
requirements. Besides that , We completely eliminated the use of polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) in our products and packaging materials. By doing so we established a system of supplying environmentally
assured products. TDK is also taking the most appropriate measures
to abolish the use of brominated flame retardants.
Note : General purpose electronic components refer to capacitors, inductors, filters, and other standard components that make up over 90% of TDK electronic components. The remaining products are special order items that are highly customized, nonstandard electronic components that TDK plans to make environmentally safe in phases and in accordance with customer preferences and other factors.
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| Establishment of a Product Environmental Management System |
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TDK established a product environmental management system to promote and maintain the creation of environment-conscious products (free from regulated substances). This system is based on the concept that TDK needs to give assurance that its products are in compliance with environmental requirements in all processes of purchasing, development, manufacturing, and sales.
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TDK's product environmental management system was not instituted as a totally new structure built from scratch. TDK already had a quality management system (ISO 9001) and an environmental management system (ISO 14001) set in place. The product environmental management system was organized by incorporating necessary requirements relating to environment-conscious products into the two established systems. |
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Environment-conscious issues of product currently covered by this system are limited only to the non-use of regulated substances. However, in the future this system will be able to address comprehensive product environmental management issues, including resource recycling and energy conservation.
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| Structure for Accepting Materials Not Containing Regulated Substances |
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TDK clarified its environmental requirements for materials by disclosing its "TDK Green Procurement Standard". In order to manufacture and supply products that are free from regulated substances, it is essential to procure materials upstream that are guaranteed not to contain such substances. In cooperation with its suppliers, TDK completed a survey on the contents of all parts and materials to be used in production. Furthermore, TDK created a checklist for parts and materials based on specified risk classifications to be verified at the time of delivery. The system is designed so that parts and materials that are judged to have a higher risk are measured and checked on a regular basis by TDK. |
| Disclosing Product Material Composition Information |
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TDK responded to a rapid increase in customer demands for the company to survey the material composition of its products by setting up an intranet system for the centralized management of the process. The process is controlled, from acceptance of customer requests for surveys by sales departments to replying the surveys through technical departments. Based on information received through its green procurement material composition surveys, TDK is also creating a database of product composition, which will enable it to disclose accurate information in a timely manner. |
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TDK established the TDK Product Assessment in 1998. Product assessment refers to a method of evaluating whether a product is environment-conscious before its realization. TDK requires a product assessment of all new products and performs such assessments at all stages of development to promote the efficient development of environment-conscious products based on company-wide standards. The items to be assessed are wide-ranging:, from product content, reduction in product weight, extension of product lifespan, recycling, and ease of disassembly to energy conservation.
Since 2004, TDK has been requiring the product assessment of products for which designs have been modified and/or processes changed, with emphasis placed on confirming product material composition. Since then, TDK has thoroughly ensured that all of its products, especially those made of materials procured locally by overseas facilities, have undergone product assessment. |
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| Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method of quantitatively determining and evaluating environmental impact in all processes, from procurement of materials to final disposal. TDK performs LCA on its main products in an effort to raise the level of product assessment. |
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Environmental Impact(kg-CO2) |
| Materials |
Foundry metal |
0.634 |
1.356 |
| Hot cured resin |
0.278 |
| Oxide |
0.444 |
| Manufacturing |
Solution |
221.338 |
363.077 |
| Process |
141.739 |
| Total |
364.433 |
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