Top Page > Corporate Data > Social and Environmental Activities > Environment & TOSHIBA TEC > Eco-Products > Development of Environmentally Conscious Products


SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVITIES

Development of Environmentally Conscious Products

Contribution to the Reduction of Environmental Impacts on Society through the Provision of Environmentally Conscious Products or ECPs
TOSHIBA TEC Corporation develops ECPs, where environmental impacts are reduced throughout their product life cycles, and accelerates its activities under the TOSHIBA Group´s eco-efficiency indicator "Factor T."

Concept regarding Product Development

TOSHIBA TEC Corporation creates "ECPs" with environmental impacts reduced throughout their product life cycles*. Most of the environmental impacts generated throughout a product life cycle are determined at the product planning and design stages, thus, TOSHIBA TEC Corporation focuses on the upper product development stage.
In addition to the reduction of environmental impacts, the ecoefficiency indicator "Factor T," which incorporates customer usability and satisfaction toward TOSHIBA TEC products as "product value," has been operating to apply data to product development and make information public since fiscal 2004.
TOSHIBA TEC Corporation is committed to creating products that further satisfy customers, as well as reducing more environmental impacts.

  • * Product life cycle: All stages from materials procurement, manufacturing and transportation, through to usage, recycling and disposal.

Environmentally Conscious Product Development

Focusing on compliance with laws and regulations in and outside Japan, conformity with the Green Purchasing Law, and acquisition of major environmental labels such as Japanese Eco Mark, German Blue Angel and International ENERGY STAR® Program, TOSHIBA TEC Corporation works toward developing products in compliance with such standards, starting at the product planning stage. In addition, TOSHIBA TEC Corporation is preparing for compliance with the EU EuP Directive*1 and EU REACH Regulation*2, which are to be embraced in the future.
For voluntary activities, "Enhancement of product eco-efficiency," "Provision of ECPs" and "Abolition of the use of certain chemical substances" defined as product-related objectives in the Fourth Voluntary Plan for Environmental Protection are highlighted.
In terms of "Provision of ECPs," the "Voluntary Environmental Standards for Each Product*3" are specified to prescribe the industry's top-level requirements for environmental considerations for each product, to create ECPs, and are determined as the goals for product development. The "Voluntary Environmental Standards for Each Product" define environmental considerations at each stage of a product life cycle, based on the need for reducing environmental impacts throughout a product life cycle. This activity has been conducted since fiscal 2001. However, TOSHIBA TEC Corporation has reviewed the previous standards, specified and been operating new standards with high inhibition since the commencement of the Fourth Voluntary Plan for Environmental Protection in fiscal 2005.

In fiscal 2007, products in compliance with the Voluntary Environmental Standards originated in product groups of barcode printers, POS terminals and electronic cash registers. The target ratio of ECPs to sales in compliance with the New Voluntary Environmental Standards by fiscal 2010 is 60%, and 69% has been achieved in fiscal 2007.
TOSHIBA TEC Corporation discloses information on products in compliance with the Voluntary Environmental Standards, while showing the TOSHIBA Group Earth Protection Mark in the product brochure.
The following shows an example of products in compliance with the Voluntary Environmental Standards in fiscal 2007:

Photo of Barcode Printer B-SX8R, Barcode Printer B-858, JIMCOM SJ-5500, Electronic Cash Register MA-2055

Page Top

Eco-efficiency "Factor T

In fiscal 2004, TOSHIBA TEC Corporation introduced an "eco-efficiency" concept, in which the value of a product and the product´s environmental impacts are related, and has been implementing "Factor T," which compares the eco-efficiency of a product in the year subject to assessment to the eco-efficiency of a product in the benchmark year. Eco-efficiency is calculated by dividing the "value" of a product by the product´s "environmental impact." The lower the environmental impact and the higher the value of the product, the greater is the eco-efficiency. The value of a product is calculated based on Quality Function Deployment or QFD, taking the voice of customers into consideration including usability and customer satisfaction toward TOSHIBA TEC products. The environmental impact of a product is calculated based on Life Cycle Assessment or LCA, taking into consideration various environmental impacts throughout its life cycle. For integrating environmental impacts, TOSHIBA TEC Corporation uses Life Cycle Impact assessment Method based on Endpoint modeling or LIME, which was developed by the Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology or AIST in collaboration with the Japanese government's LCA project. The factor indicates how many times the eco-efficiency of the benchmark product is to be the eco-efficiency of a product subject to assessment. The higher the eco-efficiency of the product, the larger the factor becomes. In terms of "Enhancement of product eco-efficiency" in the Fourth Voluntary Plan for Environmental Protection, TOSHIBA TEC Corporation aims to attain 2.2 as the factor by 2010 relative to fiscal 2000.
The following shows an example of factors for major products. "Value factor" is a relative value of a product subject to assessment relative to the benchmark product, and "1/Environmental impact factor" is also a relative value of the environmental impact.

Definition of "Eco-efficiency

Eco-efficiency = Value of a product / Environmental impact of a product

Definition of "Factor"

Factor = Eco-efficiency of a product subject to assessment / Eco-efficiency of the benchmark product = Value factor x (1/Environmental impact factor)

Factors for Major Products and Improvements

Chart of Factors for Major Products and Improvements

Page Top