Contributing to the Environment with Products and Services
As well as reducing the environmental impact of our own hardware, the OKI Group also helps reduce environmental impact in a wide range of other areas. For example, we collect used products, and provide solutions that use the IoT and other cutting-edge technologies to reduce environmental impact and deal with climate change.
Energy Harvesting and Power Saving Technologies
Outline of the Technology
Energy harvesting technology—also known as environmental power generation technology—is a technique that converts small amounts of ambient energy into electrical power for practical use. By converting energy from sources such as sunlight, wind, and heat into electricity, it enables long-term power supply without the need for charging or battery replacement. This makes energy harvesting an essential technology for implementing IoT (Internet of Things) solutions.
Decarbonization
OKI Crosstech's GX Solutions
The OKI Group is promoting new initiatives, including the introduction of an advanced, ultra-lightweight, flexible solar power generation system and switching to renewable energy sources for the electricity used in its evaluation and analysis business. Through these measures, we are steadily increasing the proportion of renewable energy used and contributing to the realization of a decarbonized society across the entire group.
OKI Crosstech's GX Solutions achieve energy conservation and CO2 reduction through power visualization, renewable energy through solar power generation, vehicle electrification, and automated power consumption control.
Contributing to the environment by reducing packaging materials
TOKKI Systems Division has implemented improvements to the packaging of some of its products.
As a result of conducting trial calculations of CO2 emissions, it is expected that CO2 emissions from the procurement of raw materials for packaging materials (cardboard and plastic cushioning materials) to their disposal and recycling will be reduced by approximately 62%.
| Category | Current packaging design | New packaging design | comparison | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kgCO2 | Contribution rate | kgCO2 | Contribution rate | Amount of change kgCO2 |
Rate of change | |
| Raw Material Procurement | 333 | 14% | 120 | 14% | -212 | -64% |
| Distribution | 1,880 | 81% | 717 | 82% | -1160 | -62% |
| Disposal & Recycling | 100 | 4% | 32 | 4% | -69 | -68% |
| Total | 2,310 | 100% | 869 | 100% | -1440 | -62% |
*Used IDEA v2
Climate Change
Realization of Zero Energy and Wireless Water-level Monitoring for Rivers
Due to the impact of increasingly abnormal weather in recent years, the possibility of severe disasters occurring that exceed conventional assumptions is increasing. In particular, flood damage in urban areas due to increased flow in small and medium-sized rivers with low water level gauge installation rates is increasing.
Outside use of high precision water-level gauges
Focusing on such social issues, OKI and Shizuoka OKI have developed a compact,lightweight and integrated "zero energy ultrasonic water-level gauge" (hereinafter zero energy water-level gauge) as a sensor capable of easy installation and information gathering at low cost. The "zero energy water-level gauge" is based on a highly accurate "ultrasonic water-level gauge" that has numerous achievements in river monitoring and combines a wireless device and solar cells to eliminate the need for network connection and power supply construction work.
OKI has linked Shizuoka OKI's "zero energy water-level gauge" and the "IoT-GW"(*1), which is equipped with OKI's "SmartHopR SR wireless module", and is commercializing the "river monitoring system" , which makes it possible to grasp the water level situation at multiple locations - from point monitoring to area monitoring. OKI is actively marketing this to local governments considering collection and disclosure of water level information and is investigating deployment of cloud services.
Equipment power-saving function necessary for outdoor installation
The "SmartHop SR wireless module" in the wireless section has good reception characteristics given by 920MHz multi-hop wireless and is equipped with power saving functions facilitated by advanced control technology. This made it possible to create wide-range and flexible wireless networks with cordless power supplied by solar cells, and realized the "zero energy water-level gauge", which is easy to install outdoors.
*1：IoT-GW: apparatus that connects an IoT device to a cloud server via the Internet for communication
Mitigation of Climate Change
The Pursuit of Customer Needs and Energy-savings
In the work of issuing tickets at train station counters, staff require speed, ease of use andspace-savings. The staff-operated cybernetics ticketing*5 equipment responds to these needs.
Realization of speed, ease of use and space-savings
With regards to realization of speed, the ticket issuing machine achieves a 25% and 30% higher speed over conventional products in the magnetic ticket unit and IC card unit, respectively. This was achieved through repeated improvements in the firmware that controls the equipment, the print head, the conveyance parts, and other components
For ease of use, we solicited requests for improvements from employees working the counter from the initial stage of development, reflected mis-operation prevention and other functions in product development, and have received good feedback from the customer.
In terms of space savings, we focused on the operation panel, journal printer*6and storage box, and improved tabletop and legroom by about 60%.
25% reduction in power consumption achieved
Miniaturization of each device contributes to energy-saving in addition to resource savings, and despite the improvement in ticketing speed, the power consumption of the entire issuing machine has been reduced by 25%.
*5：Cybernetics tickets: Tickets that conform to the data standard (cybernetics standards) established by the Congress of Japan Railway Cybernetics are called "cybernetics tickets".
*6：Journal printer: A printer that prints the sales report managed by the station.
Resource Recycling
Durability Contributes to Business Efficiency, Conservation of Resources and Energy Savings
Freedom from irritation and time wasted until the maintenance staff arrives.this is one of the benefits first experienced by the users of "COREFIDO". The simple LED mechanism enables OKI to provide a free five-year warranty for the COREFIDO.
While the COREFIDO naturally offers the benefits of ease of maintenance, userfriendliness and low running costs, it also contributes to lower environmental burdens through reducing resource consumption due to replacing parts and reducing CO2 emissions as a result of dispatching maintenance staff.
As a result of repeated evolution, the third-generation "COREFIDO3" has a "maintenance barrier-free design" that allows customers to deal with problems in the event they occur. Support for problem-solving by the customers themselves hasbeen further enhanced through the application of cloud technologies and smartphones in addition to pictures and animations on the large control panel.
The durability of the COREFIDO3 realizes "user-friendliness", "cost benefits" and "improved environmental performance" by way of maintenance solutions.The above products are not sold in some areas.
Recovery of Used Wire Electrodes
OKI Electric Cable runs a collection service for used wire electrodes and bobbins around which the electric wires are wound. This contributes to reduced running costs as well as reduces environmental burden through effective use of resources. For example, OKI Electric Cable offers a price reduction equivalent to 20 kg of new wire for every 70 kg of used wire collected. OKI Electric Cable pays the cost of the shipping and collection bags, etc. thereby promoting the collection service.
Pollution Prevention
Operation of Chemical Substance Management System
Regulations on chemicals contained in products are rapidly being strengthened worldwide. This management extends to all materials, including packaging, not just the products themselves. Among these, the EU's RoHS Directive and REACH Regulation play leading roles. Recently, there has been a global intensification of PFAS regulations, making compliance increasingly stringent.
To effectively respond to advanced chemical management requirements and meet stringent environmental standards worldwide, including in Europe, OKI has independently developed and utilizes specialized software.
During the investigation process, the company addresses various formats and determines compliance with regulations such as the RoHS Directive at the component level. In the aggregation and evaluation process, calculations of chemical substance content and compliance determination for products concerning the RoHS Directive and other regulations are performed. In the reporting process, the demands on IT systems have become more sophisticated to accommodate various formats based on sales destinations.
By addressing these operational challenges and frequent regulatory revisions, OKI evolves its internal IT system into a user-friendly and practical tool, continuously strengthening compliance and contributing to the environment.
Work Process and Response to Issues
