Daifuku and the Environment
Daifuku strives to prevent pollution and to conserve natural resources in every facet of our business. Our goal is to minimize environmental impact from the manufacturing and operation of our equipment by reducing waste, avoiding use of hazardous substances, sustaining water quality, and conserving energy.
Daifuku’s Environmental Management System ensures that external and internal regulations, standards and laws are enforced.
To read about recent accomplishments and to find up-to-date statistics on our environmental programs, visit the Corporate Responsibility section of our parent company’s website.
Environmental Efforts
Manufacturing & Sales
Our goal — achieve net zero emissions. Within the manufacturing process, Daifuku’s efforts include using environment-friendly materials, respecting local environmental regulation, treating sewage water, minimizing noise pollution and recycling waste materials. Daifuku has reduced carbon dioxide emissions, fuel consumption and electricity consumption. Exhaust heat is utilized as an energy source for air-conditioning within the cleanroom manufacturing area. Additionally, the majority of Daifuku’s manufacturing waste is recycled.
Daifuku’s Green Procurement Guidelines encourage eliminating the use of hazardous substances, purchasing eco-friendly products and awarding suppliers that provide safe and eco-friendly products.
In Daifuku’s sales offices, we have taken care to minimize paper usage and we recycle paper that is used.
Green Technology
Product Operation
Daifuku’s entire line of storage retrieval machines (SRM) is manufactured to balance performance and energy consumption.
The motors within our Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) utilize regenerative energy technology to capture and use power created during normal system operation. Converters are installed on all storage retrieval machines to route power back into the electrical grid. Daifuku customers have achieved up to 25% electricity savings using this technology.
Also, Daifuku systems are configured based on weight and throughput requirements from each customer; SRMs are selected based on their ability to get the job done most effectively and efficiently for our customer’s unique operation. Smaller machines weigh less and require less energy to move. Another energy-saving feature is our use of counterbalanced carriages.
Product Efficiencies
AS/RS has other environment-friendly benefits. By definition, AS/RS is high-density storage in a vertical space. AS/RS-equipped buildings intended for manufacturing, warehouse and distribution require less land than those with conventional storage.
In many applications, automated equipment operates within a “lights-out facility.” Additionally, if products can be stored in a temperate environment away from employees, heating and cooling requirements are minimized. For facilities that do require refrigeration, it has been proven that an AS/RS can significantly reduce kilowatt energy cost.
