About us > CSR Activities > Environmental Efforts > Environmentally Conscious Products > Development of Environmentally Conscious Products
Development of environment-conscious products
We employ diverse environment-conscious designs for our products, including the ultra long-life design that helps reduce the frequency of product replacements and the amount of waste generated, the "3R" design that emphasizes "reduction," "reuse" and "recycling" of components, and the low-power-consumption design that helps mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases.
Developed out of our original ECOSYS concept which emphasizes "environment-friendliness" and "economy" simultaneously, KYOCERA Document Solutions' traditional long-life design and "only toner" design (in which the toner is the only consumable component) still play an important role in all of our products, including the TASKalfa series and other multifunction systems as well as ECOSYS printers. At the same time, on the basis of our product development policy of maintaining state-of-the-art environmental strengths as suitable for the ECOSYS brand, we always seek to achieve higher-than-ever environmental performance with our products from diverse aspects, such as product life (that can be prolonged through the employment of more durable components), energy-saving performance, 3R design, etc., and accordingly we are promoting the development of new products and technologies.
- Reducing the amount of waste of consumable parts by extending the their lifespan
- Low-power consumption design
- Reducing the toner consumption
- Development of a bio-toner
- Making the main unit smaller and lighter
- Reducing the number of parts
- Making reuse and recycling of used products and parts easier
- Adopting recycled plastic
- Reducing VOC emissions
- Noise-reducing design
- Ozone-free design, etc.
Generally, conventional printers require a replacement of their photosensitive drum and its peripheral components at a frequency of one every several ten thousand prints. Such necessity of frequent replacement is due to the short life of the OPC drum*, which is a typical photosensitive drum employed by printers. KYOCERA Document Solutions uses a durable a-Si drum for some of its printers, while continuing to use an OPC drum for some others.
As an advanced OPC drum, our original PSLP drum, employed by our TASKalfa 205c and 255c launched in 2010 and other models, can be characterized by its monolayer structure of the photosensitive surface, ensuring durability of as many as 200,000 prints, demonstrating extraordinary performance for an OPC drum.
Another original drum, "a-Si," employed by our TASKalfa 255 and 305 launched in 2010, has a very impressive durability of 300,000 prints―we achieved this performance as early as when initial versions of the ECOSYS printer were launched. The "a-Si" drum, together with its peripheral technologies, constitutes our key technology for a distinguished long product life.
Furthermore, our "advanced a-Si" drum, which we developed recently and employed in our new TASKalfa medium/high-speed black-and-white/color multifunction printers, 3050ci and 3500i, launched in 2011, realizes an outstanding durability 600,000 prints. This performance, whereby machines as twice as robust as those equipped with a conventional a-Si drum, is attributable to the improvements of further enhancing the level of hardness of the surface protective layer and restraining its frictional resistance.
*An OPC drum is a photosensitive drum which uses an organic photo conductor.
Even toner, which is the only consumable component in our printers, is one of our targets for consumption reduction; while maintaining or even improving the quality of printing, we seek to reduce the amount of consumption of toner, with the aim of curbing emissions of greenhouse gases as a part of global warming countermeasures.
Starting from our 2009 new releases, we have been employing "smooth" toner whose constituent particles have a uniform, smaller diameter, contributing to improvements in the definition level and the quality of prints, and also makes it possible to reduce the consumption of toner by 30% (when compared to conventional toner) while maintaining the same level of definition.
Our "bio color toner," which we successfully developed in 2010, uses plant-derived materials at a proportion of about 30% of the total materials, contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions at the time of incineration for final disposal, when compared to conventional toner composed of petroleum-derived materials.
The amount of CO2 emissions generated by incineration of plant-derived materials is equivalent to the amount of CO2 previously absorbed by the plant concerned in its growth process. This means that such emissions will not create any incremental carbon content in the atmosphere ("carbon neutral.").
In pursuing product development, KYOCERA Document Solutions always pays attention to 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) perspectives. To develop 3R-conscious products, product designers perform product assessment from the earliest design stage, in accordance with the Eco-conscious Development Standards.
Evaluation items for product assessment include reduction in the number of parts and in product weight compared to conventional products, and the use of recycled plastic and reused parts. Numerical targets for environmental impact reduction are set for each evaluation item for each production stage, such as parts production and assembly. Compliance with energy-saving standards and environmental labels is clearly specified in product specifications as a requirement.
KYOCERA Document Solutions promotes the development of environmentally conscious products by complying with these standards and specifications and performing product assessment. Furthermore, it also continues to review and improve designs from an environmental impact point of view in the fields of product packaging and logistics.
We have realized the reduction of standby power consumption to 1 watt or lower
One of the indexes of negative environmental impact produced when using multifunctional products and printers is electric power consumption. Network printers used in offices, in particular, are commonly left on standby at all times. Therefore, reducing standby power consumption is an important issue in environmentally conscious product development.
The TASKalfa 305, 255, 255c and205c printers, launched in 2010, employ our newly developed controller which ensures efficient network monitoring and power control when the unit is not in operation, thereby reducing standby power consumption to 1 watt or lower.
New controller
IH system for enhanced performance of fixing toner to paper
The TASKalfa 255c and 205c multifunction color printers, launched in 2010, are respectively equipped with an IH(Induction Heating) system with excellent thermal efficiency to improve heat performance of fixing toner to paper, resulting in a reduction in power consumption and in the length of time required for returning to the full-operation mode from the energy-saving mode.
A conventional halogen heating system, in which radiant heat works to fix toner to the paper, has a heat exchange rate of about 85%. On the other hand, the IH system enables direct heating, resulting in an improved heat exchange rate of 90% or higher.
New scanner with white LEDs
The TASKalfa multifunction color printers, 305, 255, 255c and 205c, launched in 2010, as well as all other new releases (multifunction printers) thereafter, are equipped with white LEDs as a light source for the scanner system.
The employment of white LEDs contributes to a reduction in power consumption to about one fifth of that of conventional systems using a xenon lamp. Besides, as a result of the substantial reduction in the amount of heat generation thanks to white LEDs, a cooling system is no longer necessary, which contributes to a reduction in the number of parts used and also ensures longer life of the lamp. Thus, white LEDs help us mitigate the global warming impacts of our products.
Newly developed scanner
In 1997, KYOCERA Document Solutions's printer became the first printer in the world to acquire Germany's Blue Angel certification, proof of its status as an ecology-friendly product recognized by an environmentally advanced country.
The Blue Angel certification is adjudged to only those products and services which are recognized to meet all of the following criteria; contributing to the promotion of people's interest in issues of environmental conservation and consumer protection; incorporating comprehensive measures for environmental conservation; satisfying high-level safety/health standards for workers; and having an excellent quality of use. Thus, the Blue Angel is known as one of the strictest eco-labels and is referred to as a model program by many other eco-label operators around the world.
KYOCERA Document Solutions' printers all satisfy the strict standards of the Blue Angel eco-label, and are recognized as having distinguished environmental strengths, including not only the ability to reduce global warming impacts but also the performance of protecting workplaces from dust, noises and VOC* emissions.
*VOC stands for volatile organic compounds, such as toluene, xylene and ethyl acetate, which are contained in paints, printer ink, adhesives, detergents, gasoline, thinner, etc.
Traditionally, our products use a positively charged photosensitive system, such as an "a-Si drum" that can restrain the generation of ozone. Through the combined use of such positively charged photosensitive system and a roller charging system, we have successfully reduced the amount of odorous ozone generated by the machine (which used to be detected, albeit to a slight degree, with old products using a conventional charging system) to an almost undetectable level.
Our recent new releases such as FS-C2026, C2126MFP and the TASKalfa 205C and 255C employ a newly developed charging system in which an OPC drum is integrated with a roller charging system. This new mechanism contributes to a reduction in the amount of ozone generated by the machine and also helps maintain a high-level durability equivalent to 200,000 prints, an extraordinary performance for an OPC drum with a roller-used contact charging system.
The TASKalfa 5550ci/4550ci/3550ci/3050ci, which has been developed as a successor to the TASKalfa 552ci multifunction color printer series, have the following environment-conscious functions.
Newly developed drum
As a result of the improvement in hardness of the surface of the drum which helps restrain paper-caused frictions, our machines have become twice as durable as their conventional counterparts. The longer product life helps reduce waste, while the simplified maintenance contributes to improved productivity.
Eco-print function
Our color printers are equipped with an advanced eco-print function which enables the reduction of toner consumption. When compared to a conventional eco-print function, the advanced one has less effect on overall printer performance, allowing for improved definition and enabling a user to choose his/her desired toner-saving level from among five options.
HyPAS Application Weekly Timer
Equipped with a "weekly timer," the machine can be preset to be turned on and off at a predetermined time on desired days of the week. This function, which enables an automatic shutdown of the machine on designated days of the week, contributes to power saving.
Touch panel
Based on feedback from our customers, we have improved our touch panel, by redesigning the arrangement of push buttons to make them easier for users to operate, reducing the number of operation procedures, introducing a simplified setting function, and improving the screen view for easier visual confirmation. Not only operability but also foolproof functions have been improved, contributing to the prevention of waste generation.
White LEDs
The employment of white LEDs as a light source contributes to longer lamp life, space-saving downsized machine dimensions, power saving, and a reduction in heat generation, thereby improving overall environmental performance.
The TASKalfa 5550ci multifunction color printer was given the "Highly Recommended" award, the highest rating.
After two months of close examinations, Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI),* a U.S. rating organization for office equipment, has given the highest rating to our TASKalfa 5550ci multifunction color printer, which we launched in April 2011. The printer, awarded "Highly Recommended," acquired the highest rating of "Excellent" for five assessment items: "reliability," "productivity at the time of output of color and black-and-white prints," "ease of network setup," "compatibility with applications" and "product value."
*Buyers Laboratory Inc.: BLI is an independent research organization which has been engaged for 50 years, since 1961, in the evaluation of office equipment in markets all over the world, to assess products from the aspects of "reliability," "productivity," "definition (image quality)," "usability," etc.
Since 1992, when Kyocera Mita launched ECOSYS printers using long-life components, the company has always been emphasizing environment-friendliness in all of its business activities as a priority strategy. In the field of packaging, we have been promoting the shift from plastic materials to paper materials such as cardboard and molded pulp, and this effort has been expanding into even those products/items which were previously considered impossible to pack in a paper container. In the course of these challenges, we have overcome diverse technical difficulties.
General functional requirements of packaging include "the ability to protect a product," "the ability to improve efficiency in transportation and storage," "a state of optimum use of packing materials (to avoid excessive packaging)" "universal design for easy handling at the time of distribution and opening" and "the ability to improve loading efficiency."
At the same time, we need to pay attention to the fact that packaging will end its mission as soon as it reaches a customer, and will end up as rubbish. In this light, we define "environment-conscious packaging" to be "composed of a minimum amount of environment-friendly materials and easy to open."
Awards received during FY2011*
- Development of a toner container with a glueless fastening
- Reduction in material costs for a toner package
- *For details, please visit our environmental report for FY2010 at the following URL.
http://www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.com/environment/feature/2010_packing.html
TOPICS: KYOCERA Document Solutions was a prize winner at the Japan Packaging Contest for the eighth consecutive year.
As a result of our aggressive pursuit of a better packaging design in a unique way, we have been awarded again in the recent Japan Packaging Contest held by the Japan Packaging Institute, marking the eighth consecutive year we have acquired the award. It is especially noticeable that Kyocera Mita received multiple (two) awards in 2010 and 2011 in a row. This proves our sincere commitment to the creation of environment-conscious packages. The two designs recognized as "good packaging" in the Japan Packaging Contest 2011 are as follows:
Toner package with a glueless fastening
The high evaluation of this award-winning toner package with a glueless fastening is attributable to its integration of multiple strengths, including the user-friendly universal design, as embodied in (1) the easy-to-open fastening, ensuring a wide opening for easy removal of the product from the package and (2) the improved removability of an individual package from the carton, as well as resource saving, low-cost specifications and the ability to ensure smooth operability.
Features
- Substantial improvement in removability of an individual product from the package through the introduction of a fastening and a hole for easy opening.
- Easy visual differentiation between "used" and "unused" products, whereby an opened package can be identified easily.
- Elimination of cushioning materials, which was made possible through a smart arrangement of contents, helps downsize the package, contributing to a reduction in the amount of materials used by 33% (when compared to our previous package). Also, the wisely structured shape of the package (for individual products) makes it possible for all products of different dimensions to share a common package.
Development of a toner package with a glueless fastening
Left: The package is consists a single sheet. No glue is necessary to make a box due to the introduction of a fastening mechanism.
Right: A used product in a package can be easily differentiated from an unused product at a glance.
Reduction in materials cost of a toner container package
We have renovated a package for individual toner containers, to attain a substantial reduction in the amount of materials used, the space-saving advantage as a result of downsizing the package, and an improvement in transportation efficiency. Specifically, the renovation has brought a 23% reduction in cubic volume of the package and a 33% reduction in materials cost, achievements which have led to our acquisition of the award.
Features
- A smart arrangement of contents has made it possible to downsize package dimensions substantially.
- The structural renovation of the package for individual products has led to a reduction in the number of packing procedures.
Reduction in material costs for a toner package
Left: Before renovation / Right: After renovation
About us > CSR Activities > Environmental Efforts > Environmentally Conscious Products > Development of Environmentally Conscious Products
