Feature in FY2009:
CSR activities at Kyocera Mita's Shilong Plant

Controlling chemical substances is one of the most important issues for the Shilong Plant in terms of upholding the "Quality First" policy. We conduct audits on suppliers to ensure Green Procurement.

We are celebrating the 24th year of our relationship with Kyocera Mita, which started in 1984. Over these years, Kyocera Mita has unwaveringly maintained strict quality control and, since the RoHS Directive took effect, we have had to pass the supplier audit conducted every two years. We make every effort to satisfy their requirements; we ask our upstream suppliers to report in a sheet the content of each chemical substance used, while having our strict acceptance inspection and process control certified by third party organs. The audit for fiscal 2008 was held in June, which we passed once again.

The great thing about Kyocera Mita is that it places more emphasis on written communication than on verbal communication at conferences or by telephone. This reduces misunderstandings and losses, enabling speedy and proper handling of matters. The fact that we've had no troubles associated with misunderstandings in communication over the past ten years is the best evidence of our success. I hope Kyocera Mita will further enhance its global operations and promote its Ecosys concept widely. I wish our relationship will continue for further long years. Through this relationship, we hope to contribute greatly to society, and to the world.

To reduce power consumption, the Shilong Plant pays careful attention to the use of electricity. For air-conditioning systems, such actions as the replacement of freezers with the turbo freezers with higher energy efficiency; the installation of timers to coolers so that they can be turned on and off automatically, and the "Keep the room temperature at 26A℃" campaign are promoted. Regarding lighting, rigid control of the illuminance level, reduction of the number of lights in use, switching to energy-saving types, etc., are encouraged. As a result of these measures, electricity consumption in June and July in 2008 both marked a 10% decrease from the same months of the previous year.

All waste items are sorted into three categories: "recyclable," "non-recyclable," and "hazardous," to be disposed of separately. Resin, metal and corrugated cardboard items are sold as valuable resources, while daily garbage and toners are carried over to our contract disposers. Each office has three garbage boxes in its staff kitchen, encouraging the separate collection of metal, plastic and regular waste.

Water quality is measured periodically at two wastewater treatment facilities located inside the Plant, and also by external institutions. Having constantly satisfied the wastewater standards of its local Dongguan City and passed all the surprise tests by the government, the Shilong Plant has received an award from the City and been granted preferential treatment concerning water rates.

Packaging material for the transportation of parts between the Plant and suppliers was changed from corrugated cardboard to plastic. For shipment to Japan, metal pallets have been used instead of wooden pallets since 2005. The Shilong Plant contributes to the effective utilization of resources by promoting use of these returnable materials.

Products manufactured and sold by the Shilong Plant have acquired the Chinese Green Mark (13 models) and the Energy Conservation Mark (16 models).