Produce

MITSUBISHI MOTORS gives comprehensive attention to environmental problems by working for energy-saving and waste-recycling programs at our plants as well as for designing and manufacturing vehicles with less environmental impact.

Comprehensive Environmental Concerns

MITSUBISHI MOTORS introduces the Design for Environment: (DfE) concept. This new process of developing and designing vehicles, incorporates the earth’s susceptibility to vehicles through every stage of their life cycle.

-	Vehicles that have less environmental impact at every phase such as in the mining and refining of raw material and manufacturing at plants
-	Fuel efficient and low emission vehicles
-	Easily recyclable vehicles

In order to develop vehicles using these guidelines, we will manufacture environmentally friendly vehicles employing LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methods via our newly introduced quality control system known as 'Quality Gate'.

What is Quality Gate ?

Quality Gate is a new type of quality management system developed by our alliance partners, DaimlerChrysler, in which audit 'gates' are established at key junctures throughout the entire automobile construction process, beginning from conception and design, all the way to manufacturing and completion.

What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?

The environmental assessment of motor vehicles used to focus on things like fuel consumption and emissions. In contrast, LCA is a more comprehensive method that quantitatively assesses the environmental impacts caused by vehicles at every step throughout their life cycle, from oil and ore mining, material manufacturing, vehicle manufacturing, right up to the final recycling process.

The Zero-Waste Challenge

The shortage of landfill sites is currently becoming a serious problem. In response to this, MITSUBISHI MOTORS has reduced vehicle manufacturing waste to a minimum and for those wastes that we cannot avoid producing, we have been recycling. We have attained the target of zero-waste to be disposed of by landfill at our Nagoya and Kyoto manufacturing sites at the end of FY2000, and all other sites by the end of FY2001. We promise to keep this zero-wastes record in future as well.

-	Sands used in casting molds are recycled in steel and road-building once they are no longer reusable for their original purpose. (Casting mold sand is reused several times prior to this purpose)
-	Iron phosphate-chemical sludge leftover from painting is recycled as a material for cement.
-	Burnable wastes, such as scrap paper or wood, are incinerated to produce energy at the plants. The remaining ash is also recycled for making cement and building roads.

Paint and chemical sludge, and machine grinding powder that used to be disposed of by landfill are used in cement, and grinding whetstones are recycled in roadbeds. Recycled roadbed materials were used in the construction of the employees' parking lot.

Paint and chemical sludge

Machine grinding powder

Grinding whetstones

Construction of parking lot

As a result of trial and error, the incineration ash that is left over is melted and solidified for use in roadbeds. Despite it being more expensive to do so, MMC does this because of the need for recycling and the shortage of landfill sites.

Incineration ash

Heated to 1,600^ｰC and melted in an electric furnace

The product forms stony slag when cooled, which is crushed to form roadbed materials.

Roadbed materials used to make roads

Energy-Saving Strategy at Vehicle Manufacturing Plants

MITSUBISHI MOTORS is also taking positive actions for energy-conservation programs at our manufacturing plants, in the following ways:

-	We have selected and employed the most appropriate energy for each manufacturing process from among electric, town gas, oil, and so on to restrict extra energy consumption.
-	We have employed co-generation systems, which are multiple energy supplies that generate electric energy and heat simultaneously and effectively.
-	All industrial reactors are equipped with heat insulation.

We measure the success of our energy-conservation programs in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. We have a target of reducing total emissions of CO2 by over 20% by the end of FY2010, compared with FY1990.

Cogeneration system

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