Tell us about OMRON’s journey to a net zero future
Whenever someone says the word ‘sustainability’, people immediately think of planting more trees, using fewer fossil fuels, promoting renewable energy, recycling and reusing, and so on. These are all important, but sometimes a different way of thinking is required to create sustainable value. In its 90 year-long history, OMRON has thrived on challenges like these which have inspired us to find solutions to social issues at times they were essential.
Last year in April, we declared our long-term vision, “Shaping the Future 2030” which reiterates our commitment to create a better world through our businesses and core technology. While this long-term vision isn’t new for us, what makes it unique is the many ‘firsts’ involved, such as incorporating non-financial goals in the vision, formulating a human-rights policy, and becoming the first Japanese manufacturing company to join EP100. Through activities like these, we are encouraging employees to channel their own innovative ideas.
Why did OMRON decide to join Climate Group’s EP100 program?
As an initiative, EP100 is promoting energy efficiency and welcomes members through three commitment pathways, including doubling energy efficiency. These goals are in line with OMRON’s vision, as we are working on improving energy productivity at our own sites and are also enabling customer companies and value chains to achieve energy efficiency through our innovative products and services. Moreover, Climate Group’s public forums provide us opportunities to share our initiatives with member companies and communities at large.
“OMRON has pioneered energy productivity and efficiency improvement innovations that are increasingly vital to overcoming climate challenges and will benefit factories of the future, the entire value chain, and our homes. By joining EP100, we have gained a forum to exchange learnings and collaborate with key stakeholders.”
- Tim Hill, Head of Stakeholder Engagement, OMRON Americas
What has this enabled OMRON to achieve?
We are creating our own niche in achieving a greener planet. Factories are usually sprawling facilities built on huge portions of land with tons of machinery, air conditioning, ventilation, and lighting. The environmental impact of a factory is immediately judged through its carbon emissions or the use of renewable energy and usually improvement factors are based on these parameters. But there are many other areas where immense value can be created to make a factory more environmentally friendly.
The one we are focussing on is energy efficiency. OMRON’s i-Belt data management platform is an initiative which aggregates diverse data to improve factory floors. The service provides expert guidance on how much energy and space is required for the optimal operations which, in turn, significantly reduces the energy consumption. We are already utilizing this technology at our factories and working with hundreds of manufacturers across the world to make them energy efficient.
We also manufacture components used in electronic equipment such as air conditioners, Uninterruptable Power Systems (UPS), robots, vending machines, refrigerators, and electric vehicles. To decarbonize factories, homes and our way of living, it’s important to make these applications energy efficient. This begins on a component level and that’s what our “Green Project” aims to accomplish. By improving the energy efficiency of these components – which are produced in millions every year - the entire value chain is becoming more sustainable.
This is how we’re contributing to a greener world. By staying true to our corporate philosophy, enabling our people to think differently, and channelling our core technology in innovative ways.