History of Environmental Achievements
1990's
| 1991 | Jul | Minebea organizes the Anti-CFC Committee with the aim of phasing out use of specified CFCs and ethana as cleaning gents. |
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| 1992 | Mar | Minebea represents Japanese corporations in Thailand at the Japan-U.S.Stratospheric Ozone Protection Conference, where it displays a proprietary washing technology that uses purified and deoxidized water rather than specified CFCs or ethane. |
| 1993 | Apr | Minebea becomes the first bearing manufacturer in the world to completely eliminate specified CFCs and ethane from all production processes.
(Note :Minebea installed its water-based washing system at all of its plants, at a total cost of 5.0billion Yen, enabling it to terminate use of approximately 145 tons of specified CFCs and 325 tons of ethane monthly worldwide.) The Anti-CFC Committee is replaced by the Environment Protection Committee. |
| Jul | Minebea displays its water-based washing technology at the Ozone Layer Protection Seminar, sponsored by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. | |
| Aug | Minebea formulates its own "Charter for Environmental Protection". | |
| Oct | Minebea's Thai subsidiaries and the parent company recieve the U.S. EPA's Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award. | |
| 1995 | Oct | Goro Ogino, then president of Minebea, receives the Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award for Individuals, from the U.S. EPA. |
| 1996 | Apr | Minebea Electronics & Hi-Tech Components (Shanghai) Ltd. establishes the Shanghai-Minebea Environmental Protection Fund, aimed at protecting the quality of the water in Lake Daishan-hu and the lake's surrounding environment. |
| Jul | Minebea finalized plans to obtain ISO 14001 certification, the ISO's standard for environmental management systems. | |
| 1997 | Apr | The Karuizawa plant, the principal parent plant, and U.K. subsidiary Rose Bearings Ltd.'s Lincoln plant (the present NMB-Minebea UK Ltd. Lincoln plant) become the first bearing production facilities to obtain ISO 14001 certification. |
| Sep | The Minebea Group is selected as winner of the U.S. EPA's Best-of-the-Best Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award. | |
| Oct | All Minebea plants in Thailand obtain ISO 14001 certification. | |
| Dec | Minebea Electronics & Hi-Tech Components' (Shanghai) two plants obtain ISO 14001 certification. | |
| 1998 | Jan | The Singapore plants obtain ISO 14001 certification. |
| Feb | German subsidiary Precision Motors Deutsche Minebea GmbH obtains ISO 14001 certification. | |
| Jun | Goro Ogino, then president of Minebea, receives the City of Shanghai's Shanghai Environmetal Protection Award, in recognition of his contributions to environmental preservation in the city. Japanese subsidiaries NMB Electro Precision,Inc. obtains ISO 14001 certification. |
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| Aug | The Hamamatsu plant, the parent plant for electronic components, obtains ISO 14001 certification. | |
| Oct | Fujisawa and Omori plants obtain ISO 14001 certification. | |
| 1999 | Feb | Rose Bearings Ltd.'s Skegness plant (the present NMB-Minebea UK Ltd. Skegness plant) ontains ISO 14001 certification. |
| Jun | U.S. subsidiary New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.'s Peterborough plant obtains ISO 14001 certification. | |
| Nov | U.K. subsidiary NMB (U.K.) Ltd.'s Inchinnan Keyboard Printing plant obtains ISO 14001 certification. |
2000's
| 2001 | Mar | The Shanghai-Minebea Envoronmental Protection Fund is increased to Rmb 11.0 million, from Rmb 7.5 million. |
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| Jul | U.S. subsidairy Hansen Corporation obtains ISO 14001 certification. | |
| Nov | U.S. subsidiary New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.'s Chatsworth plant obtains ISO14001 certification. | |
| 2002 | Aug | U.S. subsidiary New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.'s Laconia plant obtains ISO14001 certification. |
| 2003 | Aug | The second plant of Shanghai Minebea's Xicen plant is selected as one of the TOP 100 Projects of National Environmental Protection in China. |
| Dec | U.S. subsidiary New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.'s Chatsworth plant is selected as one of the award recipients for exemplary pollution prevention activities implemented in California. | |
| 2004 | Apr | U.S. subsidiary New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.'s HiTech division receives EPA's "Director's Award for mentoring" for assisting their suppliers in developing their own environmental management systems. |
| Mar | Mr. Susumu Fujisawa, President of manufacturing subsidiary in China, receives the Shanghai municipal award of environmental protection for individuals. | |
| 2005 | Jun | Manufacturing subsidiary in China starts purchasing green electricity. |
| Oct | Manufacturing subsidiary in China obtain OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001:1996 certification. | |
| 2006 | Mar | Minebea Confirms RoHS compliance is completed by end of March 2006. R&D center in Thailand has obtained National Laboratory Certification (ISO/IEC 17025). |
| 2007 | Sep | U.S. subsidiary New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.'s Astro Division was honored by the US State of New Hampshire and was presented the "2007 Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention". |
| 2008 | Jan | Bang Pa-in Plant in Thailand installed "zero plant effluent system", and together with "rainwater recycling system" enabled reduction of city water usage by approximately 45%. |
| Mar | Material & Process Laboratory in Karuizawa Plant has obtained National Laboratory Certification (ISO/IEC 17025 :2005). | |
| Jun | A new plant for cutting and pressing process for bearings in Bang Pa-in Plant which is 60% energy saving than the conventional plant has started operation. | |
| 2009 | Apr | Shanghai Plant and Xicen plant in China have installed "zero plant effluent system". The system enabled reduction of city water by approximately 45% in total. |
2010's
| 2010 | Sep | Karuizawa plant has installed "spring water purification and recycle system" which enables alternative use of natural water resource from industrial water by approximately 200 ton /day. |
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Past Environmental Activities
Environmental protection activities before 2007
