Basic Concept for a Resource Circulation Society
The Hitachi Construction Machinery Group aims to shift to a resource recycling business through value chain businesses that contribute to circular economy.
One of the Group’s materialities is to shift to a resource-recycling business. The unsustainable business model of mining, using, and then disposing of resources will eventually reach its limits.
The Hitachi Construction Machinery Group takes a Group-wide approach to the implementation of the “4Rs,” namely, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Renewable,” through its value chain businesses ranging from remanufacturing, used machinery sales and rental to services. In doing so, we strive to reduce the volume of waste emissions in diverse facets of our operations.
Product usage begins with the delivery of a new machine to customers and spans the lifetime of that machine. We aim to lengthen product life by 1.5 times. With this in mind, we are expanding our value chain businesses while striving to both maximize customer value and minimize resource consumption. Specifically, we will leverage the machinery monitoring system ConSite, a service solution that supports our unique strength. We will also promote parts and machine remanufacturing. We will thus strive to lengthen the machines’ useful lives from 10 years to 15 years. Such efforts help reduce the volume of waste emissions as well as the volume of resources needed, thus contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
With regard to the effective use of water resources, we are recycling water and reducing the amount of water used overall in our business activities (including fresh water). To reduce water use, we are working to optimize robotization and coating conditions. We also implement water conservation measures such as extending the service life of water used in painting facility and expanding the use of circulating water.
Hitachi Construction Machinery products and services that realize resource circulation
Parts Remanufacturing Business
Because construction machinery is operated for long hours in a variety of environments, the time it takes to replace or repair parts greatly affects the productivity of customers’ work sites. Hitachi Construction Machinery has operated a global business of remanufacturing parts such as hydraulic pumps, hydraulic cylinders, and travel device since 1998.
we manufacture refurbished parts that guarantee the same functionality and performance as new parts. Parts collected from customers are disassembled, serviced, and inspected, and consumable parts are replaced as needed. Advanced remanufacturing technologies can help reduce resource inputs by extending the life of components. In addition, we utilize our accumulated expertise to recondition discarded aircraft so that they are again the equivalent of new machines, which are then sold as used machines. This reduces the use of new materials and contributes to a new resource-recycling business model. Hitachi Construction Machinery Zambia is refurbishing ultra-large hydraulic excavators (EX1200) to make them as good as new. In addition, they are also working to remanufacture them as high-value products that reflect even minor changes in the product.
Remanufactured Parts Production Volume: Number of remanufactured part units produced
Rental and used equipment business
Hitachi Construction Machinery provides advanced maintenance services through ConSite during the usage period of PREMIUM RENTAL machines that are certified by Hitachi Construction Machinery. We extend the operational life of the machines and distribute them to emerging countries as PREMIUM USED, high-quality used machines with a manufacturer’s warranty. This contributes to reducing the number of discarded machines.
Parts and service business
Through the ConSite menu, we are working to extend the service life of machinery through appropriate maintenance using IoT. At the same time, we monitor the operation of each machine and make proposals to reduce fuel consumption through work improvement proposals, thereby contributing to the reduction of CO2.
Support for Product Retrofitting
Hitachi Construction Machinery endeavors to develop products that can improve the performance of machinery by adding systems and equipment to delivered machinery, contributing to the reduction of customers’ lifecycle costs and saving of resources.
For example, the EH AC-3 Series of rigid dump trucks can be retrofitted as “AHS-specification machinery” essential for automation in mine operation by adding the systems required for the mining dump truck autonomous haulage system (AHS) currently under development.
Furthermore, the ICT hydraulic excavator ZX200X-6, at the core of the ICT construction solution can be easily upgraded to 3D (three-dimensional) specification utilizing positional data from a satellite by installing additional equipment dedicated to 3D system, even if the customer is using a 2D specification machine.
Response to Water Risks
Water is an important resource, and the amount and quality of water that can be used varies from region to region.
In order to identify regions where there is a high-water stress level during business activities, the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group uses the AQUEDUCT tool released by the World Resources Institute, Water Risk Filter toll by World Wildlife Fund and local data to quantify the water stress level at all their production facilities both domestic and international, and identify regions of high water stress. Of the 21 facilities, two sites in Indonesia and China are in areas with high water stress.
Initiatives for effective use of water resources
Ongoing Initiatives
Regarding resource recycling, we announced that the company has decided to consolidate the domestic remanufacturing operations at Banshu Works (Kako, Hyogo Prefecture) which had been dispersed to Tsuchiura Works (Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture) and Hitachinaka Works (Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture) from fiscal 2024 to expand and develop the remanufacturing business on a global scale in the future. This consolidation of remanufacturing operations will allow us to utilize the facilities and space in two current remanufacturing plants to further increase the production capacity of new machinery and components.
As our initiatives to water resource, in order to recycle water, we will directly support leakage measures and recycle rate improvements with a focus on companies with especially high levels of water usage.
