The Fujikura Group established the Green-related product approval system to pursue development of environmentally friendly products from the perspective of protecting the global environment.
The Green Product Management Committee screens product environmental assessment check sheets submitted by each business unit and registers those that score at or above a certain level on the standards as Green-related products. A member of the Research and Development Unit is appointed as chairperson of the Green Product Management Committee and committee members are selected from each unit.

In FY 2022, 63 Green Mind products were reviewed across the group, and more than 300 related products were newly registered. As a result, the ratio of green-related products (total of Green Mind products and Green Products) to the sales of related business divisions has reached 58%.
A total of more than 4,000 green-related products have been registered since the system began in 2011.
This activity has spread to group companies, and we are currently collaborating with Nishi Nippon Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd., Suzuki Giken Co., Ltd., and Fujikura Printed Circuits Ltd., In the future, we will continue to collaborate with other group companies and increase the contribution of environmentally friendly products to our group's profits.

For certification of green-related products at our company, we use the environmental label type II specified in ISO14021.

Purpose of use: Smartphones, small electronic devices

Environmentally Friendly:Ultra-small connectors for connecting wiring and circuit boards inside small electronic devices such as smartphones. As electronic devices themselves become smaller and thinner, these connectors are also required to be smaller and thinner.
The FPC connector, which was newly registered as a Green Mind product in 2017, achieved a terminal pitch of 0.2 mm and a mated height of 0.55 mm while maintaining ease of connection and reliability by devising the shape.

Purpose of use: High-density optical cable for FTTx and large-scale data centers

Environmentally Friendly:SWR®, in which single optical fiber strands are intermittently bonded, forms a ribbon-like construction that can easily be reshaped. As a result, the slot protection used when bundling fibers into a cable is no longer needed and we were able to reduce the outer diameter and weight of the cables themselves by up to 60%.
We were also able to include a higher fiber count in cables using SWR® by reducing the diameter of fiber strands from 250μm to 200μm, without increasing the outer diameter of the cable. This also reduced the weight. Furthermore, by making the fiber pitch of SWR® the same for 250 μm fiber and 200 μm fiber, mutual fusion splicing is possible, contributing to improved workability during installation work.

Prurpose of use: Optical connector termination cabinets equipped with optical cables for data centers

Environmental Considerations: Fujikura successfully developed an optical termination cabinet that accommodates high density and is easy to maintain. This termination cabinet enables storage of 1.5x the number of optical fiber cords compared to similar products of other companies and contributes to resource conservation. Normally, when a cabinet is simply packed to high density, it makes it harder to insert and remove cables. However, the use of a sliding mechanism for the connector trays has made it possible to easily and safely insert and remove connectors without making maintenance more difficult. The use of SWR®/WTC® has also made it possible to use smaller-sized cables and has increased the number of fibers that can be inserted in racks and pass through ducts.

Purpose of use: Industrial Laser Processing

Environmentally Friendly: By downsizing the fiber laser module, which is the building block of high-power fiber lasers, we have achieved a downsizing of the final product, a cabinet-type high-power fiber laser. By reviewing the layout, design, and components within the fiber laser module, the footprint was reduced by 40% while increasing the laser output power. As a result, the volume and weight of a high-power fiber laser processing machine consisting of multiple units of this module have been reduced by 60% and 40%, respectively, compared to a conventional product of the same output. In addition, by reviewing the components used and optimizing the design, power consumption has been reduced by 20%. Assuming an annual operating time of 2000 hours, the annual power consumption can be reduced by 10,800 kWh per machine, which contributes to an annual reduction of approximately 6 tons of CO2 emissions.