We have established a system that can calculate CFP from scratch, broadening the scope of proposals to customers and considering initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions.
We have established a system that can calculate CFP from scratch, broadening the scope of proposals to customers and considering initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions.
Person in charge (department and title at the time of interview)
Managing Director, General Manager of Electrical Service Division
Mr. Eiji Kakutani
Deputy Director of Rebuild Center
Mr. Norihiro Matsushita
As the nation aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, an increasing number of companies are working to calculate their Carbon Footprint of Products (CFP).However, there are cases where people try to do it themselves only to find that the accuracy is low or it takes too much time. We interviewed Maekawa Company, a company that sells, installs, and maintains automotive electrical parts and also handles environmentally friendly rebuilt products, about the reasons for introducing Zeroboard, the effects it has had, and future plans.
Issue/Introduction background
Opportunities for business partners to ask about environmental initiatives have increased, and the company has felt the need to take action.
I didn't know where to start because I had no knowledge of CFP calculations.
It was difficult to calculate on my own, so I needed support.
The deciding factor for adoption
Providing thorough support when you have questions or enquiries
Easy to use tool
A system where you can ask questions and get advice from experts
Effects after implementation
By working with Zeroboard, I was able to understand the flow of CFP calculations and make decisions on classification, etc.
Increased awareness of environmental issues within the company
Now that we have a product with CFP calculation, it is easier to propose it to companies working towards carbon neutrality.
Since I had no knowledge of CFP, I consulted with Zeroboard, which has experts.
--Please tell us the background to the introduction of Zeroboard and the Issue.
Mr. Eiji Kakutani (hereinafter referred to as Mr. Kakutani) :Our company started out repairing automobiles, and we also handle environmentally friendly rebuilt products. Rebuilt products are electrical equipment that has outlived its usefulness and is repaired by skilled craftsmen to be restored to the same performance as a new product. We have a lineup of products that can handle everything from general vehicles to construction machinery and special refrigeration vehicles, and we have always been committed to being eco-friendly.
We wanted to create products that would make CO2 emission amount visible by calculating CFP, but because we didn't have the knowledge, we thought it would be difficult to calculate it on our own.
Customers sometimes ask me if I am working on CFP calculations, and I realized that without numbers, it is not persuasive. Also, I thought that providing environmentally friendly products and Service would lead to fulfilling the social responsibility of a company, so before I met Zeroboard, I was searching for a good way to do it.
Zeroboard's excellent user interface and expert support and advice are the deciding factors
── What made you choose Zeroboard?
Mr. Kakutani : There are many details, such as the Ministry of the Environment's guidelines, and I thought it would be difficult to work on the CFP calculations on my own. Of course, it is necessary to calculate in accordance with the rules, so I decided to get help from Zeroboard, where I could expect support from experts.
Mr. Norihiro Matsushita (hereinafter, Mr. Matsushita)：I started without knowing anything, so I thought it would be difficult. There were terms, numbers, and units that I had never heard before, but one of the reasons I decided to join Zeroboard was that I felt they provided great support when I asked questions or asked for advice.
I first became aware of environmental issues through talk about fluorocarbons. After that, I continued to see issues such as the Kyoto Protocol, climate change, and the extreme heatwaves around us, and I felt that these were Issue that we had to address.
We learned how to interpret the guidelines and how to make judgments, allowing us to calculate smoothly.
──Please tell us about the effects of introducing Zeroboard.
Mr. Matsushita : Thanks to the generous support from the Zeroboard staff, we were able to come up with figures for one product as our first initiative.The hardest part was calculating the cost of each part. That was the process of inputting the data into the Zeroboard screen. It took a long time to go through the details to get accurate data.
Some products have a large number of parts,Without the knowledge of Zeroboard, it would have been difficult to come up with the final figures on my own. Another appealing feature is that it is an easy-to-read and easy-to-use tool.
Mr. Kakutani : How should we interpret the guidelines? To what extent should we include waste generated when producing rebuilt products in CFP calculations? It was difficult to make decisions on our own, so we were grateful for the environment where we could ask questions to experts. We were able to proceed smoothly thanks to the clear explanations.
Before we started working on Zeroboard and quantifying our emissions, we felt proud that we were doing something good for the global environment, but it was difficult to communicate this to our customers and other stakeholders. Since we were able to provide numerical figures for emission amount, we have been able to present them in an easy-to-understand way. Thanks to this, we have received very positive feedback from our customers.
While the automotive industry as a whole is making progress in its efforts to reduce CO2 emission amount, this has not yet spread to our repair and maintenance field. That's why people are often surprised by how advanced our efforts are. We are currently exploring how we can use the fact that we can now quantify this to offer our customers not only quality and price, but also other beneficial proposals.
By clearly indicating the CFP, we are responding to the expectations of companies that are committed to ESG management, and we are also considering efforts toward decarbonization.
--Please tell us about your future plans. What about your efforts toward decarbonization?
Mr. Matsushita : We are calculating the CFP for each of our 6,000 or so different products, and for those with high CO2 emission amount,,We would like to consider revising our approach to keep this down in the future. As a secondary effect, we now disassemble parts on-site and examine them carefully to calculate the costs, which has allowed us to separate waste more precisely. We would like to continue to make efforts to address small but definite environmental issues like this.
Mr. Kakutani : Once CO2 emission amount become clear, it may become possible to change the products we make.We clearly display the CO2 emission amount of rebuilt products within the company, so you can see that even the same product can vary depending on the type.The motivation of our employees has also increased. If we can think of ways to reduce CO2 emissions in automobile-related Service and lead to new initiatives, our corporate value will increase. It has also given us an opportunity to think about making our factories more energy-efficient and switching to renewable Energy sources for electricity.
Mr. Matsushita : Zeroboard staff visited us when necessary, so we were able to understand the flow of CFP calculations and proceed while checking each step. We would like to continue to promote visualization and communicate that Maekawa is making proactive efforts to address environmental issues and decarbonization.
Mr. Kakutani : Our rebuilt products are made from recovered parts of varying quality, and are made by skilled craftsmen who have established our own high maintenance standards for disassembly, cleaning, and assembly. Our technical capabilities have been improving year by year, and by starting to work with Zeroboard, we believe we have been able to create a new product that incorporates CFP elements.
We are hearing more and more about our customers' efforts to become carbon neutral. We will continue to work to meet the expectations of companies that are committed to ESG management by providing environmentally friendly products that have been CFP-calculated.
