High Quality is the Key for Recycling, Efforts by Fuji Xerox

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. is one of Japan's leading companies in the area of parts reuse. The company has started to reuse parts from older copiers in their new products in 1995, and in fiscal 2001 succeeded in having all new models include used parts from other machines. The average ratio of reused parts in all new models has reached 54 percent, exceeding 50 percent for the first time.

"While more than 50 percent of the parts in our copiers are reused, we can ensure the same high quality as those with 100 percent new parts," the company says with confidence. This has been made possible by the fact that Fuji Xerox has over the years developed techniques that allow it to predict the remaining life of parts after they have been used in a given machine.

For example, in the case of motors used in copiers, the company started by analyzing the statistics for 53,000 copiers regarding the breakdowns or repairs of the motors. Next, Fuji Xerox inspected motors that had been used already for one to five years, and estimated the motors' usable life from the amount of grease (lubricant) remaining. The results suggested that the motors have an average life of 13 years.

In addition, each used motor is inspected before it is installed in a new copier. The company developed its own method to detects even minor problems by analyzing the sound made by a motor in operation, and applies the same standards as for new motors in order to pass the inspection.

As a result of this thorough quality control, the company states that the failure rate of copiers with reused parts is the same as those with all new parts. Fuji Xerox credits its stringent quality control for making this high quality recycling possible.

http://www.fujixerox.co.jp/eng/ecology/report2002/2002e-04.pdf

Posted: 2002/11/08 06:07:48 AM
Japanese version