Our environmental goals include:

• Committing to halve our emissions by 2030
• Preventing and minimising water pollution
• Improving energy efficiency
• Reducing, reusing and recycling of waste

As the Group uses large volume of water in manufacturing of lead frames, it is vital that we take a strategic and environmentally sustainable approach to our supply and use of water.

To ensure effective use of water and prevention of water pollution, we installed wastewater treatment and recycling facilities in our manufacturing plants located in China (Shenzhen), Malaysia and Singapore. In 2015, more than 50% of the processed water from our lead frame operations was recycled.

ASMPT considers climate change an important environmental issue and actively works on increasing energy efficiency in our production processes. We set up a committee on a group level to co-ordinate and drive programs that help reduce energy consumption in all our facilities in 2012. Since then, the committee has implemented several initiatives to increase energy efficiency:

• Use of ice thermal tank to shift the peak power tariff rate to valley tariff rate
• Use of heat recovery from air compressors for manufacturing process
• Use of heat recovery from casting furnace
• Environment green refrigerant project
• Replacement of old chiller plant with energy-efficient units
• Adoption of VSD technology in constant speed air compressors
• Adoption of VSD technology in air-conditioned facilities in areas like chiller pumps, condenser pumps and cooling tower fans
• Installation of motion and light sensors in infrequently used areas
• Installation of LED lights
• Daily monitoring of production machines to ensure that they do not run at night without prior notice

In May 2012, ASMPT Singapore Pte. Ltd. introduced 'Green Office' concept in the 5th level of its building. It implemented double grazed glass, double roof Rockwool heat insulation and low energy LED light as well as upgraded the chiller plant of its air-conditioning system with an efficiency of less than 0.65kW/RT. Such measures resulted in a low ETTV (Envelope Thermal Transfer Value) of less than 50W/m2.

In 2014, the committee initiated new measures to further optimise energy consumption:

• Adoption of COOLNOMIX controls for air-conditioning systems -- prior to that some air-conditioning systems in various plants had adopted the COOLNOMIX controls which had resulted in a 30% reduction in energy consumption
• Implementation of daily alerts/reminders to employees to switch off PC after work -- a 19% reduction in electricity usage at night for Hong Kong plant upon full implementation

We managed to reduce the normalised energy consumption by more than 30% in 2015 as compared to the 2012 level.

We continued our efforts to maintain energy efficiency and incorporated it in designing a new building in Singapore. Completed in 2016, the new building is equipped with a highly intelligent Building Management system that monitors building security, control access, fire zones, lift operation, power consumption and compressed air system amongst others. The new building has been certified by the Singapore BCA (Building and Construction Authority) Green Mark as “Gold” for attaining high energy efficiency. The BCA Green Mark is a green building rating system to evaluate a building for its environmental impact and performance.

ASMPT proactively initiates waste-reduction measures with the aim of creating a sustainable society. To promote the re-use of parts and assemblies, we organise “Recycled Materials Collection Day” on a regular basis where wastes collected are reviewed for either internal reuse or disposal via external waste recycle collectors.

We also have a programme in place to reduce the consumption of packing materials such as plastic bags. We have reduced the consumption of plastic bags by 97% compared to the 2005-2007 average consumption level. Our SMT Solutions business also employs reusable and returnable packaging for the shipments from its suppliers in order to drastically reduce waste and save resources. Our waste reduction and recycle programmes have enabled us to manage our resources more effectively and minimise wastage.

We understand that making as many products as we do has a significant impact on the environment. Hence, we are always striving to make our products more environmentally friendly from design to manufacturing.

The Group sets guidelines on environmental design requirements for product development and has a comprehensive checklist for our product development teams to ensure relevant environmental factors have been taken into consideration during the product design stage. We also have a Design for Excellence (DFE) program in place which is a “health check” program for our products at the machine level on various design aspects since 2005. Under this programme, the Environmental Aspect and Design for Manufacturing are two of the critical design aspects to be assessed at product design stage. New products will be assessed according to a set of stringent criteria with grades given in order to drive improvement in product design with regards to environmental performance.

In addition, we also continuously enhance the product design and performance in relation to the environmental aspects across its entire lifecycle like improving the energy and resources efficiency of our products and solutions. For instance, while we have managed to steadily increase the performance of our placement machines, we have also succeeded in keeping the required energy at the given levels. This resulted in significant reduction in energy consumption per component placed over time. Another example is the automatic shut-down of compressed air and vacuum pumps during production breaks for SMT placement machines which helps conserve energy usage.

We also continually drive product improvements through:

Resource Conservation

We strive to reduce the use of raw materials by designing products with reduced weight and volume. In addition, we continually improve our manufacturing processes to reduce machine hours and use of materials in order to conserve resources. Our SMT Solutions Business continuously optimises logistics within the production plant, designing exceptionally compact assembly lines to minimise long transport routes and make the production floor infrastructure (i.e. water, electricity, lighting and air-conditioning) as efficient as possible.

Reuse and Recycle

Our products are made using reusable and recyclable ingredients where possible. For example, our SIPLACE SX is made using a chassis of cast mineral. Cast mineral consists mostly of natural materials. Compared with traditional cast iron, cast mineral requires 20 to 40% less energy in its production and up to 80% less energy in its recycling.

We also monitor closely the product lifecycle from product design to manufacturing to storage, packing and delivery to use and reuse to disposal so as to minimise its impact on environment. We are particularly proud that the average SIPLACE machine’s lifespan is twice as long as that of our competitors’ products*. One major contributor to extending our machines’ useful lifespans is SMT Solutions’ pre-owned equipment (POE) business where we refurbish used machines for many more years of productivity. In addition, our SIPLACE machines can be disassembled energy-efficiently, and any parts that are no longer usable can be properly disposed of or recycled.

* Provided that the equipment has been maintained accordingly to the manufacturer’s requirements.

Hazardous Substances Management

The electronics industry has been working towards complying with the new European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive which came into effect in July 2011. The new law is a revision of the RoHS Directive on the restriction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, namely lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and the flame retardants Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). The directive also expanded the coverage from several categories of electrical and electronic equipment including household appliances, IT and consumer equipment to all electronic equipment, cables and spare parts. The Group continues to work closely with our suppliers to ensure that our products comply with the RoHS directives.

In recognition for our continual efforts towards better environmental performance, the Group was awarded the ISO 14001 certification for our manufacturing facilities in China, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore and Malaysia.