Chapter2 At Seiko Epson, we dedicate ourselves to contributing to the environment while manufacturing our products. | Our Journey

At Seiko Epson, we dedicate ourselves to contributing to the environment while manufacturing our products. contributing to the environment while manufacturing our products.

Chapter 2

It's the promise we made to Suwa.

We were born from a land surrounded by nature's magnificence, with a lake
spreading out before us. Even we who knew only this place easily understood the
beauty of the environment. The company founder, Hisao Yamazaki, pledged never
to pollute Lake Suwa. We must preserve its beauty. Nature, despite its majesty, is
delicate and vulnerable. Regardless of how masterfully we create, our value
diminishes if we destroy nature.

Fortunately, we were born in harmony with our community and nature. Lake Suwa
emerged from tectonic activity as a portion of the Earth lifted and split away
Millions of years ago. Naturally, Suwa has its past and a present. Yamazaki made his
promise to Lake Suwa in exchange for the ability to manufacture in the area. As a
result, his vision has survived generations and produced our values. Without nature,
our business would not be possible.

When we look around, we see stately trees reaching high into the sky. Listen
carefully, and life is all around. Even today, Lake Suwa is brilliant. Nature's bounty
in the right place and the right time. Our craftsmanship has reached every corner of
the world, and we continue to create while tackling the toughest global issues.

Fortunately, we were born in harmony with our community and nature. Lake Suwa emerged from tectonic activity as a portion of the Earth lifted and split away Millions of years ago. Naturally, Suwa has its past and a present. Yamazaki made his promise to Lake Suwa in exchange for the ability to manufacture in the area. As a result, his vision has survived generations and produced our values. Without nature, our business would not be possible.

When we look around, we see stately trees reaching high into the sky. Listen carefully, and life is all around. Even today, Lake Suwa is brilliant. Nature's bounty in the right place and the right time. Our craftsmanship has reached every corner of the world, and we continue to create while tackling the toughest global issues.

Article

Do not pollute Lake Suwa.
It's about manufacturing
in harmony
with nature.

Since our founding, our mission
has been to
contribute to our
environment,
manufacturing
in harmony with nature.

“We must never pollute Lake Suwa.” These are the words of our founder, Hisao Yamazaki. To develop our business on these shores nestled in nature, we developed a harmonious relationship with the local community and work to preserve the environment - our mission from the beginning.

We clean our wastewater to preserve Lake Suwa, and in the 1970s, we set in-house, voluntary environmental standards that were stricter than the legal and regulatory limits to prevent pollution.

As a manufacturer, creating and delivering new products alone often negatively affects the environment. However, balancing environmental preservation with operations has always been the heart of our business at Seiko Epson. It's a culture passed down from generations that has remained intact as our global business developed and expanded.

Technology and information
have little value
without humanity
and creativity.

In the 1980s, as awareness of risks to the ozone layer became an issue, Seiko Epson became the first company in the world to pledge to go CFC-free. Tsuneya Nakamura, the former CEO, said, “We cannot use something that we know is hurting the environment. Technology and information have no value in themselves but only become useful and valuable through humanity and creativity in the hands of people who use them.” In 1992, the company achieved a complete elimination of specified CFCs for cleaning in Japan, and the following year achieved it worldwide.

Nakamura said, “In the absence of effective substitutes, our CFC-free activities, which went forward without clear prospects for success, challenged the possibilities. We received the US Environmental Protection Agency's Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award, which I accepted in Washington on behalf of all our employees. This was a memorable experience.”

Eighty years after our establishment, our beliefs and values remain unwavering. In 2016, we launched the Paper Lab A-8000, an office papermaking system that destroys confidential documents and recycles paper in a dry process, thus conserving a precious resource, water.

Also, we have included co-creation and sustainability in our long-term vision statement. Our Environmental Vision 2050 states that we will become carbon negative and underground resource free - a lofty goal that we intend to accomplish.

What social issues can we solve
through our technology?

A small company born from an area rich with nature has grown through coexisting with its local community, continuing to work toward solving social issues today, in 2022.
The ideas that have guided our company since its founding remain steadfast within our current management philosophy, which we express as “The Earth is Our Friend.”