As a corporate member of planet Earth, THK considers the environment
a valuable business resource.
As an active corporate member in the global market, THK believes
that we have an inevitable responsibility, in our management,
development and productive activities, to be earth, nature,
and environmentally conscious. One of THK's key tasks is to
develop technologies which help to preserve the earth's natural
environment by taking into account environmental concerns
in our planning and production activities.
For a company engaging in business in the 21st century, taking
environmental concerns into account is unavoidable. These
concerns are mainly addressed in the following two directions.
One direction has to do with the company's management policy,
which means taking actions for energy conservation and recycling
in the production process and corporate activities, in short,
better waste management. THK has started to initiate these
actions in every office and facility; this is particularly
evident at the domestic plants in Yamagata, Kofu and Yamaguchi
which have set policies regarding environmental issues and
are working with the local communities.
Another direction is to make contributions to the environment
through the merits of the products themselves. The particular
product which realizes this contribution is our "LM Guide."
By technological innovation of the rolling structure, a higher
level of energy conservation in machine tools becomes possible.
It also has excellent durability and, as a result, it leads
to reduced waste which results from the replacement of equipment
parts. (For more information on these environmentally concerned
products, please click here.)
THK sets high standards for our management, manufacturing
and products in order to address and to accommodate environmental
issues.
Illustration above: image of the telescope
Only these efforts can protect our planet
but we are not sure of what the future earth will look like.
In seeking to understand the future picture of the earth, the
planets which are several tens of thousand light years away
can give us some crucial hints. THK supports research into the
future condition of our planet through technologies. The National
Astronomical Observatory of Japan is conducting the world's
first large scale research project called the "VERA project"
to create a precise map of the galactic system. For the VLBI
Exploration of Radio Astrometry (known as VERA) used in this
project, "Arc Shape LM Guide" is utilized to support
the rotation movement of the huge and heavy dome. The telescope
is located in the following four places in Japan; Chichi island
in Ogasawara Islands, Mizusawa in Iwate prefecture, Iriki in
Kagoshima prefecture, and Ishigakijima in Okinawa prefecture.
We recommend seeing them in person if you have the chance.
On May 5th 2002, the website of the National Astronomical Observatory
of Japan announced the following news: "The observation
team which mainly consists of astronomers from the University
of Hawaii captured the state of the galactic system when the
universe was first created using the Subaru telescope."
The Subaru Telescope is an optical-infrared telescope located
on the 4,200m summit of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii. THK's
"LM Guide" technology is also used in this, world's
most sophisticated observatory, which has an enormous mirror
and utilizes various revolutionary technologies.
Walking with Mother Earth and helping to protect the environment,
is also our indispensable motivation.
For more details on each of our products, please refer to Product
Information.
For more information on the environmental actions taken by each
factory, please click
here.
