AISIN’s Production Engineering Division is intensifying efforts to cut industrial waste and carbon emissions, setting a goal to halve unnecessary material output from FY2023 levels by 2030.
At its Shinkawa Kinuura Plant in Japan, engineers are demonstrating how localized process innovation can yield measurable environmental and economic gains.
The Shinkawa Kinuura site, which manufactures door locks and other body components, has focused on minimizing resin scrap produced during injection molding. Traditional challenges stemmed from “scrap shots,” defective parts created while molds warm to the correct temperature, and “purge lumps,” resin discharged during machine changeovers.
Production engineer Nobuhiro Takasu and his team introduced mold designs to limit offcuts and installed a plant-wide recycling system using existing crushers. A breakthrough came when they found that certain resins could be reprocessed if the retained material was molded rather than discarded. By reshaping purge lumps before thermal degradation occurred, the plant achieved a 75% reduction in resin waste compared with FY2021, cutting both raw material purchases and disposal costs.
CO₂ Reductions in Coating Processes
Alongside material savings, AISIN has also optimized its coating operations to curb energy use. At the Shinkawa Kinuura Plant, the spray booths for exterior door handles had high air-conditioning loads due to strict humidity and temperature controls.
Daiki Kondo, an engineer in the coating line, used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to analyze mist flow and redesign booth volume. By downsizing the workspace by 40% without affecting product quality, the team cut CO₂ emissions by about 62% from FY2013 levels, matching the performance of new equipment at a fraction of the cost. The retrofit maintained same-day production continuity and is now being shared with other AISIN facilities, including sites in Turkey and Mexico.
Extending Circular Practices to Suppliers
AISIN is also moving waste management beyond its own operations. Takasu noted that many suppliers struggled to recycle resin due to equipment and staffing constraints. The company launched a joint recycling system, offering crushing and manpower support while coordinating with material engineers, quality teams, and designers to align standards.
This initiative reduces disposal pressure across the supply chain and supports compliance with emerging rules on recycled content in resins. Knowledge transfer is expanding within the AISIN Group, notably to AISIN SIN’EI Co., which has replicated the coating booth energy improvements.
