The Boao Asia Forum Annual Conference was held in Hainan on the 26th of 2024. In the midst of profound global economic restructuring, how to achieve high-quality economic development and simultaneous high-level environmental protection has become a key topic at this year's forum. "Green development," a concept garnering significant attention, has emerged as one of the core themes.
Green development serves as the foundation for high-quality development. Upholding the core value of "pursuing win-win outcomes," China's Samsung has resonated with the domestic industry for years by deepening cooperation along the industrial supply chain. This collaboration has propelled the green transformation and upgrade of industries, fostering high-quality development.
Seeking Benefits from "Green Initiatives" As a multinational technology company rooted in China for 32 years, Samsung has embraced green operations since its inception in the country. It has practiced the concept of sustainable development, integrating "green" into various aspects such as product research and development, corporate production and operation, and supply chain management. Samsung has achieved benefits in harmony with nature, realizing a "win-win" situation for both economic and social benefits, becoming an exemplary model of green operations for foreign enterprises.
According to the "2022 Samsung China Environmental Report," in 2022, Samsung implemented a total of 2041 energy-saving and emission reduction projects among its legal entities in China, saving approximately 97,000 tons of standard coal and reducing 350,000 tons of equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. This reduction is equivalent to the carbon emissions reduced by 20 million trees annually.
Taking Samsung Electronics (Suzhou) Semiconductor Co., Ltd. as an example, the company was the only enterprise in Suzhou Industrial Park to be honored as a "Green Supply Chain Management Enterprise" by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2022. The company has proposed an energy-saving model centered around engineers, fully tapping into the subjective initiative of on-site engineers and identifying a batch of effective energy-saving technological transformation projects. For instance, in reducing electricity consumption, through the implementation of projects such as "variable frequency motor transformation" and "improvement of compressed air drying tower regeneration process," the company has saved a cumulative total of 55.29 million kWh of electricity over the past three years, significantly improving various energy consumption indicators.
Samsung Semiconductor (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.
At Samsung Vision (Dongguan) Co., Ltd., in 2023, the company made significant progress in improvement projects such as "Efficiency Enhancement of Compressed Air System" and "Development of Production Management System with 'Reminder for Production Line Idle for 3 Days or More'," resulting in an annual electricity saving of approximately 5 million kWh. This saving is equivalent to the monthly electricity consumption of about 25,000 households, each consuming an average of 200 kWh per month. Alongside the reduction in energy consumption per unit of output, these initiatives also contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Meanwhile, at Samsung SDI (Xi'an) Power Battery Co., Ltd., the implementation of the "Secondary Utilization of Steam" project not only brings about annual savings of about 800,000 RMB but also delivers significant environmental and social benefits. In the project focused on improving the operation mode of horizontal centrifugal pump seal cooling water, the company opted for the relatively expensive water cooling method. As stated by the relevant personnel, "Compared to oil cooling, although water cooling requires a higher initial investment, it offers stable performance, and most importantly, it eliminates the need for hazardous waste disposal of used oil, making it more environmentally friendly."
Samsung SDI Xi'an Power Battery Co., Ltd. Achievements in Wastewater Recycling Technology
Innovation in technology is the "source of power" for sustainable development. Green factors and innovative genes are intertwined. Only by laying a solid foundation of "green" can we achieve high-quality development in the future. The driving force behind this lies in Samsung's technological innovation, and more importantly, the practical application of Samsung's technological achievements in various scenarios.
Samsung leverages its resources and leading advantages in the field of technology to invest in the research and development of cutting-edge sustainable development technologies. In order to reduce water consumption, Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Suzhou continuously conducts research and development on wastewater recycling technologies, such as employing the "membrane classification method" for comprehensive wastewater recycling. This process involves classifying and collecting different types of wastewater, utilizing full membrane recovery without the addition of chemicals. The treated wastewater is recycled back to the company's original ultra-pure water system, directly used in the production process. By 2022, the company's water usage had decreased by 610,000 tons compared to 2008.
Samsung Electronics (Suzhou) Semiconductor Visual Environmental Protection Equipment
In the realm of reducing carbon emissions, Samsung has heavily invested in innovative technologies for reducing carbon emissions processing facilities. To achieve more precise and real-time control over the company's water, electricity, and gas energy usage, Samsung Electronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. has pioneered the application of digital technology in production management. The established energy monitoring platform not only provides early warning, analysis, and notification of abnormal fluctuations in energy consumption but also enables intelligent and systematic management of equipment. Since its launch five years ago, the company has seen a 37.5% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of output and a 78% increase in the proportion of renewable energy in the organization's total energy consumption.
These are just glimpses of Samsung's efforts towards carbon neutrality. Earlier, Samsung established the Carbon Capture Institute, a pioneer in the semiconductor industry. The institute's primary task is to capture as much carbon emitted from semiconductor factories as possible and convert it into a usable resource. The developed technologies will first be applied to Samsung's semiconductor production lines after 2030, and later extended to other divisions and the supply chain, allowing more people to experience the fruits of Samsung's technological advancements in driving environmental sustainability.
Empowering industries with "green" initiatives While driving its own green transformation, Samsung, committed to the principle of "mutual benefit and mutual growth," plays a leading role in the chain by sharing resources, technology, and experience to provide more advanced and efficient solutions for supply chain enterprises, fostering a continuously growing and evolving supply chain ecosystem.
Supplier A, located in the Suzhou Industrial Park, is one of the core partners of Samsung Electronics (Suzhou) Semiconductor in promoting the "supply chain ecosystem." "Since our collaboration began in 2011, with Samsung's guidance and assistance, we have established a quality management system and promoted the systematization of supplier management," said the company's spokesperson. "Through technical exchanges and experience sharing with Samsung, we clearly recognize the importance of automation advancement. Therefore, we started comprehensive investment in board receiving machines in 2017, with the completion rate jumping from 25% in 2017 to 100% in 2020. By building platforms for digitization and automation, we have transitioned from extensive management to refined management." Alongside the upgrading and development of Samsung products, Supplier A's technology and quality have also grown and improved synchronously through long-term cooperation with Samsung.
It is reported that Samsung extends its green business philosophy to supply chain management, such as collaborating annually with domestic environmental public welfare organizations to encourage key suppliers to disclose information on pollutants and carbon emissions; providing continuous training on product environmental policies to key suppliers through the developed raw material supplier management system, etc. With Samsung's guidance, Supplier A has achieved significant results in energy conservation and emission reduction. In 2023, the company strengthened its reuse rate of recycled water, introduced triple-effect evaporation and filter cake drying to reduce waste disposal, and reused 1.24 million tons of water, with a recycled water utilization rate of 51.1%, demonstrating the maximization of resource recycling achievements.
"Samsung has done a lot of work to enhance its cooperation with supply chain partners, such as in quality management, cost management, information management, product innovation design, and so on, providing much assistance," said Supplier B of Samsung Electronics in Suzhou. "Especially in terms of social responsibility, Samsung has provided a lot of support."
The supplier revealed that Samsung arranges professionals to provide free guidance to the company, facilitating continuous improvement and forming good operational habits. For example, in 2022, Samsung Suzhou held the "IPE 2022 Supplier Concentrated Training Activity," focusing on the policies and regulations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sharing enterprise self-inspection points and good cases, enabling suppliers to understand how to conduct greenhouse gas accounting and disclosure using digital technology. It is through such thoughtful and meticulous cyclical training that Samsung continuously strengthens the environmental awareness of supplier enterprises and urges them to better standardize their operations. At the same time, Samsung arranges experts from different fields to provide coaching and assistance every year, truly embodying Samsung's core value of "pursuing win-win outcomes."
Suzhou Samsung Electronics wastewater pretreatment facility
Samsung China empowers "green" initiatives by considering the entire supply chain, integrating upstream and downstream aspects of the industrial and innovation chains. Through continuous technological integration and industry collaboration, it eliminates weaknesses and enhances the modernization of the supply chain. This optimization creates an environment conducive to the development of the supply chain, fostering innovation, higher added value, and increased safety and reliability. It provides imaginative development space for China's high-quality development.
