‘Eco-friendly’ guidelines distributed at RE100 announcement
Creates waves in semiconductor materials and PCB manufacturing
Maximizes resource circulation… ‘high alert’ in response
Subsidiaries of Samsung Electronics will be reorganizing the supply chain management (SCM) of parts and materials to be eco-friendly. Reusing and recycling will be increased massively. Samsung Electronics began conducting full investigations on key partnered parts suppliers to see the rate of reusing and recycling materials and parts. Materials involved in packaging and logistics are included in the range of investigations. Samsung regularly distributes environmental guidelines to partners.
The full investigation began soon after Samsung Electronics announced their joining of RE100 on the 15th of this past month. RE100 is a global campaign that aims to have 100% of the power companies use be renewable energy. It has been evaluated that key partners of Samsung in semiconductor materials, printed circuit boards (PCB), and modules are responding to the resource circulation rate investigation. As an example, the gold and tin used in PCBs can be recycled through special processing. The recycling process for some materials have a high cost. It is not uncommon for companies to be reluctant to recycle.
After completing the investigation of the resource use status of their partners, it appears that Samsung will share the details of their eco-friendly guidelines. It is expected that guidelines that will maximize the rates of reuse and recycling of all materials and parts used in finished product manufacturing will be distributed soon.
Partners are closely watching Samsung’s movements. This is due to the announcements in changes in material and parts manufacturing and procurement. It has been said that Apple declared their joining of RE100 a few years ago and strongly pushed for resource circulation in their Korean partners. Some partnered industries that have been dealing with Apple and other US companies have already responded to resource reuse early on. Starting with Samsung Electronics, it is expected that key Samsung subsidiaries will emphasize eco-friendly management, and there will be a big paradigm shift in the Korean parts and materials industries.
Samsung Electronics reviewed the situation with Russian resources in partnered industries. The procurement status of key resources like tungsten were investigated. Tungsten is a key material often used in electronic parts. As the Russia-Ukrainian war is predicted to become long-term, orders to look for replacements have been made. The next year is also expected to have changes in the overall supply chain in line with the establishment of business plans. A spokesman of the material industry said, “With resource circulation, not only is it possible to achieve carbon neutrality, but it is also possible to see production cost reductions,” and went on to say, “Samsung appears to be pressing for high-intensity resource recycling on the level of US companies soon, and we are making preparations accordingly.”
By Staff Reporter So-ra Park srpark@etnews.com, Reporter Yoonsub Song sys@etnews.com