ON Semiconductor: Conservation for Sustainability

Some call it “environmental sustainability,” but it is really is about business sustainability.  Our customers expect the best quality at the lowest price.  Our communities expect us to have the smallest possible footprint; this means low water and electricity consumption and no or reduced emissions and waste.  ON Semiconductor must conserve resources to meet these high expectations.

In 2009, ON Semiconductor kicked off an environmental sustainability program by hosting a conference with all site Facilities and Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) managers.  At the time, the global economy was in a slump, but ON Semiconductor’s commitment to conservation and sustainability was strong.  The initial focus was water and energy conservation, and chemical waste reduction.  The program has matured over the years and now targets many more conservation opportunities, including material optimization and recycling. 

At five-year increments, ON Semiconductor sets new conservation targets and each site establishes site-specific goals to support these company targets.  Because these conservation goals can be dependent on production rates, most of the targets are normalized to show more accurate trending.  Relative to 2015, by 2020, the company expects reductions as follows:

• Carbon Footprint: -5% (normalized as grams of carbon dioxide equivalent/unit)
• Electricity: -5% (normalized as kilowatt hours/unit)
• Water: -5% (normalized as liters/unit)
• Process Chemicals: -3% (normalized as kilograms/unit)
• Facility Chemicals: -5% kilograms (absolute)

There were over 200, very diverse, conservation projects in 2018.  These included improvements such as removing and/or replacing equipment that is not energy-efficient.  Some sites reduced the amount of chemicals used in manufacturing processes, while other sites replaced chemicals with chemicals that have a lower impact (e.g. power global warming potential or are less hazardous).  ON Semiconductor saved $7,315,129 USD as shown below:

And, 2019 is shaping up to be an excellent year as well with over 160 projects so meeting our five-year targets seems to be well within our grasp.

Read more about ON Semiconductor’s conservation programs in our 2018 Corporate Social Responsibility Report.