On February 22, Fujitsu Limited announced that Shimane Fujitsu Limited, which manufactures personal computers for the Fujitsu Group, passed the significant manufacturing milestone of 20 million computers. 

Shimane Fujitsu started operations on October 1, 1990 as a desktop computer manufacturing plant. In 1995, desktop computer production was transferred to Fujitsu Isotec Limited, and Shimane Fujitsu currently manufactures notebook computers, including LifeBook notebooks and Stylistic tablet computers, bringing outstanding “Made in Japan” products directly to international markets. 

While many of Japan’s computer manufacturers have moved manufacturing to outside contractors in foreign countries to reduce costs, Fujitsu continues to manufacture its high-quality notebook computers in Japan and handles its computers’ creation in-house, from the initial design of the circuit boards to manufacturing and final assembly, even tailoring solutions to meet customer needs. 

Since the introduction of the Toyota Production System in 2005, Shimane Fujitsu has shortened lead times, improved operations management, and reduced costs while maintaining quality, enabling the company to quickly launch new models in response to customer requirements. 

In August 2000, Shimane Fujitsu passed the 5-million milestone, and passed the 10-million mark in June 2003. On February 22, the company produced and shipped its 20 millionth computer, marking the occasion with a ceremony and the donation of notebook computers to the town of Hikawa and in the prefecture of Shimane, western Japan, where the plant is located. 

To read the entire press release about this important milestone, click here.

On March 24, Fujitsu Limited announced that it had become a Contributor Member of the Green Grid, the first Japanese company to take a leadership role in the global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems. 

The membership will help to promote Fujitsu’s initiatives to improve the energy efficiency of its data centers and its server and storage products, and support the company’s overall environmental goal of preventing global warming through the reduction of IT-generated carbon dioxide emissions. 

The membership is part of the overarching Green Policy Innovation initiative Fujitsu announced in December 2007, aimed at achieving a 7-million-ton reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010. To read more about the Green Gris Consortium and the Fujitsu Environmental Protection Initiatives, please go to this press release. 

On February 19, Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation and the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) announced that for the second year in a row, Keith Swenson, Fujitsu Computer Systems’ vice president of research and development, has been appointed the WfMC’s vice chairman (Americas) and technical committee chairman, and Dave Hollingsworth, managing solutions architect, Fujitsu Services, Ltd., has been named technical committee chairman emeritus. 

The Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) is the only standards body focused exclusively on workflow and business process management, and in 2008 will continue its work on promoting the adoption of its core standards, XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) and Wf-XML, and driving overall market awareness and implementation of workflow and BPM through on-going education programs and industry-wide collaborations. 

“The long-term involvement of Keith and Dave in the Workflow Management Coalition is of tremendous value to both the industry and Fujitsu,” said Ryosuke Mori, executive vice president, Software and Strategy, Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation. “They are playing a key role in ensuring that the industry stays focused on meeting the needs of customers, and they ensure our products conform to the most stringent industry standards and remain best-in-class.” 

To read more about Keith and Dave, and a link to the Workflow Management Coalition, click here. 

On February 20, Fujitsu Computer Systems announced that IDG’s Computerworld, the “Voice of IT Management,” had selected Fujitsu as one of the top Green-IT Companies for 2008. This honor is part of the IT media outlet’s very first Top Green-IT Companies feature, which was published in the February 18 issue of Computerworld and online at www.computerworld.com. Fujitsu was selected based on its approach to meeting environmental challenges. 

The Fujitsu Environmental Program develops employee, facility, and manufacturing-based environmental programs. In August of 2007, for example, the Fujitsu campus in Sunnyvale, Calif. installed a hydrogen fuel cell to significantly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, making Fujitsu the first Silicon Valley-based IT company to install its own hydrogen power plant. Since 1996, Fujitsu has published regular reports detailing the programs and results of its environmental protection activities. Fujitsu has made the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index eight years in a row, and the FTSE4Good Index Series five years in a row. By the end of fiscal 2009, all Fujitsu business units will increase the number of Super Green Products (those with the most advanced environmental-friendly characteristics) by at least 20 percent. For more information about Fujitsu’s environmental initiatives, be sure to visit the Fujitsu Environment page. 

“Fujitsu has a deep commitment to environmental responsibility, and we are proud of the leadership we’ve shown over the years, from reducing our carbon footprint, to eliminating lead and other harmful wastes from our supply chain and products, to broad recycling and reuse programs,” said Richard McCormack, senior vice president of marketing for Fujitsu Computer Systems. “We welcome being named among the top green IT-companies by Computerworld and we will continue to invest in innovation and programs that are both good for the environment and smart for our business.” 

To read the entire press release regarding this honor, click on this link. 

Further strengthening its initiatives to promote Green IT, Fujitsu Limited announced in December a new Green Policy Innovation project which aims to achieve a cumulative reduction of more than 7 million tons of CO₂ in the period from fiscal 2007 through fiscal 2010. 

Fujitsu will concentrate its know-how and technological resources in two areas: reducing the environmental burden of the IT infrastructure, and reducing customers’ environmental burdens through new IT applications. Going forward, the Company will introduce new products and services that will support these initiatives and allow customers to lessen their environmental burden, ultimately helping to curb global warming. 

Environmental issues—and particularly the problem of global warming—are a growing concern for the global society. In the IT field, the proportion of electric power consumed by IT continues to grow due to the widespread use of IT equipment and the increased demands of data centers. As a result, the development of an energy-saving infrastructure has become an urgent priority. There are also high expectations that new IT applications can help reduce society’s overall environmental burden; interest in “green IT” is only expected to intensify. 

Since its establishment, Fujitsu has regarded environmental protection as one of its most important priorities, and the Company has continuously engaged in environmental activities. Today, discharging its responsibility to society as an IT enterprise, Fujitsu is building on its past achievements to initiate the Green Policy Innovation project as a bold measure to assist its customers in reducing their environmental burden. 

To read the entire press release on this important initiative, go to this link on the Fujitsu web site.

One of the products that generated the most excitement at CES this year was the Fujitsu “corn” computer. The corn polymer computer was created by Fujitsu to utilize corn (or other plant-based materials) to create the plastic housing, thus resulting in a substance that bio-degrades much more quickly than other plastics. Given the emphasis placed on the environment at this show, people sought out the Fujitsu display to get a closer look. 

A number of reviewers took the opportunity to discuss bio-plastics in general with an emphasis on the “corn-puter”, including John C. Dvorak, who interviewed our own Richard McCormack. Other reviewers included Yahoo Tech, Geek.com, GreenBiz, and The Times and Democrat. Extensive coverage of the corn computer was also provided by local and national television stations. 

If you are interested in the technology behind Bio-Based Polymers, you can download a Fujitsu white paper here. 

Fujitsu is one of the sponsor companies for the Climate Savers Computing Initiative ^SM, which was formed in June of 2007. To date, more than 100 companies and organizations have joined, and the group has formed international sub-teams to expand its efforts in Japan, Europe, China and Taiwan. 

According to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative web site, the group is “a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations dedicated to improving the power efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of computers. 

“The average desktop PC wastes nearly half the power delivered to it. The Initiative’s goal is to achieve a 50 percent reduction in computer power consumption by 2010 by producing and purchasing power-efficient products and increasing the use of power management. According to industry analyst firm Gartner, the total PC power consumption per year for a well-managed 2,500-PC-strong organization is 50 percent lower than for an unmanaged one.” 

To join or read more about the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, be sure to visit the group’s web site here. 

Fujitsu is proud to have been chosen by Alltel as the company’s 2007 IT Supplier of the Year. This annual award recognizes the Alltel IT supplier that excels in service and support. In conferring the award, Alltel cited overall customer satisfaction, the Fujitsu commitment to aligning its strategies with Alltel’s need, and the Fujitsu desire to always make things right. 

“By properly aligning its server and storage strategies with our needs, Fujitsu Computer Systems has fully leveraged the relationship with Alltel and has delivered innovative solutions to help us drive down overall IT costs,” said Scott Searls, senior vice president of procurement and logistics at Alltel. 

To view the complete press release, please visit here.