Koito Manufacturing Receives the Director-General of the Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the 10th Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Awards for Developing the World's Thinnest and Lightest Headlamp Lens

Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, President: Michiaki Kato) has received the Director-General of the Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the 10th Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Awards for the "Development of the world's thinnest and lightest headlamp lens using Light Green Polycarbonate (PC)."

The "Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Awards" is a program that recognizes particularly outstanding individuals across all generations involved in "monodzukuri" (manufacturing), including mid-career personnel who are the core of manufacturing and production sites, highly skilled personnel who support traditional and cultural crafts, and younger personnel who will lead the future. The award was established in 2005 through the collaboration of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, marking its 10th edition this year. This is the third time our company has received this award.

To contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society, our company promotes "manufacturing that is kind to people and the earth" by reducing the environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle. In recent years, headlamps have tended to increase in weight as they become more multifunctional and larger. Therefore, to reduce weight, we focused on thinning the headlamp lens, which accounts for a high percentage of the component's weight.

To thin the lens, we developed a new material, "Light Green® PC," which can be molded at high temperatures, increasing the fluidity of the resin. At the same time, we improved the cooling performance of the molds and developed a molding method that prevents defects such as deformation caused by rapid cooling while maintaining the cycle time, thereby achieving the world's thinnest and lightest headlamp lens. Since this lens can be manufactured using existing molding machines, it has been deployed in five major global regions and has been adopted in all vehicles that entered mass production from fiscal 2022 onwards.

Our company will continue to strive for further environmental impact reduction throughout the product lifecycle and contribute to a sustainable society.

[Award Details] Award Title: "Development of the world's thinnest and lightest headlamp lens using Light Green Polycarbonate" Awardees (7 individuals): Kenta Sugiyama (Production Control Dept.) Takashi Furui (Research Laboratory) Masafumi Katayama (Production Engineering Dept.) Yuichi Ikeya (Sagara Plant Parts Manufacturing Dept.) Hiroya Ito (Fujikawa Machinery & Tools Dept.) Hideaki Yamamoto (Research Laboratory) Eiji Matsubara (Production Engineering Dept.)

Headlamp using the awarded Light Green® PC Automotive headlamp Headlamp lens using Light Green® PC

Effects of thinner and lighter lenses: Mass: 20% reduction compared to conventional products CO2 reduction effect*: 3.0 kg per vehicle; 48,000 tons (estimated based on vehicles adopting the lens in 2023) Safety performance improvement: 40% reduction in damage to a pedestrian's thigh in the event of a collision between a car and a pedestrian *Estimated for an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle used for 10 years with a driving distance of 120,000 km.