AMITA HOLDINGS to Build State-of-the-Art Plant for Circular Materials in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture : Fully automated manufacturing to deliver value-added products and services

AMITA HOLDINGS CO., LTD., today announced that it will invest 1.4 billion yen to build a state-of-the-art, fully automated plant that will recycle industrial waste and byproducts into value-added circular materials. The new plant will be built on the premises of the Himeji Sustainable Resource Management Center in Hyogo Prefecture, operated by its subsidiary AMITA CIRCULAR CORPORATION.

At the planned plant, autonomously operating heavy cranes will handle the lifting, lowering, and moving of raw materials and finished products on site, without the need for human operators. Furthermore, the greater use of DX solutions will enable us to become more flexible in receiving and recycling a wider variety of industrial waste in smaller quantities. We will also be able to develop new circular products and customize circular materials to meet business users' diverse needs and requirements for sustainable procurement. The new plant is scheduled to become operational in July 2026, laying the groundwork for the AMITA Group's Circular Model 3.0, in which the Group plans to fully automate the manufacturing of circular materials by the end of FY 2027.

As a next step, we will evolve the Circular Model 3.0 into Circular Model 4.0, which will represent a compelling business case for a circular economy. Circular Model 4.0 will be aided by AI and other digital solutions to keep track of available industrial waste and business needs for circular materials across the supply chain. This will enable us to operate a streamlined and optimized end-to-end process for receiving industrial waste, recycling it into circular materials, and delivering them to corporate users.

1．Innovations and Circular Model 3.0

Innovations to be incorporated into the planned plant

①Provide customized services to meet increasingly diverse and demanding industrial needs for circular materials

Need of corporate users for circular materials
⇒Growing need for sustainable procurement, driven by surging demand for raw materials amid depleting natural resources, an unpredictable global geopolitical landscape, and the rapid economic growth of emerging countries
⇒More diverse and stringent requirements for circular materials

Need of business operators in disposing of industrial waste
⇒Closed-loop recycling of a wider variety of industrial waste in smaller quantities, which is an inevitable consequence of the demise of mass-production, mass-consumption business models

②Make our circular materials business more sustainable

Fully automated manufacturing will enable us to provide a better working environment on the shop floor, better manage staffing needs, and achieve carbon-neutral operations.

Evolution of Circular Model from 1.0 to 4.0

２．Anticipated benefits of the planned plant

The new plant will manufacture cement alternative materials and fuels for cement producers, using autonomously operating heavy lift cranes. The plant is scheduled to become operational in July 2026, and its manufacturing lines will become fully automated※1　(Circular Model 3.0) by the end of FY 2027. Beyond that, we will consider applying digital solutions implemented at the new plant to the Group's other Sustainable Resource Management Centers to convert them into automated, more flexible manufacturing facilities. Our future considerations include offering the system for fully automated plant operations as a packaged solution to businesses seeking labor-saving opportunities.

※1：Unloading of materials from trucks in a warehouse or their transfer to manufacturing lines not included.

Benefit 1 : Greater value and variety of circular materials

The use of heavy lift cranes will eliminate the need for heavy machinery and its working space on the shop floor, providing a larger space for the storage of received industrial waste and manufactured circular models. The ability to store a wider variety of raw materials and finished products at any given time means that we will be able to manufacture customized circular materials of greater variety to meet business customers' sustainable procurement need.

Benefit 2 : Improved working environment

Fully automated manufacturing will eliminate the need for heavy-machinery operators, who could be exposed to accident and dust-inhalation risks. The mitigation of those risks is expected to bolster plant employees' level of job satisfaction and result in the better recruiting of, and a higher retention rate of, skilled workers. Employees replaced by fully automated operations will be reassigned to the Group's other businesses deemed essential in our Medium-Term Management Plan. This will give us an opportunity to enhance the Group's enterprise value.

Benefit 3 : Carbon-neutral operations

Manufacturing at the new plant will be powered by electricity generated by renewables, achieving carbon-neutral operations.

※2. To power heavy machinery; ※3. To power mixers; ※4. To power heavy cranes, mixers, and forklifts

Benefit 4 : Reduced manufacturing costs over time

We anticipate that the use of cranes, the switch to electricity, and fully automated manufacturing will reduce maintenance costs of heavy machinery, fuel costs, and labor costs. These combined savings are expected to reduce manufacturing costs in the medium and long term.

３．Overview of Circular Model 4.0

Circular Model 4.0 is designed to, with the aid of generative AI, streamline and optimize the end-to-end process for receiving industrial waste, and manufacturing, shipping, and delivering circular materials. This will be made possible by digital solutions that network business operators who generate and supply industrial waste, corporate users of circular materials, and trucking companies, in order to keep track in real time of information they provide about industrial waste and circular materials across the supply chain. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan has been promoting "Ouranos Ecosystem", a public-private collaborative initiative to build a cross-industry interoperable data infrastructure designed to optimize entire supply chains, as a step toward achieving a circular society. AMITA's Circular Model 4.0 is similar in spirit and purpose to this national project.

Conceptual Diagram of Circular Model 4.0

4．About the AMITA Group's circular materials business

The AMITA Group recycles industrial waste and byproducts into value-added alternative circular materials. In this business, we assist corporate customers in achieving double-zero emissions (zero-waste emissions and zero-GHG emissions), as well as in achieving sustainable procurement and circular business operations.

For media inquiries about this release, please contact

AMITA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
PR Team：Ms. Iguchi / Ms. Kojo
Email：press@amita-net.co.jp

For inquiries about AMITA's manufacturing of circular materials and associated services, please contact

AMITA CIRCULAR CORPORATION
Mr. Kamatani / Mr. Oku
Email：supportcenter_w@amita-net.co.jp

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