Yamaha tries caps on for size
While plastic may be a ‘supporting act' to metal in motorcycle manufacturing, the technology behind it – in terms of recycling – is quite amazingYamaha has recently added plastic bottle caps collected in Japan to its recycle mix, with the material then used to produce black ‘functional’ parts of motorcycles -- those unsung heroes such as rear fenders and chain cases.
Most of the ‘bottled’ plastics parts are manufactured and sold in south-east Asia by Yamaha, with the new process put to use at Yamaha factories in south-east Asia for the first time this February.
Yamaha has been a long-time champion of recycled plastic as part of its production process, and the constant supply of bottle caps makes a lot of business, environmental and manufacturing sense.
“In my 32 years with Yamaha Motor, I have always been involved in work with plastics. I will reach retirement age next year, so I am especially happy now that I have been able to use the experience from my long years of working with plastic resin materials to make a contribution to society and the company,” says Katsumi Ikeda of the Manufacture Technology Division, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.
“As long as we are a company that has the word ‘Motor’ in our name, the limelight always seems to shine on the people involved in engine or other metallic parts development.
“That means those of us who work in the development of plastic resin parts tend to be the ‘supporting actors’.”
Not anymore, so it seems.
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