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Resource conservation is important to most modern companies that manufacture goods, and Nissan is no exception. Here we are looking at the process by which the scrap resulting from engine production is reclaimed to be melted down into base material to produce more engine blocks. |  |
Every little bit counts, as we see here, tail light design and construction have optimized to minimize waste and make the plastic assemblies easier to reuse/recycle. On the left, we are looking at an old Nissan March tail light which used sealant and a bolt in its installation compared to a new March tail light which replaces the sealant with a rubber gasket, resulting in quicker assembly/disassembly and enhanced ability for the assembly to be recycled/reused.
While we're on the subject of saving the earth, it is interesting to see that Nissan is also continually re-visiting and improving upon existing, more traditional forms of emissions reduction. With today's internal combustion engines being more efficient than ever, every possibility to further clean their exhaust is explored. In this case, catalytic converters. Here, we are looking at a cross-section of an older catalytic converter catalyst core, with cell wall thickness of 4.5 mil, slightly thicker than a sheet of newspaper.
In order to bring the catalyst up to operating temperature faster, Nissan has pioneered a way to produce a catalyst with thinner walls, in this case, 1.8 mil, which is thinner than a sheet of tissue paper. 
This cross-section of somewhat picked-at catalyst provides a view into the inside of an OEM-quality catalytic converter. >Pretty neat technology!
I'll leave you with this look down the hallowed hallway of the historic Nissan Headquarters building, check back next time as we journey to the Nismo Gallery!
