Volkswagen’s ‘Think Blue,’ a holistic approach to vehicle production focuses on creating environmental friendly products and solutions, contributing to a sustainable future. Volkswagen Group has over 25 models in India produced from two plants – Pune and Aurangabad. The Pune plant has a manufacturing capacity of 150,000 cars per year, currently manufacturing the Polo, Vento and ŠKODA Rapid.
Mahesh Kodumudi, chief representative Volkswagen Group India, and president and managing director, Volkswagen India Private Limited, said, “We are on the right track towards achieving our set goals for reducing the impact on environment due to manufacturing processes. Our results are showing how effective our strategies are. We have made ‘Think Blue’ a part of day-to-day working at our Pune Plant.” This initiative aims to reduce the impact on environment due to manufacturing processes by 25 percent per car globally.
The results delivered at this Chakan plant include:
– Reduction in specific waste generation. Compared to 2012, specific waste generation has been reduced by 21.8 percent (8.4 kg/car in 2012 to 6.57 kg/car in 2013). This reduction was achieved by cutting down moisture content from paint sludge through centrifuge, and further recycling the sludge to produce primer as a by-product.
– Reduction in specific water consumption. The water utilised per car came down from 5.4m3 to 4.46m3, there was a total reduction of 14.8 percent in fresh water consumption during the production process of each car. Water saving measures include optimised flow of water through special faucets and reuse for various systems.
– Reduction in specific energy consumption (10.8 percent) and Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (10 percent). Successful progress was made in areas of energy consumption which effectively reduced CO2 emissions. From utilising 1,016 kWh energy per car, the consumption was brought down to 914 kWh by optimising usage of electricity throughout the plant and arresting compressed air leakages. With lesser energy being consumed, there was also a direct reduction in CO2 emissions.
– Reduction in Specific Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions. A number of measures have been chalked out to cut down VOC emissions in the coming years. Through pilot projects, results from these measures will be calculated, and best practices implemented to curb such emissions.
Andreas Lauenroth, executive director – Technical, Volkswagen India Private Limited, affirmed, “We have various projects under investigation and we will go on implementing them once we have evaluated the savings from each one. There will be no compromise in our commitment towards the environment.”
