Situation

The plant lies close to the city of Los Andes, in an industrial zone, but it is also close to residential areas (east), to a school (south) and to farmland (south-west). It stands next to a Peugeot car manufacturing plant. The covered area of the entire site totals 14,000m². The town of Los Andes is 75 km north of Santiago, the capital city.  The plant produces and assembles gearboxes.

Initial ISO 14001 certification earned in 2003.

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Water consumption

A bore well belonging to the plant is used to provide industrial water. 

The increase in the site’s water consumption is directly linked to the sharp 75% increase in production in 2007.

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Water-borne effluents

The site has separate drains for stormwater and wastewater from toilets, showers and the cafeteria. Industrial wastewater is treated by a specialized company. Several actions have helped reduce liquid effluents:

• Treating all effluents before sending them directly to the municipal system. Since 2003, the plant introduced the "zero industrial waste" approach.

• A treatment plant for aqueous waste was opened at the beginning of 2005, which is reducing the quantity of polluting liquid residues sent for outside treatment.

• The plant committed to a "zero industrial waste" approach, mainly through recovery of soluble oils. The municipality does not consider that the site generates significant emissions to water.
  

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SO2 and greenhouse gas emissions

 

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Waste

Variations in the quantity of waste are linked to fluctuations in the output of the plant for its main customers: Renault Brazil, Nissan Mexico, Renault Argentina, Sofasa Colombia and Proton Malaysia. Follow-up sheets are used to track the transport and final destination of industrial waste. All waste is managed by a specialized company.

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Energy

In the past few years, the site implemented actions to reduce its energy consumption, such as installing a system that automatically switches off lights and disconnects machines when they are not being used.

The increase in the site’s water consumption is directly linked to the sharp 75% increase in production in 2007.

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Highlights