Situation

The plant is located in the industrial zone of Ruitz, in the municipal districts of Houchin and Ruitz, 10 km from Béthune and 50 km from Lille. Société de Transmissions Automatiques is located on an agricultural plain. It occupies an area of 48.2 ha of which 13.5 ha are covered, and in which the buildings occupy an area of 10 ha. The plant’s main activities are powertrain manufacturing, machining and stamping.

Initial ISO 14001 certification earned in 1999.

ISO 14001-2004 certification earned in 2006. 

Download :

- environmental statement 2005 (french/english)

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Water consumption

The installation of new-generation cooling towers, that operate empty outside the summer season, has reduced the site's water consumption by 24% since 2006.

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Water-borne effluents

The chart above reflects solely sanitary wastewater discharges before treatment by the local urban treatment plant. Since 1997, the plant has reprocessed its industrial discharges and recycled them in the manufacturing process.

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SO2 and greenhouse gas emissions

The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is the result of efforts carried out in order to reduce the plant's energy consumption. SO2 emissions are at a very low level.

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Volatile organic compounds emissions from paint process

graphic 

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Waste

The increase in activity since 2001 has resulted in an overall increase in waste. In 2002 and in 2005, construction sites and earthwork generated an increase in inert waste.

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Energy

The reduction in the consumption of gas since 2004 is the result of investments made to rationalize office heating and for hot water. Since 2006, efforts deployed in the plant to control energy consumption made it possible to reduce energy consumption, despite a substantial increase in production.

In 2007, the plant made a first step towards using renewable energy, with the installation of solar panels for the production of domestic hot water.

 

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Highlights

 

• Evaporation using mechanical vapour compression

The Société de Transmissions Automatiques (STA) was in 1997 the first mechanical industrial site to produce zero liquid effluents due to its adoption of the evaporation technique.  More precisely, the plant adopted the "falling film" technique, involving mechanical vapour compression. Widely used in the agro-food sector, this technique combines reliability with low energy consumption. This system replaces the treatment of liquid effluents by special treatment plants, and involves separating out water from other products, which are concentrated. The purified water is then re-used to prepare cutting fluid and detergent solutions.

• Liquid effluents

Infrastructure has been put in place to provide a car park for heavy goods vehicles, in order to prevent accidental spillage into the natural environment.  All stormwater discharge outlets are equipped with a settling tank and hydrocarbon separator.

• Waste

In 2005, a weighbridge was installed to allow waste to be weighed when leaving the site, improving monitoring of industrial waste.

• Open Days

In 2006, on the 35th anniversary of the Société de Transmissions Automatiques, an "Open Days" event was organized on the theme of sustainable development. More than 3,000 visitors were able to discover STA's efforts in terms of the environment, as well as exhibits and events that were organized in partnership with the Artois-Picardy Water Authority and ADEME.