Situation

The site is located next to a main road, highway No. 36, in the district of Santa Isabel, around 5 km from the town centre. The site has varied surroundings,  with a nearby residential area, as well as industrial activities and farmland.  The total area is around 242 ha, of which more than two-thirds are made up of green areas.  The La Caniada river crosses the site before reaching Cordoba.

First Iso 14001 certification obtained in 1999.
The site renewed its certification for three years in 2003 and 2006. 

Download :
- site's environmental policy (French)
- environmental statement 2005 (Spanish/English)

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Water consumption

Since 1998, water consumption has fallen by 75%. This significant drop can be attributed to a lower level of plant activity and to the initiatives put in place regarding the paint process and the cooling systems.

Since 2003, the plant has used water from the public system (drinking water) for all its facilities. The slight rise in water consumption in 2004 and 2005 can be explained by higher activity levels than in 2003, and also by the renewal of the paint baths for lead-free electrocoating.

Since pipes were upgraded in 2006 and an electrical system installed that makes it possible to control and monitor consumption more accurately, the plant reduced water consumption per vehicle by 42% between 2005 and 2007.

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Water-borne effluents

The reduction in emissions to water can be attributed to a downturn in activity as well as a quality assurance programme implemented at the site’s effluent treatment plant, with, in particular:

• measures to make added reagents more reliable,

• an awareness-raising programme for personnel,

• an improved surface treatment process,

• the implementation of lead-free electrocoating,

• recycling of electrocoating (reducing the effluent waste).
  

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SO2 and greenhouse gas emissions

graphic 

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Volatile organic compounds emissions from paint process

Initiatives targeting the paint application process have been put in place to reduce VOC emissions. These initiatives are backed up by efforts to clean the air conduits and carry out maintenance work.

Other initiatives are:

• Less frequent rinsing of painting machines and varnishing robots

• Fewer daily tests for the painting machine

• Recovery of test paints and purges from the manual test guns

• Upgrading of the rotary sprays (better application of  paint)

• Reduction in the amount of cleaning solvents
  

 

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Waste

OIW includes metal waste (metal offcuts, 100% recycled), which accounted for most of the increase in 2007, following a sharp rise in the stamping activity.
In 2007, the increase in hazardous waste was also due to an increase in the plant’s overall activity (a 28% rise in the number of vehicles produced) compared with 2006.

The following actions were implemented to minimize the volume of waste generated:

• efforts to raise awareness among all personnel;  a joint initiative organized with the service provider in charge of waste collection and treatment to quantify and recover waste in each sector,

• changes at the effluent treatment plant have reduced the quantity of sludge,

• reuse of packaging waste (cardboard boxes, wooden pallets and plastics),

• use of durable packaging,

• recovery of solvents used to clean paint facilities.   
  

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Energy

Total energy consumption increased with the rise in production.  Per vehicle produced, however, energy consumption fell by 54% between 2003 and 2007. These gains can be attributed to raising awareness of energy-use behaviour and best practices (turning off intensive and office lighting at the end of the day, reduce lighting outside working hours, suggestion box for energy-saving ideas, etc.) and technical improvements.

 

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Highlights

 

• Energy consumption

The old boilers, which were costly in terms of steam generation, electricity, fuel and miscellaneous chemicals, were replaced by machines that run on natural gas. The new heating system is efficient and easy to control, as well as costing less to run.