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New Machines, Lighting Halves Energy, Water Usage at Ford Dagenham Diesel Center

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diesel engines for the 2016 Ford Transit being built at Dagenham Diesel Center

Ford announced on Thursday that the new production line that will be used in the production of the all-new 2.0-liter Ford EcoBlue diesel engine will cut water and energy consumption per engine produced at the Dagenham Diesel Center by more than 50% when compared to the outgoing 1.8-liter TDCi diesel engine production line.

Ford anticipates producing 350,000 EcoBlue engines per year initially, which it estimates will result in enough water saved to fill seven Olympic-size swimming pools. When compared to water used by the plant in 2011, that’s an approximate savings of 17.5 million liters/4.6 million gallons of water.

One of the keys to this reduction in water use is the employment of minimum quantity lubrication machining tools, which uses mists of oil to cool, lubricate and clean during metal work as opposed to higher volumes of coolant. This results in 99.8% less water use than the outgoing machines, and it requires approximately 70% less energy. The MQL tools are expected to cut energy use per week to 92 kilowatt hours in 2016 compared to 188 kWh in 2011, with a difference enough to power an average household for an entire week.

Ford will also use LED lighting to cut energy use by 750,000 kWh annually, which is enough energy to power approximately 7,500 homes for seven days.

“Ever since Henry Ford first introduced the moving assembly line Ford has been at the forefront of manufacturing innovation, and our new Dagenham, U.K., facility is no exception,” said Linda Cash, vice president, Manufacturing, Ford of Europe. “Ford is using the latest technologies to ensure our all-new EcoBlue diesel engine production meets the highest standards for sustainability and makes a significant contribution to our global environmental targets.”

Ford also recently announced that all of its European manufacturing facilities are zero-waste-to-landfill.