Ford Craiova Paint Shop Cuts Water Use by 60 Percent
Thanks to innovative processes and outside-of-the-box thinking, Ford’s Craiova Paint Shop has cut water use by 60 percent, making it the most efficient of the automaker’s European manufacturing sites. The Ford Craiova Paint Shop is responsible for putting the finishing touches on the EcoSport and all-new Puma.
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Ford achieved the drastic reduction in water usage by optimizing the cascading process in the plant’s phosphate machine. By doing so, Ford is able to use rinse water during the paint process multiple times, cutting down on overall water use. This process also minimizes the amount of treatment being done to wastewater, which cuts down on the amount Ford is taxed for production.
“The latest analysis and calculations show that Craiova VO is going to become best in Ford EU according to specific water consumption, if the amount of rinse water can remain at the current low level and the commissioning of the paint and water recycling plant brings the desired success,” said Ford Land Project Manager of Environmental Technology Stefan Stock, who oversaw the installation of the new Wastewater Treatment Plant at Craiova.
While the 60 percent cut to water use is impressive indeed, Ford says that Paint Shop area manager Marilena Papuc and process engineer Claudiu Jianu are far from done. They intend to install a new ultra-filtration unit that will cut down the use of demineralized water in the final rinsing process by nearly 88 percent. The amount of water saved every year in the electrocoat process would be the equivalent of three Olympic swimming pools. The filtration united will be installed during the regularly scheduled holiday shutdown this month and go online at the start of 2020.
Earlier in 2019, Ford earned an A from CDP for water management for having cut water use in manufacturing by 62.5 percent since 2000.
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