We understand the responsibilities we have to our people, society and the environment, which is why sustainability is placed at the heart of our business strategy. Our purpose is to drive a cleaner, more sustainable world, so we are constantly striving, not only to develop innovative technologies for electrified vehicles but also to reduce the environmental impact of our operations.
Our manufacturing facility in Bruneck, Italy, provides several examples of measures we have implemented to make sustainability improvements. The first is that the plant is powered by 100% green electricity, an initiative that began in 2012 and saves 5,000 tons of CO2 annually. This is one of the most effective ways to reduce our carbon emissions.
"Clean energy is a must-have for the automotive sector. Sustainable energy and sustainable driving go hand-in-hand. As a major producer of electric drive systems, GKN Automotive in Bruneck already plays an important role in decarbonising the automotive industry, but we wanted to take this a step further by reducing the carbon consumption of our own operations," says Alexander Burger, Plant Director of GKN Automotive’s Bruneck site.
A groundwater cooling system installed at the plant saves 1MWh of energy annually and incorporates a heat recovery system that means waste heat from machinery can be used to supplement the hot water and heating supply in our buildings, thereby reducing the amount of energy the plant uses for heating.
As well as a transition to more efficient ventilation and LED lighting solutions, a managed switch to new facilities within the plant is significantly reducing its gas consumption and CO2 emissions.
"Our employees play a central role in this because, as experts on site, they are best placed to judge where the greatest potential savings lie in terms of energy and material consumption. It's important that suggestions from our employees are collected and coordinated in a central location to ensure efficient and rapid implementation. We have an excellent dedicated energy management team at the plant that has been working specifically on energy projects for more than 10 years," Alexander added.
As a global technology company with production and engineering centres in 20 countries, we are continually analysing how we can improve the sustainability of our facilities around the world.
Bruneck is not the only plant where we are taking steps to improve sustainability. From rooftop solar systems in India, to improved ventilation systems at our sites in Sweden, we are taking action to reduce our energy consumption wherever possible.
Introduction of LED lighting at our facility in Olesnica, Poland has saved 53MWh annually, while changes to the operation of furnaces at our plant in Newton, US, has resulted in a reduction in power use of 7,300MWh per year.
Regardless of their scale, we are committed to identifying and exploiting all opportunities to improve the sustainability of our business. By making our business more sustainable, we can help our customers and the entire automotive industry to become more sustainable too.