Following rules

Environmental protection has become an emerging feature of the automotive industries in China and elsewhere.

German carmaker Volkswagen is set on proving that the auto industry, hampered by complaints of producing gas-guzzlers at the expense of the environment, can go green if automakers change their ways.

"As a multinational partner that has the longest history of cooperation with China's automotive industry, Volkswagen has both the responsibility and the obligation to promote the sustainable development of the enterprise and the industry with various types of environmental protection measures," says Christian Koch, executive vice-president of Volkswagen Group China for production and logistics and member of the board of management.

The automaker launched a green production campaign in Shanghai in July, together with its two complete vehicle joint ventures, Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, and its component suppliers including Volkswagen FAW Engine (Dalian) Co Ltd, Volkswagen FAW Platform Co Ltd, Shanghai Volkswagen Powertrain Co Ltd and Volkswagen Gearbox (Shanghai) Co Ltd.

"Through this green production campaign, we hope to build on the past achievements and make new headway," says Koch.

To implement the program, Volkswagen released its "22 group rules on environmental protection" in China.

Volkswagen's green production experts and managers from both home and abroad gathered in China, reviewed the progress of implementing the 22 rules with local employees and mapped out detailed arrangements for the next stage.

"We are ready to make innovative efforts to advance the environmental agenda of China's automotive industry. We believe that it is the only way to ensure genuine green auto products and services for our consumers," says Koch.

"In the production field, Volkswagen's 22 group rules are strictly implemented in two main categories, namely common environmental protection rules and environmental protection rules for infrastructure and environmental protection rules in production," says Stephan Krinke, manager of the environmental analysis product department at Volkswagen.

The first category concerns common rules guiding cooperation with business partners, minimum industrial land use, a ban on the use of hazardous materials, noise control, soil and ground water protection, water resources recycling, energy conservation and waste management.

The second category is more focused on the environmental protection in production stages involving special techniques.

"It covers all the four main techniques in complete vehicle production, namely pressing, welding, painting and assembling, and relates to component making as well. It also deals with hazardous material discharge control, special ingredient use control and other details," says Krinke.

Through the implementation of the rules, Volkswagen says it has achieved a green production process that achieves a balance between economic development and ecological conservation.

All the ventures have also established a set of "green production rules" tailored to their own products and production flow.

For example, FAW-Volkswagen obtained the ISO14001 environment management certificate as early as in 2002. At present, all the Volkswagen joint ventures in China have passed the ISO14001 environment management certification.

Its diesel car strategy has demonstrated some initial results and its Jetta SDI and Bora TDI have won the Green Product Award for two years in a row.

In the production process, "we recycle the steam with an advanced drying kiln to reduce the usage of natural gas. Moreover, the move can help save 50 tons of water every week," says You Zheng, senior manager of the programming department of FAW-Volkswagen.

In 2004, the venture began to take 45 measures in techniques and 38 steps in management to improve environmental protection, with a total investment of 3.3 million yuan. "The action has helped us save 1.6 million yuan and 70,289 tons of coal equivalents during the past four years," adds You.

Besides, the venture invested 940,000 yuan to install solar equipment in canteens and bathhouses. "We reclaim the cost within one year and save 1,360 tons of coal equivalents."

Volkswagen FAW Engine (Dalian) Co Ltd not only produces the most advanced green TSI engines in China but also tries to minimize the environmental impact of its production with effective industrial land, power conservation, waste gas treatment, domestic waste treatment and sewage treatment.

The venture applied for the certificate of environment management system standards three months into production in 2007 and was granted the ISO4001 environment management system certificate at the end of the year.

Volkswagen FAW Platform Co Ltd has so far invested 7.05 million yuan in environmental protection.

It now has a sewage treatment facility able to treat 10 tons of sewage per hour and a specialized garbage classification facility. It has adopted measures to mitigate the environmental impact of energy-intensive equipment like the painting line, exercised strict control on the electricity use at various stages of production, and complied with or even outperformed the criteria set out by state environmental protection authorities.

Volkswagen has also adopted a series of steps such as the material and component tests at the newly established Volkswagen Group China Central Lab, the Supplier Improvement Program and the Green Dealership Certification to ensure the compliance with environment standards both before, during and after production.

And in April 2007, Volkswagen Group China launched a Powertrain Strategy, in which it promised to reduce the fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions of all Volkswagen products in China by 20 percent by 2010 with the TSI engine and DSG gearbox that features low fuel consumption and high power output.

The new TSI engine is now already powering Volkswagen's Magotan and Skoda Octavia models. In addition, Volkswagen and Tongji University have worked on joint research programs including the development of solar hybrid and fuel cell cars and a diesel-powered taxi demonstration project.

(China Daily 09/22/2008 page4)