The company’s Environmental Quality Office announced a goal in 2010 to reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing operations by 30% per vehicle produced by 2025 and it has hit the target twice as fast as expected.
Ford reduced its emissions footprint through energy conservation and efficiency changes across its manufacturing facilities, with ideas including the installation of more than 100,000 LED light fixtures and updating paint operations.
Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) is another energy-reducing technology that has been used. In MQL, a machining tool is lubricated with a very small amount of oil sprayed directly on the tip of the tool in a finely atomised mist, instead of with a large quantity of coolant/water mixture.
The firm says that the results are dramatic, with a global manufacturing CO2 emissions reduction of more than 3.4 million metric tons from 2010 to 2017 – equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from more than 728,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year.
“We are proud of the work we have done to achieve this goal,” says Bruce Hettle, group vice president for manufacturing and labour affairs. “We’ve made several improvements to our manufacturing operations – from the lighting we use to plant consolidations – all of which played a role in dramatically reducing our CO2 footprint.”
Ford is now working on setting a new goal – this one, focused on renewable energy.
“We will continue to set ambitious goals and work to create innovative practices to achieve them,” added Hettle. “Our next strategy will focus on increasing Ford’s use of renewable energy while maintaining our energy efficiencies.”