From bodywork to logistics and stamping, the entire Yaris production line at the Toyota plant in Valenciennes Onnaing, the Japanese manufacturer’s only production site in France, is designed to achieve sobriety in terms of energy and water and self-sufficiency when possible. The clearly stated objective is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. “At the level of the plastic workshop, for example, we have a first in the Toyota group: equipment specially designed for us, these cabins for applying paint to the front and rear bumpers. This equipment is equipped with heat pumps”, explains Magalie Delforterie, who manages communication at the Toyota plant in Valenciennes. Previous paint booths operated on gas.
Another investment, a 400 square meter solar wall affixed to the press building of the factory, as described by Alexis Laurie, environmental engineer: “It’s a new technology that we incorporated in 2017 which makes it possible to recover solar radiation on a south-facing wall. In fact, the sun comes to heat the cladding sheet. It has thousands of small holes that go the air, passing through this wall, will heat up in contact with the sheet metal and suddenly, we will thus recover at the top of this wall, air which is already heated naturally by the sun.” Air that heats the interior of the building.
An energy bill divided by five in 20 years
But the pride of the site is the wastewater treatment plant, managed internally, and completed by two huge rainwater recovery basins with a total capacity of 16,000 cubic meters located below the car park of the factory where thousands of Yaris are waiting to be shipped. “We purify approximately 1,000 cubic meters of water per day, explains Heinrick Delaroque, responsible for the deployment of energy saving activities. It is a water which is intended for all painting processes in particular, but which will also be used in other departments, welding, assembly, plastic. We have two rainwater recovery basins which, combined with the purified water from the water treatment, will be used to produce reverse osmosis water for the site.”
According to the management of the factory, between the reduction of water consumption and the improvement of industrial processes, the factory has divided its bill by five in 20 years. In 2014, the site even managed to be self-sufficient in water for more than 300 days a year. A record, which unfortunately is not likely to be beaten this year, given the low rainfall in recent months.
