Manufacturing and painting can be water-intensive processes. So employees at John Deere Ibérica took the company's new Eco-Efficiency Goal for reducing water usage by 15% per ton of production as a challenge.
Employees at the plant, near Madrid in central Spain, assessed a variety of operations for opportunities to save water.
For example, employees found that water recovered from use as machining coolants and in washing machines has specific characteristics that make it perfect for use in paint sludge separation. Reused water totals more than 120,000 gallons per year.
Employees' analysis also led to the recovery of Reverse Osmosis (RO) wastewater for use in the paint pretreatment process. Savings total 140,000 gallons of water per year, a 70% reduction of water consumption from that process.
The combined result of their efforts is savings of nearly 10 million gallons of water annually, a 38% reduction from 2012 usage.