Toyota identifies kaizen opportunity
January 2010
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Honeywell has teamed up with Toyota Motor Europe in a project to further improve the environmental leadership of the car manufacturer’s operations across Europe. Toyota will implement Honeywell’s HC900 Hybrid Controller platform and Profit Controller in up to three of its European assembly plants by the end of 2010, reducing energy requirements and boosting environmental performance at each site.
The HC900 Hybrid Controller will work in conjunction with Honeywell’s Profit Controller to optimise the plants’ air supply units and deliver greater energy-efficient temperature and humidity control within the paint finishing spray booths. Currently – in preparation for the rollout – feasibility studies are being conducted to assess the application of the HC900 Hybrid Controller platform in each plant.
The implementation follows a successful pilot project with Toyota in the UK, where energy use was reduced by 25% in the paint booths. This equated to a saving of 4% of the site’s total energy consumption. Toyota Motor UK expects to achieve a full return on its investment in less than two years.
“This is a strategically significant project as we continuously aim to improve the environmental performance of our production sites around Europe,” said Timothy Waltniel, senior production engineer, Toyota Motor Europe. “We partnered with Honeywell because it had the technical ability to actually realise the theoretical solution to a kaizen (improvement) opportunity we had identified in the painting process.”
“Car manufacturers around the world are facing the challenge of not only building cars that are more environmentally friendly, but ensuring that their manufacturing operations are equally responsible,” said Paul Brice, director of Advanced Solutions, Honeywell Process Solutions Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This is one of the first applications of its type anywhere in the world and we are very proud to be part of it. We have worked hard to ensure that our solutions and the expertise of our people can help automakers like Toyota meet similar challenges in the years ahead.”
For more information contact Debbie Rae, Honeywell Southern Africa, +27 (0)11 695 8000, hsa@honeywell.com, www.honeywell.co.za
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