Audi México is putting sustainability into practice under its Mission:Zero strategy, which aims to make its operations carbon neutral by 2025. The plant in San José Chiapa is firmly on its way to clean and smart production, which is why it takes advantage of the latest technologies in all areas of production.
Audi México produces one of the most important models in the Audi Group’s Q category. The Audi Q5 is manufactured in San Jose Chiapa, in all its derivatives and for the whole world except China. All the manufacturing processes of this vehicle are carried out with due respect for the environment; an example of this is the Reverse Osmosis plant which today registers 100,000 m3 of water treated and reused for production.
Water is a vital element in the manufacture of a car. In the production of the Audi Q5, the liquid is used in different processes, such as in the corrosion protection of the body, and in the hermetic tests of the finished vehicles. A clear example of a smart factory is the Paint Shop, which has a specific treatment system for this process.
All the water used in the factory areas is combined with the rest of the liquid from the other processes and social uses such as toilets or kitchens. Every drop used goes through a biological treatment process. At the end of this, quality values are monitored to ensure legal and regulatory compliance.
In addition to biological water treatment, a reverse osmosis treatment plant was built, which has managed to return 100,000 m3 to production, equivalent to 100 million liters of water in just over two years. With this, Audi México is reducing its water footprint in the manufacturing process.
Tarek Mashhour, CEO of Audi México: “One of the important pillars in our Mission:Zero strategy is to incorporate technology that reduces environmental impact in our operations. That is why we built a Reverse Osmosis plant to make the right use of water by closing the cycle with its processing in our facilities, avoiding discharges to the outside”.
The Reverse Osmosis plant has two main treatment phases, ultrafiltration and then the reverse osmosis stage where all the impurities and minerals are removed for reuse in production.
Water for industrial use and water with a high concentration of impurities is obtained from the reverse osmosis treatment. These are reduced through the evaporation ponds built at the side of the plant in order to solidify the remains and manage them as waste in compliance with the applicable regulations. In this way, Audi México avoids the discharge of wastewater to the outside and guarantees the correct use of water by closing the cycle within the plant.