In 2016 the Chinese Volkswagen sites had their “Year of Water” during which several workshops were held to implement measures reducing the water demand.The following activities executed:• analysis of the existing water consumption data on shop floor or sub-shop floor level• identification of shop floors with more than an average consumption • defining measures to reduce the water demandNext steps are:• implement these measures and• monitor the success of the measuresIdentified measures at this site are e. g. :• optimization of paint shop pretreatment (15600 m3/a water savings)• installation of addition UV-lamps to inhibit bacterial growth (33000 m3/a water savings)• optimization of the cooling towers in the factory. This procedure should decrease the water demand of each site by 20-30% during the next three years, reduce the water demand and preserve water resources in the water stress areas.Volkswagen is implementing a system to derive the environmental costs of new production equipment company wide at the moment. The figures already available show that the environmental costs are minor compared with the total costs.

Project Results

20-30% decrease in water demand at each site over three years.