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AAMA Announces Prevention (P2) Studies

27 April 1998

America's Car Companies Use Pollution Prevention (P2) To Improve the Environment & Reduce Costs

    DETROIT, April 27 -- The American Automobile Manufacturers
Association (AAMA) today released nine new case studies under the U.S.
Automotive Pollution Prevention Project (U.S. Auto Project).  The U.S. Auto
Project is a voluntary P2 and resource conservation project among Chrysler
Corporation , Ford Motor Company and General Motors
Corporation .  These case studies demonstrate Chrysler, Ford and
GM's continued progress to improve environmental quality within their plants
and operations.  Highlights of the new P2 case studies include:
    Chrysler Corporation -- Through a life cycle management (LCM) approach,
Chrysler plans design and material changes for vehicle cowlings that would
provide cost reductions of $176,000 per year.  In another LCM approach,
Chrysler plans a change in protective seat cover systems from the current
plastic and elastic cover to an all-plastic contoured cover, diverting 90,000
pounds of plastic from landfill disposal and resulting in $136,000 savings per
year.  Chrysler also reported that it will be free of all Polychlorinated
Biphenyl (PCB) electrical equipment (including transformers and capacitors) by
the end of 1998.
    Ford Motor Company -- The State of Ohio, through the Prevention First
Program, recognized the Ford Ohio Assembly Plant for its 50% reduction in
manufacturing waste from 1993 to 1997.  A plant waste minimization/P2 team
achieved these reductions through several initiatives including controlled
material use, improved fluids management, and increased use of returnable
packaging.  The team generated annual savings of more than $600,000.  At
another Ford Assembly Plant, the materials applications team used source
reduction techniques to reduce solvent use by 230,000 gallons per year.
Additionally, Ford reports on their research of potential use of magnesium
versus aluminum for use as a lightweight transmission case.
    General Motors Corporation -- Changes from a painted two-piece steering
column shroud to a molded-in-color process system at Delphi Saginaw resulted
in over $700,000 savings and paint emission reductions of seven tons per year.
GM Moraine (OH) Truck Assembly Plant utilized equipment and process changes to
eliminate solvent emissions from the spray gun cleaning process of basecoat
application, reducing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by 280 tons
per year.  And the GM Research and Development Center at the Technical Center
in Warren (MI) utilized process improvements and improved maintenance
procedures to reduce the volume of electroplating wastes produced at a small
research plating laboratory which resulted in reductions of nearly 15,000
gallons and first year savings of over $8,000.
    AAMA is the trade association whose members are Chrysler Corporation, Ford
Motor Company and General Motors Corporation.  Visit AAMA's site on the World
Wide Web at http://www.aama.com.

SOURCE  American Automobile Manufacturers Association