A green house, a green mind
Posted by Colin Hensley on June 29, 2010 in 360° approach, Clean Operations
We are very happy to announce our first guest blogger: Christopher Barrow, Environmental Affairs, Toyota France
A few days ago Toyota France participated in the opening ceremony of our first Sustainable Retailer in La Rochelle in the west of France. This is the result of more than 5 years work between Toyota Motor Europe, Toyota France, Toyota Financial Services, the dealer group Toys Motors and his architectural team.
I have had the chance to follow this pioneering project from the very beginning, acting on behalf of Toyota France as contact person for the BREEAM auditor in the UK, BREEAM being the certification method that has been adopted to evaluate the “greenness” of the build. As the construction design team can confirm, the tough BREEAM criteria require a high level of innovation and as a result an amount of documentation that would not usually be required for a conventional build - but in the end this is what makes our Sustainable Retailers so special, and we are not afraid of challenges!
The initial idea for a Pan-European programme of “greening” the dealership network came as a natural progression of our continuing efforts to improve our design, manufacturing and distribution processes so as to reduce our environmental impact. Mr. Chabot from Toys Motors shares this philosophy and was therefore happy to build a flagship dealership.
I still remember how it all started. The project began with the land selection in a commercial zone just outside Aytre, to the south of La Rochelle, on which was positioned an old council workshop. From the very outset an environmental ethic was adopted with the nomination of an Environmental Coordinator, whose team ensured that what was written down was carried out! Recycling and reuse was even applied to the deconstruction of the council building so as to minimise waste and avoid landfill.
As soon as work started on the build, each involved company signed an environmental chart so as to ensure that their engagements were respected, with regards to such things as waste sorting, materials selection, optimisation of deliveries even going as far as car sharing!
So it was a proud moment to see the result at the opening. The dealership has become a masterpiece of technology ranging from Building Management Systems, CO2 sensors, rain water harvesting, geothermal heating, photovoltaic panels and even a green roof. The design team has implemented a considerable number of measures so as to ensure that the building’s impact on the environment is limited as well as ensuring that the working environment is as comfortable as possible. Coordinating between the auditor BREEAM and the design team, I was amazed to see how the environmental construction standards pushed the design team to find new solutions when the existing solutions were not sufficient to achieve the criteria. This has led to an unconventional building design in the field of automotive dealerships, the adoption of increased use of recycled aggregates, innovative insulation and even recycled cladding materials.
The facility is now officially open and I hope that all the efforts result not only in the highest possible “excellent” rating by BREEAM, but also in a bright future for the dealer, all his staff and equally for all those involved in the project at every level .
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Comments(0)Spotlight on the new full hybrids – made in a plant near you soon!
Posted by Colin Hensley on September 29, 2009 in 360° approach, Clean Operations, Green Technologies
Sunday saw the closing of the doors of IAA in Frankfurt for another two years. It’s probably one of the biggest motor shows in the world. I don’t know if it has the largest number of visitors, but it is definitely, geographically, huge! I just measured it on Google Earth (50° 6′40.39″N, 8°38′43.52″E), and it’s more than a kilometre across, which goes a long way to explaining why my legs still ache following our 3 days of activities. Anyway, it was a very exciting show for us, as we had two cars on the Toyota stand and one on the Lexus stand that were being seen for the first time ever, anywhere!. Perhaps the best part of this is that all three are hybrids. As most people don’t get the chance to go on the IAA exercise programme, let me just do a bit of product PR, and give a few details on these cars.
Our locally produced highlight is the Auris HSD Full Hybrid Concept. It’ll be made in the TMUK plant starting next year. I hope to have the chance to visit the plant during the preparations for the production. After visiting Tsutsumi earlier in the year, I can’t wait to see one of our European Sustainable Plants producing this new full hybrid.
The Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept also proved to be of great interest to the visitors. Our target for CO2 emissions for this car is under 60g/km with a 20km range. One of my colleagues who drive the car recently in Japan raved about the seamless acceleration up to100km/hr in EV mode.
On the Lexus stand we had the LF-Ch concept, which was displayed in an amazing yellow colour. This is the first concept in the C-segment, and should be a stylish and practical option for people.
Finally, I’d just like to say congratulations to the source of many great blog topics, Karen from TMUK, who just celebrated her marriage to Darren; have a great eco-life together.
Hybrid Synergy Drive – from vision to reality
Posted by Colin Hensley on June 15, 2009 in Green Technologies
As you know, last week I was in Japan on a trip we organised for corporate media to give them a real genchi genbutsu experience of our full hybrids. The star of the tour was the new Prius, and we were able to hear from company executives including Uchiyamada (Chief Engineer of the first Prius) about almost everything, from the styling to the development, right through to the manufacturing. We even had the chance to be the first group to visit the battery factory of PEVE a joint venture of Panasonic Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation.
Solar Panel check
The most impressive part of the trip for me was the visit to the Tsutsumi plant. This is one of the plants where the Prius is being made. There are two mixed lines and Prius is made on both. One has a takt time of 57 seconds, the other 66 seconds. The takt time is the length of time that is allowed for each of the action on the line. One action may be fitting the bumper, or laying out a part of the wire harness. Ultimately, the takt time is also the time between cars coming off the line. So about every minute a car drives off each line. I’ve attached a few of the photos I took, but they don’t quite convey the energy of the line or the incredible focus and dedication of the Team Members.
Tsutsumi is also one of our Sustainable Plants. The plant slogan is “Eco-cars are the product of Eco-plants and Eco-people” and they really do live this every day. For example, there’s a massive array of solar panels on the roof and the building is painted with catalytic paint that removes Nox from the air. Unfortunately, it was miserably grey and raining the day we visited, so there wasn’t too much power being generated. I’ll try to persuade one of my colleagues in Environmental Affairs to write a bit more about this plant in the near future.
Finally, the Toyota Technology Challenge, <drum roll please> and the winners were “Team Torpedo” of Queen Elisabeth Grammar School in the in the solar power competition, and “Team Mafia” from Beechwood Park School in the PIC microcontroller category. Well done to both teams!
