Award-Winning New Machining Process Saves Money, Time, and Resources

In 2009, Ford introduced a new machining process that uses inputs more efficiently and significantly reduces waste production, energy use and costs. Machining parts requires coolants, lubricants, hydraulic fluids and other hydrocarbon-based process fluids. In traditional machining, these fluids are incompatible, which means that once they are mixed together during the machining process, they are ruined for further use. The resulting waste liquid must be removed from the system regularly and disposed of as oily waste.

Ford's new process uses compatible coolant, oils and lubricants that enable the recycling and reuse of fluids, thereby significantly reducing the production of oily waste. Unlike previous machining systems, the "compatible fluids" process uses an ultra-filtration system that keeps the wash fluids clean, recycles all oil contaminants and reblends the coolant so that it can be reused. The process also reduces energy usage, because it allows the use of smaller coolant systems and reduces chiller and extraction requirements. In addition to these environmental benefits, the process improves operating conditions for plant employees, improves surface finish and tool life, and reduces machine downtime by reducing the need to clean or replace central wash filters from every six weeks to every two years. All of these benefits translate into both better performance and lower costs.

The compatible fluids system was piloted at Ford's Dagenham Engine Plant in Germany in the production of 1.4 and 1.6 liter engines. The benefits at this plant have been impressive. Compatible fluids machining reduced oily waste sent to landfill by 80 percent per year, resulting in savings of approximately $400,000 per year. It also reduced the cost of hydrocarbon-based inputs per engine by 40 percent to 50 percent, making Dagenham's hydrocarbon costs the lowest in all of Ford's engine operations.

Based on these impressive results, the compatible fluids machining process received the 2009 Henry Ford Technology award, an award given by Ford Motor Company to researchers, engineers and scientists for their work on innovative automotive technologies. It also won the UK's Business in the Community Eco-efficiency Award.

We are rapidly expanding the use of compatible fluids machining. So far, it has been implemented in the Chihuahua and Bridgend engine plants and is currently being installed in seven other facilities around the world. We plan to continue to expand this process to our other global facilities. Once this process is implemented globally in all of our engine, powertrain and chassis plants, the savings will be considerable. We predict that we will save up to $35 million per year globally due to reduced hydrocarbon usage, waste avoidance, reduced downtime, and improved tool life. Compatible fluids machining will help us continue to reduce our environmental footprint by reducing our use of hydrocarbons and energy and decreasing waste production.