Home-grown supplier to utilize 100% renewable energy for engine components that will be supplied to Volvo Group across the globe
Giving their strong business relationship of over two decades a green turn, Brakes India and Volvo Group have jointly launched the first-ever ‘Green Castings’ that will go into building the latter’s engines, produced at the former’s foundries, in line with both partners’ commitment to reduce their carbon footprint.
Volvo Group is committed to becoming a climate neutral company by 2040 which includes its supply chain & global suppliers from India. The new green casting initiative is a significant step towards its commitment as India is a key source for Volvo Group’s global casting requirements. When fully adopted, the potential reduction in CO2 per year due to green castings would amount to 0.86 million tons for Volvo and 210 million tons for the industry. Commercial Production of the green castings will start from this month.
The green castings from India will include bearing caps and bearing housing for select Volvo engines. This is the first step. However, just these two parts translate to 8500 tons CO2 reduction for Volvo. When fully implemented, the impact of this initiative would be much higher. Assuming the industry adopts this approach, this could amount to 210 million tons of annual CO2 emission reductions across global foundries. This is of special significance to India, which has a significant share of the global casting demand.
Speaking at the product launch, Kamal Bali, President & Managing Director, Volvo Group in India, said: “At Volvo Group, we are proud to be playing a vital role in shaping the future of the transportation industry. India is a home base for the Group and we not only ‘Make in India’, but also design, process, sell and source from India to the world. In line with our global sustainability targets and ambitions, our aim is to create an environment that is safe and sustainable for future generations – while being immersed in advanced technology that goes into making world-leading commercial vehicles. Green Casting has the potential to kick-start a revolution in the casting manufacturing process for a sustainable future.”
Addressing the gathering, Sriram Viji, Managing Director, Brakes India, shared: “At Brakes India, it has been our vision since inception in 1962 to maintain our facilities as green as they can be with Zero Tree Cutting policy and Rainwater Harvesting systems at the core. We trickled sustainability deeper into our practices over two decades ago with the purchase of green power well ahead of time. From then until now, sustainability has only been an upward moving graph for us across the Brakes India locations and to achieve this we are heavily focused on GHG emission reduction, material conservation, waste management and adoption of a green supply chain”.
Talking about the growing global focus on sustainability, Suryaprakash Rao, Executive Director – Foundry Division, Brakes India, stated: “What’s amazing is that alongside the Volvo Group, many of our OEM clients have expressed interests in exploring the green roadmap with Brakes India. We have begun chalking out the plans and you’ll hear about it very soon.”
Expressing ambitious growth plans for the coming years, Brakes India will be laying tremendous emphasis on exports and enter newer geographies. “Our international relations are good and this has created a lot of optimism about getting a bigger share of the global business. We are working on becoming a major player over the next five years both on the domestic and international fronts,” added Sriram.
Also present at the launch event were Marc Delobelle, Head of Fossil-free Materials Purchasing, Volvo Group, France, Girish DM, Head of India Purchasing & Group Truck Purchasing, Volvo Group, India, and KS Venkatagiri, Executive Director, CII Godrej GBC.
Path-breaking initiative
The green castings, which will be produced by Brakes India, utilize scrap, alloys, and raw materials which are 100% radioactive elements free. It involves recycling of 100% metallic scrap generated by other industries to manufacture a usable product. The plant will operate on 100% green power from solar and wind energy. It will eliminate the use of diesel with Electric Ladle Preheater, a unique solution developed with AFECO India. This will also result in the elimination of pig iron, which is produced in a blast furnace with coal. Volvo has developed a unique technology that eliminates the pig iron usage by deploying zirconium-based inoculation, controlled chemistry, and a specific charge ratio.
As per the definition, the manufacturing of green casting involves the elimination of toxic chemicals and elements, has zero carbon footprint, uses minimal resources, where products can be recycled and reused, and comes with eco-friendly packaging.
The castings being produced in India are certified by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – Green Products & Services Council. On the occasion, Brakes India was also awarded the GreenPro certificate by KS Venkatagiri. The certificate is issued by CII’s – Green Products and Services Council confirming that castings manufactured by all plants of Brakes India – Foundry Division meet the requirements of GreenPro Ecolabel and qualify as Green Products.
Brakes India Foundry is the leading foundry for automotive iron castings globally with 9 vertical & 2 horizontal high pressure moulding lines across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Oman. The high quality and reliability standards of its products have established its dominance in the exports market with over 60% of safety critical castings reaching countries such as US, Mexico, UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, France, Japan, etc.