Making Value Chains more Sustainable – Continental and Arqum Complete Joint Project with Mexican Suppliers with Great Success:

The improvement of cooperation with suppliers in the area of sustainability is an integral part of the environmental strategy of Continental. A special focus here lies on awareness-raising, training and practical support for the suppliers in the implementation of measures for environmental and resource protection.

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In 2015, Arqum and Continental launched the project „Sustainability network in the Mexican automotive supply chain“ with the support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Investment and Development Company (DEG). The aim of the project was to establish a supplier network for the exchange of information and best practices, to improve the environmental performance and to support the suppliers in the identification and implementation of relevant action programs.

In six workshops, the environmental managers of the participating companies exchanged practical experience and together with the experts from Continental and Arqum developed solutions on topics which the participants had specified at the outset.

In addition, Arqum developed as part of a site-specific consultation concrete measures for the improvement of operational environmental protection for each of the participating companies. Besides saving energy, water and material consumption, the focus was here on the avoidance of the use of harmful substances and chemicals.

The participating suppliers presented their best measures at the conclusion of the workshop on 20th September 2017 in Guadalajara. The results are impressive: in total, almost 50 process-related and organizational measures for improvement were identified which, to a large extent, have already been implemented within the 10 companies. Among other things, the companies save, on average, more than 20% of their CO2 emissions, they have been able to increase their energy efficiency by around 5% and have reduced the generation of hazardous waste by almost 35%. The detailed results are outlined in a project brochure on our website. In other environmental areas, the companies achieved annual cost savings of approx. EUR 790,000. Investment costs have been reduced by approx. EUR 660,000. These savings show that the measures also make a lot of sense in an economic context.

Due to the great success of the project, Continental and Arqum want to continue their cooperation and expand this to other suppliers in Mexico.

Your contact at Arqum: Jens Haubensak and Philipp Poferl