Scania annual report 2002

in Oskarshamn. The cabs are delivered in as finished
form as possible to each respective assembly location.
This is why a new painting facility was completed
during 2002. The facility, which is designed to handle
up to 300 cabs per day, replaces two older paintshops.
The new paintshop has a considerably higher
capacity, with lower environmental impact, than the
older paintshops.
With the new paintshop, more and more cabs can
be delivered painted in colours adapted to the specific
wishes of the customer, that is, in ‘customer colours’.
This painting is now performed right in the factory,
where the environmental impact can be minimised.
Discharge from topcoat paintshop
kg/VOC
per cab
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
Number
of cabs
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
New painting systems reduced organic solvent emissions by about
75 percent during the 1990s. When the new paintshop goes into
full operation, emissions can be limited to less than 1 kg/cab.
0
This type of painting was previously performed in small
paintshops that were usually not capable of reducing
environmental emissions as much.
Far-reaching measures have been implemented to
decrease solvent emissions from painting. Priming is
done using powder paint, and final painting with waterbased
paints. Introduction of the new painting systems
has so far enabled Scania to decrease the use of
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by about 75 percent
since the early 1990s. In the new topcoat shop,
the target is to limit emissions to less that 1 kg per
cab. The small amount of solvent used, mainly glycols,
has lower environmental impact than the previously
used xylene. The new paintshop also reduces the
quantity of paint wastes and wastewater that must be
treated. The system is entirely closed, and the paint
waste is used for energy recovery.
Environmental permits
The operations at Scania’s facilities require permits
that comply with national legislation. The environmental
impact from these facilities consists mainly
of emissions to air, discharges to water, waste products
and noise. In addition to legal requirements,
there are also internal requirements, for example in
compliance with Scania’s policy and rules on the
use of chemical substances.
In Sweden, Scania carries out operations at four
production plants plus the wholly owned subsidiaries
Ferruform in Luleå and Omni in Katrineholm. All these
plants have permits in compliance with Swedish environmental
legislation.
During 2002, new conditions were announced for
wastewater treatment in Södertälje. Scania applied
for a new permit to increase production and for a
new paintshop at the cab factory in Oskarshamn. The
application is beeing processsed by the authorities. No
violations of the existing threshold limit values occurred
and no incidents were reported that caused any significant
environmental impact and thereby led to clean-up
expenses.
Environmental risk management
Scania’s environmental risk management guidelines
are mainly intended to prevent environmental damage.
Soil and groundwater inventories have been performed
at more than half of production facilities. At the Meppel
plant in the Netherlands, where production ended in
November 2002, the planned programme for the
decontamination of boron-polluted soil will be carried
out beginning in 2003 at a cost of SEK 2 m. The boron
pollution is attributable to operations that took place
before Scania established production on the site.
Emergency preparedness for environmental accidents
is an integral part of a preparedness plan.
Improvement of environmental work
Cross-functional co-operation is continuously improving.
During 2002, efforts to develop common procedures
and internal benchmarking underwent further
refinements. For example, the environmental work in
Scania’s sales and service organisation intensified.
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