October 28, 2009 - Toyota will implement Honeywell’s HC900 Hybrid Controller platform and Profit Controller in up to three of its European assembly plants by the end of 2010, reducing energy requirements and boosting environmental performance at each site. The HC900 Hybrid Controller will work in conjunction with Honeywell’s Profit Controller to optimize the plants’ air supply units and deliver greater energy-efficient temperature and humidity control within the paint finishing spray booths. Currently – in preparation for the rollout – feasibility studies are being conducted to assess the application of the HC900 Hybrid Controller platform in each plant. The implementation follows a successful pilot project with Toyota in the UK, where energy use was reduced by 25% in the paint booths.
This equated to a saving of 4% of the site’s total energy consumption. Toyota Motor UK expects to achieve a full return on its investment in less than two years. “This is a strategically significant project as we continuously aim to improve our environmental performance of our production sites around Europe,” said Timothy Waltniel, production senior engineer, Toyota Motor Europe. “We partnered with Honeywell because it had the technical ability to actually realize the theoretical solution to a kaizen (improvement) opportunity we had identified in the painting process.”
“Car manufacturers around the world are facing the challenge of not only building cars that are more environmentally friendly, but ensuring that their manufacturing operations are equally responsible,” said Paul Brice, director of Advanced Solutions, Honeywell Process Solutions Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This is the first application of its type anywhere in the world and we are very proud to be part of it. We’ve worked hard to ensure that our solutions and the expertise of our people can help automakers like Toyota meet similar challenges in the years ahead.”
Honeywell International is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell’s shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. Honeywell Process Solutions is part of Honeywell’s Automation and Control Solutions group, a global leader in providing product and service solutions that improve efficiency and profitability, support regulatory compliance, and maintain safe, comfortable environments in homes, buildings and industry.