The Environment Policy of the Company promotes energy conservation, 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), green procurement, environment friendly mobility and environment consciousness among its direct stakeholders. Further, the Company also reaches out to its suppliers and dealers to make them conscious about environment protection.
In 2010-11, the Company consumed 279,077 MT of steel coils, 22,692 MT of ferrous casting, 19,015 MT of non ferrous casting and 7,029 MT of paints.
The Company has undertaken various initiatives to reduce consumption of raw material. The scrap generated from press operations is used for producing child parts for maximising steel sheet utilisation. A total of 8,471.80 MT of metal scrap has been sent to vendors for making small components. The Company also sends back the leftover sealer in paint shops to the authorised units for refining and reprocessing.
The one-gram-one-component weight reduction programme has brought consciousness among employees and suppliers to reduce wastage and thus vehicle component weight on an ongoing basis.
The total energy used in the plants for various processes was 6,312,708 GJ while the indirect energy consumption was 3,651 GJ.
Initiatives undertaken by the Company in the reporting year to reduce energy consumption include:
| The percentage of per vehicle electricity consumption reduction in the Gurgaon plant with respect to base year 2000-01 is depicted in the graph below: 
Note: The increase in the percentage electricity consumption from 2007-08 is due to introduction of additional processes of casting. The electricity consumption shown above is used for own requirements only (excluding supplies to JVs).
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The percentage of per vehicle electricity consumption reduction in the Manesar plant with respect to base year 2007-08 is depicted in the graph below:
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The total water consumption in 2010-11 for both the Gurgaon and Manesar plants was 1,909,773 m3, of which 1,365,704 m3 was canal water; 535,734 m3 tube well water and 8,335 m3 rain water.
A total of 1,406,073 m3 of water was recycled and reused in 2010-11, accounting for 42% of the total water requirement of both the plants. The Company used 541,651 m3 of treated effluent water for horticulture.
Initiatives undertaken by the Company for water conservation in 2010-11 include:
| The percentage of per vehicle water consumption with respect to base year 2000-01 for the Gurgaon plant is depicted in the graph below. |
The percentage of per vehicle water consumption with respect to base year 2007-08 for the Manesar plant is depicted in the graph below. |
Note: The increase in the percentage water consumption from 2007-08 is due to introduction of additional processes of casting. |
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| Effluent treatment plant at Gurgaon facility | Water treatment plant at Gurgaon facility |
The total GHG of the Company (Gurgaon and Manesar plants) was 326,439 MT (CO2) for 2010-11. GHG reporting has been done as per Scope 1 and 2 of the WBCSD/WRI Protocol.
The quality of ambient air and stack emission parameters (SOx, NOx, SPM etc.) are monitored by a government approved external agency at regular frequency. The monitored values are well within the prescribed limits of the Pollution Control Board.
Initiatives undertaken by the Company to reduce air emission in 2010-11 include:
The hazardous wastes of the Company include paint sludge, phosphate sludge, Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) sludge, incinerator ash and used oil. The used oil is sold to authorised recyclers. In 2010-11, Maruti Suzuki started sending paint sludge, phosphate sludge and ETP sludge to the cement industry for co-processing. Use of hazardous waste for co-processing in the cement industry has eliminated the need for incineration and land filling. The present landfills are also being emptied out for efficient use of land within the plants. The saleable solid wastes such as metal scrap and glass waste are sold to recyclers and reusers.
All e-waste management and maintenance and disposal of IT equipment is carried out through an authorised recycler.
The total hazardous waste generated during 2010-11 was 4,943 T and used oil was 474 KL. Also, 6,447 T of hazardous waste was sent to the cement industry for co-processing.
Initiatives undertaken by the Company to reduce solid waste in the reporting year include:
The Company is using the environment friendly refrigerant gas R134a in all its products. The refrigerant gas is filled by advanced dispensing machines with automatic vehicle type selection and filling quantity to avoid gas leakage at the time of filling.
With the aim to reduce the usage of HFC refrigerant and its global warming effects, Maruti Suzuki has worked on design optimisation of heat exchangers. In 2010-11, all new Maruti Suzuki vehicles were equipped with compact and high heat transfer heat exchanger, which reduced the amount of refrigerant filled in the vehicle by about 30 grams.
Maruti Suzuki has been using virtual validation methodology which plays a pivotal role in reducing the product development cycle. Analysis like vehicle crash worthiness, structural rigidity, power train performance improvement, emission reduction and passenger comfort improvement can be validated through virtual testing techniques in a short time span. This helps in reducing consumption of resources required in producing vehicle prototypes.
In order to support engineering activities, the Company has a strong IT-based Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) infrastructure to manage product data, and information and engineering design processes. The Company has incorporated the Integrated Bill of Material (IBOM) system for faster and paperless engineering change processes for PLM. Development of knowledge based engineering solutions helps in reducing the design cycle time and also helps in standardisation of CAD stages for error free design.
Maruti Suzuki engineers are improving their capabilities through hands-on training on advanced automobile technologies at SMC, Japan. The strength of R&D engineers crossed the 1,000 mark in 2010-11 to reach 1,069. Regular in-house training programmes and specialised courses at reputed institutions like IITs are also conducted to keep engineers at par with the latest developments in the automotive arena.
Maruti Suzuki engineers actively participate in seminars and technology forums conducted by leading organisations such as SAE and ARAI etc. In 2010-11, Maruti Suzuki engineers presented 12 research papers at SAE conferences, two of which were on "Exhaust Emission & Engine Technology" and "CO2 Reduction with Hybridisation & Electrification", aimed at developing alternative fuel vehicles.
In 2010-11, Maruti Suzuki filed 12 patent applications, taking the total to 43 patents filed so far from different technology domains like fuel system, body design and alternative fuels. Considering the Company's vision of developing eco- friendly vehicles, a number of patents have been filed for alternate fuel options such as CNG and LPG.
Maruti Suzuki is actively steering various forums and committees set up by the automobile industry and government to decide on future regulations, policies and implementation of road maps for the passenger vehicle industry.
The Company has successfully launched bi-fuel variants with i-GPI CNG engine technology that reduced CO2 emissions by 20% as compared to its petrol variants. These models are Alto 800, Zen Estilo, WagonR, Eeco and SX4. The CO2 emission reduction of CNG variants over petrol variants is given in the graph below.
Other features like a high pressure pump, advanced fuel injection system and improved piston design add extra power, improve combustion and thus bring down emissions considerably.
| MODEL | Fuel Economy Values (km/l) | IMPROVEMENT (%) | |
| BS III | BS IV | ||
| WagonR Duo (LPG) | 13.1 | 14.37 | 9.69 |
A compact toroidal LPG tank maximises the filling capacity and minimises the space occupied inside the car luggage room. An LPG malfunctioning indication lamp is fitted for highlighting any malfunction in the LPG system.
Maruti Suzuki aspires to create a sustainable value chain. The basic principles of reducing wastage, inconveniences and inconsistencies across the value chain have been imbibed from the parent company, SMC, Japan.
The Company shares its best practices with its business partners, such as Just-in-Time (JIT), Kaizen (continuous improvement), waste elimination, energy conservation, Pika-Pika (fool proof operations), Environment Management System (EMS), HR practices and quality systems. Attempts are made to replicate these in their business processes to make their operations lean, error free and environment friendly.
Maruti Suzuki has laid down structured, two-way communication tools like Annual Vendor Conferences, Monthly HR meetings, Shikhar visits, MACE for interaction with its suppliers. In order to communicate the views of the Company's top management to the suppliers and to prepare them for the challenges of scaling up production, the Company organised a conference of its smaller suppliers for the first time in 2010-11.
The suppliers are given an opportunity to participate in QC competitions and other activities during the Quality Month observed at MSIL. Activities such as friendly cricket matches and Supplier Tech Day are organised and these performanceact as strong tools for exchange of views and relationship development with the suppliers.
A milk run system was also started in 2010-11 for 30 suppliers based in Faridabad. The logistics for these companies are now managed by one logistic supplier. This initiative helped in reducing the number of trips per day to Maruti Suzuki by 30% from these suppliers and improvement in the truck fill rate by over 25%.
Maruti Suzuki encourages suppliers to shift their production facilities near its manufacturing facilities to reduce the pollution caused due to transportation. Both the Gurgaon and Manesar facilities have a dedicated Suppliers' Park. Of the 19 joint venture companies, 11 are located in the Suppliers' Park adjacent to the Maruti Suzuki Gurgaon and Manesar plants.
The Company has been able to source 86% of its supplies by value from suppliers situated within a 100 km radius from its manufacturing facilities. Only trucks carrying a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate are allowed to enter the Company premises.
The Company also supplies water and uninterrupted power produced from natural gas based captive power plants to its suppliers located in the Suppliers' Park.