In your business

saving water in your business

Henkel Australia Pty LtdHenkel Offices

Henkel Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of the German company Henkel KGaA. Henkel’s site at Kilsyth  is head office for its Australian business and has approximately 150 staff manufacturing industrial specialty chemicals, including adhesives, sealants and surface treatment products for the automotive, metals, aviation and packaging industries.

Project Implementation
The 46% reduction in water consumption was achieved with a number of small improvements over three years, including:
Awareness
Installing check meters to facilitate reporting, monitoring,  troubleshooting and displaying  water consumption data on internal communication boards

Elimination

  • Predictive maintenance of deionisation process
  • Conversion of urinals to non-flush operation
  • Trigger nozzles fitted on hoses
  • Elimination of washing returnable packaging
  • Steam trap maintenance
  • Connection of laboratory equipment to recirculated site cooling water supply
  • Filter modification to allow on-line cleaning

Re-use / Recycling
  • Washing raw material drums into product mixers
  • Collection of single pass cooling water for re-use in process

Alternative Supply
Installation of rainwater tanks to collect 75,000 litres for use in the manufacturing process

Costs, Savings and Benefits
The 46% reduction in water consumption from 2006 to 2009 was achieved for less than $40,000.
All improvement projects were funded by Henkel, with all but three of the improvement projects costing less than $2,000 to implement.
Many ideas for improvements came principally from employee suggestions, and by investigating and analysing abnormal or unexpected consumption.
The WaterMAP program assisted Henkel to apply the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle by providing a structured approach to analysing water consumption.

Lessons learnt

  • If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it
  • Many small improvements add up to a significant wins
  • Raising and maintaining employee awareness has been a key factor in the success of the program
  • To achieve many small wins over an extended period, you need perseverance and support from the senior leadership team

For more information
Darren Fahlbusch, Manufacturing Manager
Telephone 9724 6373
Email Darren.fahlbusch@au.henkel.com