March 22 is World Water Day — a day that celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2 billion people living without access to safe water. 

At Adient, we believe access to clean water is a fundamental human right, and we understand we have a responsibility to ensure we are using this precious natural resource sustainably.

“As climate change continues to threaten our natural resources, including our water supply, Adient remains committed to identifying and taking steps to overcome water challenges in our operations,” said Tammi S. Dukes, Adient vice president of Global Sustainability.

Our Strategy 

We endeavor to conduct our operations in a way that minimizes water withdrawals and wastewater produced to the greatest extent possible and safely discharges wastewater according to applicable local legal requirements. We conducted our first water security risk assessment in 2021 to identify the Adient locations that exist in areas of high water stress and conduct water security risk assessments as part of our ongoing water management processes. Our water management policy requires, among other things, that our locations monitor their water-management KPIs — and that locations with high water consumption and/or in areas of high water stress comply with more stringent requirements for water conservation.

We have also improved visibility into the quantity and quality of our water withdrawals, water consumption and water discharges through more granular data tracking in fiscal year 2022. In previous years, this data was estimated, but today, we track 90% of water withdrawals and 75% of water discharges with plans to continuously improve upon these values in fiscal year 2023. We also distribute an annual water management survey to all our locations globally to keep our teams in each region updated on Adient’s water security issues and statistics.

Disclosing for Transparency

In addition to disclosing our water management data in our annual Sustainability Report, we also participate annually in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which helps companies and cities to understand and disclose their environmental impacts. To view Adient’s latest CDP scores, visit the CDP website.

Driving Change at Adient

Through our ongoing continuous improvement initiative, we are finding innovative ways to conserve water at our locations globally.

In the EMEA region, the team at our Liverpool, U.K., plant noticed water usage remained high even during extended shutdowns. After ruling out an underground leak, the team discovered the urinal auto-flush was cycling too frequently (at 9 liters per flush). Project leads reduced flush frequency to every 15 minutes and reduced the fill level to its minimum volume. In just four months, the project conserved 4.7 million liters of water — enough to nearly fill two Olympic swimming pools.

In the Americas region, our Juarez III plant in Mexico is collecting wastewater from the plant’s filtration and HVAC systems and using it in its sanitation system. Additionally, team members at our Aguascalientes, Mexico, plant identified and repaired water leaks, saving 500 liters of water per year. And at our Rosario, Argentina, plant, team members replaced older faucets with new ones that have presence sensors, which helps save roughly 500 liters of water per year.

In the APAC region, CQADNT Nanchang reduced water consumption in its welding-dust-removal system by installing a water level controller and solenoid valve to prevent water overflow, and by adding piping to collect and reuse fan drainage. The project conserved 54,597 U.S. gallons in fiscal year 2022. Our teams in APAC have also already completed a gap analysis for each manufacturing site.

Sustainability at Adient

For additional information about Adient’s commitment to sustainability, visit adient.com/sustainability.