Mercedes-Benz Turk aims to achieve less carbon footprint and more energy efficiency in its bus and truck factories in Turkey in the future, CEO of the company Suer Sulun told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview, Sulun said Mercedes-Benz Turk has an 'environmental management system' to prevent negative environmental effects stemming from production at two of its facilities in Turkey - the Mercedes-Benz bus plant in Hosdere, Istanbul and the truck plant in the Aksaray province of central Anatolia.
"We do not only focus on production, sales and customer relations, but we also pay special attention to protecting the environment at every stage of production with a sustainable environmental and production philosophy," he said.
The company invested more than €700,000 on waste management at its Aksaray truck facility and €1,000,000 on its Hosdere bus facility, which helped the company achieve great environmental and economic outcomes, Sulun noted.
He underlined that Mercedes-Benz Turk achieved 25 percent energy savings at its Hosdere bus facility, thanks to its automatic control system, which includes timing programs for pumps, lighting, heating and cooling systems.
"Since 2007, energy efficiency works are ongoing at the Hosdere bus plant, where we attained more than 30 percent energy savings in production per vehicle. Almost 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per annum were prevented thanks to these works," he explained.
Sulun said that the company decreased its electricity consumption by 3 percent, natural gas consumption by 14 percent and water consumption by 20 percent at the Aksaray truck facility in 2017.
"We also reduced our carbon dioxide emissions by 23.5 percent in 2017 in this facility," he noted, adding that the company plans further investments in the future to increase savings.
Mercedes-Benz Turk was founded in Istanbul in 1967 under the name Otomarsan with Daimler-Benz AG holding a 36 percent interest. The production of model O 302 intercity buses started in 1968.
Starting exportation in 1970, the company has become Mercedes-Benz’s general representative in Turkey. The truck plant in Aksaray began production in 1986. In November 1990, the trade name of the company changed to Mercedes-Benz Turk Inc.
Mercedes-Benz Inc., with its total investments over €885 million, is one of the largest foreign investments in Turkey. The company employs over 6,000 personnel. Daimler AG currently has a majority 67 percent share in the company.
The factory in Hosdere manufactures intercity and municipality buses. The Aksaray facility manufactures light, medium-heavy and heavy trucks. The company is directly involved in the sale and exportation of its domestically produced models.
(Anadolu Agency, 06/15/2018)
