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SALES REPRESENTATIVE: TERRICK STOCK WRITER: JACQUELINEGRAY OLKSWAGEN South Africa has introduced a holistic programme for environmentally responsible manufacturing at its plant in Uitenhage. Dubbed ‘Think Blue. Factory’, it is an extension of Volkswagen’s Think Blue. philosophy which has been implemented at Volkswagen production plants worldwide.

Think Blue. seeks to address how individual mobility and sustainability can be harmonised and serves as an umbrella brand for Volkswagen’s activities relating to environmental sustainability. This includes environmentally-friendly technologies such as the company’s BlueMotion Technologies and its BlueMotion concept brands.

Volkswagen South Africa has adopted a three-pronged approach to introducing the Think Blue. initiative to South African consumers, namely BlueFactory, BlueMotion and

VBlueEnvironment. With these Think Blue. initiatives, Volkswagen hopes to strengthen its position as an environmentally responsible company. It also forms part of the company’s vision to be the top automotive company by 2018.

Think Blue.Factory covers a wide-range of resource efficiency and emission reduction measures in the Volkswagen plants. The aim is to achieve efficient usage of energy, materials and water as well as reduce CO2 carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants during manufacturing. Volkswagen has set a target of reducing the environmental impact at all its plants by 25 percent by 2018.

The Think Blue.Factory initiative was first introduced at the Uitenhage manufacturing plant just over a year ago. Volkswagen’s state-of-the-art paint shop was the first facility in the company to be commissioned using many of the principles formalised under the Think