The Zodiac Cabin & Structures plant in Colomiers recovers wastewater from paint booths, then treats and recycles it for use in its manufacturing processes.

Charging stations have been set up to support the development of electric vehicles, complementing local carpooling initiatives.

Ecodesign: quantifying the impact to improve decision-making

From lighter products and recyclable or environmentally friendly materials, to reduced packaging, the elimination of polyurethane foam and substitution of chemicals, best practices are becoming the norm. Zodiac Aerospace has rolled out ElME's Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and ecodesign software at six sites in France and is training employees in its use. One of the goals is to create a working group in the United States in 2015. The EIME software, which complements the tool used previously, accurately quantifies the main environmental impact of products such as the Dragonfly seat, several types of power management sub-units, fuel inerting systems, onboard computers, and aircraft cabins. This is essential when seeking alternative solutions that are designed to have a lower environmental impact. Research conducted by Zodiac Fuel & Inerting Systems, for example, has confirmed the importance of making products more lightweight and improving their energy efficiency. At the same time, it has highlighted several areas for improvement, especially logistics and integrating recycled material into production. For its part, Zodiac Seats France has formed a number of manufacturing and institutional partnerships to improve the disassembly and recyclability of its seats.

Performance measured for ongoing improvement

Environmental performance is measured by independent audits and inter-BUs audits. Standards and documentation associated with these audits have been reworked. Furthermore, annual management reviews now fall under a Group standard and must take place at least once a year at each site and include criteria consistent with ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 and the Group's expectations. Another line of progress is the environmental and safety training given to all new employees.
All these environmental initiatives are gradually being extended to suppliers, who will have to comply with a Group standard that contains the same requirements already relayed to Procurement teams. An environmental clause has been forwarded to suppliers and is included in all contracts.

FLAX, PAVING THE WAY FOR ECO-COMPOSITES

At the Composites trade show in Paris in 2014, Zodiac Cabin & Structures
exhibited a seat shell made of high-performance flax-fiber panels that are lighter than their fiberglass equivalent. This demo model is the result of collaboration between flax growers in Normandy and the association of flax producers, Fimalin, whose Fiabilin project, certified under France's Investing for the Future initiative, aims to create a “technical flax” sector Set to become the third most important 1 fiber in composites, next to carbon and glass, flax will pave the way for eco-composites.

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