Aluminum coils from Ford’s recycling system.When Ford switched to an aluminum bodied truck, it went all out for the venture, including the installation of aluminum recycling systems.
Ford’s closed-loop recycling system recycles 5 million pounds a week of high-strength military grade aluminum scrap. (See video below).
That’s enough metal to build either 51 commercial jetliners or more than 37,000 new F-Series truck bodies a month.
“Not only does this make sound business sense,” said Chip Conrad, Ford’s stamping engineer who designed the recycling system. “It’s helping Ford reduce its environmental impact.”
The main environmental advantage of recycling scrap aluminum is that it takes one-tenth the energy required to reprocess scrap aluminum than it does to make new aluminum, according to the Aluminum Association. The organization estimates that because of how cost effective it is to recycle aluminum, 75 percent of all aluminum produced is still in use today.
Ford’s recycling system, which is in use at three of its factories, enables the company to reduce waste, save energy and improve sustainability.
At the heart of this closed-loop recycling system is a large, automated vacuum system and more than two miles of tubes crisscrossing the plants. Developed at Dearborn Stamping Plant, where F-150 – the first high-volume truck to use a high-strength military-grade aluminum-alloy body – is built, the system is now in use at Kentucky Truck, home to Super Duty, and Buffalo Stamping, which manufactures alloy panels for commercial F-Series trucks.
As doors and fenders are stamped into shape, scrap material is shredded into chips, roughly the size of a dollar bill, which get sucked into the system and routed via a series of computer-controlled gates until the journey ends seconds later in a multi-ton pile in the back of a semi.
“The system automatically knows which of the four different grades of alloy is being stamped at a given time, then it routes the material into one of four trucks standing by to send it back for reprocessing,” says Conrad.
As Ford expands the use of aluminum in its product lineup, closed-loop recycling systems will be essential to the long-term viability of lightweight materials and meeting overall sustainability targets.
Modern, clean and efficient, Kentucky Truck Plant builds the F-Series Super Duty F-250 to F-550 vehicles. These trucks share cab components with Dearborn-built F-150 pickups, allowing Ford to maximize manufacturing efficiency and recyclability.
Ford reports that the use of recyclable high-strength military-grade aluminum has led the 2017 F-150 to claim best-in-class fuel economy among gasoline-powered trucks.
Ford’s latest Super Duty trucks—2017 F-250, F-350 and F-450—use a fully boxed, high-strength steel frame and military-grade aluminum alloy for the body.
Ford reinvested much of the resulting weight savings into expanding Super Duty’s capability to include more towing and hauling capacity, along with a greater combined gross vehicle weight rating.
“Our ability to recycle leads to improved fuel economy and capability for our truck customers,” says Conrad. “And it helps us build more affordable, high-performing, efficient trucks.”
