With more than 120 years of history, Renault Group has evolved from being a car manufacturer to becoming a technology company that offers comprehensive mobility solutions. In Spain, the company has strong roots in Castilla y León, a land where it has been established for 74 years. Currently the Group, which employs 8,000 people, has different activities, highlighting that the Factories of Valladolid, Palencia and Body Shops develop and produce Made in Spain models that are exported to the five continents and more than 55 countries.
Since 2021, the Valladolid and Palencia factories have become the company’s Hybridization Hub at a global level and the spearhead in terms of technological innovation. The company manufactures 14.5% of the Group’s total production, that is, nearly 350,000 models are produced exclusively worldwide, two of them in Valladolid, such as the Renault Captur and Symbioz, and another three in Palencia, such as: Austral, Espace and Rafale.
In addition, at the Hybridization Pole the company has an R&D&I Center in Valladolid with more than 700 engineers who lead the development of key technologies such as advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). In addition, the Group has two circular economy projects in our country such as Refactory, an activity dedicated to Seville and another in Valladolid, where up to 6,000 vehicles are reconditioned annually and return to the Group’s Renew network, thanks to an exhaustive quality process of more than 150 control points.
Carbon neutrality
The company is working on a global decarbonization plan, whose goals are to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe in 2040 and worldwide in 2050. To achieve this, Renault Group works on decarbonization “from the cradle to the grave”, that is, in the entire production process, generating a competitive and local supplier ecosystem, manufacturing in an ecological way, producing hybrid and electrified vehicles and taking recycling into account; 24% of the materials used in Renault Group vehicles are already recycled and 85% of the vehicle’s mass – including the battery – is recyclable.
Industrial efficiency and productivity
Among the most innovative projects, Plant Connect stands out. Renault Group’s Polo Iberia Vehicle has launched a pioneering system in the Palencia and Valladolid Factories that allows the optimization of the value chain through data management and AI with an End to End vision of the business.
This pioneering system integrates Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and advanced data management to offer a complete and automated view of the value chain. With more than 3 million data processed per minute, Plant Connect allows agile, precise and predictive decisions, improving quality, energy efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.
The company has a Climate Plan to meet its decarbonization objectives
On the main screen, which symbolizes the heart of the factory, the indicators are centralized from when the customer formalizes an order until it is delivered to the dealership, which allows monitoring of the stage in which each of the vehicles is: orders, suppliers, inbound (logistics of parts to the factory), production (stamping, plating, painting and assembly), CLE (delivery logistics center), outbound (logistics of vehicles from the factory to customers).
In each of the phases, a traffic light has been represented that determines the health status of the different departments, with “green” being the color that indicates the normality of the processes, and “red” being the alerts to be taken into account, in this way the company has total control of the processes and is capable of having a reactive capacity for any type of operational situation.
Commitment to renewable energies
Furthermore, on the occasion of World Energy Saving Day, which was celebrated on October 21, Renault Group Spain has announced a 40% reduction in the energy consumption of gas and electricity necessary to manufacture a vehicle between 2021 and 2024. This result is the result of a decarbonization and energy transition strategy that combines innovative technological projects and the know-how of its teams in Spain.
Between 2021 and 2024, Renault Group Spain has managed to reduce energy consumption of electricity and gas by 40% when manufacturing a vehicle
Another strategic axis has been the commitment to renewable energy. Since 2021, all the electricity consumed in Renault Group Spain factories comes from 100% renewable sources, thanks to the agreement signed with Iberdrola. This alliance was reinforced in May of this year with a new collaboration agreement aimed at promoting decarbonization and energy efficiency throughout the Renault Group value chain in Spain.
Planned initiatives include long-term renewable energy contracts (PPAs), self-consumption projects, energy storage solutions and the development of electrification technologies. In addition to these structural actions, Renault Group Spain has implemented multiple continuous improvement projects at its facilities.