Over the years, I have had the opportunity to travel and do a lot of business in Mexico. I have learned a great deal not only about our field, but also about various tequila. Customers often have different favorites, and there’s always time to discuss the benefits of this alcoholic beverage made from blue agave plants.
Nevertheless, you’re not reading this blog to find out my favorite type of tequila (although I’m happy to discuss this if you want to drop me a line). So, you’re likely wondering how I’m going to link the drink to innovative thinking examples and sustainability (as the title suggested).
First, some background: the growth cycle of the agave plant used by Jose Cuervo Tequila is a minimum of seven years. Once harvested, the heart of the plant is roasted before the grinding and extracting of its juices for distillation. Jose Cuervo uses a portion of the remaining agave fibers as compost for its farms, and local artisans make crafts and agave paper from the remnants.
In an example of innovation, aiming at sustainability, Ford and Jose Cuervo have just announced a partnership to explore the use of agave fibers for bioplastics that can be used for certain car parts.
A typical Ford Motor vehicle has over 400 pounds of plastic parts. In 2000, the automaker began researching the use of sustainable materials in its vehicles. Today, the automaker uses eight sustainable-based materials in its vehicles including soy foam, castor oil, wheat straw, kenaf fiber, cellulose, wood, coconut fiber and rice hulls.
Using the agave fibers in plastic would help to reduce the waste for Jose Cuervo as well as produce lighter-weight bioplastics to improve the efficiency of vehicles.
Agave fibers have unique mechanical properties as well as durability and aesthetic qualities which make them promising candidates. Researchers are testing the material’s durability and heat resistance for potential use in the vehicle’s interior and exterior components such as wiring harnesses, HVAC units and storage bins.
This partnership may have been first fueled by sharing some tequila, but it’s one of my favorite innovative thinking examples and is an interesting approach to sustainability. We engineers do this every day in our jobs. Let me know other ideas and examples to share!