Ford Motor Co. announced Wednesday that it has added its dry machining capability to six plants globally. They also plan to nearly double the number in the next few years.

Near-dry machining, also known as Minimum Quantity Lubrication or MQL, is a process that lubricates cutting tools with a fine spray of oil exactly when and wher it is needed. Conventional wet machining floods the part with metalworking fluids, requiring large amounts of fluid to cool and lubricate the tools used to make engines and transmissions. 

For a typical production line, MQL can save more than 280,000 gallons (or about 1,090,000 litres) of water annually. The Cologne Engine Plant in Germany decreased water use per engine by 50 per cent from 2011 to 2012 by switching to the MQL process, Ford added.

MQL also cuts the amount of oil needed to machine an engine or transmission 80 per cent or more, to about 100 millilitres.

Plants that have switched to the MQL process include Changan Ford Engine Plant in China, Craiova Engine Plant in Romania, Cologne Engine Plant in Germany as well as Livonia Transmission Plant, Romeo Engine Plant and Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Michigan.