Magna International Inc. will manufacture the new BMW 5 Series sedan at its contract vehicle assembly facility in Graz, Austria, starting in 2017. With this new business award from BMW, together with another from Jaguar Land Rover and a contract extension on the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Magna's Graz facility is expected to build approximately 200,000 vehicles per year by 2018. (PRNewsFoto/Magna International Inc.)

A project by GateHouse Logistics and Schmitz Cargobull Telematics to set up a long-distance, just-in-sequence (LD-JIS) tracking solution for new vehicle programs at Magna International’s Steyr facility in Austria is on track to become fully operational by spring next year.

In October, the project received third place at Magna International Europe’s World Class Logistics awards in Leibnitz, Austria.

LD-JIS-based production enables carmakers to have parts delivered at a precise moment in the production chain, doing away with the need for large buffer inventories.

The trailers of over 300 trucks will be fitted with Schmitz Cargobull Telematics systems and Gatehouse’s ghTrack data-unifying technology will be used to give Magna a ‘single tower’ view of all parts in transit to the contract vehicle assembly plant in Graz.

GateHouse CEO, Jesper Bennike, said: “All industries today need more data transparency in the supply chain and the success of this LD-JIS project depends entirely upon Magna having total control and visibility over what parts are in transit and when they will arrive.”