All articles by Chris Ludwig – Page 13
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FeatureHertz consolidates vehicle logistics services
Car-rental company Hertz has overhauled its outbound logistics procurement and distribution strategy, greatly reducing the number of carriers that it uses. Rather than controlling its overall logistics movements, Hertz has moved towards an outsourced model for its logistics engineering. Paul Sykes (pictured), European sourcing manager for transportation and vehicle re-marketing, ...
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FeatureJCB cuts logistics emissions by 16% with dual-fuel fleet
British construction equipment manufacturer, JCB, has moved aggressively towards reducing emissions and fuel consumption in its supply chain, including the use of a dual-fuel carrier fleet and multimodal logistics. The company is already savings hundreds of thousands of pounds per year as a result, according to Joannes Van Osta (pictured), ...
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FeatureLive survey results: automotive falling behind, need for IT, to Russia without love
At Automotive Logistics Europe 2014, we held several series of live voting surveys that captured the opinions of our audience present in Bonn, as well as those streaming the sessions live from around the world. The results were fascinating, from a desire for better IT services to trepidation about investing ...
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FeatureOpel/Vauxhall moves to ‘order slotting’
Opel/Vauxhall has a made a breakthrough in managing its vehicle orders and forecasting in real time together with material availability and logistics, thanks in parts to systems implemented by software-provider flexisIn today’s complex supply chains, with a proliferation of customer options and global material, one major challenge for carmakers like ...
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FeatureRedesigning in-plant logistics at Opel/Vauxhall
Part of exclusive coverage of Opel/Vauxhall, director of supply chain Michael Scholl describes how the carmaker is adjusting its in-plant logistics in response to supply chain complexity and changes Opel/Vauxhall special featuresRead these other stories that form part of this exclusive coverage of Opel/Vauxhall's supply chain management:End-to-send control with Michael ...
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FeatureAiming for end-to-end control at Opel/Vauxhall
Michael Scholl, Opel/Vauxhall’s director of supply chain, discusses parallel planning, in-plant logistics customisation and complexity with Automotive Logistics When carmakers make changes, be it launching a new model, adding or shifting a supplier location, or selling in a new market, they reverberate across the supply chain, either as ripples ...
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FeatureExecutive summary: Blue skies over Bonn as logistics returns to growth
Vehicle sales and production are rising again in Europe, while supply chain complexity is driving more demand for logistics and better systems. But many risks remain both within the industry, and on Europe's periphery. Additional reporting by Marcus Williams and Zoë Apostolides[sam_ad id=6 codes='true']Although the Europe conference was held at ...
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FeatureJust in time frappuccinos
Europe’s automotive supply chain experts got an opportunity to see how the other side lives at this year’s Automotive Logistics Europe conference, with a presentation on the logistics at American coffee-chain giant Starbucks. Jan Huijgens (pictured), senior manager of logistics for the European region, revealed that logistics is a strong ...
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FeatureEuropean damage rates down, catastrophic loss up
Overall damage ratios for finished vehicle delivery in Europe have fallen by as much as 50% in recent years, with huge cost saving implications. At the same time, more incidents of extreme weather have led to higher catastrophic loss cases. Matt Holmes (pictured), director of damage claims and survey specialist, ...
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FeatureOdette estimates €30m savings for outbound with B2B standard
Developing a standard for business-to-business communication protocols for finished vehicle logistics could save the European automotive industry at least €30m ($41.5m) per year, according to Odette, the standards association for automotive supply chain management. John Canvin, managing director of London-based Odette, said that there is currently no standard method for ...
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FeatureAudi wants better visibility on logistics cost, flows
Audi has called for an open, common network of consolidation points, which could be managed by a cloud-based transport management system and control tower, to help break the ‘black box’ of transport costs and visibility. Jens Tilgner (pictured), head of material transportation at Audi, told the Automotive Logistics conference in ...
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FeatureWill Russian investment be left out in the cold?
Troubles in the Russian market and the crisis with Ukraine could be discouraging some investment by the automotive and logistics industries. However, production and localisation plans in the country don’t yet appear to have changed. During an interactive voting survey conducted at Automotive Logistics Europe, delegates were asked in which ...
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FeatureHealthier times ahead for Europe
European vehicle production is heading towards higher capacity utilisation as factories close, models are localised and the new vehicle sales market finally starts to recover, according to PwC Autofacts. Continued growth in exports as well as complex material flows should also benefit automotive logistics providers, although the European market may ...
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FeatureA transformation loaded with ambition at Volvo
The decision to bring logistics purchasing and operations in-house has resulted in dramatic changes in Volvo Car Group’s inbound and outbound supply chain.Four years after China’s Geely Cars bought Volvo Cars from Ford, the Swedish carmaker is undergoing the most significant ever change to its manufacturing and sales footprint. Since ...
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FeatureAvoiding a national waste – Indian rail reforms
Anand Venkateswaran (pictured), general manager of sales logistics at Hyundai Motor India, talks about the potential benefits and pitfalls of switching to rail for moving vehicles in India. Ramesh Kumar: Two years ago, you made a presentation at the Automotive Logistics India Conference with a focus on alternate modes of ...
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FeaturePSA Dongfeng and logistics – dealing in reality
The deal to rescue PSA signifies both risk and reward for its logistics providers in Europe and China.The deal to rescue PSA Peugeot Citroën between Dongfeng Motor Group, the French government and Peugeot family will transform the carmaker’s global strategy over the coming years as the brands look to treble ...
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Redrawing the line side
Carmakers are looking carefully at ways to simplify inbound logistics to assembly lines, including kitting operations and, in some cases, insourcing.After a number of recent visits to automotive plants I have noticed changes to the ways that carmakers are thinking about final deliveries to the assembly line. Manufacturers as diverse ...
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FeatureTNT expands management team
As part of its reorganisation of domestic and international logistics management for later this year, TNT Express has announced a new top leadership team, which includes a number of former DHL executives. CEO Tex Gunning and CFO Bernard Bot will be joined by Marco van Kalleveen, who takes up the role ...
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FeatureHansmann goes deeper in-plant at German factories
Hansmann Logistik has gained further work for in-plant logistics services at car plants in Wolfsburg and Osnabrück in Germany. The provider will take over operations that include sequencing, storage, empty container handling and line feeding.Although Hansmann declined to identify the carmaker, the Volkswagen Group has its headquarters and largest global ...
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FeatureLocal logistics and engineering partnership at Nissan Europe
Nissan Europe has benefited from closer collaboration between engineers, suppliers and logistics during vehicle development, especially for its Sunderland plant The UK automotive industry has been the darling of Britain’s nascent economic recovery, praised equally by politicians, economists and union leaders. Vehicle sales have bucked the euro-zone crisis; production has ...