All articles by Chris Ludwig – Page 18
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FeatureReacting to decline and disruption
Downstream co-operationGrowth now all that counts in BrusselsChanging vehicle logistics flowsRussian resurgenceTurkey moves into Europe’s top fiveFuture trendsTrickle-down innovationEurope’s fifth straight year of falling sales and drops in production have had significant impacts across the wider continent. We report from the ECG’s 2012 gathering.The impact of the eurozone crisis on ...
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FeatureDelivering on VW's targets
Confident, cool, calmDeveloping new conceptsAdapting the European networkProviders and entrepreneurial decisionsHow to reduce emissions by 2018Transparency in visibilityThe Volkswagen Group has one of the world’s most complex distribution networks. Andrea Eck explains the advanced logistics concepts that are helping to make it faster, more precise and greener even as it ...
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FeatureToyota shows its colours in Europe
Toyota Motor Europe’s head of logistics, talks exclusively about how the global sales leader has been redesigning its supply chain and logistics as part of a strategy to improve costs and shorten order-todelivery cycles for regional productionA Strategic change;The inbound network;Mapping Toyota's flowsDiversifying the carrier base;Centralising packaging;Shortening the order-to-delivery cycle;Outbound ...
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FeatureLogistics in the front line of crisis response
Levent Yuksel, Toyota Motor Europe’s head of logistics, on how the global sales leader has been redesigning its supply chain and logistics as part of a strategy to improve costs and shorten order-todelivery cycles for regional production. He talks to Christopher Ludwig.Although Toyota has roared back to the top of ...
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Light at the end of a long tunnel
In August, Brazil’s government announced a stimulus package worth R133 billion ($66 billion) designed to improve its already outdated transport infrastructure, in which only 6% of the roads are paved, the rail network is a woefully inadequate and there have been few concessions or significant developments for port terminals in ...
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Leading car carriers under antitrust investigation
As Finished Vehicle Logistics went to print, the world’s leading car carriers were being investigated by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) on suspicion of fixing freight rates for vehicles on trade lanes between Europe, the US and Asia.The offices of Eukor Car Carriers, K-Line, Mitsui OSK Lines, NYK Line ...
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FeatureEDITOR’S NOTE: What does innovation in vehicle logistics look like?
Calls for innovation in the vehicle logistics sector can often be found on the pages of this magazine and at our conferences. Executives from OEMs and providers regularly accuse one another of being too entrenched in established practices and too proprietary about their own data.But what does innovation in this ...
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FeatureYusen targets auto freight forwarding and aftermarket in Europe
Growing in freight forwarding;Outsourcing the aftermarket;Options in Russia and Turkey.These are tough days for container shipping, with most of the major lines reporting losses, struggling with overcapacity and trying, with varying degrees of success, to push rates back to sustainable levels. Sailing against the winds of the market is particularly ...
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FeatureRunning on empty for longer
Lowering fuel consumption is top of the agenda for car hauliers, but regulations and operational requirements can sometimes get in the way. Barry Cross examines the latest approaches and technology for cutting the fuel bill.In the face of high fuel costs and weak profit margins, the need to reduce fuel ...
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FeatureRussian Railways will buy Gefco stake
One win longer than another;Big questions for big customers.As Automotive Logistics was going to press, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Russian Railways (RZD), the state-owned rail operator, to sell a majority stake in PSA’s logistics provider, Gefco, and form a “strategic partnership”. PSA ...
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Russia needs a service revolution under WTO
When Russia joined the WTO in August, analysts pointed to risks for Russian OEMs as lower duties promised greater foreign competition. Market share leaders such as Lada for passenger cars or GAZ for light commercial vehicles would be vulnerable to European and Japanese imports on quality and the Chinese on ...
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FeatureTax advantages keep auto investment in Poland
A less taxing future?;World container index Shanghai-Rotterdam;Drewry's air freight price index.There are new developments being discussed for an automotive cluster in the Silesia region of Poland near GM’s Opel’s plant in Gliwice, which lies at the heart of the Katowice Special Economic Zone (KSEZ). It reaffirms the importance of the ...
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FeatureEDITOR’S NOTE: Gefco/GM; pressures on free trade
Automotive logistics, by definition, always moves. From sorting material at crossdocks to loading in ports, sailing, trucking or flying, the supply chain is in constant flux. So too is the automotive logistics industry itself. A struggling European market brings not only painful cuts, but also changes in logistics strategies. GM’s decision ...
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Russia needs a service revolution under WTO
Beyond the wall of duties;GAZ as distributor.When Russia joined the WTO in August, analysts pointed to risks for Russian OEMs as lower duties promised greater foreign competition. Market share leaders such as Lada for passenger cars or GAZ for light commercial vehicles would be vulnerable to European and Japanese imports ...
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FeatureEDITOR’S NOTE: Is inbound really better and more important?
An electronic survey at our FVL North America event asked 250 delegates what OEMs thought was more important: inbound or outbound logistics. Perhaps it was unsurprising that the audience, mainly vehicle logistics providers and outbound managers at OEMs, saw the grass as greener and voted 73% for inbound.Asked which was ...
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FeatureYusen targets auto freight forwarding and aftermarket in Europe
These are tough days for container shipping, with most of the major lines reporting losses, struggling with overcapacity and trying, with varying degrees of success, to push rates back to sustainable levels. Sailing against the winds of the market is particularly difficult when moving thousands of boxes is almost always ...
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FeatureRussian Railways will buy Gefco stake
As Automotive Logistics was going to press, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Russian Railways (RZD), the state-owned rail operator, to sell a majority stake in PSA’s logistics provider, Gefco, and form a “strategic partnership”. PSA said that it would sell a 75% interest ...
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FeatureSecrets of a success story at JLR
Logistics providers have played a key role in the global growth of Jaguar Land Rover, and the OEM wants to extend co-operation even further.Contracts of trust;The supply chain and its history;A complete LLP strategy;Reducing premium freight spending by 80%;Global systems for order to delivery;A collaborative outbound strategy;Network planning;The recruitment challenge.The ...
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FeaturePremium logistics for a premium US service
Christopher Ludwig talks to Mercedes-Benz USA about the carmaker’s delivery and inventory management challenges in maintaining an efficient spare parts network.A different kind of dealer in the US;Why not three times a day?;The NAFTA project and sharing truckloads;In-house versus 3PL parts warehouses;Packaging standards and returnable loops;Can't just throw money at ...
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Automotive sector can do better on innovation
When it comes to innovations in logistics, the automotive industry is good at confirming the merits of its own success, but it might do better to look beyond its own factories towards solutions from other industries, as there are signs it is losing ground in logistics developments as it continues ...