All features articles – Page 17
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Finding the first point of rest
Luke Doremus, director of sales for auto/ro-ro at stevedore and terminal operating company Ports America, talks about efficiency gains and losses and how the company is working with port authorities to improve berth productivity
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Seeking to harmonise supply and demand
In May, supply chain specialist Kinaxis announced that Volvo Cars had chosen its software for work on volume forecasting and production planning. According to Kinaxis, the Swedish carmaker will use its RapidResponse software to model the impact of rising production volumes, as well as other ‘what-if?’ scenarios. Accurate forecasting will ...
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Transforming inbound flows
Daimler Trucks’ division in Brazil – Mercedes-Benz do Brasil – has invested 500m reais ($150.6m) in its 1m sq.m plant in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo state, to establish a new truck assembly line and transform its supporting inbound logistics structure. The comprehensive overhaul of operations is part of ...
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When will services be back on track?
The state of the rail freight service in the US has been a leading topic of conversation for several months within vehicle supply chains, with discussions still ongoing between OEMs and rail providers. Questions around the availability of capacity and transit delays that have disrupted the timing of finished vehicle ...
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Africa awakes
Africa’s vehicle production and distribution sector still trails much of the rest of the world, but the signs are that this is beginning to change
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Russia's fresh focus on exports
In recent years, Russia has put considerable resources into encouraging recovery in its domestic automotive industry. Last year, the federal budget included 62.3 billion roubles ($1 billion) in state aid for carmakers. Such sums have been spent primarily on boosting demand in the domestic market, which has been under pressure ...
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A match made in heaven?
According to a study carried out by the European Commission in 2014, almost a quarter of truck journeys on Europe’s roads are carried out empty. In individual member states, the prevalence of empty running can be even higher: in the UK, for instance, Department for Transport (DfT) statistics put the ...
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Brexit’s unaccustomed burdens
Nine months before the UK’s planned departure from the European Union, uncertainty over customs arrangements is emerging as one of the major concerns of manufacturers – perhaps just as much, if not more so, than the prospect of tariffs and taxes. The risks and impacts from delays in logistics flows ...
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Trump stamps on Iran’s automotive revival
When Iran reached agreement with the global community in 2015 regarding denuclearisation, resulting in the lifting of sanctions in early 2016, almost immediately Renault and PSA announced their return to the country. Prior to Iran being ostracised, both companies had been active there via joint venture (JV) manufacturing operations, mostly ...
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Twinning talent with technology
The rate at which emerging digital technologies are transforming the automotive logistics supply chain is hard to keep up with. As both an enabler of everything from platform design to procurement, finance and planning, and a disruptor of traditional supply chain operations, digital technology associated with industry 4.0 is driving ...
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Driving value into the supply chain
Better communication is needed in the automotive supply chain, including between OEMs, suppliers, logistics providers and IT experts providing digital supply chain services. Digital technology has a lot of answers for an industry that is making strides in addressing the needs of modern manufacturing and the changing face of mobility, ...
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A hard look at software risks
Few people realise how much software runs today’s cars, observes Les Hatton, emeritus professor of forensic software engineering at Kingston University, UK. “We sit at home and can’t work out why the printer isn’t working, and then we’ll get in a car where there’s probably more software underneath,” he says. ...
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Sweet home Alabama
One of the most popular songs about the US state of Alabama, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, opens with the line “Big wheels keep on turning” – and indeed the number doing so is set to grow after the January announcement that a $1.6 billion Toyota-Mazda joint-venture manufacturing plant is scheduled to ...
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MBUSI: In a state of contentment
Why has Alabama become such a mecca for automotive manufacturing?I think there are a number of reasons. You have seen the automotive industry continue to push further south into areas where there is a good workforce available. You have infrastructure that is available. The supplier network has continued to migrate ...
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Partner Content
A global freight audit and payment solution
Amidst the growing efforts of enterprises to expand, the logistics sector has been at the forefront of helping them attain a truly global status. But some hurdles remain, including the accurate and timely payment of freight invoices – nVision Global’s iMpact TMS can help
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About ready to drop
DropCar’s mission is to “make driving fun again”, says Spencer Richardson, co-founder and CEO of the US-based start-up, which launched in New York City in 2015. The company decided to begin by offering an app-based service for car owners who live in urban areas where parking, car maintenance and even ...
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Clark seeks to reassure automotive sector on Brexit
British business minister Greg Clark (pictured) has suggested the UK government wants to avoid any new trade friction over the processing and transporting of automotive products with the European Union after Brexit, despite open disagreement among cabinet ministers over what sort of customs arrangement should be put in place. Clark, ...
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Gefco: Full of get up and go
French transport and logistics provider Gefco started 2018 with an announcement in Paris that it was looking to cooperate more closely with its partners and customers. At the same time, the company said it was looking for international growth and new business as it continued to move beyond the traditional ...
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Russia: Recovery still down the road
Sales of finished vehicles in Russia rose 11.9% in 2017 over the previous year to reach 1.59m units, according to estimates in early January by the Association of European Businesses (AEB). Russia’s long-awaited recovery began in March and gained momentum throughout the year, peaking in December with monthly sales of ...
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Making sense from the noise for the future of logistics
Convergence between the automotive and high-tech sectors isn’t a theory or prediction any more. Vehicles are as connected as smartphones, programmed with millions more lines of code than any computer, and increasingly powered by the same electric components and batteries – just on a much larger scale.