All features articles – Page 38
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FeatureChina conference: the big come to get stronger
Speakers at the 12th annual Automotive Logistics China conference pointed to efforts at both the government and industry level to improve services, become more efficient, market orientated, and international, particularly with growth slowing down. Christopher Ludwig and Rachael Hogg report from ShanghaiThere is no getting around just how big the ...
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FeatureFord launches fleet telematics system in UK with Telogis
Ford is launching a real-time fleet telematics system in the UK with its technology provider Telogis for the carmaker’s commercial customers. Ford Telematics uses real-time information from Ford vehicles to give businesses insight into vehicle location, driver behaviour and fuel consumption, amongst more comprehensive data.Announcing the technology at this week’s ...
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FeatureToyota part 5: take me to the water
In the conclusion to this five part series on Toyota's North American service parts distribution, the company reveals how applying the Japanese principle of Genchi Genbutsu helped the carmaker to manage through recent labour disputes at the port of Long BeachAn example of how TPS principles characterise business decisions as ...
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FeaturePart 5: More than just words
The implementation of the Toyota Production System at NAPO means terms such as ‘lean’, heijunka and kaizen are applied to every aspect of logistics, warehousing, order and corporate strategyThat the Toyota Production System (TPS) is adhered to at the OEM’s own North American Parts Operations may not be a surprising ...
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FeatureToyota part 4: Looking for the ‘holy grail’ of predictability
Toyota’s visibility across its parts and distribution centres works to the great benefit of dealers, but the carmaker’s challenge is ultimately to try and distinguish real demand from stock replenishment requestsToyota’s North American Parts Operations (NAPO)has built inventory visibility across its part centres and distribution centres, thanks partly to an ...
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FeatureTo protect and serve
The conflicting demands of part protection, transport efficiency and line-side access often require innovative solutions from packaging designersCarmakers and their suppliers increasingly recognise the importance of getting inbound packaging right, to boost quality by eliminating transit damage, save costs by allowing more components to be squeezed into a truck, and ...
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Feature3PLs in China are raising the bar
Maintaining logistics leadership in China is becoming more about demonstrating the ability to implement innovative and sustainable solutions than it is about moving pure volumeChina, as this magazine has long noted, is a complicated automotive logistics market. State-owned carmakers tend to have affiliated logistics providers to handle their transport and ...
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FeaturePacked with promise
A case study on the ambition and limitations shaping returnable packaging provider Goodpack’s growth in IndiaWhen Mahindra Sanyo Special Steel procured an order in 2010 from FAG for supply of 60 tonnes of rings per month from India to Hungary, dispatch was the critical issue. The buyer made it clear ...
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FeatureToyota part 3: On time, any time, all of the time
Run with the precision of its famed production system, transport management forms the backbone of Toyota’s service parts distribution, with daily, multimodal services, and strong controls over expedited freight Toyota’s North American Parts Operations (NAPO) division manages a complex set of transport flows designed to allow for the latest possible ...
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FeatureToyota part 3: Reverse opportunities
Toyota is exploring options for integrating remanufactured and recycled parts into its logistics network.Along with dealer distribution, NAPO is responsible for reverse logistics for the return of packaging modules, as well as collecting dealer part returns. However, with the growth in hybrid vehicles, Neil Swartz and his team are moving ...
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FeatureToyota part 3: In-house quality applications
Toyota is using its in-house truck fleet for service parts distribution as a competitive advantage, while also trialling innovations including a new smartphone app for driversToyota is fairly unique in having its own in-house fleet of trucks for parts distribution. Toyota Quality Parts Express serves major routes out of the ...
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FeatureMaintaining the flow
What are OEMs, claims managers and repair specialists doing to prevent damaged vehicles from damaging profits and customer confidence?Despite the best efforts of carmakers and their logistics providers, and despite vehicles arriving in perfect condition most of the time – up to 99.75% for some OEMs – there will always ...
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FeatureOn board for progress
Ashok Leyland’s head of vehicle distribution, Chandrakant Mishra reveals how the OEM is trying to maximise its outbound logistics efficiency as much as the Indian landscape will allow.Unpaved and congested roads; long queues of vehicles waiting at state borders to pay various tolls and taxes; limited handling and storage at ...
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FeaturePlanning from first to last mile
Logistics specialists are looking for transport management systems to do more than optimise routes and track flows; they want complete management tools for increasingly complex supply chains.At Torrance, California-headquartered Toyota Logistics Services – the outbound logistics and vehicle processing arm of Toyota Motor Sales USA – a recently-implemented Oracle transport ...
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FeatureAnalysis: European discord for logistics
Although Europe is considered to be a single market, differing laws and regulations surrounding wages, truck dimensions and weights are making it increasingly difficult for finished vehicle logistics providers. In the face of growing divisions between transport regulations in various European countries, finished vehicle logistics executives and European officials have ...
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FeatureApps and logistics: Taking it all in hand
Smartphone apps are increasingly being used in areas such as track-and-trace, damage reporting and claims, as well as compliance issuesWith the growth of e-commerce, customers are increasingly accustomed to using their smartphones not only to buy products, but also track delivery right to their door. The ubiquitous rise of Uber, ...
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FeatureE-commerce: Online and on the road
E-commerce in automotive is starting to penetrate spare parts and vehicle purchases, with implications for OEMs, dealers, LSPs and customersIn the early days of eBay and Amazon, consumers marvelled at their own boldness. Buying on the internet was a step into the unknown: sending money to strangers to purchase items ...
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FeatureToyota part 2: A complex stock-in-trade
Toyota’s warehouse network and operations are strategic to maintaining the costs and efficiency of its spare parts deliveries, especially considering the scale, volume and diversity of parts and order lines that they handleThe volume moving in and out of Toyota’s huge main parts centres each day is simply dizzying: the ...
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FeaturePushing Europe's boundaries
Many barriers prevent a truly international, borderless vehicle logistics service across European countries. However, carmakers and logistics providers are making progress toward integrated networks.Political, economic and diplomatic tensions are rising in Europe, with the escalating issues surrounding Russia and Ukraine, and looming threats of Greece crashing out of the euro-zone, ...
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FeatureNYK and APM bet on Gujarati ro-ro hub
A new, dedicated ro-ro terminal at Pipavev could become a major west coast export hub for India - but it depends on a number of factors, not least what will happen at the port of MumbaiWhile not without its hiccups, India’s vehicle exports have been on the rise, with some ...