All Germany articles – Page 13
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FeatureUS considers lifting sanctions against Gaz
The US is planning to lift sanctions imposed on companies owned or controlled by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and has once again postponed the introduction of sanctions against the Russian carmaker Gaz Group, in which Deripaska has a controlling interest.The US Treasury department’s office for Foreign Assets Control (FAC) notified ...
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FeatureInnovation and smart tech: Why BMW is driving both
Handling 31m parts and producing almost 10,000 vehicles each day, BMW is increasingly looking to digitalisation and Industry 4.0 innovations to help it organise its logistics more flexibly…
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FeatureProgress for all to CEE
In past decades, international investment has flowed into the automotive industry in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) primarily due to it being a low-cost production centre. However, these days the region has much more to attract such investment, including a well-trained workforce, a wide-ranging supplier base and improving logistics infrastructure, ...
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FeatureStepping up the pace
When Groupe PSA bought Opel/Vauxhall from GM in 2017 for €2.2 billion ($2.33 billion), Gefco was already providing logistics services for it. Then, when Opel/Vauxhall renewed its contract for fourth-party logistics (4PL) services with Gefco in October 2018 for a further four years, Gefco was tasked with finding further cost ...
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FeatureContrasting trends mark Mexico's car market
Domestic sales of light vehicles are down, exports are up, while production is little changed. These are the key trends in recent months to emerge from the latest survey of the Mexican market by the country’s sector body AMIA. The 1.28m vehicles sold in the year to November represented a ...
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FeatureSovac starts assembling SKD kits for Audi in Algeria
Audi has begun assembling vehicles at the Relizane plant run by its long-time Algerian partner, Sovac, from semi-knockdown (SKD) kits prepared at the OEM’s Ingolstadt plant in Germany.“[All models] are built at the main plant in Ingolstadt and transported to Barcelona, where they are knocked down into individual assembly groups ...
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FeatureBMW ups the pace on industry 4.0 technology
BMW Group is to expand its use of industry 4.0 innovations in its production logistics, it has revealed. In 2015, BMW Group joined forces with the Fraunhofer Institute IML to develop the first self-driving Smart Transport Robots (STR). Three years later, the carmaker is increasingly relying on innovations from industry ...
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FeatureMercedes-Benz takes to rail to move cars to China
Russia’s railway monopoly RZD has delivered the first batch of finished Mercedes-Benz vehicles from Bremerhaven, in Germany, to Chongqing in China. The new route, which is informally referred to as the new Silk Road, has already proved a viable alternative to ocean shipping vehicles from Europe to China, which takes ...
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FeatureBMW supports cobalt miners in Congo
BMW has signed up to a pilot project to improve conditions for cobalt miners, their families and neighbouring communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).With batteries in high demand given the boom in electrical vehicles, global companies such as BMW have been turning their attention to how cobalt ...
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FeatureBritish automotive industry finds new markets
Asia was the fastest growing foreign market for the UK’s automotive sector last year, with the value of exported goods up 21% on 2016, a new survey has shown.The Asian increase helped lift the sector’s total exports to £40 billion ($51.5 billion) – a 26% increase in two years – ...
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FeatureScan Global to purchase IQS Group
Copenhagen, Denmark-based supply chain management company Scan Global Logistics is acquiring 100% of German niche automotive logistics provider, International Quality Service Group (IQS).Founded in 1998, IQS specialises in delivering cars by air or sea to exhibitions and testing events worldwide. Its services include infrastructural support for operation of testing projects ...
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FeatureEconomic nationalism to force a lane-change
Typically, the world experiences waves of economic nationalism every three decades but these are often limited to one region each time. Today we’re experiencing a global wave of economic disruption across multiple regions simultaneously. In reaction, automotive manufacturers are having to increase the flexibility and agility of their supply chains ...
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FeatureMosolf to open second base in France
German finished vehicle transporter Mosolf is setting up a technical and logistics centre near Paris-Vatry airport as part of a plan to expand in France.The new base at the ZAC business park, Bussy-Lettrée en Champagne, will officially be opened on December 12.Mosolf, based in Kirchheim, described the new location as ...
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FeatureChugging or changing?
Demand for rail transport is growing faster than service providers can keep up with, according to Siegfried Jung, head of planning and steering vehicle dispatch and transport at BMW Group.[related_topics align="right" border="yes"]Jung says that increased demand for rail transport, from both public and industrial sectors, currently exceeds capacity. Rail infrastructure ...
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FeatureBMW produces its millionth 3D-printed part
BMW has produced its millionth 3D-printed part since starting to use the manufacturing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, a decade ago. It is one of 200,000 parts the OEM will 3D-print this year – a 42% increase on the number produced last year. While the number is low compared ...
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FeatureZF trials drone deliveries at Friedrichshafen
Component manufacturer ZF has started testing the use of a drone to distribute parts at its main plant in Friedrichshafen, south-west Germany.The prototype is being used to transport spare parts such as sensors and control cards from the plant’s central warehouse to various workshops, with the aim of proving that ...
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FeatureWLTP hits sales and profits in Germany
Carmaker VW Group and parts supplier Schaeffler have both put weaker third-quarter financial performance down to the effects of the new Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).As manufacturers have phased out older passenger car models in advance of the more stringent emissions testing procedure coming into effect on September ...
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FeatureImperial Logistics to run VW packaging centre in Wilhelmshaven
Volkswagen Group has signed a contract with Imperial Logistics International to run its packaging centre at Jade-Weser-Port in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The centre is due to open next year. In a statement, Imperial Logistics said it would take over the operation in April. “We are happy and proud ...
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FeatureVW starts making Seat Tarraco at Wolfsburg
Spanish carmaker Seat, part of the VW Group, has begun producing its Tarraco SUV on assembly lines at VW’s Wolfsburg factory – the first time in 20 years a non-VW vehicle has been built at the plant in northern Germany.Designed and developed in Barcelona, the Tarraco is built on the ...
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FeatureDeficit in Brazil’s automotive parts sector worsens
Brazil’s automotive parts industry posted a trade deficit of $4.48 billion over the first eight months of this year – a 22.4% increase compared to the deficit over the same period last year.Figures released by the National Association of Brazilian Auto Parts Manufacturers (Sindipeças) show exports of auto parts to ...