In-plant and warehouse logistics – Page 6
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FeatureHonda to halt UK production during Brexit
Japanese OEM Honda is to suspend production at its British plant for six days in April after the UK leaves the European Union on March 29.The decision follows an assessment of how best to prepare for any logistics and border problems following Brexit.“These contingency provisions have been put in place ...
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FeatureGM withdraws from JV with Uzbek government
General Motors has sold off its remaining stake in the GM Uzbekistan joint venture to state-owned company Uzavtosanoat, which held the majority stake in the company. GM Uzbekistan makes Ravon and Chevrolet vehicles at its plant in Asaka.Uzavtosanoat held a 75% stake in the company from 2008 but increased that ...
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FeatureQ&A: Neuton Karassawa
Can you give an overview of GM’s logistics activities in Brazil, and your own responsibilities?The scope of my function in the region is to handle the inbound pieces and materials, such as local inbound flows from overseas to South America. I [also] manage outbound flows from the factories to customers ...
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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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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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FeatureŠkoda tests out drone for stocktaking
Czech carmaker Škoda is trialling an autonomous drone to identify and count containers outside its factory in Mladá Boleslav. The goal is for drone-assisted stocktaking to become a regular feature of operations in the medium term.“We are continuously working on improving the efficiency of our everyday production processes and making ...
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FeatureEnergising the synergising
Renault and Nissan began their wide-ranging alliance and set up cross-shareholdings in each other back in 1999, and since then Daimler, Avtovaz and most recently Mitsubishi have also become part of this evolving structure. Numerous shared vehicle platforms, manufacturing and logistics operations and back-office functions have been developed. Furthermore, impressive ...
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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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FeatureŠkoda deploys autonomous robots at Kvasiny
Škoda Auto is deploying autonomous robots at its small parts warehouse at Kvasiny in the Czech Republic to work alongside its employees and make parts sorting and delivery more efficient. The use of the robots is part of the carmaker’s efforts to digitalise production processes under its 2025 Strategy, which ...
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FeatureChina's BYD invests in US bus plant
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has invested $5m in a 9,300 sq.m warehouse to free up space at its electric bus plant in Lancaster, California.The new building currently stores around 15,000 different parts and will further streamline the handling of materials and supplies into the 41,800 sq.m manufacturing plant, the ...
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FeaturePressing a point
Slightly to the north of Wolverhampton in the UK’s industrial Midlands – and perhaps more crucially just a few miles off a key transport route, the M6 motorway – lies one of the latest additions to the worldwide roster of production facilities for stamped automotive metal parts. In mid-September, Spanish-owned ...
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FeatureVarroc Lighting Systems expands Czech plant
Varroc Lighting Systems has opened a fifth production hall at its Rychvald factory in the Moravia region of the Czech Republic.Features of the new assembly area include advanced material flow monitoring and intelligent logistics management equipment, said the US-based firm.“The hall will produce both rear lamps and smart headlamps with ...
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FeatureVW Group highlights gains from making Audi A1 in Spain
Volkswagen Group has said it expects substantial logistics benefits to follow, now that it is producing the new-look Audi A1 in Seat’s Martorell factory in Spain.“[It] joins Seat vehicles in most distribution transport flows, which enables us to achieve cost and lead time synergies, both for Seat and Audi,” Seat ...
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FeatureEU workers are key: don't close the UK's door
According to the Department for Transport’s official statistics, more goods were imported by road into the UK than exported last year, with 10,000 lorries making their way through Dover Strait per day alone. Up to 86% of cargo exported from the UK went to the Irish Republic (23%), France (22%), ...
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FeatureSika sets up plant in Mexico with integrated logistics
German components supplier Sika is opening a manufacturing plant in Querétaro, Mexico to supply acoustic treatments and body structural products to carmakers operating in the country. The new factory includes an integrated logistics centre and will also house the Mexican subsidiary of Faist ChemTec, which makes sound abatement and weight ...
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FeatureSmart logistics underpins Audi e-tron assembly
Audi officially premiered its e-tron electric SUV at a summit event in San Francisco this week but production has been underway for a couple of weeks already at its plant in Brussels, Belgium, which is making the e-tron for global markets. Patrick Danau (left), managing director of Audi ...
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FeatureJapanese carmakers count the cost of natural disasters
The majority of OEMs in Japan appear to have missed the main brunt of a typhoon that hit Japan’s central region around Osaka last week and of an earthquake in Hokkaido, in the north of the country, that followed shortly after – though production at Toyota’s car assembly plants has ...
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FeatureSmart logistics behind Mercedes-Benz US van plant
Production of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van range has now begun at an expanded assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, after a two-year construction period.Plans for the $500m Sprinter-focused expansion to the North Charleston site date back to March 2015. The investment there has included a body shop, paint shop ...
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FeatureVW to increase Wolfsburg output to 1m
Volkswagen plans to increase annual production at its German plant in Wolfsburg to a million units by 2020, meaning an additional 210,000 vehicles will be assembled at the plant. The carmaker will shift Golf production from its Zwickau (Germany) and Puebla (Mexico) plants, and add production of the forthcoming Seat ...