Inbound logistics – Page 22
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FeatureCaterpillar highlights rising costs
Supply chain expenses, materials prices and tariffs all conspired to raise costs for US heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar in the second quarter of this year, the company has reported.Despite revealing that net profits more than doubled in the period to $1.71 billion from $802m a year ago while turnover rose ...
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FeatureBAIC opens compact SUV plant in South Africa
Chinese vehicle-maker BAIC has officially opened its 11 billion rand ($834m) assembly plant in South Africa, which will start making the X25 compact SUV from imported semi-knockdown (SKD) kits in the fourth quarter of this year. BAIC has been exporting the vehicle to South Africa from China since 2017.The plant, ...
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FeatureBMW to build €1 billion assembly plant in Hungary
BMW has announced it will build an assembly plant in Hungary next year, near the town of Debrecen in the east of the country. The German carmaker said it had chosen Debrecen because of the advantages it offered in terms of infrastructure, logistics connections and proximity to the supplier network. ...
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FeatureMercedes-Benz boosts local sourcing in South Africa
Mercedes-Benz is enlarging its supply chain within South Africa as it expands production at its plant in East London, on the country’s east coast.The OEM has added 35 new suppliers based in South Africa to the plant’s supply chain, with seven being tier one suppliers and three sequencing suppliers.“We have ...
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FeatureGefco expands services in Spain
Gefco has expanded its operations in Spain with the opening of a new distribution centre near Ford’s Almussafes plant on the outskirts of Valencia and the extension of its spare parts logistics centre in Santa Fe.From the 3,500 sq.m distribution centre, which is located in Sollana, Gefco will be carrying ...
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FeatureStrike action hits Scania V8 supply
Scania has been unable to fulfil customer orders for more than 2,000 trucks with V8 engines because of a strike at an unnamed supplier of cast engine components. Sales of industrial and marine V8 engines are also affected.The strike began on June 14 and follows a spell earlier this year ...
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FeatureDigital lineside technology key to BMW’s 8 Series model
This week BMW began producing the luxury 8 Series coupé at its Dingolfing plant in Germany and the digitalisation of production and lineside logistics is playing a central role in the manufacturing of the new model, according to the carmaker. That includes in the delivery of parts to the factory ...
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FeatureJapanese floods disrupt automotive supply chain
Catastrophic flooding and landslides in the west of Japan have disrupted production and supply at some of the country’s leading vehicle makers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the second meeting of the Emergency Response HeadquartersWhile the flooding did not cause damage to its production plants, Mazda had to suspend operations ...
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FeatureTransforming 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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FeatureVW realigns global components business
Volkswagen is reorganising its global components business into a separate corporate division in an effort, it said, to improve efficiency, become more flexible and prepare for growth in electric vehicles. Group Components will sit under the aegis of Volkswagen AG alongside VW Passenger Cars and VW Commercial Vehicles.“We are preparing ...
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FeatureTrump’s tariffs attract worldwide disapproval
Carmakers, parts manufacturers, trade bodies and the European Union have all sharply criticised the Trump administration’s proposed import tariffs on vehicles and auto parts.Hinting at potential supply chain disruption, Toyota said: “There is no vehicle [made] in the United States … that is sole-sourced from exclusively US parts and components.”The ...
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FeatureTireHub on track to operate in US
Tyre distributor TireHub expects to start serving US customers in the first week of July after co-owners Bridgestone Americas and Goodyear received clearance for the joint venture.The newly formed company will distribute tyres for passenger cars and light trucks throughout the US, with an emphasis on satisfying growing demand for ...
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FeatureMercedes-Benz starts work on new plant in Hungary
Germany’s Mercedes-Benz Cars has broken ground on a €1 billion ($1.18 billion) ‘full-flex' plant at Kecskemét in Hungary.The full-flex concept – the model for all the OEM’s future car assembly lines – is designed to allow for flexible production of cars with a wide variety of body and drive variants, ...
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FeatureDriving 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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FeatureFord to make second model in Craiova
Ford is investing up to €200m ($235m) to manufacture a second vehicle at its Craiova assembly plant in Romania, saying the planned expenditure is a sign of the company’s trust in government promises to deliver key upgrades infrastructure and logistics improvements.“Ford has discussed with the government the key infrastructure projects ...
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FeatureCarmakers and suppliers collaborate on containers
Honda, Toyota, GM, Nissan and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have joined forces with 12 medium to large tier suppliers, two logistics providers and the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) on a data system providing accurate visibility over returnable containers at every stage of their movement between supplier and OEM.The Automotive ...
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FeatureFord restarts production after Meridian fire
Ford has resumed production of the F-150 and Super Duty pick-up trucks at its facilities in the US, following inbound supply chain disruption caused by a fire at its components supplier Meridian Magnesium Products earlier this month.The fire, which was followed by a number of explosions, took place at the ...
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FeatureSweet 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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FeatureToyota logistics subsidiary buys Peach State
Bastian Solutions, the materials handling systems subsidiary of Toyota Advanced Logistics North America (TALNA), has acquired Peach State Integrated Technologies, a supply chain consulting, engineering and materials handling firm based in the US.“Peach State will greatly assist in our growth strategy, provide immediate strength to our company and ultimately help ...
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FeatureCarmakers still dealing with fallout from Meridian fire
Carmakers in North America are still being affected by inbound supply problems stemming from a fire that hit the Michigan facility run by a division of components supplier Meridian Lightweight Technologies at the beginning of May. The Magnesium Products of America plant makes instrument panel components.Ford’s output of the F-150 ...