Inplant Logistics – Page 10
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FeatureUK vehicle exports buoyant amid Brexit uncertainty
Vehicle exports from the UK accounted for 81.5% of production last year, the highest proportion since 2012, allowing the country to maintain its position as the second strongest new car market in Europe after Germany.According to data presented last week by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the ...
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FeatureVW sets up new components division to drive efficiency
Volkswagen has established a new division – Volkswagen Group Components – tasked with reducing costs by €2 billion ($2.27 billion) while improving efficiency and taking on board the increasing importance of electric vehicles. Thomas Schmall (right), chairman of VW’s new Group Components division, with Stefan Sommer, VW Group board member ...
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FeatureAutomotive Logistics Awards – Europe 2019 launched
Last year’s Automotive Logistics Awards winners Automotive Logistics is proud to announce the return of the Automotive Logistics Awards – Europe. Following in the footsteps of last year’s highly successful inaugural event, the Automotive Logistics Awards – Europe 2019 will once again recognise excellence and innovation in ...
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FeatureThe long way home
For inbound automotive supply chains, returnable packaging just makes sense. No carmaker wants to spend money on wood, paper and cardboard again and again, only to have to fork out straight away for costly waste disposal.
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FeaturePacking a punch
Electric cars could revolutionise transport by providing a cheaper, safer and more environmentally friendly way to travel. The International Energy Agency forecasts that there will be 13m electric vehicles (EVs) on the road globally by 2020, while PwC Autofacts predicts that 55% of all new vehicle sales will be fully ...
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FeatureBMW Regensburg named as ‘manufacturing lighthouse’
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named BMW’s Regensburg car assembly plant as a “manufacturing lighthouse” of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, thanks to the factory’s innovations in logistics.The plant, in south-eastern Germany, is one of just seven worldwide awarded the honour this year for successful implementation of industry 4.0 ...
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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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FeatureQ&A: Srini Muthusrinivasan
What is meant by this term ‘the autonomous supply chain’?The word autonomous has got very prevalent today in the industry. [To understand] the idea of the autonomous supply chain, you’ve got to go back to the history of how we went all the way from the industrial revolution to the ...
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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 ...