All Inventory management articles – Page 40
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Toyota 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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The supply chain – a holistic approach
Now more than ever, businesses must improve the efficiency of their supply chain in order to maintain a competitive advantage. All too often companies target storage, handling and transport to reduce costs, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when aiming for a truly effective end-to-end supply chain. ...
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On 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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Planning 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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Apps 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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E-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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Toyota 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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Toyota part 1: NAPO organisation and 'One Toyota'
Understanding how Toyota's service parts division in the US is organised, and looking to the implication of the carmaker's consolidation in TexasAs vice-president and general manager of Toyota’s North American Parts Operations, Neil Swartz (left) manages the full scope of the service parts and accessories supply chain across Toyota Motor ...
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Toyota part 1: Cornerstone of a strong supply chain
Toyota’s unique ‘two-tier’ supply chain in North America is designed to smooth distribution and ensure fast, uninterrupted supply to dealers, distributors and export marketsThe view outside the Toyota parts centre in Ontario, 50 miles east of Los Angeles, is pure California. Palm trees line the road in either direction and ...
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The big freeze thaws
Following last year’s winter of discontent, rail providers in North America are putting record amounts of revenue back into meeting demand, while better forecasting and communication with carmakers appear to be improving services.For the North American finished vehicle rail logistics industry, 2014 was both a bumper year and a bumpy ...
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Russia: Running on empty?
Rising prices and weak spending power, combined with a devalued currency, the low cost of oil and government cuts, add up to bleak forecasts for the Russian automotive sectorThe Russian automotive logistics industry is no stranger to calamity. Veteran executives will remember Russia’s instability in 1998 during its first financial ...
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Europe conference: Are logistics companies ready for the future?
At the end of a busy conference in Bonn, senior executives from Adam Opel, Volvo Car, PSA Peugeot Citroen, and Kia Motors joined a panel discussion with editor Christopher Ludwig and publisher Louis Yiakoumi to discuss how ready the logistics industry is for new technologies, whether that is driverless vehicles ...
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Chang is new manager of vehicle logistics at Porsche Cars NA
Howard Chang has moved from his role as delivery quality engineer at Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) to become manager of vehicle logistics and port operations. He replaces Justin Newell, who left the company last September and now has a position at as operations manager at Reliable Carriers, one of ...
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Mazda's key to unlocking a continent
Michael Beyer (right), group manager of vehicle logistics at Mazda North American Operations, reveals how logistics for the OEM’s new Mexican plant will be crucial to its success in the US and in global markets The current decade has been a transformative one for Mazda in the US and North ...
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Future visions of European automotive logistics
Delegates gathered in Bonn, Germany for the annual Automotive Logistics Europe conference, where senior executives discussed the role of technology, e-commerce and globalisation in the automotive supply chain. Some of the forecasts were scary, although many foresee increasing complexity and opportunity – if logistics companies can keep up with the ...
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GM to close Indonesian plant citing logistics complexity and material cost
General Motors has said it will close its Bekasi plant in Indonesia by the end of June this year citing high material costs and limitations on its ability to fully utilise the local supplier base. The company’s executive vice president and president for GM International, Stefan Jacoby, also said that ...
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GM opens MASC logistics facility as it reaches 90 years in Brazil
General Motors has opened a 30,000 sq.m logistics centre at its Brazilian industrial complex in Sao Caetano do Sul for the sequenced delivery of parts to its nearby assembly plant. The inauguration of the facility, which saw an investment of R$100m ($35m), coincided with celebrations for the 90th anniversary of ...
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Tripp retires from FCA; Cook to head global vehicle transport for interim
Steve Tripp, head of worldwide vehicle transportation at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), is retiring from the company this week. He joined Chrysler in 2004 as senior manager of inbound logistics.Tripp has over 30 years of automotive supply chain experience at Ford and Chrysler, and has managed all aspects of the ...
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Volvo's logistics processes contain some pearls of wisdom
Back in 2010, China's Geely Cars bought Volvo Cars from Ford, leading to a huge period of change. Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, who now controls the OEM, wanted to globalise Volvo cars, move into China and learn what he could from the carmaker. Volvo didn't have a global footprint but ...
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Mexico conference: Supply base set to grow and deepen
The automotive supply base in Mexico looks set to enjoy further growth and localisation as carmakers and tier suppliers increase production and sourcing in the country to take advantage of favourable labour costs, falling energy prices, as well as lower logistics and distribution costs for key markets in North America, ...