All Inventory management articles – Page 43
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FeatureUnravelling the ‘slow-moving’ mystery
Slow moving and intermittent demand items present unique forecasting difficulties for companies. Mark Watson argues it is not an impossible job and, if perfected, can deliver significant benefits to an organisation.Finding a solution to the challenge of deciding what stock to hold for slow moving and intermittent demand items is ...
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FeatureCaterpillar hangs onto Gartner ranking; Ford drops out
Ford has dropped out of this year’s annual list of the top 25 supply chain companies compiled by research and advisory firm Gartner. Last year it was ranked at 22, the first time it had made it into the top 25, and was the only passenger car manufacturer to be ...
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FeatureHonda ordering system to benefit dealers
Honda has launched a new inventory ordering system that it says will give dealers greater flexibility in the selection of vehicles for sale and better meet customer demand.Called APEX – for Allocation Preferencing and Exchange – the system replaces Honda’s previous system called MOVE (Market Oriented Vehicle Environment). As reported ...
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FeatureECG survey results looking to the future
At the spring congress and general assembly of the Association of European Vehicle Logistics (ECG) held in Athens between 22-23 May, Mike Sturgeon, executive director, described the results of a recent survey which revealed that investment in trucks and drivers had been more prevalent than that of ships, railway wagons ...
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FeatureDB Schenker centralises logistics operations in northern Portugal
DB Schenker has invested €9m ($12.3m) in a 12,000 sq.m logistics centre in Vila do Conde, near Porto in Portugal. The centre, which opened at the beginning of May, will offer dedicated contract logistics and transport management to vertical markets including automotive and centralise logistics operations in the northern part ...
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FeatureWhat’s keeping US outbound executives awake in the middle of the night?
A severe disruption to rail capacity this year has left thousands of vehicles stranded in North America, leading some carmakers to look more carefully at their road and short-sea shipping options. Executives discussed their long-term plans at this year’s conference in California.The prospect of modal shifts for finished vehicle distribution ...
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FeatureDSV plans to double automotive business by 2020
Logistics and transport provider DSV has announced plans to double its revenue from the automotive sector to €1 billion ($1.4 billion) by 2020, which would account for 20% of its overall business.Talking to Automotive Logistics at last week’s Multimodal exhibition in Birmingham, UK, the company said that the automotive sector ...
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Feature‘End of an era’ as Steve Harley retires from Ford
A renowned executive across the carmaker and the industry for more than four decades, Stephen Harley is moving on. He talks to Automotive Logistics about what has changed in logistics as well as his last project at Ford Europe. [This story was updated on 12 May 2014] Stephen Harley (left) ...
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FeatureChina may matter less as a low-cost country sourcing location
Rising labour, material and transport costs have all contributed to limit China’s role as a low-cost country sourcing location for automotive manufacturers, although the market’s growth has encouraged more local sourcing for vehicle production across the country, according to speakers at the Automotive Logistics China conference in Beijing. Costs in ...
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FeatureChrysler slows the Viper
Chrysler has announced that it will shut its Detroit assembly plant for the SRT Viper sports car for two months from April 14 in an effort to bring inventory in line with demand for the car.Sales of the Viper have been below initial expectations since the new model was introduced ...
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FeatureWage dispute means lockout at Toyota Kirloskar
Production at two plants operated by Toyota’s joint venture business in India – Toyota Kirloskar Motor – has been brought to a standstill following a dispute over wages that has resulted in a lockout at both facilities. The plants, located in Bidadi, just outside Bangalore in the south of the ...
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FeatureExcess inventory costing Europe millions
Customer service failures affecting the availability of vehicles at dealerships, in part to do with poor management of inventory and dealer swaps, are costing the European automotive industry millions of euros. The situation is complicated by OEM zero stock objectives, which are designed to squeeze inventory out of the manufacturing ...
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FeatureOpel/Vauxhall moves to ‘order slotting’
Opel/Vauxhall has a made a breakthrough in managing its vehicle orders and forecasting in real time together with material availability and logistics, thanks in parts to systems implemented by software-provider flexisIn today’s complex supply chains, with a proliferation of customer options and global material, one major challenge for carmakers like ...
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FeatureRedesigning in-plant logistics at Opel/Vauxhall
Part of exclusive coverage of Opel/Vauxhall, director of supply chain Michael Scholl describes how the carmaker is adjusting its in-plant logistics in response to supply chain complexity and changes Opel/Vauxhall special featuresRead these other stories that form part of this exclusive coverage of Opel/Vauxhall's supply chain management:End-to-send control with Michael ...
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FeatureExecutive summary: Blue skies over Bonn as logistics returns to growth
Vehicle sales and production are rising again in Europe, while supply chain complexity is driving more demand for logistics and better systems. But many risks remain both within the industry, and on Europe's periphery. Additional reporting by Marcus Williams and Zoë Apostolides[sam_ad id=6 codes='true']Although the Europe conference was held at ...
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FeatureOEMs may be buying too much packaging
Packaging provider Orbis released figures suggesting that container and rack inventory in the automotive sector can be overstocked by as much as 30%.Dan Roovers (pictured), vice-president for automotive sales at the company, told delegates at the Automotive Logistics Europe conference that the automotive industry had a tendency to manage packaging ...
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FeatureOpel intensifies ‘total enterprise cost’ efforts
General Motors European division, Opel/Vauxhall, has intensified its efforts at planning supply chain flows and logistics in an effort to improve ‘total enterprise cost’, including more focus on localisation, stable flows and new information technology. Speaking at the Automotive Logistics Europe conference in Bonn, Marzell Bandur (pictured left), director of ...
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FeatureA transformation loaded with ambition at Volvo
The decision to bring logistics purchasing and operations in-house has resulted in dramatic changes in Volvo Car Group’s inbound and outbound supply chain.Four years after China’s Geely Cars bought Volvo Cars from Ford, the Swedish carmaker is undergoing the most significant ever change to its manufacturing and sales footprint. Since ...
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FeatureALD Automotive expands carrier fleet
UK-based fleet management operator ALD Automotive has said that it plans to expand its fleet size to over 100,000 vehicles during the course of 2014. The planned expansion ALD’s fourth consecutive year of growth in 2013, with its total fleet size standing at more than 97,000 carriers: a growth rate ...
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FeatureAvoiding a national waste – Indian rail reforms
Anand Venkateswaran (pictured), general manager of sales logistics at Hyundai Motor India, talks about the potential benefits and pitfalls of switching to rail for moving vehicles in India. Ramesh Kumar: Two years ago, you made a presentation at the Automotive Logistics India Conference with a focus on alternate modes of ...