Logistics IT – Page 48
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FeatureMoving on to terra firma
Following sustained pressure on margins in recent years, the global shipping industry has witnessed some radical changes, with consolidation and technology combining to reconfigure the way many shipping lines approach new business. With competition on the waves mounting, one new channel for many car carriers has been to expand ...
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FeatureA race against time for the UK car sector
It is still very uncertain what the UK’s exit from the European Union is going to look like at the end of March 2019 but it is going to have a big impact on the automotive industry whatever it looks like. At this year’s Automotive Logistics UK summit, major carmakers ...
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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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FeatureTaking the ‘E’ out of ETA
Traditionally, OEMs and vehicle-carriers have never been able to be 100% accurate about vehicle delivery times in the information they provide to dealerships, and dealers have often disregarded the information as a result. As one of the participants in a Q&A session at a recent Finished Vehicle Logistics conference observed: ...
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FeatureBlockchain can disrupt the auto industry
Blockchain has built its reputation as a distributed ledger platform, which provides a framework for securely using and trading cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. However, its potential extends far beyond financial services.The functions of blockchain could cater to other sectors to create more transparency and deliver greater efficiency. One example is ...
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FeatureA crisis in human capital
As the automotive logistics sector continues to automate and let technology take the lead, there are some important human factors to resolve if such plans are to succeed – as delegates at this year’s Automotive Logistics Global conference in Detroit found out While the US car market may be ...
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FeatureVW Brazil launches logistics portal
Volkswagen Truck & Bus is to launch a digital logistics portal in Brazil in tandem with the group’s digital brand, Rio.The Rio portal, which is based on vehicle data intelligence and stored in the cloud, will offer up to 20 services, which are currently purchased individually. These range from ordering ...
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FeaturePSA trials driverless tractor for inbound at Sochaux
Groupe PSA is trialling an autonomous tow tractor at its Sochaux car plant in eastern France. The aim, of what the company describes as a world first in the manufacturing sector, is to improve operational flexibility in getting parts to the assembly line.Following successful trials conducted in May, a connected ...
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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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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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Partner ContentDriving predictive maintenance
Gefco’s SYNCHRO hub is using connected technology and AI to optimise service parts inventory and distribution, writes Karen McCandless
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FeatureKuehne + Nagel joins forces with Sincero in China
Kuehne + Nagel has agreed to create a new joint venture with Chinese firm Sincero that will provide contract logistics services to the automotive sector there. KN will take a majority stake in the new company.Kuehne + Nagel said the move would increase its automotive logistics business for Chinese OEMs ...
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FeatureDana McBrien takes lead role at AutoSphere
Dana McBrien (pictured) has moved from his role as associate chief advisor at Honda North America to become ‘guiding architect’ for AutoSphere, a digital supply chain system (previously referred to as the Automotive Supply Chain Data Ecosystem) developed by US information technology and packaging specialist, Surgere.McBrien worked for Honda for ...
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FeatureHella starts to reorganise its business
German components supplier Hella has embarked on a company-wide reorganisation to take advantage of growth opportunities in a European aftermarket sector undergoing extensive changes.“On the one hand, we see an increasing consolidation within the wholesale business in Europe, which has given rise to increasingly bigger market players,” group spokesman Markus ...
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FeatureAnu Goel: the highs and lows
What have been some of the high points in logistics in your career?One is the swing toward providing a level of service that customers expect, as opposed to providing a level of service that we either think they need or that the system can provide. Those are two different ...
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FeatureBattling a perfect storm
The finished vehicle sector in North America is dealing with a lot of challenges at the moment. There is a basic imbalance in the number of vehicles that the US imports and exports with its global trading partners, which contributes to ongoing problems involving congestion and limited capacity on hinterland ...
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FeatureFord uses motion tracking to improve workstations
Ford is using motion tracking technology on workers at its Almussafes plant, in Spain, to help it design less physically stressful workstations on the production line. The OEM said the goal was to reduce worker injuries while making the workstations more efficient and improving manufacturing quality.In a pilot project, workers ...
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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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FeatureArgentina reduces rates on parts imports
The Argentinian government is cutting import duties by 2% on more than 130 automotive parts to improve the vehicle industry’s competitiveness.The reduction is intended to help manufacturers of trailers, buses, trucks and agricultural machinery, as well as cars and vans.“We will continue working on different measures to improve the industry’s ...