All articles by Malcolm Ramsay – Page 2
-
FeatureVehicle protection: Trying to cover all bases
In June this year, upmarket Volvo S90 sedans built at Volvo Cars’ plant in Daqing, northern China, began arriving at a car terminal at the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium for European distribution. Travelling not by sea, but by rail, they are transported in containers across Russia along the China-Europe rail ...
-
FeatureMiddle East and Africa: Ford opens up the highways
An army marches on its stomach, Napoleon is reputed to have said, in perhaps one of history’s earliest endorsements of the wisdom of sound logistics infrastructure. These days, as those in the automotive industry know, good logistics in the marketplace is often the key to winning business and meeting the ...
-
FeatureEducation and training: The hard line on soft skills
[in_this_story align="right" border="yes"]General Motors’ executive director for global supply chain, Todd Scott, meets frequently with the faculties of several universities. At Cranfield University School of Management – ranked number one outside the United States in Supply Chain World’s annual Top 100 Universities survey – senior supply chain executives from industry, ...
-
FeatureCross-Channel freight: Trucks, tariffs and tunnel vision
Automotive Logistics reports on vehicle and component movements between the UK and the rest of Europe in the post-Brexit climateThe past year has brought freight movements between the UK and mainland Europe sharply into focus, including for automotive parts and finished vehicles. Britain’s vote to leave the European Union brought ...
-
FeatureIndustry 4.0: Chipping away at the future
Automotive Logistics reports on the Fraunhofer Institute’s research into autonomous warehouse decision-making and how it is working to deliver practical advantages from Industry 4.0 conceptsIn this story... 4.0 reasons to look ahead Letting the devices decide Intelligent bins Safe space for dataGermany’s Fraunhofer organisation isn’t easily explained. Founded in 1949 ...
-
FeatureBrexit: Who’s in the driving seat... and where are we going?
With the dust far from settled after a shock UK referendum result in favour of leaving the European Union, we assess the country’s future trade possibilities and their implications for the automotive logistics industryIn this story... Shock to the system Gauntlet to government Cuts on the cards? Future trade scenarios ...
-
FeatureDeliveries are feeling the crunch
If you can’t get your product to market, every other competitive advantage is lost – a problem Europe’s OEMs could face as transport capacity tightens for moving finished vehiclesNew vehicle registrations across Europe have been rising, including double-digit sales increases in recent months across the EU. ACEA, the European carmaker’s ...
-
FeatureTwo wheels good?
From sales drops to shifting uses in different markets, the outbound demands for two-wheelers are changingVehicle logistics in Europe is, of course, not limited to passenger cars, SUVs, vans and trucks, even if collectively, these products account for a huge majority of the products that specialised car carriers, shipping lines ...
-
FeatureUnpacking conventional wisdom
Whether one-way or returnable, owned by OEMs and tier suppliers or rented from specialist providers, current packaging models are being re-evaluated in the search for efficiency and cost-savings. Within the North American manufacturing operations of global automotive supplier Magna International, a fascinating pilot project is underway. After a year-long study ...
-
Feature
Telematics: The simple solution?
Is it finally time for onboard telematics technology to take the crown from barcodes and RFID tags? Now more than 40-years-old, the humble barcode label underpins many, if not most, finished vehicle supply chains. Generally attached to vehicles as they leave the assembly line, or in the plant compound, the ...
-
FeatureKeeping a yard ahead of the game
Outsourcing responsibility for end-of-line yard operations can present challenges as well as benefits for both carmakers and their logistics partnersIn the relentless drive to squeeze cost out of automotive supply chains, specialisation is the watchword. Carmakers increasingly see their own core competence as manufacturing; for their part, logistics providers understand ...
-
FeatureClouding the future
The past few years have seen a boom in the take-up of software as a service among a range of industries, but carmakers are still reluctant to take what they perceive as a chance on data securityThe last time Automotive Logistics took a specific look at the automotive industry’s use ...
-
FeaturePlanning 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 ...
-
FeatureLast mile: Real life on the super highway
A contributor’s first-hand experience of buying a car online was far from technologically seamless, but the savings spoke for themselvesWhile researching and writing the feature on e-commerce in automotive, fate conspired to give me first-hand experience of such a transaction. I liked the look of Ford’s Kuga model (marketed as ...
-
FeatureE-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 ...
-
FeatureOut of the light and into the night
Extended delivery hours offer the benefits of less congestion and reduced dwell time, but they depend on dealer willingness, local laws and crime rates. Surprisingly, there has been a low uptake in Britain compared to parts of the USBack in 2006, a trial began within the British operations of Honda ...
-
FeatureIs there still a place for leaders?
The ‘lead logistics provider’ concept may be undergoing its biggest ever changes. The question is whether or not it is still working for today’s automotive industry. Co-ordinated from a ‘control tower’ based on the customer's site in Solihull, England, an extensive European supply chain feeds the three British vehicle assembly ...
-
FeatureRealities of a risky business
OEMs would love to reduce their insurance premiums, but with catastrophic damage more frequent, they may have to risk their balance sheets to achieve thisWhen Superstorm Sandy made landfall on the eastern seaboard of the US in October 2012, hurricane-force high winds were just one problem. Another was the enormous ...
-
FeatureThe power of recall
Recalls and a carmaker's ability to carry them out efficiently can have an effect not just on public relations, but on the company’s bottom line and share price. LSPs are increasingly getting involved.In the late morning of April 10th 2014, the general manager of University Volkswagen Mazda, a car ...
-
FeatureePOD – Delivering the future of proof
Chrysler’s decision to mandate the use of electronic proof of delivery systems from this year has brought the process to the fore, but an industry standard may be required before everyone follows suit.At the beginning of February 2014, a new transport management system went live at Mobile Services, a UK-based ...
- Previous Page
- Page1
- Page2
- Page3
- Page4
- Next Page