All articles by Marcus Williams – Page 63
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FeatureBMW set to raise stakes in China
BMW is reported to be increasing its 50% stake in Brilliance China Automotive, making it the first foreign carmaker in the country to take majority control of a joint venture. Newspaper reports, including the China Daily and South China Morning Post, cite comments from premier Li Keqiang during a visit ...
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FeatureA rising tide – with political undercurrents
Mexican production and exports continued to grow through 2017, both to the US and globally. At the same time, US sales remained strong and were fed by an increase in imports from established and emerging markets. It is only in Canada that both sales and assembly are showing a decline. ...
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FeaturePasha sees positive drivers at the ports
Pasha Automotive Services (PAS) processed a total of more than 448,600 vehicle units across its four port terminal facilities in the US through 2017 for around 17 customers. The company, which is part of the wider Pasha Group, has operations on the US west coast at the ports of Grays ...
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FeatureFinding the first point of rest
Luke Doremus, director of sales for auto/ro-ro at stevedore and terminal operating company Ports America, talks about efficiency gains and losses and how the company is working with port authorities to improve berth productivity
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FeatureIndustry welcomes Brexit white paper but calls for more clarity on trade
Representatives of the UK automotive industry have welcomed a government white paper on Brexit proposing an economic partnership when the UK leaves the European Union. The paper outlines how the UK wants to establish a new free trade area to replace the Single Market and maintain the movement of goods ...
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FeatureLagermax makes top management appointments
Austrian transport provider Lagermax Autologistik has made changes to its management this month with the promotion of Rene Eisbrich (pictured), former vice-president of customer services at the company, moving to the role of chief operations officer (COO), and the appointment of Konrad Zwirner to the position of chief commercial officer ...
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FeatureStefan Sommer to head procurement at VW
Stefan Sommer is moving to Volkswagen Group at the beginning of next year as head of procurement. He replaces Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, who left the company in April.Sommer, who was CEO of German parts supplier ZF Friedrichshafen until the end of last year, began his career as a development ...
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FeatureJapanese floods disrupt automotive supply chain
Catastrophic flooding and landslides in the west of Japan have disrupted production and supply at some of the country’s leading vehicle makers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the second meeting of the Emergency Response HeadquartersWhile the flooding did not cause damage to its production plants, Mazda had to suspend operations ...
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FeatureTransforming inbound flows
Daimler Trucks’ division in Brazil – Mercedes-Benz do Brasil – has invested 500m reais ($150.6m) in its 1m sq.m plant in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo state, to establish a new truck assembly line and transform its supporting inbound logistics structure. The comprehensive overhaul of operations is part of ...
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FeatureAlliance opens distribution centre in Melbourne
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance has opened a warehouse in Melbourne, Australia for the distribution of aftermarket parts.The company said the 37,000 sq. m Alliance National Distribution Centre was designed to maximise productivity and accuracy, allowing manufacturers to enhance services to their national dealership networks across the country. The centre will also ...
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FeatureDHL Freight opens warehouse in Manisa
DHL Freight has opened a logistics warehouse at Manisa Industrial Park, near the Turkish city of Izmir, in response to what it said was a growing demand for services in the country."Manisa is not only home to one of the first logistics parks in Turkey, it is also an important ...
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FeatureOpening up the angles for multimodal
Now in its 15th year, BMW’s joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive – BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) – is adopting a more multimodal approach to its outbound vehicle logistics in the country, and there are a number of reasons for that, according to the company’s vice-president of logistics and strategy, ...
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FeatureVW realigns global components business
Volkswagen is reorganising its global components business into a separate corporate division in an effort, it said, to improve efficiency, become more flexible and prepare for growth in electric vehicles. Group Components will sit under the aegis of Volkswagen AG alongside VW Passenger Cars and VW Commercial Vehicles.“We are preparing ...
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FeatureGefco and Bergé join forces in Spain
Gefco is setting up a joint venture with Spanish logistics provider Bergé to strengthen finished vehicle operations in Spain. The new company will be called Bergé Gefco and combine the fleets and resources of both companies’ divisions in the country to offer customers a complete range of finished vehicle services, ...
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FeatureSkoda reveals plans for Indian market
From left to right: Skoda member of the board for sales and marketing, Alain Favey; CEO Bernhard Maier; managing director of Skoda Auto India, Gurpratap Boparai; and member of the board for finance and IT, Klaus-Dieter SchürmannIts parent company VW Group is investing €1 billion between 2019 and 2021 ...
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FeatureBCA signs record five-year deal with BMW
BCA Marketplace has agreed a five-year contract with BMW UK to provide a range of remarketing services.The agreement will see the used vehicle group de-fleet, refurbish, inspect and collect, inventory manage and remarket on behalf of the carmaker and its leasing business, Alphabet. The value of the deal has not ...
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FeatureFlooding in Celaya halts Honda assembly
Flooding has stopped production at Honda’s plant in Celaya, Mexico. The carmaker confirmed that floodwater had gotten into the plant on June 28 (Thursday) because of an overflow of a channel connected to the Laja River.“Honda decided to suspend all production from the evening of June 28,” said the carmaker. ...
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FeatureTwinning talent with technology
The rate at which emerging digital technologies are transforming the automotive logistics supply chain is hard to keep up with. As both an enabler of everything from platform design to procurement, finance and planning, and a disruptor of traditional supply chain operations, digital technology associated with industry 4.0 is driving ...
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FeatureKoltai moves to head transport logistics at Audi
Peter Koltai (pictured) has taken up a new role at Audi this month as head of transport logistics, based in Germany. He replaces Heiko Schulz, who has resigned under a retirement arrangement.In his new position, Koltai is responsible for driving Audi Group’s entire transport logistics strategy, including inbound material and ...
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FeatureFord to close French transmission plant
Ford has announced it will sell off its automatic transmission plant in France – Ford Aquitaine Industries (FAI) – in the face of a declining requirement for small automatic transmissions in Europe.According to the company, the plant has been underutilised for a number of years, no new products are planned ...