All Materials handling articles – Page 11
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Q&A: Scott Krebs, Orbis
What does Orbis see as the main problem in providing accurate data on where a container is, whether empty or full, and what is it doing to solve some of these problems for its automotive customers?In the automotive industry, one of the biggest obstacles is standardisation. Toyota puts identification on ...
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Automotive Logistics Awards – Europe 2019 launched
Last year’s Automotive Logistics Awards winners Automotive Logistics is proud to announce the return of the Automotive Logistics Awards – Europe. Following in the footsteps of last year’s highly successful inaugural event, the Automotive Logistics Awards – Europe 2019 will once again recognise excellence and innovation in ...
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The long way home
For inbound automotive supply chains, returnable packaging just makes sense. No carmaker wants to spend money on wood, paper and cardboard again and again, only to have to fork out straight away for costly waste disposal.
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ACEA warns of EU steel import tariffs
European Union (EU) measures to protect the steel industry “pose a real risk” to the competitiveness of the region’s car sector, according to Erik Jonnaert, secretary-general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).A total of 26 categories of steel from all countries will be limited to a quota, based on ...
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Stepping up the quality
There are several advantages of shipping vehicles in kits rather than as completely built units, including lower costs for transport, better customs import conditions and the support of local government in exchange for providing employment to the workforce. A major disadvantage, however, is that defective, damaged or lost goods may ...
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The quest for greater unity
One of the main priorities for inbound supply chain managers from a packaging perspective is the proper management of returnable containers and packages so they are delivered as quickly, efficiently and economically as possible. To achieve this, many North American OEMs have up to now insisted on their own forms ...
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Packing a punch
Electric cars could revolutionise transport by providing a cheaper, safer and more environmentally friendly way to travel. The International Energy Agency forecasts that there will be 13m electric vehicles (EVs) on the road globally by 2020, while PwC Autofacts predicts that 55% of all new vehicle sales will be fully ...
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Bysouth becomes logistics chief at IAC
Kelly Bysouth (pictured) has joined International Automotive Components (IAC) as chief supply chain officer, with global responsibility and operational control of procurement and logistics.She brings 25 years of related experience to the company, which is based in Luxembourg.[mpu_ad]Bysouth moves from Adient, where she held a variety of leadership positions in ...
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BMW ups the pace on industry 4.0 technology
BMW Group is to expand its use of industry 4.0 innovations in its production logistics, it has revealed. In 2015, BMW Group joined forces with the Fraunhofer Institute IML to develop the first self-driving Smart Transport Robots (STR). Three years later, the carmaker is increasingly relying on innovations from industry ...
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BMW supports cobalt miners in Congo
BMW has signed up to a pilot project to improve conditions for cobalt miners, their families and neighbouring communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).With batteries in high demand given the boom in electrical vehicles, global companies such as BMW have been turning their attention to how cobalt ...
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Toyota Australia opens its largest parts warehouse
The largest parts warehouse run by Toyota Australia has been officially opened at Kemps Creek, New South Wales. It is located on 6.4 hectares close to a network of motorways and major arterial roads in the Western Sydney conurbation.The new Toyota Parts Centre (TPC) will house more than 128,000 parts ...
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Competing on a global stage – report from AL Central and Eastern Europe summit
Over the last 15 years, the centre of investment in the European automotive industry has been shifting east. Delegates at the Automotive Logistics Central and Eastern Europe (ALCEE) summit in Budapest last week learned that the region now has a strong network of assembly and supplier plants, along with logistics ...
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ZF trials drone deliveries at Friedrichshafen
Component manufacturer ZF has started testing the use of a drone to distribute parts at its main plant in Friedrichshafen, south-west Germany.The prototype is being used to transport spare parts such as sensors and control cards from the plant’s central warehouse to various workshops, with the aim of proving that ...
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Imperial Logistics to run VW packaging centre in Wilhelmshaven
Volkswagen Group has signed a contract with Imperial Logistics International to run its packaging centre at Jade-Weser-Port in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The centre is due to open next year. In a statement, Imperial Logistics said it would take over the operation in April. “We are happy and proud ...
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Q&A: Srini Muthusrinivasan
What is meant by this term ‘the autonomous supply chain’?The word autonomous has got very prevalent today in the industry. [To understand] the idea of the autonomous supply chain, you’ve got to go back to the history of how we went all the way from the industrial revolution to the ...
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Škoda deploys autonomous robots at Kvasiny
Škoda Auto is deploying autonomous robots at its small parts warehouse at Kvasiny in the Czech Republic to work alongside its employees and make parts sorting and delivery more efficient. The use of the robots is part of the carmaker’s efforts to digitalise production processes under its 2025 Strategy, which ...
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China'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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Pressing 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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A 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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Smart 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 ...