Plant Logistics | Automotive Logistics – Page 10
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A program of change for Volkswagen Group IT
Over the past two years, Volkswagen’s central Group IT division, led by CIO Martin Hofmann, has been expanding staff numbers, investment and digital projects across the group’s business processes, and working more closely with brands like Audi, Porsche and Skoda. In the first of a multi-part article special on Group IT, we explain the evolving shape of the organisation.
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At the centre of change for Volkswagen Group
Martin Hofmann, chief information office of the Volkswagen Group (pictured, right), explains how the carmaker is transforming its IT system backbone and legacy infrastructure across manufacturing, purchasing, supply chain and engineering – and how Volkswagen is now able to attract top software talent.
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Building Volkswagen’s Industrial Cloud
Volkswagen Group’s landmark project with Amazon Web Services will help to connect all its global factories, and eventually the supply chain as well. At the core of the project is a drive to establish a standard software stack that will transform the way production IT is developed and implemented across Volkswagen locations.
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Re-tooling of manufacturing plants and supply chain for EVs pose investment risk for OEMs
Tooling and conversion of automotive plants are significant costs for OEMs as they invest in electrification, which some may struggle to afford, according to a new report by Automotive from Ultima Media.
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DB Schenker explores use of exoskeletons for logistics
The company has been trialling the exoskeletons – structures worn on the body to electro-mechanically assist movement – at several logistics locations in Germany to help warehouse personnel during physically demanding tasks.
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Data and the digitisation of the supply chain
The automotive industry is being transformed by new vehicle technology, but operational processes are also undergoing profound changes driven by unprecedented levels of data
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Wood you believe it? Materials handling with a difference
A new company based in Chemnitz is seeking to overturn conventional wisdom when it comes to material handling equipment – by using wood as a construction material
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Logistics 4.0: how smart technologies are lifting logistics to another level
After a period of exploration, OEMs, tier suppliers and logistics providers are getting serious about making their operations smarter and more connected – Logistics 4.0 is here
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Delivering a smarter factory
Magna Steyr’s vehicle assembly plant in the Austrian city of Graz is not a typical automotive factory; the site, which in 2018 brought its cumulative total production tally to 3.5m vehicles, produces vehicles under contract for OEMs such as Daimler, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover. Efficiency is important in any ...
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Flight club: Why more logistics operations are signing up to drone technology
Impressive advancements have been made in drone technology over the last few years and many believe that drones will play a key role in the logistics of the future, for internal business functions as well as deliveries to consumers. In fact, NASA estimates that there will be 7m drones in ...
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Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant reaches CKD milestone
Workers at Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant in Germany, have dispatched the 750,000th complete-knock down (CKD) truck kit from the facility’s CKD Centre.
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Brose adopts AGVs to improve efficiency
Automotive parts supplier, Brose, has announced it is using automated guided vehicles (AGVs) at one of its UK plants in Coventry to optimise logistics operations, achieve efficiency gains and win new business on future model launches.
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Reality check: How AR can improve efficiency in logistics
A growing number of companies in the automotive industry are embracing the use of augmented and virtual reality technology for tasks such as part picking and inventory management, as well as for training. We look at some of the latest applications
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VW turns to Amazon to streamline its supply chain
Volkswagen Group has announced it will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) to automate manufacturing and logistics processes across its network of 122 plants and more than 30,000 facilities that make up the group’s global supply chain.The carmaker said it had signed a multi-year agreement with AWS, the cloud computing unit ...
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BMW looks to the cloud to boost productivity
BMW has begun using a digital cloud platform built on software supplied by Microsoft to increase manufacturing and supporting logistics productivity. The Open Manufacturing Platform (OMP) is designed to accelerate the use of internet-of-things (IoT) technology in the supply chain and factory. BMW said it would be shared among OEMs, ...
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VW reshuffles top managers in components operations
Heiner Lanze (pictured) has taken over as head of procurement at VW’s newly independent business unit, Volkswagen Group Components.Most recently, Lanze was responsible for procurement at Volkswagen do Brasil and the South America region. Before that, he was vice-president of procurement at Scania in Brazil. His career in the VW ...
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Electricity crisis hits South Africa’s automotive industry
Rolling power cuts across South Africa are threatening the automotive logistics chain, as the country’s overburdened state electricity provider Eskom struggles to meet the needs of business. Vehicle sales are down as consumer confidence has fallen and automotive manufacturers are keeping production going by sacrificing non-essential plant functions. President and ...
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Škoda’s CKD centre puts AR on the map
Škoda Auto has begun a large-scale trial of augmented reality (AR) technology to support logistics in the complete knockdown (CKD) centre at its Mladá Boleslav plant in the Czech Republic.The video mapping system is being used to help staff load sets of semi-knockdown components onto pallets for export, and consists ...
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Audi trials used car batteries in factory vehicles
Audi is trialling fork-lift trucks and tow tractors powered by used lithium-ion batteries at its main plant in Ingolstadt, Germany.The development is the latest stage in the company's research to find second uses for used batteries. Like all OEMs, Audi is obliged by law to take back batteries once their ...
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FCA to build new US plant and expand five others
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has revealed plans to spend $4.5 billion on building a new assembly plant in Detroit and adding production capacity at five existing plants in Michigan.The investment will create almost 6,500 jobs, though 1,400 posts will be lost as one shift at FCA’s Illinois plant is cut.The ...