All BMW articles – Page 12
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FeatureBMW Regensburg named as ‘manufacturing lighthouse’
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named BMW’s Regensburg car assembly plant as a “manufacturing lighthouse” of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, thanks to the factory’s innovations in logistics.The plant, in south-eastern Germany, is one of just seven worldwide awarded the honour this year for successful implementation of industry 4.0 ...
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FeatureHonda to halt UK production during Brexit
Japanese OEM Honda is to suspend production at its British plant for six days in April after the UK leaves the European Union on March 29.The decision follows an assessment of how best to prepare for any logistics and border problems following Brexit.“These contingency provisions have been put in place ...
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FeatureInnovation and smart tech: Why BMW is driving both
Handling 31m parts and producing almost 10,000 vehicles each day, BMW is increasingly looking to digitalisation and Industry 4.0 innovations to help it organise its logistics more flexibly…
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FeatureGround broken at new BMW logistics centre in Austria
A ground-breaking ceremony was held this week to mark the official start of construction of a new logistics centre at Steyr, Austria, to serve BMW’s nearby engine plant. Contract logistics services provider Industrie-Logistik-Linz will rent the property and use it to consolidate activities from several of BMW Steyr’s external warehouses ...
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FeatureBMW 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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FeatureGerman OEMs meet Trump amid tariff confusion
Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW executives have this week outlined a series of planned investments in the US to administration officials, after meeting with President Donald Trump. Their meetings took place amid uncertainty over trade conditions, after the president’s tweet that China had agreed to end 40% duties on imports of ...
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FeatureBMW 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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FeatureShifting gear
Brazilian vehicle sales have been gathering pace recently, as the country tentatively recovers from its long recession. Light vehicle sales have shown some growth, while bus and truck sales have positively motored ahead. Vehicle sales this year, however, have been tarnished somewhat by stalling exports – especially to Argentina, which ...
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FeatureChugging or changing?
Demand for rail transport is growing faster than service providers can keep up with, according to Siegfried Jung, head of planning and steering vehicle dispatch and transport at BMW Group.[related_topics align="right" border="yes"]Jung says that increased demand for rail transport, from both public and industrial sectors, currently exceeds capacity. Rail infrastructure ...
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FeatureCEE auto markets gear up for sustained growth
Sustained growth, a shift from low-cost to high-tech manufacturing, plus an ambition to lead automotive market trends such as electromobility and autonomous driving are now characterising the key economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), delegates heard at the Automotive Logistics Central & Eastern Europe summit in Budapest today (Wednesday ...
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FeatureGM poised to sell St Petersburg plant
US carmaker GM is close to selling its plant in St Petersburg to another automotive manufacturer, with the final agreement due to be signed at the end of this year. According to Sergey Movchan, deputy governor of St Petersburg, the new owner plans to revive finished vehicle assembly at the ...
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FeatureBMW produces its millionth 3D-printed part
BMW has produced its millionth 3D-printed part since starting to use the manufacturing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, a decade ago. It is one of 200,000 parts the OEM will 3D-print this year – a 42% increase on the number produced last year. While the number is low compared ...
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FeatureJLR to open engineering office in Budapest
Jaguar Land Rover has announced it will open a technical engineering office in Budapest, Hungary, early next year to support the management of its European supply chain. It follows the official opening of its €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) assembly plant in Nitra (pictured), in neighbouring Slovakia, on October 25.Nick Rogers, ...
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FeatureWLTP hits sales and profits in Germany
Carmaker VW Group and parts supplier Schaeffler have both put weaker third-quarter financial performance down to the effects of the new Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).As manufacturers have phased out older passenger car models in advance of the more stringent emissions testing procedure coming into effect on September ...
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FeatureFord highlights the high cost of US-made steel
Ford has highlighted the high cost of US-made steel, in the aftermath of the 25% import duties on the metal imposed by President Donald Trump.Speaking about the cost of key input materials at a recent event to mark the start of Ranger pick-up production at the Wayne assembly plant in ...
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FeatureWLTP causes sharp shift in German car sales
New passenger car registrations in Germany fell 31% year-on-year to an estimated 200,100 in September. In August, the figure was a 25% increase to 316,400.German automotive industry association, the VDA, said the volatility was because of distortions caused by the new Worldwide Light-Duty Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), which is intended ...
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FeatureTesting times
The start of September this year marked the point at which all new car registrations in the EU had to comply with the new CO2 emissions test – the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). This laboratory test is designed to introduce more realistic and stricter criteria when assessing ...
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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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FeatureWendt takes on key supplier role at BMW
Andreas Wendt (pictured) has become BMW’s new management board member for purchasing and supplier network. He was previously director of the group’s largest car assembly plant in Germany at Dingolfing.Wendt was appointed to his new role on 1 October by the supervisory board, whose chairman Norbert Reithofer said: “The purchasing ...
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FeatureBMW and Toyota could leave UK after no-deal Brexit
BMW and Toyota have said this week that they could withdraw from the UK if there is disruption to business caused by a no-deal Brexit.Speaking at the start of the Paris Motor Show, BMW’s CEO, Harald Krüger said the carmaker could shift production of the Mini from Oxford to its ...