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All articles by Chris Ludwig
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FeatureRenault Nissan Automotive India part 2: Ensuring all brands are ready to go
Renault Nissan Automotive India, the joint venture division of the Renault Nissan Alliance that oversees production and distribution activities in the country, was established with a number of logistics advantages in mind. Its plant in Oragadam, close to the southern city of Chennai, is a manufacturing hub located within a ...
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FeatureRenault Nissan Automotive India part 1: Working towards a single standard
Among the many global plants of the Renault Nissan Alliance, the factory in Oragadam, close to Chennai in India, stands out in several ways. Though other Alliance factories now also produce multiple brands, the Indian site was the first planned from the beginning as a joint facility, including shared production ...
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FeatureBMW tracking: Prevention is better than a cure
Few manufacturing operations have expanded as much over the past two decades as BMW’s Plant Spartanburg in Greer, South Carolina. After producing 411,000 X-series SUV models in 2016, it is now the carmaker’s largest global facility by assembly volume, and is headed towards its maximum capacity of 450,000 units per year, including the launch this year of the new X3.
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FeatureStill breaking down barriers in automotive supply chains…
What has changed in 20 years of covering the automotive supply chain?
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FeatureLive poll results from the UK: present and future disruption
Live polling conducted at this year's Automotive Logistics UK summit revealed that delegates are anticipating major changes to the automotive supply chain as it relates to the UK and the wider sector. While most executives participating in the survey are optimistic about the industry's prospects in the short term, including ...
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FeatureMini plant, huge complexity
BMW’s Mini factory in Cowley, near Oxford in southern England, is a striking example of managing high levels of supply chain and production complexity, set against space constraints and long lead times for inbound parts delivery and exports of vehicles.However, thanks to well-defined supply and logistics processes, along with strong ...
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FeatureKN launches lithium-ion battery logistics service out of Asia
This year’s IAA motor show in Frankfurt, Germany was notable for the continued focus on vehicle electrification, with carmakers committing to more electric vehicle (EV) models and options in the coming years. Governments, meanwhile, from the UK and France to China, have recently announced plans to shift away from combustion ...
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FeatureHow finished vehicle logistics can shed its laggard reputation
Vehicle logistics has long been accused of lagging other parts of the supply chain – notably inbound or in-plant logistics – in technology, precision and processes. OEMs and providers complain about the same problems, year in, year out, from poor visibility to a lack of common standards.That it is really ...
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FeatureGentry-Stuenkel to lead supply chain at FCA US; Brazeau takes on combined logistics role
Wendi Gentry-Stuenkel (pictured) is now head of supply chain management at FCA – North America, assuming the company’s top supply chain role in the region with responsibilities for volume planning and logistics as well as a number of other cross-functional tasks. She replaced Steve Beahm with effect from June 30th, ...
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FeatureDigitalisation: for better or for worse, you can't just ignore it
Disruption or continuous improvement? That is the question over what digitalisation, autonomy and electrification will do to automotive logistics. Will new players swipe away older ones as though deleting undesirables on an app, or will technology improve efficiency and customer reach?The stock market drives the bleaker outlook for some. With ...
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FeatureDifferent digital paces
The headline above might well have read ‘industry and logistics 4.0’, ‘the industrial internet of things’, ‘factories of the future’, ‘smart supply chains’ or ‘manufacturing 2025’.Or we might have turned to one of a growing number of acronyms used to outline the car industry’s future, like Mercedes-Benz Car’s CASE or ...
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FeatureBMW parts distribution centre in US to cut double-shipping
BMW has officially opened a new distribution centre in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to handle service parts from North America-based suppliers and destined for regional aftersales customers for the X-series SUV models built at the carmaker’s nearby manufacturing plant in Greer.The facility, which the OEM refers to as a ‘continental distribution ...
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FeatureBMW Group: Thinking big about outbound
Alongside pictures of her family, Anita Pieper’s office is full of visual charts and signposts: value-stream maps, PDA circles for scheduling and a 3PS board outlining various projects and targets her teams are working on, from quality statistics to network studies or a plant launch years ahead.In the middle of ...
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FeatureVolvo Cars China: A system built for growth
[sta_anchor id="1"]Few carmakers have been moving as quickly as Volvo Cars to develop and expand their industrial footprint in China. In less than five years, the carmaker has launched two assembly plants and an engine factory, while ramping up production and more than doubling sales in the country. It has ...
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FeatureSiegfried Jung takes over BMW’s finished vehicle dispatch and logistics
From July 1st, Siegfried Jung (pictured) is the new head of vehicle dispatch and distribution at the BMW Group, based at the carmaker’s global headquarters in Munich, Germany. He replaces Peter Hörndlein, who has left BMW for a logistics role at truckmaker MAN.Jung, 46, is responsible for the carmaker’s vehicle-handling ...
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FeatureExecutive changes at Volvo Cars' new integrated logistics department
Volvo Car Group has confirmed a number of key logistics appointments as part of a wider reorganisation and integration of its global logistics functions.Magnus Ödling (pictured left) has been appointed senior director for global core and car program, a role that will cover logistics engineering across the supply chain. Starting ...
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FeatureKeeping the heat on
The summer of renegotiation is upon us. Officials and policy wonks in the UK and US have invited their counterparts out of the sun and into shaded rooms, red pens in hand, trade and multi-lateral agreements spread on the table. For their sake, we hope the rooms are all air-conditioned.Officials ...
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FeatureAnalysis: Hung parliament casts doubt and hope over Brexit
This article is being updated regularly.The UK general election on June 8th, in which the governing Conservative party lost its parliamentary majority, has cast uncertainty over investment and policy in terms of the country’s automotive industry and supply chain – most notably over pending negotiations to leave the European Union.There ...
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FeatureSupply Chain Conference: Delegate votes show gaps in logistics digitalisation
Delegates at the 2017 Supply Chain Conference voted live on questions composed by sponsors of the event as well by the Automotive Logistics team, allowing the event to take the pulse of around 150 experts across the automotive supply chain management and logistics sector in North America and beyond.The vote ...
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FeatureSupply Chain Conference: Service parts get closer to production logistics
After years in which their service parts and inbound logistics have been almost entirely separate, a number of carmakers, including Toyota and BMW, are now making specific efforts to combine more channels between production and aftermarket supply chains in North America. Their efforts include sharing standards, management resources, systems and ...