All Feature articles – Page 274
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Feature
Russia needs a service revolution under WTO
When Russia joined the WTO in August, analysts pointed to risks for Russian OEMs as lower duties promised greater foreign competition. Market share leaders such as Lada for passenger cars or GAZ for light commercial vehicles would be vulnerable to European and Japanese imports on quality and the Chinese on ...
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FeatureTax advantages keep auto investment in Poland
A less taxing future?;World container index Shanghai-Rotterdam;Drewry's air freight price index.There are new developments being discussed for an automotive cluster in the Silesia region of Poland near GM’s Opel’s plant in Gliwice, which lies at the heart of the Katowice Special Economic Zone (KSEZ). It reaffirms the importance of the ...
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FeatureLifting standards at Jungheinrich
Reducing damage and increasing efficiency in parts handling isn’t just down to packaging or transport methods. Innovations in forklifts can also play a significant part in warehousing and plant operations. Marcia MacLeod reports on forklift provider Jungheinrich’s best applications for automotive.With advances in automation and design, choosing the wrong forklift ...
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FeatureEDITOR’S NOTE: Gefco/GM; pressures on free trade
Automotive logistics, by definition, always moves. From sorting material at crossdocks to loading in ports, sailing, trucking or flying, the supply chain is in constant flux. So too is the automotive logistics industry itself. A struggling European market brings not only painful cuts, but also changes in logistics strategies. GM’s decision ...
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Feature
Russia needs a service revolution under WTO
Beyond the wall of duties;GAZ as distributor.When Russia joined the WTO in August, analysts pointed to risks for Russian OEMs as lower duties promised greater foreign competition. Market share leaders such as Lada for passenger cars or GAZ for light commercial vehicles would be vulnerable to European and Japanese imports ...
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FeatureThe Mexican parts rush
With car production jumping across the border to Mexico, manufacturers are making increasing use of the country’s developing intermodal services, writes Anthony Coia.Mexico is resurgent as a manufacturing and export base for the automotive industry. While the country has suffered from violence and security issues relating to drug crime in ...
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FeatureChina slowdown prompts supply chain network changes
An ever-changing picture. How logistics providers are relentlessly developing their networks despite the slowdown in Chinese productionDelphi aims to take control;Lear tackles logistics cost issues;Fiat-Chrysler's export network;Gefco builds on joint ventures;Go west, 3PLs.Although the world’s largest vehicle-producing nation has experienced a slowdown in manufacturing over the past year, carmakers, tier ...
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FeatureTracking the long haul in rail
We review the North American industry’s investment and capacity utilisation for moving vehicles by rail.North American network;Improving direct rail links;Battles on the west coast;Worry over railcar shortages and allocations;An industry making improvements.The port of Portland, on the US northwest coast, is an obvious destination for vehicles exported from Asia; Toyota, ...
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FeatureDamage control
Improving parts protection at Ford of Europe;Rapid response;Investigating causes;Mobis reassesses aftermarket packaging;Packaging for air freight;Continuous improvement at Renault.Inbound and aftermarket component supply chains achieve remarkable levels of quality, yet damage in transport is still the cause of up to half of all claims. Jonathan Ward reports on how the industry ...
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FeatureBuilding on the bridge
Marcia MacLeod reports on what suppliers and logistics providers in the Turkish market are doing to localise automotive production and improve logistics costs for the total supply chainTurkish automotive production is growing again, with opportunities in logistics for both established third-party logistics providers and new entrants to the country. Turkey’s ...
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FeatureEDITOR’S NOTE: Is inbound really better and more important?
An electronic survey at our FVL North America event asked 250 delegates what OEMs thought was more important: inbound or outbound logistics. Perhaps it was unsurprising that the audience, mainly vehicle logistics providers and outbound managers at OEMs, saw the grass as greener and voted 73% for inbound.Asked which was ...
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FeatureYusen targets auto freight forwarding and aftermarket in Europe
These are tough days for container shipping, with most of the major lines reporting losses, struggling with overcapacity and trying, with varying degrees of success, to push rates back to sustainable levels. Sailing against the winds of the market is particularly difficult when moving thousands of boxes is almost always ...
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FeatureRussian Railways will buy Gefco stake
As Automotive Logistics was going to press, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Russian Railways (RZD), the state-owned rail operator, to sell a majority stake in PSA’s logistics provider, Gefco, and form a “strategic partnership”. PSA said that it would sell a 75% interest ...
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FeatureCan outbound keep up with North America’s changes?
Rail and road capacity better than expected Move to hub-and-spoke distributionReducing empty backhaulsDynamic ETA and visibilityElectronic data sharingA new associationA flexible futureDelegates at Automotive Logistics Global debated the implications of vehicle production growth in Mexico, and whether the industry will offer enough direct services and capacity to handle changing vehicle ...
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FeatureThreat to US ports lifted
Fears of a widespread strike at ports along the US East and Gulf coasts next month have been allayed following an agreement between the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) to extend collective bargaining for another 90 day period to the end of ...
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FeatureShifting markets mean a sea change for logistics
With US domestic freight trends weak, inventory lagging on production and exports from the US to Europe and China slowing, the forecasts from the opening session at this week’s Automotive Logistics Global conference in Detroit sounded like more bad news for the transport and logistics industry. But while ...
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FeatureMiami Uni wins GM/Wayne State supply chain competition
A team of students representing Miami University were chosen as the winners of the second annual GM/Wayne State University Supply Chain competition, held at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit this past weekend. The event featured presentations by teams from 16 universities that were based on automotive supply ...
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FeatureNYK buys controlling stake in Rolf SCS
Japan’s NYK has bought a 51% controlling stake in Russian vehicle logistics provider Rolf SCS, a division of the Rolf Group, in a new joint venture designed to enhance finished vehicle logistics services in Russia and expand the customer base of each company. Rolf will retain the remaining ...
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FeatureRussian Railways wins bid for Gefco
Months of speculation over the sale of PSA Peugeot Citroen’s logistics subsidiary Gefco was brought to an end last week when it was announced that Russian Railways (RZD) had emerged as the winning bidder for a 75% stake in the company worth €800m ($1.04 billion). RZD is the ...
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FeatureThyssenKrupp invests in Alabama
ThyssenKrupp Materials North America (TKMNA), a division of the materials giant ThyssenKrupp, is investing $13m to build a new materials processing and distribution centre in Woodstock, Alabama. The centre will serve the Coil Processing Group division. A spokesman for the company said the decision to locate the new ...