Inplant logistics – Page 8
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FeatureQ&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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FeatureVW sets up new components division to drive efficiency
Volkswagen has established a new division – Volkswagen Group Components – tasked with reducing costs by €2 billion ($2.27 billion) while improving efficiency and taking on board the increasing importance of electric vehicles. Thomas Schmall (right), chairman of VW’s new Group Components division, with Stefan Sommer, VW Group board member ...
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FeatureThe 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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FeaturePacking 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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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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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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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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FeatureZF 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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FeatureŠkoda tests out drone for stocktaking
Czech carmaker Škoda is trialling an autonomous drone to identify and count containers outside its factory in Mladá Boleslav. The goal is for drone-assisted stocktaking to become a regular feature of operations in the medium term.“We are continuously working on improving the efficiency of our everyday production processes and making ...
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FeatureEnergising the synergising
Renault and Nissan began their wide-ranging alliance and set up cross-shareholdings in each other back in 1999, and since then Daimler, Avtovaz and most recently Mitsubishi have also become part of this evolving structure. Numerous shared vehicle platforms, manufacturing and logistics operations and back-office functions have been developed. Furthermore, impressive ...
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FeatureQ&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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FeatureVW starts making Seat Tarraco at Wolfsburg
Spanish carmaker Seat, part of the VW Group, has begun producing its Tarraco SUV on assembly lines at VW’s Wolfsburg factory – the first time in 20 years a non-VW vehicle has been built at the plant in northern Germany.Designed and developed in Barcelona, the Tarraco is built on the ...
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FeatureŠkoda 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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FeatureChina'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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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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FeatureVarroc Lighting Systems expands Czech plant
Varroc Lighting Systems has opened a fifth production hall at its Rychvald factory in the Moravia region of the Czech Republic.Features of the new assembly area include advanced material flow monitoring and intelligent logistics management equipment, said the US-based firm.“The hall will produce both rear lamps and smart headlamps with ...
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FeatureSika sets up plant in Mexico with integrated logistics
German components supplier Sika is opening a manufacturing plant in Querétaro, Mexico to supply acoustic treatments and body structural products to carmakers operating in the country. The new factory includes an integrated logistics centre and will also house the Mexican subsidiary of Faist ChemTec, which makes sound abatement and weight ...
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FeatureSmart 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 ...
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FeatureJapanese carmakers count the cost of natural disasters
The majority of OEMs in Japan appear to have missed the main brunt of a typhoon that hit Japan’s central region around Osaka last week and of an earthquake in Hokkaido, in the north of the country, that followed shortly after – though production at Toyota’s car assembly plants has ...
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FeatureSmart logistics behind Mercedes-Benz US van plant
Production of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van range has now begun at an expanded assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, after a two-year construction period.Plans for the $500m Sprinter-focused expansion to the North Charleston site date back to March 2015. The investment there has included a body shop, paint shop ...