All Materials handling articles – Page 11
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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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FeatureBysouth becomes logistics chief at IAC
Kelly Bysouth (pictured) has joined International Automotive Components (IAC) as chief supply chain officer, with global responsibility and operational control of procurement and logistics.She brings 25 years of related experience to the company, which is based in Luxembourg.[mpu_ad]Bysouth moves from Adient, where she held a variety of leadership positions in ...
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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 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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FeatureToyota Australia opens its largest parts warehouse
The largest parts warehouse run by Toyota Australia has been officially opened at Kemps Creek, New South Wales. It is located on 6.4 hectares close to a network of motorways and major arterial roads in the Western Sydney conurbation.The new Toyota Parts Centre (TPC) will house more than 128,000 parts ...
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FeatureCompeting on a global stage – report from AL Central and Eastern Europe summit
Over the last 15 years, the centre of investment in the European automotive industry has been shifting east. Delegates at the Automotive Logistics Central and Eastern Europe (ALCEE) summit in Budapest last week learned that the region now has a strong network of assembly and supplier plants, along with logistics ...
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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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FeatureImperial Logistics to run VW packaging centre in Wilhelmshaven
Volkswagen Group has signed a contract with Imperial Logistics International to run its packaging centre at Jade-Weser-Port in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The centre is due to open next year. In a statement, Imperial Logistics said it would take over the operation in April. “We are happy and proud ...
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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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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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FeatureA crisis in human capital
As the automotive logistics sector continues to automate and let technology take the lead, there are some important human factors to resolve if such plans are to succeed – as delegates at this year’s Automotive Logistics Global conference in Detroit found out While the US car market may be ...
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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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FeatureGearbox shortage halts Peugeot assembly
Production of the Peugeot 308 was halted for a second day at the French carmaker's Sochaux plant in eastern France last week due to a shortage of gearboxes.Taking potential orders into account, the best solution was to temporarily halt the compact car’s assembly at the plant, a company spokesperson said.[mpu_ad]Though ...
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FeatureAudi starts electric motor production at Györ
The first electric motors at Audi’s plant in Györ, Hungary, went into production this week and will be shipped to Belgium for fitment on the Audi e-tron, the carmaker’s first all‑electric model, which is being made at its assembly facility near Brussels.Current production capacity is approximately 400 electric axle motors ...
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FeatureIAC deploys smart logistics at Halewood facility
Global parts and systems supplier, International Automotive Components (IAC), is now using industry 4.0 manufacturing technology and smart logistics for the production of interior components at its plant in Halewood. Parts are supplied from the site to Jaguar Land Rover’s plant nearby and other carmakers in the country.Among other things, ...
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FeatureMercedes-Benz boosts local sourcing in South Africa
Mercedes-Benz is enlarging its supply chain within South Africa as it expands production at its plant in East London, on the country’s east coast.The OEM has added 35 new suppliers based in South Africa to the plant’s supply chain, with seven being tier one suppliers and three sequencing suppliers.“We have ...
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FeatureGefco expands services in Spain
Gefco has expanded its operations in Spain with the opening of a new distribution centre near Ford’s Almussafes plant on the outskirts of Valencia and the extension of its spare parts logistics centre in Santa Fe.From the 3,500 sq.m distribution centre, which is located in Sollana, Gefco will be carrying ...
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FeatureChinese EV battery maker forced to stop output
A reduction in Chinese government subsidies to electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers has forced battery maker Shenzhen OptimumNano Energy to cease operations for six months.The majority of staff have been told to take paid leave for the rest of the year from July 1. Meanwhile, the government is reported to be ...