All Materials handling articles – Page 8
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ArticleAudi trials used car batteries in factory vehicles
Audi is trialling fork-lift trucks and tow tractors powered by used lithium-ion batteries at its main plant in Ingolstadt, Germany.The development is the latest stage in the company's research to find second uses for used batteries. Like all OEMs, Audi is obliged by law to take back batteries once their ...
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ArticleKerry ‘hackathon’ explores drone stocktaking
Kerry Logistics Network has staged its first ‘hackathon’ to devise applications for autonomous drones based around warehouse stocktaking.Eight teams participated in the two-day event combining robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. They incorporated a range of technologies including navigation and computer vision, radio frequency identification (RFID) and Lidar (light detection ...
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From the industryA clean answer to complex reverse logistics packaging
Returnable packaging provider Comopack is introducing a global KLT container and dunnage solution to cover the entire reusuable packaging process
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From the industryComing up with a strategy for transformation
CHEP has launched a strategy to support the digital transformation of its offerings and of the automotive supply chain, including vehicle electrification and tracking packaging assets
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ArticleQ&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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ArticleAutomotive Logistics Awards – Europe 2019 launched
Last year’s Automotive Logistics Awards winners Automotive Logistics is proud to announce the return of the Automotive Logistics Awards – Europe. Following in the footsteps of last year’s highly successful inaugural event, the Automotive Logistics Awards – Europe 2019 will once again recognise excellence and innovation in ...
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ArticleThe 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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ArticleACEA warns of EU steel import tariffs
European Union (EU) measures to protect the steel industry “pose a real risk” to the competitiveness of the region’s car sector, according to Erik Jonnaert, secretary-general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).A total of 26 categories of steel from all countries will be limited to a quota, based on ...
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ArticleStepping up the quality
There are several advantages of shipping vehicles in kits rather than as completely built units, including lower costs for transport, better customs import conditions and the support of local government in exchange for providing employment to the workforce. A major disadvantage, however, is that defective, damaged or lost goods may ...
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ArticleThe quest for greater unity
One of the main priorities for inbound supply chain managers from a packaging perspective is the proper management of returnable containers and packages so they are delivered as quickly, efficiently and economically as possible. To achieve this, many North American OEMs have up to now insisted on their own forms ...
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ArticlePacking 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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ArticleBysouth 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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ArticleBMW 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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ArticleBMW 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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ArticleToyota 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 ...
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ArticleCompeting 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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ArticleZF 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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ArticleImperial 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 ...
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ArticleQ&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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ArticleŠkoda 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 ...