All SCM articles – Page 35
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FeatureWhat to do when the chips are down
The supply shortage of engine control units that led to last week’s three-day closure at four of Nissan’s assembly plants in Japan has also spread to the US, forcing the carmaker to make further temporary assembly shutdowns at its Canton and Smyrna plants in Tennessee. But while certainly a headache ...
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FeatureSupply problem hits Nissan production
Nissan will be forced to halt production at four of its plants in Japan for three days this week because of a supply shortage of engine control units from Hitachi. Production will be affected from Wednesday to Friday this week (14-16th July) and will affect the output of 15,000 vehicles, ...
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Ford reveals effort to clean up logistics
Ford’s latest sustainability report reveals a number of achievements in the reduction of carbon output from its logistics practices, including a reduction in road-based transport, increased use of alternative fuels and more reusable packaging. Called “2009/10 Blueprint for Sustainability: The Future at Work”, the report states that the company reduced ...
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FeatureRussian policy is a real pain for logistics
The most significant challenge facing automotive logistics in Russia is government policy according to attendees at last week’s Automotive Logistics conference in St Petersburg, with 65% of delegates surveyed citing it as the primary issue above the widespread infrastructure problems affecting logistics in the country (19%). And as Wilhelmina ...
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FeatureReform badly needed for intermodal, customs
If automotive logistics providers operating in Russia are to make the best of the optimistic forecasts expressed this week in St Petersburg they will need to improve rail and intermodal services, as well as be flexible and adaptive when it comes to the country’s ever-changing customs procedures, according to several ...
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FeatureAnalysis China: rising currency & wages to benefit global LSPs?
Factories in China continued to see disruptions this week to the flow of material to assembly lines following another set of strikes by parts suppliers over low wages. This time the walkouts were in Guangdon province at Denso (Guangzhou Nansha), a subsidiary of Japanese tier supplier Denso–the largest global supplier ...
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FeatureOdette consortium seeks SME integration
At this week’s Odette25 conference held in Munich, Germany, Odette International’s managing director John Canvin (pictured) revealed the progress being made on a project initiated by the EU Commission to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) communicate more effectively in the global automotive supply chain through digital integration and standardisation ...
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FeatureA Chinese supply chain in transition
Rising labour and logistics rates could change the landscape of supply chain management in the automotive industry in China, it emerged last week at a special workshop organised by Automotive Logistics at the transport logistics China trade exhibition in Shanghai. On the other hand, a slowdown in the growth of ...
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FeatureLost opportunities for logistics in Spain?
ANFAC, the Spanish association of car and lorry manufacturers, as well as other carmakers, have criticised the Spanish government’s decision to reject a proposal to liberalise the country’s port services. ANFAC claims that the state has reneged on a prior commitment to liberalise port services, under pressure from port workers, ...
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Logistics now central to decisions at GM
General Motors has introduced a supply chain management initiative in which logistics will play a more integral role in product lifecycle planning. Called ‘Total Enterprise Cost’, it is intended to improve how the carmaker calculates project and material sourcing costs and will go further than the ‘total landed cost’ sourcing ...
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Brazil needs broad infrastructure spend
An ageing infrastructure and the need for long-term planning in the automotive sector are chief among the hurdles facing logistics providers in Brazil. Fuelled by Brazil's rising middle class and consumer credit, sales of passenger cars have surged. The country is forecast to produce 3.5m vehicles this year against approximately ...
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FeatureCollaboration is the key to deliver cost savings
The automotive sector is close behind the consumer/retail sector when it comes to logistics collaboration as a strategy for delivering costs savings according to survey findings presented by research and analysis provider Transport Intelligence (Ti) at last week’s Multimodal 2010 event held in Birmingham, UK. And while respondents to the ...
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FeatureChina needs consolidation, quality
This year’s Automotive Logistics China went ahead without a hitch in Beijing at the beginning of the week despite the best efforts of Iceland’s Eyjafjaliajokull volcano, which grounded flights through the large part of Europe. And while there was discussion among the roughly 300 delegates who attended the conference concerning ...
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FeatureEurope flight chaos hits auto sector
Even as airspace is reopened and flights gradually resume following new European guidelines on the levels of volcanic ash safe for aircraft, the fallout from Europe’s worst ever airspace disruption continues to cause transport capacity shortages and thus supply constraints in European automotive factories, particularly at the tier supplier levels, ...
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FeatureHyundai shifts i20 to cut logistics cost
In an effort to reduce import duties and logistics costs for the European market, Hyundai’s Indian subsidiary – Hyundai Motors India – will start shipping complete knock-down (CKD) kits of its three-door i20 model from its plant near Chennai for assembly at the Assan Hyundai Motor plant near Istanbul in ...
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FeatureMenlo takes on 4PL role for Navistar
US commercial vehicle and engine maker, Navistar, is aiming to reduce its supply chain spending by 25% by 2013 through a new strategic partnership with Menlo Worldwide Logistics. Initial efforts following an 18-month operational review have already resulted in a 5% reduction in annual costs according to the company. Navistar ...
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FeatureHonda reviews procurement strategy in Japan
Reports that Honda is reviewing its parts procurement strategy and, in a bid to cut costs, will be reducing the number of parts it buys from developed countries from 90% to 60%, applies only to the company’s Japan region – one of six regions under which it organises its global ...
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FeatureLogistics providers celebrated in supplier awards
Logistics providers were once again among the 76 recipients of the GM Supplier of the Year awards held at the GM Design Dome in Warren, Michigan last Thursday. ECM (Vehicle Delivery Service), FedEx, Grimaldi, Höegh, K-Line, Ryder and TMS were among those recognised. “The Supplier of the Year award is ...
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FeatureAlliance sets tough target for logistics
Renault and Nissan have set ambitious targets for cutting cost as a result of merging their supply chain divisions into a single logistics entity for the extended European region, it emerged last week at the Automotive Logistics Europe conference, with logistics providers expected to make a significant contribution. What ...
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FeatureClear momentum for logistics at AL Europe
Following the decline in trade volumes since the onset of the financial crisis, carmakers and logistics service providers expect global parts movements and logistics in the industry to accelerate at full force again. Audi has revealed that it anticipates dramatic increases in the use of containers and sequenced parts, while ...