Top materials handling stories – Page 10
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Competing 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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ZF 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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Imperial 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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Q&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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Škoda 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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China'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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Pressing 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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A 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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Smart 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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Gearbox 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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Audi 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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IAC 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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Mercedes-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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Gefco 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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Chinese 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 ...
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Digital lineside technology key to BMW’s 8 Series model
This week BMW began producing the luxury 8 Series coupé at its Dingolfing plant in Germany and the digitalisation of production and lineside logistics is playing a central role in the manufacturing of the new model, according to the carmaker. That includes in the delivery of parts to the factory ...
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Transforming inbound flows
Daimler Trucks’ division in Brazil – Mercedes-Benz do Brasil – has invested 500m reais ($150.6m) in its 1m sq.m plant in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo state, to establish a new truck assembly line and transform its supporting inbound logistics structure. The comprehensive overhaul of operations is part of ...
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DHL Freight opens warehouse in Manisa
DHL Freight has opened a logistics warehouse at Manisa Industrial Park, near the Turkish city of Izmir, in response to what it said was a growing demand for services in the country."Manisa is not only home to one of the first logistics parks in Turkey, it is also an important ...
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Continental raises sensor output at Trutnov
German technology company Continental has expanded its Trutnov plant in the north-east of the Czech Republic to meet increasing demand for nitrogen oxide (NOx) sensors. The sensors are used to measure the NOx content in exhaust emissions and provide data for its effective conversion into harmless substances.Among the features of ...
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Twinning talent with technology
The rate at which emerging digital technologies are transforming the automotive logistics supply chain is hard to keep up with. As both an enabler of everything from platform design to procurement, finance and planning, and a disruptor of traditional supply chain operations, digital technology associated with industry 4.0 is driving ...