All Article articles – Page 187
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Article
Ford and DowAksa formalise carbon-fibre deal
US – The two companies have signed a joint development agreement to advance research on the cost-effective, high-volume production of carbon fibre for automotive applications. The partnership will combine Ford’s expertise in design, engineering and high-volume manufacturing with DowAksa’s feedstock capacity, carbon-fibre conversion and downstream intermediates.The collaboration will enable the ...
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Article
McLaren and AkzoNobel extend partnership
UK – Entering its fifth year, the agreement will see the OEM’s technical partner continuing to provide high-performance coatings and paint solutions, including the development of colours for the McLaren Super Series, Ultimate Series and upcoming Sport Series.“We have a close relationship with each of our technical partners and suppliers ...
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ArticleToyota to realign North American operations
US – The OEM will spend $1 billion on a new plant in central Mexico and will also adapt its factories at Cambridge and Woodstock, Canada, to produce mid-sized vehicles of higher value. The recently announced plans will support the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) for achieving sustainable growth through ...
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ArticleMagneti Marelli’s Chinese expansion
China – The company has inaugurated a new lighting systems plant in Xiaogan, Hubei Province, and enlarged an electronic systems facility in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The total investment comes to around €36m ($40m).Operated by the Hubei Huazhong Magneti Marelli Automotive Lighting joint venture, the Xiaogan factory is located on a 44,000 ...
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ArticlePollock is McLaren’s new regional director, Europe
UK – A fresh recruit to the company, Jonathan Pollock assumes the role of regional director, Europe, and will report to Jolyon Nash, executive director – global sales and marketing.Pollock joins McLaren after more than 12 years in senior sales and marketing roles within Europe, most recently as sales director ...
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ArticleAston Martin installs Siemens plant system
UK – At the OEM’s facility in Gaydon, Warwickshire, Siemens SIMATIC WinCC SCADA has been implemented as a scalable process visualisation system to monitor and control all aspects of production.The system operates all equipment and provides instant access to important data such as trend logging of temperature curves in the ...
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ArticleSouth American sunset?
Sliding towards recession, Brazil and its neighbours no longer seem like such bright prospects for global vehicle-makers, which have made significant investments in what looked to be a highly promising marketVehicle-makers in South America, and especially Brazil, are having to take evasive action as the once-promising ‘Latin Tigers’ enter what ...
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ArticleBBAC compact-car plant opens
China – With the production launch of the GLA, Beijing Benz Automotive Corporation (BBAC) becomes the most comprehensive Mercedes-Benz car plant worldwide, turning out front- and rear-wheel drive vehicles plus engines. The GLA is the company’s first locally made compact car.Built in less than three years and stretching over 1.5m ...
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Article
Waupaca celebrates sustainability success
US – The Hitachi Metals company has been admitted to the state of Wisconsin’s Green Tier programme, which is run by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to recognise businesses that voluntarily meet environmental targets. Waupaca Foundry has also won two awards for its reuse of metal-casting byproducts.Waupaca has been ...
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ArticleLimpando o futuro
Sob forte pressão política, a indústria automobilística sustenta o seu progresso em direção a práticas mais ambientaisA fabricação de automóveis é um negócio de energia intensiva que tradicionalmente dependia fortemente de combustíveis fósseis; PwC estima que a indústria seja responsável por cerca de 15% das emissões globais de carbono a ...
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ArticleManufactory da Porsche
Construído manualmente, mas de alta tecnologia, a Porsche cria uma zona de produção sob medida para o seu super carro híbrido 918 Ocupando um espaço que antes abrigava uma oficina de pintura e que apresenta inúmeros desafios logísticos pode não soar como o cenário ideal para construir um super ...
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ArticleWelding plays its part
Besides BIW, many component welding operations are in need of improvements in productivity and quality It is the archetypal image of automotive manufacturing: a huddle of robots working frantically around a body-in-white (BIW) on its conveyor track. However, every vehicle contains a myriad of sub-structures, closures and individual components that ...
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ArticleDaimler and Renault-Nissan co-operation expands
Germany/Japan – The five-year partnership will extend into the pick-up truck segment, with the development of a one-ton model for Mercedes-Benz. The pick-up will share some architecture with the new Nissan NP300 but be engineered and designed by Daimler, displaying “all of Mercedes-Benz’ distinctive characteristics and features”, say the OEMs.The ...
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ArticleDel concepto a la realidad
Fabricado a mano pero de alta tecnología, Porsche crea una zona de producción específica para su modelo híbrido 918La zona se encuentra en un antiguo taller de pintura y representa varios retos logísticos que no parecen ser los más apropiados para un vehículo híbrido fabricado a mano, pero Porsche ha ...
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ArticleFord recognised for water conservation
US – The OEM was mentioned in the ‘Michigan Blue Economy’ report by the Michigan Economic Center at Prima Civitas and the Grand River Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute. The document notes that Ford has cut water use across its operations since 2000, ranging from cooling towers to ...
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ArticleLimpiando el futuro
La presión política está llevando a la industria del automóvil a avanzar hacia procesos cada vez más ecológicos La producción de automóviles consume mucha energía y tradicionalmente este recurso proviene de los combustibles fósiles; PwC estima que la industria es responsable de aproximadamente el 15% de las emisiones de ...
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ArticleGM wins fourth EPA award for sustainability
US – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the vehicle-maker its 2015 Energy Star Partner of the Year accolade for employing innovative energy-efficiency strategies, setting ambitious goals and achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.Last year, the OEM reduced its energy intensity by 6% worldwide, implementing a number of measures to ...
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Article从概念到现实
手工制造与高科技相融合，保时捷公司为918混合动力超级汽车量身定做了一个生产区。曾经是个喷漆车间，并且存在诸多物流挑战的空间，似乎不是徒手建立一个混合动力超级汽车的好地方，但是保时捷就在这样一个地方创造了不可思议的生产区。这块空间的名字叫“制造厂”，经过改装后用于生产超高科技918 Spyder汽车。但这不是新开辟的生产线；而是一种理念，即创造一个特别的制造环境，就像概念车一样。之前提到的物流问题，并不是“制造厂”独有的。在我们参观过程中，这种问题是大城市生产地区缺乏扩建空间而出现的普遍“遗留问题”。所以，当在Zuffenhausen建立一个新的喷漆厂时，原来的旧厂就是很好的选择。物流难题在于，918汽车的操作分为两个阶段，所有的零部件和材料都需要储存在生产区域下面。这些要以完整套组搬运到组件区，放在手推车上，随时可以用于装配。这个部件装配区域基本上占到了918生产区域的一半，以片面的人字形来布局。 平衡设计与生产让918汽车的生产变得如此有趣的一个原因是，汽车的设计是通过对生产进行大量的想象实现的；不是在设计上让步妥协，而是让制造满足多方面标准的要求。有一点需要指出，就是只有少量生产（只有918）才允许放纵地使用材料和生产工艺。在这两个区域里可以看到，真皮材质精巧地应用于内饰件和发动机装配区。 Each pair of sun visors is hand stitched, taking around 40 minutes to complete the 200 stitches required对我来说，这是第一次看见真皮滚边过程。方向盘和座椅预先包好的，但是装饰团队将其他所有的真皮装饰零部件包好。专用手推车上为每辆车配好了整套装饰件；客户预定的特殊颜色的皮革，则在不同的工作站里完成。有一个生产操作需要特别强调，就是在遮阳板上缝上皮革。每个遮阳板上的皮革都是手工缝制的，完成200针大约需要40分钟。这样的装修操作是高劳动力密集式的，几乎不可能以自动化进行的。这貌似工匠操作，但是工人是在经过高度组织下，在人体工学设计的工作站里，使用特殊工具和定做的钻模和夹具来完成装饰工作的。 使用内部专家劳动力密集是918整个制造过程最典型的形容词。专家团队里的100人来自公司标志性的911、Boxster和Cayman车型的生产区，因此918的创作团队唾手可得。发动机装配是另一个重要区域。每个V8发动机都是在“制造厂”手工制造的，单独的装配站里完成所有的装配操作。同样，在这里也是使用专用手推车装着整套的制造发动机所需的零部件。发动机装配的产量很高，因此可以经常看到一定程度的自动化或零部件，比如气缸盖。这些零部件来的时候已经是装配好的，但是在这里的生产线旁放在一起。 Every engine is assembled at the line side在你看到进气和排气门与弹簧、阀杆密封、定位夹套等放在一起等待装配时，操作的复杂性就会可见一斑了；操作员一丝不苟的安装并检测每个零部件。装配完成的发动机要在“制造厂”进行冷测试（100%），然后送到Zuffenhausen动力系统车间进行热测试，最后返回进行安装。 与许多制造商一样，保时捷崇尚精益制造原则，虽然这似乎与生产区域的手工制造有些格格不入，但是918的生产是一个非常精益的操作过程。回到物流问题，由于零部件库存很有限，因此需要外部供应商非常高效的物资供应流。尽管产量很低，但是手工零部件供应仍然很有限。另外，所有的零部件都要精心地储存和处理，以保证不造成损害或瑕疵。 复杂的制造918的制造确实是碳纤维结构。这些都是由奥地利复合材料专家Mubea Carbo Tech公司提供，先安装在一个特殊的升降运送车，这样可以根据需要，由工人将构架提升、下降或旋转。在第一阶段里，将接线器、电控元件、脚踏板、制动系统和额外的非碳基缓冲装置安装到底架上。有一队操作员同步进行操作，都在小心安装每个零部件。观看这个过程，你就会充分体会到，制造这样一部复杂的汽车需要多么小心；通过检测每个阶段的安装来避免任何错误。仪表盘在线旁装配，然后再安装到单体构架上。这个部分的最后阶段是安装挡风玻璃。以前都是看到机器人来操作，将精心测算的胶黏剂粘到屏幕上，然后精确地安置在底架孔内。但是在这里，都是由工人用一个电子分配器手工粘合完成的，然后又人工将屏幕安装好。这个工作需要高度精确性，而且正如上面所提到的，量产操作都是由机器人完成的。 The adhesive is applied by hand before manually lifting the screen in place所有手动工具都是无线的，目的是最少使用布线，创造一个整洁的生产区域。近距离观察之后发现，这些工具都是经过电子校准，而且通过蓝牙监控的。这样就能实现准确的质量管理和一致性，保证在手工制造过程中的固定既不过紧，也不松。正如大家预想的，像保时捷这样的品牌，质量是重中之重。在918的制造过程中，还有一个额外的实际需求，就是在车上严密包装好在每个装配阶段系统监测所需要的零部件。如果在后面的阶段发现问题，又无法得到这些零部件，那么就得拆掉汽车。 特别调试的无人搬运车一旦初期在单体构架上的装配完成，就会从升降运送车转到一个特别为918调整好的额无人搬运车上。将底架放到无人搬运车上是制造的一部分，在单体构架放低时，就将已经准备好的混合动力系统的Bosch电池组安放进去。使用无人搬运车是“制造厂”另一个理念；这里仍然没有电线，却能精准地调节作业高度，而不需要内置层或高架输送器。 The AGVs ...
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ArticlePorsche's Manufactory
Hand-built but high-tech, the 918 Spyder is made in a specially adapted production area at ZuffenhausenA space that formerly housed a paintshop and presents numerous logistical challenges might not sound like the ideal setting to hand build a hybrid supercar, but Porsche has created just such a production area. The ...
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ArticleFCA’s ITPI works 10m safe hours
US – Indiana Transmission Plant I (ITPI) and its 2,700 personnel, including 1,100 new hires, have now operated for three years without a lost-time injury. The facility makes six-speed transmissions as well as nine-speed units for the Jeep Cherokee, turning out 500,000 of the latter since May 2013.“The most important ...