JLR – Page 6
-
ArticleOpen-door opportunity
Much R&D work has been done to reduce the weight of vehicle structures, but closures still represent a significant opportunity for weight savingsClosures are mounted after body assembly and can be built up off-line, meaning that they can be made of entirely different materials, such as aluminium, to the vehicle’s ...
-
ArticleJLR’s EMC makes first petrol Ingenium
UK – The engine, which will debut in vehicles this summer, marks the completion of the first phase of the Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC). The $1 billion plant in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, was opened in 2014 to supply the OEM’s three vehicle factories in the country.The manufacture of this first ...
-
ArticleAfter PSA and Opel, who's next?
The acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall by PSA, which should be complete by the end of this year, took the industry by surprise. With Opel/Vauxhall still losing money in Q3 2016, GM’s chief financial officer, Chuck Stevens, said the company would do what was required to put the situation right. Most observers ...
-
ArticleTailor-made
With a total throughput capacity of 750,000 tonnes of metal per year, it is no surprise to discover the automotive industry is a major customer of the Tata SteelparkThe Tata Steelpark near Wolverhampton, UK, is one of the major steel processing sites in Europe. Inbound, coiled steel from the company’s ...
-
ArticleAround the block
The mix of in-house and external sourcing that OEMs regularly deploy in vehicle engine production make its supply chain quite distinct from that of all other components along the assembly lineEngines, whether diesel or petrol, have a supply chain that is quite distinct from that which provides components to vehicle ...
-
ArticleEdging out inefficiencies
Tooling innovations matched with supplier partnerships are proving critical to competitive gain at automotive machine shops the world overFord’s Bridgend engine plant in the UK, which produces over 750,000 petrol engines a year, has engaged in a cutting-tool partnership with Mapal to help the factory to hit its SPC targets ...
-
ArticleGestamp to open aluminium plant, Nitra
Slovakia – The €133m ($140.8m) facility will supply carmakers including Jaguar Land Rover, which is building a factory in the country. More than 80% of the output will be aluminium-based.The plant will cover 42,400 sq.m and start production in 2018, focusing on products which reduce vehicle weight while maintaining safety. ...
-
ArticleA pressing issue
With new opportunities opening up, the independent pressings and stampings sector continues to evolveWith car-makers focusing on new, demanding and regulation-driven technologies – especially in emissions, connectivity, autonomous and electric cars – limitations in terms of their resources and capabilities mean that further opportunities are opening up for the likes ...
-
ArticleInjecting a dash of insulation
Automotive interiors specialist International Automotive Components (IAC) has further expanded its operations in EuropeIAC's newest production facility, at Prestice in the Czech Republic, will initially be producing the company’s injection moulded inner dash, acoustical insulation product for two major vehicle OEM customers – including trunk trim and dash insulation components ...
-
ArticleAssembly language
A flagship plant in Portugal provides Visteon with the platform to innovate and find best practices it can roll out worldwideFrom Palmela, its key European production base and centre of excellence based on the outskirts of Lisbon, Visteon supplies to almost every OEM in the market. Half of the Palmela ...
-
Article
Lands of opportunity
The strong growth in production seen in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia means eastern Europe is still a big attraction for OEMsIn the late 1990s and early 2000s, Eastern Europe up to the Russian border received substantial investment from European, Japanese and Korean vehicle companies seeking low ...