Latest News & Features – Page 113
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ArticleNissan adds second shift at Resende
Brazil – The OEM has added another shift of 600 workers at its manufacturing complex in Rio de Janeiro in order to meet demand for its Kicks crossover, which has been made at Resende since April. The total workforce now stands at 2,400 individuals.“Local production of the Kicks demonstrates the ...
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ArticlePPG promotes Johannsen to VP EMEA
US – Roald Johannnsen will step up from his current position as general manager, automotive OEM, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).Johannnsen will report to Tim Knavish, senior vice-president (SVP), automotive OEM coatings and Jean-Marie Greindl, SVP, global architectural coatings and president, EMEA.corporate.ppg.com
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ArticleBMW plans Leipzig extension
Germany – The development plans for the facility in Saxony, eastern Germany, include new bodyshop and assembly areas. The central element of the building works, however, is an extension to the paintshop.The €200m project will integrate new technologies, BMW says, allowing the OEM to push towards greater efficiency and sustainability ...
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ArticleUntertürkheim leads Daimler EV focus
Mercedes-Benz UntertürkheimGermany – The OEM’s global lead plant on conventional powertrain production will also become a competence centre for electric vehicle components. Battery production is to be added as a new product group providing more than 250 new jobs in a specialist e-mobility production area. As part of the ...
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ArticleLight at the end of the tunnel
With plans to expand exports and signs of a slight rise in the Russian automotive market, are the green shoots of recovery sprouting for AvtoVAZ? While Russia weathers political challenges abroad, its main domestic (albeit foreign-owned) car company is reaching out beyond the country’s borders to a greater extent than ...
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ArticleMaterial world
Inside its new bodyshop at Neckarsulm, Audi applies an enterprising mix across materials and joining technologies for its latest luxury sedan.
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ArticleRenault-Nissan Tangier hits 1m vehicles
Morocco – The milestone unit, a diesel-powered Dacia Lodgy destined for Turkey, rolled off the production line five years after the start of operations. The plant has now made 193,191 Lodgys, plus 474,840 Sanderos and 320,078 Dokkers.The first line at Renault-Nissan’s Tangier factory was inaugurated in February 2012 and a ...
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ArticleOut now: Industry 4.0
Welcome to the revolution – the Industry 4.0 concept becomes a realityWhile the OEMs and tier suppliers are certainly embracing this latest industrial revolution and furthering its adoption, other important organisations are driving the ongoing development of the concept and the technology. In this AMS special supplement we highlight some ...
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ArticleIn all the right places
Automation is making a difference at BMW Dingolfing but humans are still at the heart of productionOn any given working day, ideas around information and automation present themselves to Reinhard Weindl. In his role as quality manager for technical planning at BMW Dingolfing he has witnessed an ever-growing range of ...
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ArticleDigital vision
The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology has been one of the leading lights in developing the Industry 4.0 concept. Nick Holt discussed institute’s perspective on this with Dr. Thomas Bobek, coordinator of the Fraunhofer High Performance Center Networked Adaptive Production, and how he saw its future implementation in automotive manufacturingWhat ...
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ArticleSmall steps – big gains
Mike Farish looks at how a leading tier supplier has implemented an IoT strategy to its manufacturing operationsWhat is the best way to implement an Industry 4.0 or Internet of Things (IoT) strategy – a single, intense company-wide campaign or a gradualist approach in which a series of small projects ...
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ArticleBehaviour study
Big data technology has enabled Gestamp to tackle energy consumption at several of its plants and, crucially, closely observe just how equipment behaves in operationBack in 2014, Gestamp resolved to address a noted upturn in its energy consumption. The Spain-based company specialises in designing, developing, and manufacturing metallic assemblies and ...
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ArticleCube route
Data-led analysis and audit are helping Porsche to maintain and enhance its production quality values
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ArticleZero Downtime
GM has ambitious plans to implement a zero down time approach using cloud based computing to connect all of its production robots worldwideRobots are now not just commonplace items of equipment on automotive factory floors they are absolutely vital to the implementation of automated manufacturing strategies that successfully combine the ...
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ArticlePlug and produce
Dennis Kolberg, head of research at the department of innovative factory systems at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), discusses developing and creating the Smart Factory and how Industry 4.0 will result in a paradigm shift in production operations How will I4.0 change the automotive manufacturing industry?Dennis Kolberg ...
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ArticleReal-time reliability
Mike Farish looks at how the Industry 4.0 concept has become a reality at a leading US transmission manufacturerThe concept of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) does not necessarily lend itself to a precise definition. Indeed the fact that more or less the same set of ideas is also known variously as ...
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ArticleNissan Sunderland makes new Qashqai
UK – The improvements to the model cover four areas: exterior design, interior quality, driving performance and the addition of intelligent mobility technologies. The new Qashqai will also be available with ProPILOT autonomous driving capability.The manufacture of the refreshed model, an upgrade on the second generation which was launched in ...
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ArticleSimulation tools for hot-forming aluminium
Using advanced simulation tools, AP&T and ESI say they have implemented several virtual models that reflect the process for hot forming of high-strength aluminium (AA6xxx and AA7xxx). The simulations have been compared to the results of real tests performed at AP&T’s R&D facilities in Ulricehamn, Sweden, and the outcome shows ...
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ArticleWelding processes for manufacturing battery packs
Amada Miyachi Europe says it offers a range of resistance and laser welding capabilities for manufacturing battery packs for hybrid and electric vehicles. These include six laser welding technologies, four resistance welding technologies and micro-arc welding (also known as pulse-arc). The company says its application experts can recommend the right ...
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ArticleVolvo pledges electric motors for all models
Sweden – The vehicle-maker declared “the historic end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine (ICE)” with the decision to fit an electric motor to every model launched from 2019 onwards, which will include full electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrids and “mild” hybrids. The OEM said it was ...