Latest News & Features – Page 94
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ArticleSPA in the DNA
Rising global demand for Volvo vehicles and the arrival of models using the SPA platform is having a considerable impact on the company’s Torslanda plant. Michael Nash investigatesAs they typically employ thousands of people, mass-market vehicle production plants often have a significant influence on local and indeed national economies. But ...
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ArticleThe newest link in a growing chain
Geely intends to leverage its ownership of Volvo to develop and manufacture Lynk & Co models, and introduce a new approach to sales and service. Report by Ian HenryThe new Chinese brand Lynk & Co made a big splash very quickly. When its first model, the 01, went on sale ...
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ArticleRobots on the rise
Advances in robotics go hand in hand with new approaches to automotive manufacturing, writes Chris PickeringThe automotive industry is at a crossroads. Ahead lays the most radical shake-up in a generation, with disruptive trends such as electrification, autonomous driving and lightweight materials bringing opportunity and uncertainty in equal measure. It ...
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ArticleTaking control
The underlying electronic and software control architecture of any manufacturing installation is crucial to its operation and requires periodic updating to ensure continuing effectiveness. Mike Farish reportsThis was the case recently when Ford needed to relocate and recommission a storage facility with over a hundred conveyors in Cologne, Germany. The ...
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ArticleEconomical alternative
Andrew Williams looks at how automotive manufacturers are harnessing renewable energy sources and how benefiting their production operationsIn recent years, several of the world’s largest car makers have embarked on high profile initiatives to increase the amount of renewable energy generated at their production sites. One interesting recent example is ...
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ArticleThe wonder material
A number of composite automotive parts enhanced with graphene were on show at JEC World in March this year. James Bakewell investigates if this material has a real place in the automotive industryFew of us would imagine that you can win a Nobel Prize for Physics by playing with sticky ...
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ArticleSkoda opens competence centre
Czech Republic - The new competence centre is situated at the OEM's production site in Kvasiny, where it makes around 1,000 of the Superb and Kodiaq models per day. It cost €13.5m (US$16.13m) to build, and allows the company to carry out testing and quality assessment alongside logistics training and ...
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ArticleOut now: Electric Vehicles 2018
As governments and vehicle-makers turn away from combustion engines, the time for EVs is nowIn this era of stricter regulations, commitment to the environment and energetic competition, alternatively-powered vehicles are central to every OEMs production strategy. While the take up of electrified vehicles over the past two decades has endured ...
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ArticleFord appoints Chief Information Officer
US - Jeff Lemmer has been appointed vice president and chief information officer at Ford. In his new role, Lemmer will be responsible for IT services across the company's global operations. This will encompass several business applications, architecture, data centres, engineering and infrastructure services."The exciting convergence of the auto and ...
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ArticleTransformation pressure on the automotive industry
Audi has resolutely turned to the concept of the smart factory. But how does this profound transition work exactly? What role are humans playing in the process? Are suppliers ready to meet the new demands of the OEMs? The entire industry has to make crucial decisions on its future course, ...
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ArticleMagna opens aluminium casting facility
UK - The supplier has opened a new aluminium casting facility in Telford, England, in order to provide structural castings to Jaguar Land Rover. The facility covers 225,000 sq.m and will employ around 300 people."With this new aluminium casting facility, we have established a world-class centre of excellence to bring ...
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ArticleCloser to commercialisation
Fuel-cell electric vehicles have lagged behind other EVs, but upcoming models could help that to changeEveryone involved in hydrogen fuel cell development is probably tired of hearing the same old joke: large-scale adoption is a decade away, and always will be. David Hart, a director at sustainable energy consultancy E4Tech ...
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ArticleForging a future in Factory 56
New car manufacturing facilities will need to be highly flexible as the trends of vehicle electrification and autonomous driving continue to evolve. Mercedes-Benz futuristic ‘Factory 56’ paves a new path.
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ArticleSmarter EV production
As it launches ‘electric intelligence’ models, Mercedes-Benz is also adapting its factories for flexible productionAt first there was some confusion over what Mercedes-Benz meant when it announced that it was creating an ‘EQ’ division. Was it to be a line-up of cars which would directly challenge BMW’s i models, as ...
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ArticleIntegrating i vehicles
Separate production lines are used to build conventionally powered vehicles and the electrified i models at BMW Leipzig, but this could soon changeA gulf remains between electric vehicles (EVs)and those that are powered solely by internal combustion engines (ICEs). This is evident in consumer demand, in range, in cost and ...
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ArticlePacking in the power
As JLR ramps up its electrification efforts, Mike Farish visits a pilot production line for battery packs, developed together with WMG at the University of WarwickThe difference between round and square is not just a matter of abstract geometry; it has real implications for the construction of effective battery packs ...
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ArticleGreat Wall Motors builds new plant
China - The OEM has started constructing a new manufacturing base in Yongchuan, Chongqing. It is costing 4.5 billion yuan (US$710m) and is expected to be completed before the end of 2019."For this project, Great Wall Motors (GWM) will run at a higher and newer starting point," commented the company's ...
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ArticleTravel blog: A slice of Turkish delight
Once renowned for its pristine beaches, soaring temperatures and enthusiastic hospitality, Turkey was a hot spot for tourists across the world looking to get away for a week or two. But as conflict in neighbouring Syria erupted in 2011, the number of holidaymakers visiting the country plummeted. Change is now ...
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ArticleSubaru of Indiana starts making Ascent
US - Production of the all-new 2019 Ascent SUV, which was unveiled in November 2017 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, has started at the OEM's plant in Lafayette, Indiana. It is the biggest vehicle in the company's portfolio, and will be made alongside the Outback, Legacy and Impreza."The Subaru ...
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ArticleToyota invests in Canada plants
Canada - The Japanese OEM has said it will spend C$1.4 billion (US$1.08 billion) to upgrade its three assembly plants in Woodstock and Cambridge, Ontario, in order to prepare for the production of new models that are based on the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA). These include the all-new 2019 ...