Automation – Page 110
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Article
X-Trail production begins in Xiangyang
China - The first Nissan X-Trail has rolled off the production line at Dongfeng Nissan's Xiangyang plant, which is located in the northwestern part of Hubei province. At the same time, the facility, which was Dongfeng's first to be built back in 1983, recorded the milestone of making 1.6 million ...
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VW to double Foshan plant output
China - The OEM has said that it will double the capacity of its Foshan plant from 300,000 units a year to 600,000. This will allow it to take advantage the world's largest electrified vehicle market."Through this mega-factory at the South China base of FAW-Volkswagen, we are fulfilling our promise ...
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Mercedes employs 1,000 at engine plant
Poland - Two years after construction plans were announced, the plant in Jawor is nearing completion, and will become home to the production of four-cylinder diesel and petrol engines in 2019. These will be used in vehicles that have conventional powertrain structures as well as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).The OEM ...
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SEAT to steer VW in North Africa
Spain - The Spanish OEM will reportedly start coordinating the strategy of VW Group in the region as it hopes to decentralise its territorial structure and improve efficiency. The news comes soon after SEAT started making the Ibizia in Algeria."The VW Group has trusted SEAT with being the lead brand ...
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NEVS builds factory in Shanghai
China - The Swedish EV maker has started construction of a new car factory in Shanghai. It will be a copy of the plant that was recently completed in Tianjin - a city situated an hour south of the capital Beijing.Both these plants will have an annual production capacity of ...
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Kamaz teams up with Kuka
Munich - The two companies have signed a global strategic agreement that will give the vehicle maker exclusive rights to purchase certain industrial robots and technologies from Kuka. Although they have been working together for 25 years, the companies think that the agreement "takes the cooperation of the two companies ...
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GAZ starts producing Vector variants
Russia - The company has started making three new variants of its Vector NEXT bus - one for ease of use by disabled people, one for intercity travelling and one with a compressed natural gas (CNG) powertrain for urban transport. It hopes to increase sales of the buses by 60% ...
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VW invests in solid state batteries
Germany - The OEM has started a new joint venture with QuantumScape - a start-up based in San José, California, that holds around 200 patents and patent applications for solid state battery technology. VW has promised to invest US$100m in the Stanford spin-off, and the two companies will now work ...
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OEMs face tough choices over Iran
When Iran reached agreement with the global community in 2015 regarding denuclearisation, resulting in the lifting of sanctions in early 2016, almost immediately Renault and PSA announced their return to the country. Prior to Iran being ostracised, both companies had been active there via joint venture (JV) manufacturing operations, mostly ...
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Diesel – is the final curtain about to fall?
Car companies across Europe are facing a serious problem with their diesel line-ups; whether it is the loss of consumer confidence following the VW crisis, or a rising environmental awareness among consumers, coupled with evident official policy moving against diesel, barely a week goes by without reports of declining diesel ...
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Volvo reveals Charleston plant manager
Jeff MooreUS - Jeff Moore has been named vice president, manufacturing, Americas and plant manager for the Volvo Car Charleston plant - the OEM's first car manufacturing facility in the country. He has 33 years of experience in automotive manufacturing operations, having recently served as senior vice president at ...
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Renault invests in EV production
France - The OEM has said it will spend €1 billion (US$1.16 billion) on the development and production of electric vehicles (EVs) in France. This will play an important role in its 'Drive the Future' plan, in which one of the goals is to bring 8 pure electric models and ...
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Webinar
How to make safe electric vehicles in a smart and cost effective way
In a future with more electric vehicles, the advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) will have an important role to play. In this webinar Jonas Adolfsson, car body design expert at SSAB, talks about how advanced high strength steels can help make electric vehicles safer and lighter at an ...
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Article
Mercedes makes 1m heavy-duty engines
Germany - The company's plants in Mannheim, Germany and Detroit, Michigan have reached a joint milestone, producing 1m engines for heavy-duty vehicles. These have all been based on Daimler's heavy-duty truck engine platform that was introduced back in 2007."Global Powertrain stands not only for integrated drivetrains, but also for the ...
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Nissan commits to steel
Japan - The OEM has announced plans to make more cars with a new type of steel developed by Nissan and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation. The first vehicle to use the steel was the Infiniti QX50 with the front and rear side members.According to the companies, the steel ...
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Travel blog: China’s mountainous technology challenge
The 2018 Global Automotive Forum brought together government officials, senior executives, academic experts and journalists from all over the world in order to discuss China’s automotive industry. Key themes included technological innovation in the fields of autonomous driving, new energy vehicles and connectivity. There were also several debates centred on ...
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Renault builds plant in Faisalabad
Pakistan - The French OEM has revealed that it has bought an industrial plot of land on which it will build a "world-class facility" for the manufacturing and assembly of its vehicles. Production is expected to begin in 2020, with an initial annual capacity of around 50,000 units.Located in Faisalabad, ...
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Nissan's Canton plant turns 15
Nissan Titan XD assembly in CantonUS - The OEM has been making vehicles at its plant in Canton, Mississippi for 15 years. Covering an area of 4.7m sq.ft, it has an annual output capacity of 450,000 units, and currently houses the production of the Altima, Titan, NV, Frontier and ...
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Article
JLR opts for EU over UK
Uncertainties surrounding Brexit are causing some OEMs to move car production from the UK to Europe. Michael Nash investigatesIn November 2016, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said that it would make its all-new Discovery in the UK and Slovakia in order to meet soaring demand in the segment. But news that ...
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Article
Tomando o controle
A arquitetura de controle eletrônico e de software subjacente de qualquer instalação de fabricação é crucial para sua operação e requer atualização periódica para garantir a eficácia contínua. Este foi o caso recentemente, quando a Ford precisou realocar e recomissionar uma instalação de armazenamento com mais de cem transportadores em ...