All Closures and consolidation articles – Page 5
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ArticleGM Europe – better days ahead?
After enduring some difficult years, the vehicle-maker looks forward to stability and profitability in EuropeGM’s European operations have been loss-making for some time, but the signs are that it could be nearing its immediate target of breaking even, and possibly head into profit this year. The carmaker’s European operations remained ...
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ArticleDefender production ends at Solihull
To mark the occasion, Land Rover invited more than 700 current and former employees involved in the production of Series Land Rover and Defender vehicles to the Solihull plant, which was displaying important examples such as the first pre-production 'Huey' Series I and the last unit off the line, a ...
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ArticleAstra aspirations
Vauxhall's old Ellesmere Port plant has been revitalised by a £140m investment to make the newest modelOne of the oldest vehicle manufacturing plants in the UK, Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port factory in north-west England is undergoing a renaissance. Having been threatened with closure in the recent past – but surviving when ...
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Article
Ballantyne retires from Luxus
UK – As business development manager, Jim Ballantyne spent 15 years with the plastics compounder and recycler, including ten years bearing sole responsibility for this function before the sales team expanded. He joined Luxus from a plastics closure business.Ballantyne helped Luxus to enter a new phase, moving from the supply ...
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ArticleFord in focus
In the past year, Ford has concentrated on delivering its high-profile programme for an aluminium-bodied F-150 pick-up truck, but the OEM has also started reorganising its manufacturing footprint in North AmericaFord's ambitious programme to produce an aluminium version of its F-150 pick-up truck has not been without its problems and ...
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ArticleForming in the hot seat
A number of recent innovations are boosting the capabilities of hot forming/press hardening operationsA number of innovations have come to market recently that push press hardening to new levels of performance. Schuler, for instance, has unveiled what it describes as a pressure-controlled hardening process to help improve costs and energy ...
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ArticleToyota's in town
The global giant has muscled into America’s top tier of automotive manufacturers – and is still expandingThey were known as the 'Big Three': General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Together, they mobilised the post-World War Two ‘American Dream’ and put wheels under the freedoms enshrined in US national culture. The carmaking ...
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ArticleFCA's Jeep juggernaut
As the Toledo plant strives to top North America's output table, after taking second place last year, AMS tours its new bodyshop, metrology centre, and upgraded paint and assembly areas for the Jeep CherokeeIn this article:A butterfly bodyshopProgress in the paintshopAdaptations in assemblyFacts about FCA US Toledo“How do you unlock ...
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ArticleTravel blog: A tornado in Toledo
What do Toledo and Leipzig have in common? No, it’s not that they both have an ‘e’ (or an 'l') in their name. Nor is it that they’re both European; I’m talking about Toledo in tornado-riven Ohio, not the Spanish city famed for its steel-making since before the birth of ...
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ArticleSteel solutions
Producers of steel are developing innovative solutions to meet the vehicle lightweighting challengeOEMs have to strike a balance when selecting the right materials for their vehicles. These materials need to be strong enough to protect passengers in the event of a collision, yet light enough to reduce CO2 emissions and ...
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ArticleSE Asian struggles
OEMs are reassessing their investments in the region amid a slowdown in car, CV and motorcycle salesIn this article:Non-Japanese brands struggleVast market potentialChinese brands push onMarket opportunitiesFree trade in futureMotorcycle market stallsPlummeting vehicle sales in Thailand and Indonesia are hurting manufacturers and causing some to rethink their plans in the ...
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ArticleEurope: In recovery
The region's vehicle market is healing, but plant closures have not prevented excess production capacityEuropean automakers will be breathing a cautious sigh of relief after 2014 showed sustained growth there following the prolonged slump triggered by the 2008/9 financial collapse. All 12 months showed growth in the region (excluding Russia ...
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ArticlePortable, fast & accurate measurement
Michael Lettau, product manager laser trackers at Hexagon Metrology, explains how ultra-portable high-speed laser tracker technology has developed to produce the multipurpose inspection tools that are driving better productivity in the automotive industryWith global demand continuing to rise, automotive manufacturers face a continuous challenge to enhance their productivity. The need ...
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ArticleJLR Halewood: Full speed ahead
Invigorated by a £200m investment, the facility has become one of the UK's most productive car plantsOf all the turnaround stories emerging from the recent success of the British car industry, that of Jaguar Land Rover’s plant at Halewood, near Liverpool, is one of most compelling. Started in 1962 by ...
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ArticleStaying out of touch
Automated, non-contact measurement solutions seem to be the way forward for automotive manufacturingAutomotive plants require a variety of cell configurations for robotic 3D metrology and process control. Typically, such solutions will be based upon key components that include: industrial robots as flexible sensor positioning platforms; non-contact, white-light sensors; a software ...
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WebinarComau webinar: Light weighting manufacturing technologies
Automotive manufacturing relies on the use of efficient, high-volume processes which guarantee productivity and quality. In practical terms, this can be translated into effective performance-based Body-in-White solutions that deliver speed, precision and the flexibility to handle the growing use of multiple materials.In an exclusive Comau webinar, Martin Kinsella, Director of ...
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ArticleEnvisioning automation
The latest high-speed, high-functionality cameras are in demand to help automate vehicle productionAlthough the idea of a robot with ‘eyes’ sounds futuristic, the International Federation of Robotics confirms that as long ago as 1980, vision technology helped a robot to pick a randomly orientated component from a tray. The demonstration ...
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WebinarWEBINAR: Comau – lightweighting
Automotive manufacturing relies on the use of efficient, high-volume processes which guarantee productivity and quality. In practical terms, this can be translated into effective performance-based body-in-white solutions that deliver speed, precision and the flexibility to handle the growing use of multiple materials.In an exclusive Comau webinar on November 20, Martin ...
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ArticleVillaverde: To blossom with Cactus?
PSA’s under-used plant in Madrid may be reinvigorated by production of the Citroën C4 CactusIn 2012, PSA Villaverde was in desperate need of new product. The Madrid plant had built several generations of small cars for PSA, but Peugeot 207 hatchback manufacture was being wound down and only the Peugeot ...
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ArticleEllesmere Port celebrates 50 years of production
UK – Vauxhall has celebrated 50 years of production at its Ellesmere Port facility. The first new car to be produced at the plant was the Viva HA, a model name that would run in a number of variants until 1978 when it was replaced by the Chevette. The first ...