All Factory Investment articles – Page 13
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Faurecia Interiors: Staying in shape
While vehicle production volumes are on an upward trajectory in South America, interiors remain relatively simple, says Francisco Maciel, regional vice-president for Faurecia Interior Systems Joanne Perry (JP): How important is South America as a production location for Faurecia Interior Systems?Francisco Maciel (FM): South America represents 6% of our turnover. ...
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Brazil: Stimulating or stifling automotive?
A government scheme to invigorate the Brazilian automotive industry has achieved mixed results so farFor almost two years, Brazil has been operating an auto industry stimulus programme called Inovar-Auto. In the minds of its government creators, this scheme promotes innovation, investment, efficiency and environmentalism in Brazilian car manufacturing; others regard ...
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Kia announces first Mexican plant
Mexico – The vehicle-maker has signed a $1 billion agreement with the government to establish a state-of-the-art plant with a capacity of 300,000 units in Monterrey, Nuevo León State. Construction will begin in September this year and is due to be completed in the first half of 2016.The new factory ...
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Manmade in Modena
As Maserati volumes grow, its old plant in north Italy is still using traditional means to make modern carsMaserati’s factory at Modena, northern Italy, is one of the oldest in the country and one of the most traditional in terms of its assembly; and yet it is also home to ...
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China: Powertrain suppliers expand
The rapid expansion of vehicle production in China has been accompanied by parallel growth in the operations of component manufacturers Engine component suppliers have received a notable boost in recent times by the establishment in China of premium-brand engine production operations alongside long-established vehicle manufacturing operations. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and ...
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Honda: Growing beyond Japan
Honda’s global production footprint is changing as the OEM establishes new plants in Mexico and AsiaIn the last couple of years, Honda has expanded its operations outside Japan, especially in NAFTA, South-East Asia and Brazil. The company reported record production volumes outside Japan for the year to March 2014, with ...
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Interview with Renault's EVP, Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Jose-Vicente De Los Mozos Obispo, head of worldwide Manufacturing for Renault, RSM & Dacia, discusses plans for production plants in Europe and further afield, including China Glenn Brooks (GB): Could you give an overview of the Renault Group’s European manufacturing operations? Jose-Vicente De Los Mozos Obispo (J-V O): We have ...
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Tough time for trucks
AMS reviews the commercial vehicle market in India as it experiences short-term troublesCommercial vehicles (CVs) have recently gone through a difficult period in the Indian market. Although the country’s economic growth has seen production of all CVs almost double from just over half a million in the financial year ending ...
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Tough time for trucks
Nick Gibbs reviews the commercial vehicle market in India as it experiences short-term troublesCommercial vehicles (CVs) have recently gone through a difficult period in the Indian market. Although the country’s economic growth has seen production of all CVs almost double from just over half a million in the financial year ...
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Jaguar leaps forward
Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich factory near Birmingham, UK, currently spearheads production of its latest models. AMS reports on operations at the siteHome of the iconic brand’s production, JLR’s Castle Bromwich plant covers 110 acres, employs around 3,200 people and is currently the sole Jaguar plant, a position which will change when ...
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Zero waste disposal
Mike Farish reports on the methods being developed to reduce the amount of automotive manufacturing waste being sent to landfill.A previously derelict parking lot in Detroit, Michigan, now bears the name Cadillac Urban Garden, marking the fact that the 250 plant beds it contains are made from redundant shipping crates ...
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Building on a reputation
Asian manufacturers are expanding their range and amount of production in North America, reveals Nick GibbsJapan’s major automakers, famously embedded into the North American manufacturing landscape, are set to become more so. Honda was first to establish itself in the US back back in 1982 when it began building the ...
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Editor’s Note: Rock and a hard place
Original equipment manufacturers were already getting nervous about part delivery, but since the knock-on effects of the Japanese tsunami and earthquake disaster, and to a lesser extent last year’s volcanic eruption on Iceland, the potential for disruption to the parts supply chain has been brought to the forefront.Specifically, OEMs want ...
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Joint forces
Fasteners, adhesives, brazing, spot welding, arc welding: lots of choice for body-in-white engineers, but which solutions are winning out?Turn key developmentsNew joining methodsCold joiningSelecting the optimum joining method for body-in-white manufacturing is a delicate task. Considering that, in principle, a car body engineer has only three parameters to combine for ...
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Renault-Nissan AIMS for automation
As foreign carmakers continue to build new plants in India, the changing balance of low labour cost and automation must be revisited, as evidenced at the new Renault-Nissan plant in ChennaiAMS talked to Marc Nassif and Akira Sakurai about the ‘automation development’ of the Chennai plant and how the carmakers ...
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Evolution, not revolution
Manufacturing summaryPlant setupProduct and processToyota’s production facility in Valenciennes, France and the influence of the Toyota Production SystemA lot of well-known international companies have their beginnings in humble roots. An example of this is the Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), which you may know started in 1933 as the Toyoda Automatic ...
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Leipzig gets the X-factor
New press shop for LeipzigAdjusting production processesSetting up the supply chainModel developmentProduction of the X1 crossover has started at BMW’s plant in Leipzig, Germany and that of the 3-Series saloon has halted. Although taking design cues from the X5 SUV, the smaller X1 features an all-new chassis that - in ...
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New power delivery
Mild hybridsA different takeBeyond series takeLimited resourcesAny vehicle that has two or more sources for its driving power can be referred to as a ‘hybrid’, but carmakers are employing three general hybrid types. A mild hybrid is a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine (ICE) that may turn itself ...
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Making light work of heavy equipment
Adapting to current economic conditionsFacility investment to improve efficiencyFarm and construction equipment innovationsDeveloping the product rangeJCB launches first in-house diesel engineGuarding against excessive complexityLessons for carmakersAs carmakers search for solutions to help steer them through tough economic conditions, there are lessons from recent innovations by agricultural and construction equipment manufacturersIt’s ...
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Buy, use, sell, re-use
In with the oldWaste not, want notBeware of the red tapeAdapting existing equipmentEnergy performance certificatesWhether it’s best to buy new equipment, refurbish existing, sell or lease depends on economic and accounting considerations and, increasingly, environmental influences and legislationsThere was a time when all production managers considered just one thing when ...