New large scale logistics strategy can help fill automotive industry tooling capacity gap

April 2, 2015 - PRLog -- The results of a study carried out by Harbour Results Inc. (HRI) warn that a global tooling capacity gap may be looming for the automotive industry. In the US alone, this could be worth $6billion. Time compression of production programmes, model variance – driving the highest number of new vehicle launches per manufacturer for years - and fierce competition between OEMsmakes production efficiency absolutely critical: they cannot afford to jeopardise supply chain continuity through delays to tooling supply. Sourcing from China can help fill that capacity gap, but lead times for sea freight have previously been prohibitive.

A solution has been offered by emergency logistics specialist Evolution Time Critical, whose recent delivery of a pioneering trans-global airfreight operation has set a precedent for vehicle manufacturers that can help avoid production delays and optimise assembly start times. A number of OEMs are planning a similar undertaking with the logistics expert following this successful delivery.

“The delivery of over 300tonnes of vehicle tooling from China to the UK by air was a step change moment for the approach to automotive logistics policy and provided a crucial time advantage,” says Evolution Time Critical managing director, Brad Brennan. “We have since been in contact with a number of vehicle manufacturers and supplierswho are interested in similar projects. This suggests an emerging trend for the industry - a bona fide way of filling an apparent tooling capacity gap and enabling the optimisation of production schedules. This was the first project of its scale for us, but has raised the awareness of vehicle manufacturers and provided us with the skills to make bespoke undertakings on this scale a repeatable and efficient process as demand continues to increase.”

The large-scale, time-sensitive shipment of vehicle body panel pressing stamps and dies, which required the charter of two Antonov An-124 aircraft – the world’s second highest gross weight production cargo plane and which are used for automotive only around six times every year – and a Boeing 747F, was required due to last-minute specification changes by a vehicle manufacturer. It saved three weeks over traditional sea freight times and avoided costly assembly downtime and production delays. “As an effective contingency,” explains Brennan, “the benefits of large-scale tooling transfer by air can be vast: delays to vehicle production or model launches, for instance, can be avoided, schedules recovered and greater time afforded for specification changes during the validation process.

“The size of the dies in the China to UK shipment were in excess of 20 tonnes each so provided their own challenges: Evolution’s flexibility allowed the provision of a tailor-made solution that considered all the vehicle manufacturer’s individual requirements,” continues Brennan. “Each project, especially on this scale, displays its own nuances and difficulties that require a bespoke and robust plan, which we can deliver for any vehicle or off-highway manufacturer.”

HRI spoke with 10 OEMs, over 50 Tier 1 and 2 suppliers and over 50 tool suppliers of moulds and dies to collate the information used in the report, which suggested that sourcing tooling from China could be one way to help fill the capacity gap. It highlighted, however, that elongated lead times caused by sea freight would negatively impact this as a viable alternative. Evolution’s experience provides a practical and time-sensitive solution that enables new logistics and production strategies that help optimise production and increase safety buffers within the supply chain, benefitting profitability.

www.evolution-timecritical.com

About Evolution Time Critical
Evolution Time Critical is the world’s leading specialist in emergency logistics for the automotive industry. Analysts are available 24 hours a day, ready to develop and implement solutions in any part of the world within a 15-minute response window, calling on a vast range of techniques, skills and contacts to ensure that goods reach their destination on time.

The skills of Evolution’s team are also available for consulting projects, helping clients to achieve additional savings in their supply chains while also strengthening and improving manufacturing efficiency. Increasingly, Evolution has found that emergency logistics is playing an integral role in lean strategies as the automotive industry returns to higher production volumes, allowing further inventory reductions while maintaining the reliability of deliveries to manufacturing plants.

The expertise and techniques developed by Evolution for the automotive sector are also benefitting the aerospace and marine industries, where the company helps clients to release capital trapped in spare parts by facilitating urgent parts deliveries, and return aircraft and ships to service more quickly.

Press Contact
Gareth Charlton at Market Engineering
+44 (0)1295 277 050
gareth.charlton@m-eng.com

Sales and Marketing Contact
Brad Brennan at Evolution Time Critical
+ 44 (0)1332 814 914
bbrennan@evolution-timecritical.com

Images
High-resolution images are available at www.autopresspoint.com or from megan.davies@m-eng.com