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Follow on Google News | Do you have the right logistics network?Changing demand across Europe brought auto executives together More than 70 executives from OEMs and tier one suppliers gathered in Bonn to discuss the latest challenges and developments.
By: Ultima Media Major themes to emerge from the conference included the following areas: Economic and supply chain trends Beyond necessary plant closures and production shifts, the European automotive industry is being impacted by global economic and industry shifts, from growth in developing markets to strong shifts towards regional production. These are likely to have a significant impact on logistics. Robinet pointed to the increase in more regionally based vehicle platforms in an effort to reduce logistics costs and currency risk, which could slow the growth of inter-regional vehicle exports. At the same time, while ‘mega-platforms’ Outsourcing and engineering concepts Perhaps no other carmaker can be said to best answer, or attempt to answer, the question ‘Do you have the right network?’ than General Motors Europe. The carmaker’s alliance with PSA Peugeot Citroën has led to a fourth party logistics provider (4PL) outsourcing of logistics planning, operations and purchasing to Gefco. On April 1st, when the project went live, the carmaker’s inbound and outbound supply chain was put in Gefco’s hands across Europe, Russia and Turkey. “When we started to build the logistics alliance with Gefco 4PL here in Europe, we were driven by the thought that there are opportunities to optimise networks differently,” Changes in vehicle logistics While global car production continues to grow and is forecast to exceed 70m units this year, the growth is taking place mainly in the BRIC economies, which has led to some significant changes to OEM outbound distribution networks. Carmakers, such as Daimler and BMW, have looked both at redesigning the port and distribution networks they use to move vehicles across Europe and globally. OEMs also described how they were updating IT systems and order-to-delivery processes to shorten delivery cycles. According to Matthias Wellbrock, general manager of worldwide distribution at BMW, export growth has led to a 'build-for-distribution' approach – making distribution a priority in the production system before cars are built – which has allowed the carmaker, working closely with its service providers, to gain stability and timely delivery. The future of supply chain OEMs, tier suppliers and LSPs at the conference all pointed to future risks from transport capacity issues, as well as added costs from taxes and environmental regulations. The need for more multimodal transport was called for both in response to the pressures of reducing cost and bottlenecks, as well as reducing carbon emissions in logistics. Ford’s Bert Bong, along with Gefco’s Antoine Redier, called for more multimodal transport as a key response. “As Europe’s roads get crowded out, we will need to look more at rail and short sea shipping for inbound part flows,” said Bong. "There are no traffic jams on the sea. The captain doesn't stop every eight hours by regulation to take a rest." Sharing the inspiration Among the innovations within the Automotive Logistics Europe conference this year was a session in which industry leaders shared their passions and inspirations. Based on the TED Talks series of presentations, speakers revealed their personal as well as business-related philosophies and issues. Speakers included Bo Andersson from Russia’s, Gaz Group, Carlos Lahoz from, Kia Motors Europe, Richard Barker from Sovereign Business Integration and Jørgen Olesen from Mazda Logistics Europe. Fight for improvement as aftermarket faces upheavals TNT Express revealed the results of an independent survey that showed poor performance by European dealers in servicing vehicles right the first time and on time. The study found that the average satisfaction performance per OEM was only 85%, with some down as low as 75%. Conducted by Germany’s Bamberg Institute in association with the University of Utrecht, and funded by TNT, the survey was based on some 160 interviews with OEMs and dealer groups. Exhausting the savings on packaging Joined-up thinking to calculate true total costs is also being applied at the level of packaging. The conference break-out session dedicated to the subject was given a stark example of how costs might have rocketed without supply chain oversight.The new Zafira Tourer, from Opel/Vauxhall, was to have had an exhaust system built in two sections, for efficiency of production, until the intervention of the team responsible for containerisation in Europe, headed by Antonio Aguilar. Automotive Logistics Europe 2013 was supported by gold sponsors, the Association of British Ports, CHEP, DSV, Evolution Time Critical, Gefco, Priority Freight and Sovereign Business Integration. The global sponsor of all Automotive Logistics conferences is Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. The silver sponsors of the Europe event are Amports, Ball System, BLG Logistics, Brian Thomas, FedEx, Goodpack, Gruppo Argol Villanova, Inform, Kinaxis, LeverTouch, Neovia, Oracle, Orbis, Raben and UTI. For more information, visit the website (http://www.automotivelogisticseurope.com/ To view the photos, please click here (https://plus.google.com/ [END] Notes to editors: The Europe conference is one of a series organised around the world by Automotive Logistics magazine, the leading global publication in the field. The series also includes events in Russia, North America, South America, China and India. Contacts: Marketing & Press attendance: Vicky Aitken vicky.aitken@ Automotive Logistics Europe conference chairman: Louis Yiakoumi: louis.yiakoumi@ Automotive Logistics Editor: Christopher Ludwig christopher.ludwig@ Automotive Logistics magazine is published by Ultima Media Ltd, a provider of information in print, online and at events dedicated to the global business-to- End
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