News From the Auto Industry

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Mon, 05 Nov 2007 05:11:04 GMT
Audi A4 ya tiene 33.000 pedidos antes de empezar sus ventas oficiales
Los accionistas de la firma de los cuatro anillos, Audi deben estar saltando en un pie de alegría ya que hasta han comunicado oficialmente que 33.000 clientes han hecho sus reservas en Europa para el nuevo sedán Audi A4. De momento, el nuevo coche está disponible para Alemania, Austria, Suiza, Luxemburgo, Italia, Bélgica y Holanda. En enero del 2008, el A4 también será lanzado en Francia y España, y entonces gradualmente será presentado en los países europeos restantes. En el Reino Unido,

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:04:18 -0800

Located just east of the I-75 expressway, the facility will enable C-P-C to centralize some of the work that is normally scattered out among engineers at corporate headquarters, the GM Technical Center in Warren, Mich., the group’s engine production plants, and outside engineering service and prototype shops.

That word, of course, sounds rather, well, futuristic. And in some regards, Oshawa can be considered a vision of the future that General Motors once had. In 1988, the plant was undoubtedly hailed as part of GM’s bold move into the realm of seriously high technology manufacturing. For example, in the two car assembly body shops, there are 160 automated guided vehicles (AGVs) rolling through the plant carrying cars-in-becoming. There are no traditional conveyor lines. There are some overhead electrified monorail systems. But the floor-based systems follow wires embedded in the floor, they don’t get tugged along by chains. Imagine how that must have looked back then, when the AGVs were shiny new and not showing the scratched decals and other signs of handling hundreds of thousands of vehicles through the years. (There are also AGVs in the truck plant. And, yes, an abundance of robots in both.)

The plant, which is believed to contain around 120,000 square feet of floor space, and is expandable to more than twice its present size, also will be used to some degree to test new manufacturing methods associated with engines. A great deal of new boring, milling, drilling, grinding, rolling, turning, deburring and measuring equipment will be required in the new facility, possibly along with some new concepts in head changing and material handling vehicles.

The new engines will be produced in at least two displacement sizes, and will, join GM’s existing 3.5-liter “Premium V-6″ engines as the only all-aluminum V-shaped six-cylinder engine lines produced in North America. GM will add a 3.7-liter unit to the Premium V-6 product family, so there will be at least four aluminum V-6 engines available to GM’s car buyers after 2003.

Less Than Ideal. According to Eric Stevens, plant manager for the Oshawa Car Assembly operations, the AGVs are a less-than-ideal approach to assembly, especially in the type of lean environment that they are promulgating in Oshawa. Part of the problem is that they’re looking for shorter takt times, not longer, yet because of the nature of the AGVs (e.g., independent vehicles which are finite in number), the takt time is on the order of four minutes, not less than one. Consequently, AGVs drive the need for parallel processes, which can lead to problems with regard to quality and repeatability.

Perhaps as much as two thirds of the aluminum castings content in the High-Feature V-6s will come iron Mexico, the GM sources said, but U.S.-based materials suppliers are expected to furnish much of the scrap and finished specification metal for, the castings. One of the Mexican parts manufacturers involved in the program will be Castech SA, a joint venture between Mexico’s Grupo Industrial Saltillo and Europe’s VAW Aluminium AG. Castech will furnish some or all of the heads and blocks, at least for the initial production program.

Yet for all that, they are doing some rather remarkable things throughout the Autoplex. For example, long takt times notwithstanding, in the category of hours per vehicle excluding launch for full-size trucks in the 2000 Harbour Report, GM Oshawa is best, with 21.74 hours per vehicle. Ford’s Norfolk plant came in second, at 21.77 vehicles. It is worth taking into account that the actual production at Oshawa was 323,034; it was 230,628 at Norfolk. Ohawa Car Plant 1, where the Chevrolets are built, was the best GM car assembly plant with regard to hours per vehicle in the Harbour Report (third overall in North America).

Oshawa is called an “Autoplex.”

Two or three years after the engines are in circulation, the company is expected to enter the second phase of production, which could involve another 600,000 engines annually, pushing the total secondary aluminum casting alloy requirements for the V-6s to as high as 200 million pounds a year. Few aluminum engine programs “anywhere in the world consume as much light casting alloy as that.

In a completely new concept for its engine development operations, General Motors Corp. has built a small pilot plant near here for the manufacturing and testing of engine prototypes and for low-volume production of several new engines for cars and other light-duty vehicles.

Located just east of the I-75 expressway, the facility will enable C-P-C to centralize some of the work that is normally scattered out among engineers at corporate headquarters, the GM Technical Center in Warren, Mich., the group’s engine production plants, and outside engineering service and prototype shops.

That word, of course, sounds rather, well, futuristic. And in some regards, Oshawa can be considered a vision of the future that General Motors once had. In 1988, the plant was undoubtedly hailed as part of GM’s bold move into the realm of seriously high technology manufacturing. For example, in the two car assembly body shops, there are 160 automated guided vehicles (AGVs) rolling through the plant carrying cars-in-becoming. There are no traditional conveyor lines. There are some overhead electrified monorail systems. But the floor-based systems follow wires embedded in the floor, they don’t get tugged along by chains. Imagine how that must have looked back then, when the AGVs were shiny new and not showing the scratched decals and other signs of handling hundreds of thousands of vehicles through the years. (There are also AGVs in the truck plant. And, yes, an abundance of robots in both.)

The plant, which is believed to contain around 120,000 square feet of floor space, and is expandable to more than twice its present size, also will be used to some degree to test new manufacturing methods associated with engines. A great deal of new boring, milling, drilling, grinding, rolling, turning, deburring and measuring equipment will be required in the new facility, possibly along with some new concepts in head changing and material handling vehicles.

The new engines will be produced in at least two displacement sizes, and will, join GM’s existing 3.5-liter “Premium V-6″ engines as the only all-aluminum V-shaped six-cylinder engine lines produced in North America. GM will add a 3.7-liter unit to the Premium V-6 product family, so there will be at least four aluminum V-6 engines available to GM’s car buyers after 2003.

Less Than Ideal. According to Eric Stevens, plant manager for the Oshawa Car Assembly operations, the AGVs are a less-than-ideal approach to assembly, especially in the type of lean environment that they are promulgating in Oshawa. Part of the problem is that they’re looking for shorter takt times, not longer, yet because of the nature of the AGVs (e.g., independent vehicles which are finite in number), the takt time is on the order of four minutes, not less than one. Consequently, AGVs drive the need for parallel processes, which can lead to problems with regard to quality and repeatability.

Executive Concierge is a full-service concierge organization designed specifically to provide time-saving solutions to today’s busy executives. This new contract engages Executive Concierge to provide an extensive range of services to the more than 6,000 individuals, employed by tenants of the General Motors Building.

Located at 767 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the General Motors Building at Trump International Plaza occupies a full city block between 58th and 59th streets. In addition to General Motors, the prestigious building houses Estee Lauder, Barron Assets and the legal firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. CBS Television broadcasts its “Early Show” and other programs live from the building.

GM sources said the powder alloy steel sprockets have greater strength and longevity than hardened cast iron units, and cost less to machine. In recognizing the sprockets for its 1998 grand prize for ferrous powder metal applications, the MPIF described the Stackpole-made parts as having teeth and journal areas selectively densified to a typical surface density of 7.8 grams per cubic centimeter: a minimum ultimate tensile strength of 125,000 pounds per square inch; a yield strength of 120,000 psi; and a journal rolling contact fatigue strength of 580,000 psi.

“We at the Trump Organization are dedicated to utilizing the best firms and personnel available for any service rendered to the GM Building,” said George H. Ross, the owner’s representative. “After an extensive search, we felt Executive Concierge of New York was a perfect fit for the quality of service our tenants have a might to expect. I am confident that the quality and efficiency of the services performed by Executive Concierge of New York will meet our expectations.”

Stackpole, which does most of its own powder blending, purchases its steel powders from several different producers, including Quebec Metal Powders Ltd., Tracy, Quebec; Hoeganaes Corp., Cinnaminson, N.J.; Domfer Metal Powders Ltd., Montreal; and Pyron Corp., Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Introduced just a couple of years ago, the higher-torque 4T65Es use the powder metal sprockets in place of conventional induction hardened malleable cast iron units to transmit power from the engine to the transmission via two silent chains supplied by Borg-Warner Automotive Inc.’s Morse TEC operating subsidiary in Ithaca, N.Y. The sprockets themselves have been described by various powder metal industry executives as the first of their kind, and are made by Stackpole Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario.

In conjunction with the Trump Organization, Executive Concierge is developing an Internet component to its service. By visiting www.trumptouch.com, each employee in the General Motors Building will be able to access Executive Concierge’s services from their desktop computer. With the simple click of a mouse, executives will be able to review a list of Broadway shows, arrange car and limousine service, request tickets to a sold-out game, and arrange. gift and flower deliveries.

“We are thrilled, at the opportunity to provide our services to the Trump Organization,” said Wendy Lichtenberg, co-founder of Executive Concierge. “Trump’s dedication to providing high quality amenities and services to its tenants is revered throughout the world, and the building’s distinguished clients area perfect match for Executive Concierge.”

These sprockets drew the spotlight in the powder metal industry recently when the were given the top prize for 1998 in the ferrous powder category in an annual competitive event conducted by the Industry Development Board of the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF). Princeton, N.J. The winners in each category represent new or recent market applications for powder metallurgy, replacing or beating out malleable iron, plastics, investment castings, steel forgings, aluminum die castings, and machined steel parts at customer facilities, and the awards were announced at the 1998 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials in Las Vegas.

In the first phase of the production program in North America–involving 600,000 powerplants per year–the new engines are likely to ‘consume nearly 100 million pounds of secondary aluminum specification alloys annually, more than three times the amount of light alloy used by GM’S Saturn Corp. subsidiary in the finished parts it makes for its aluminum-intensive engines and transmissions in Spring Hill, Tenn.

Located just east of the I-75 expressway, the facility will enable C-P-C to centralize some of the work that is normally scattered out among engineers at corporate headquarters, the GM Technical Center in Warren, Mich., the group’s engine production plants, and outside engineering service and prototype shops.

That word, of course, sounds rather, well, futuristic. And in some regards, Oshawa can be considered a vision of the future that General Motors once had. In 1988, the plant was undoubtedly hailed as part of GM’s bold move into the realm of seriously high technology manufacturing. For example, in the two car assembly body shops, there are 160 automated guided vehicles (AGVs) rolling through the plant carrying cars-in-becoming. There are no traditional conveyor lines. There are some overhead electrified monorail systems. But the floor-based systems follow wires embedded in the floor, they don’t get tugged along by chains. Imagine how that must have looked back then, when the AGVs were shiny new and not showing the scratched decals and other signs of handling hundreds of thousands of vehicles through the years. (There are also AGVs in the truck plant. And, yes, an abundance of robots in both.)

The plant, which is believed to contain around 120,000 square feet of floor space, and is expandable to more than twice its present size, also will be used to some degree to test new manufacturing methods associated with engines. A great deal of new boring, milling, drilling, grinding, rolling, turning, deburring and measuring equipment will be required in the new facility, possibly along with some new concepts in head changing and material handling vehicles.

The new engines will be produced in at least two displacement sizes, and will, join GM’s existing 3.5-liter “Premium V-6″ engines as the only all-aluminum V-shaped six-cylinder engine lines produced in North America. GM will add a 3.7-liter unit to the Premium V-6 product family, so there will be at least four aluminum V-6 engines available to GM’s car buyers after 2003.

Less Than Ideal. According to Eric Stevens, plant manager for the Oshawa Car Assembly operations, the AGVs are a less-than-ideal approach to assembly, especially in the type of lean environment that they are promulgating in Oshawa. Part of the problem is that they’re looking for shorter takt times, not longer, yet because of the nature of the AGVs (e.g., independent vehicles which are finite in number), the takt time is on the order of four minutes, not less than one. Consequently, AGVs drive the need for parallel processes, which can lead to problems with regard to quality and repeatability.

Located at 767 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the General Motors Building at Trump International Plaza occupies a full city block between 58th and 59th streets. In addition to General Motors, the prestigious building houses Estee Lauder, Barron Assets and the legal firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. CBS Television broadcasts its “Early Show” and other programs live from the building.

GM sources said the powder alloy steel sprockets have greater strength and longevity than hardened cast iron units, and cost less to machine. In recognizing the sprockets for its 1998 grand prize for ferrous powder metal applications, the MPIF described the Stackpole-made parts as having teeth and journal areas selectively densified to a typical surface density of 7.8 grams per cubic centimeter: a minimum ultimate tensile strength of 125,000 pounds per square inch; a yield strength of 120,000 psi; and a journal rolling contact fatigue strength of 580,000 psi.

Top Gear totally smitten with Nissan GT-R
The platitudes keep pouring in for the 2009 Nissan GT-R. Bill Thomas from Top Gear produced our favorite write up by far right before Christmas in which he pits the GT-R against its arch nemesis, the Porsche 911 Turbo, on the back roads …

Detroit Auto Show: Toyota Reveals New Honda Ridgeline, Calls it the A-BAT Concept Hybrid Truck [Detroit Auto Show]
Detroit Auto Show: Toyota Reveals New Honda Ridgeline, Calls it the A-BAT Concept Hybrid Truck [Detroit Auto Show]This is it — whatever “it” is. Actually “it” is Toyota’s newest concept they’ll be bringing to the Detroit Auto Show in two weeks, the A-BAT Concept Pickup Truck. And A-BAT is more than just a……Read the full post from JalopnikTags: Toyota, Top, Concept Cars, detroit auto show, valleywag, pickup trucks, el camino, 2008 Detroit Auto Show, A-BAT, Toyota A-BAT, Toyota A-BAT Concept
via Blogdigger blog search for toyota.

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:54:19 EST