Susanna Webber Climbs up Ladder at Opel
At its meeting on 23 November 2010 the Supervisory Board of Adam Opel GmbH appointed Susanna Webber, Vice President, Purchasing and Supply Chain, to the Management Board.
Webber began her career with GM in 1997 as a buyer in Troy, Michigan, and has held various positions in Purchasing and Cost Management since. In 2003, Webber transferred to GM Europe as a fuel systems global commodity manager. In 2004, she was in charge of purchasing electrical components as a director. In 2006 she returned to the United States and was most recently Executive Director, GM Global Logistics. In September 2010, Susanna Webber was named Vice President, Purchasing and Supply Chain, Opel/Vauxhall.
(photo: Adam Opel GmbH)
Purchasing Managers’ Index Loses 3 Points
Signs of a slowdown in the German manufacturing sector were more prominent in September, with output and new business growth both easing sharply since the previous month. Consequently, the seasonally adjusted Markit/BME Germany Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) declined to 55.1 from 58.2 in August. Read more
Outsourcing of Logistics Processes
Cost pressures reduce logistics budgets worldwide, with an average of 11 percent of company sales revenues devoted to logistics. 42 percent of that are directed to the outsourcing of logistics services, which is a decrease of 10 to 15 percentage points from recent years. Read more
Fraport Starts Marketing Development Land
Frankfurt Airport is offering an additional 27 hectares of development land at CargoCity South. Fraport AG has issued a worldwide “Call for Expression of Interest” inviting the logistics industry to specify its locational and space requirements. Read more
Full Order Books: PMI Rises to 61.2
The German manufacturing recovery gathered momentum in July, as highlighted by a rise in the seasonally adjusted Markit/BME Germany Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) to 61.2, from 58.4 in the previous month. The index has now posted above the neutral 50.0 level for ten successive months. Moreover, the latest reading was the highest for three months and signalled the second-sharpest improvement in operating conditions since the series began in April 1996. Read more
Dachser Expands in Poland
The internationally operating logistics provider, Dachser, is continuing to expand its global logistics network. The Dachser Air & Sea Logistics business segment is setting up its own team in the Polish air and sea freight market. Read more
PMI Reflects Robust Economic Growth
The current debt crisis, public savings packages and the continued fall of the euro have not slowed down the German economy. Robust growth in June is reflected by the seasonally adjusted Markit/BME Germany Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – a composite indicator designed to give a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the manufacturing economy – which was unchanged at 58.4 in June. Read more
Purchasing Managers’ Index at 10-Year High
Business conditions in the German manufacturing sector improved sharply in March, with rising levels of global demand contributing to substantial output and new order growth. Read more
Input Costs Rising in December 2009
Output levels in the German manufacturing sector continued to rise at a robust rate in December, extending the current period of expansion to six months. New order volumes also increased, albeit at a slower rate, leading to a further accumulation of unfinished work. An ongoing recovery in client demand resulted in slower job shedding at the end of 2009, with the latest drop in workforce numbers the weakest for fourteen months. However, margins were squeezed in December as price discounting continued, while input costs rose for the first time since October 2008. Read more
Gebrueder Weiss Takes over Serbian Eurocargo
The Austrian logistics service provider is strengthening its position in the Balkans by taking over the established freight forwarder and logistics company. Read more
New Logistics Hub for Hamburg
One of the largest Kuehne + Nagel Group’s largest logistics centres was opened in Hamburg-Obergeorgswerder yesterday. Great importance was attached to the environmentally-friendly and sustainable architectural design and operations of the facility, demonstrated through extensive green spaces and plants as well as the lighting and heating systems and the use of regenerative energies. A photovoltaic array on a roof space of 4,500 sqm is among the largest in Hamburg. Read more
Symposium under the Motto “New Opportunities”
The BME Purchasing and Logistics Symposium expects 2,000 participants for the “44th BME Symposium Purchasing and Logistics” at the InterConti Hotel, Berlin. Read more
Coldchain Solutions Network Expanded
DHL Freight, a specialist for European overland transport and part of the Deutsche Post DHL Group, has significantly expanded its service for temperature-sensitive goods: Coldchain transport services now cover more than 30 European countries. Read more
Weekly Joint Service Line to Asia
The handling of shipments for the Xin Hong Kong at the Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg (CTH) on 17 July 2009 launched a scheduled weekly container service which connects North Europe to the Far East.
Under this new joint service schedule the Chinese ocean carrier Shipping Container Line (CSCL) and Evergreen Line from Taiwan cooperate on these routes for the first time. The new AEX-1 / CEM uses 4 container boats of CSCL, with a capacity of about 9,600 TEU and four Evergreen units between 7,000 and 8,000 TEU. The carriers CMA CGM, ZIM and IRIS Lines have also booked container positions for the service line.
After its first calling at Hamburg, the XIN HONG KONG called at Rotterdam and Zeebrügge, then entered its home port Hong Kong as well as Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo and Yantian (Shenzhen). The cruising speed of the units used allows a traveling time of 56 days for a roundtrip.
In Hamburg, container traffic with Asia reached a total volume of 5.5 million containers (TEU) in 2008. With 3.1 million TEU the People’s Republic of China (including Hong Kong) achieved also in 2008 a top position among the ten major trading partners of Hamburg Harbour in container traffic .
(Picture: Hamburg and its new joint service line China Shipping and Evergreen Line / photo: Hamburg Harbour)
Intelligent RFID Label for Transport Monitoring
At the Hannover Messe 2009, researchers from the Fraunhofer Facility for Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS) will be presenting an intelligent RFID label that is suitable for monitoring the transportation of high-quality goods.
During the transport, the label records temperature, inclination and vibrations. A sensor system allows the data to be logged, saved and read at any time via RFID. The label is a result of the BMBF (German Federal Ministry for Education and Research) cooperative ASIL project, in which Fraunhofer ENAS has worked together with the partners KSW Microtec, ELMOS Semiconductor AG, Schenker Deutschland AG, memsfab GmbH and the Chemnitz Technical University Center for Microtechnologies.
DHL Exits U.S. Operations
Deutsche Post World Net will exit their U.S. operations by the end of January 2009. Losses suffered in the U.S. domestic air and ground business have caused DHL to cease operations there. Read more
Rewe Invests More than 660 Million Euros in Logistics
Today’s start-up of operations at the Buttenheim warehouse marks the beginning of a national logistics offensive by Rewe Group, which will invest more than 660 million euros to expand its national logistics network by 2011. Read more
iGPS Order for 30 Million Pallets with RFID
The high demand for iGPS pallets has led to the largest order in the history of Schoeller Arca Systems. The manufacturer of returnable plastic packaging solutions for materials handling will supply up to 30 million pallets of Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS) over the next five years. Such an agreement was announced recently by the American pooling company. iGPS, based in Orlando (Florida), was founded in 2006 and is the world’s first manufacturer of pallets with an integrated RFID technology. Read more
