Market trends and business perspectives
Henry Ford was a great industrialist and businessman. He reinvented the notion of the American automobile industry by his Ford Motor Company.
This brand has become popular not only in the United States but also all around the world.
Purchasing a new Ford from a salon might be expensive and simply unnecessary. [Read more…] about Buying a Used Ford: VIN Search Is a Must
Ford is the first customer for Agility Robotics’ humanoid robot, Digit (main picture).
Agility’s robot has arms and legs and can work with humans and in human spaces, for commercial sales.
Ford is receiving the first two robots off the line. [Read more…] about Agility Robotics’ humanoid gets job at Ford
Automaker Ford has for the first time introduced a team of collaborative robots that works alongside engineers in Cologne, Germany, to ensure every Ford Fiesta has a perfect finish.
The six cobots complete a choreographed sequence to sand the entire body surface in just 35 seconds. The initiative does not replace employees but allows operators to use their time on more complex tasks and avoid suffering the strains associated with performing repetitive tasks.
Dennis Kuhn, senior manufacturing engineer, paint shop, Ford of Europe, says: “The cobots can feel when more force needs to be applied, just like we can, and they can more easily get to hard-to-reach places, like the centre of the roof.” [Read more…] about Ford installs team of collaborative robots on Fiesta assembly line
In cooperation with Here Technologies, Tom Tom and the transport authorities in six European countries, Daimler, BMW, Ford and Volvo are testing how information about acutely hazardous situations can be passed on using Car-to-X technology.
The project partners signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The test phase is scheduled to last twelve months, starting in the Netherlands.
How can information about a sudden hazard – e.g. slippery conditions or an accident – be passed on to following or approaching traffic as quickly as possible?
[Read more…] about Car firms start Europe-wide accident communication project
By David Shepardson and Roberta Rampton, Reuters
US President Donald Trump pushed the chief executives of General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler to increase production in the United States and boost American employment.
Trump opened a meeting with GM CEO Mary Barra, Ford CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne at the White House by saying he wants to see new auto plants built in the United States.
The new Republican president vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the United States. He promised frequently during his election campaign to be a job-creating president and stressed that message in his inaugural speech last Friday. [Read more…] about US President Donald Trump pressures automakers to increase production in the US
lockAfter apparently pressuring Ford to change its plans to expand its manufacturing operations in Mexico, President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly putting pressure on Toyota to follow suit.
Ford had intended to build a plant in Mexico, but is now applying the brakes on those plans, according to the Economist.
A couple of days ago, Ford said it would cancel its $1.6 billion project in San Luis Potosí, Mexico and instead invest $700 million in its plant in Michigan, in the US. [Read more…] about Manufacturing: Trump tempts Toyota with tax break if it builds cars in US instead of Mexico
A consortium of companies which includes some of the leading automakers has agreed to build what they say will be an “ultra-fast, high-power” charging network along major highways in Europe.
The joint venture includes BMW, Daimler, Ford, and Volkswagen, which owns the Audi and Porsche brands.
The group says it will build a direct current network of approximately 400 charging points for battery electric vehicles.
In a joint statement, the consortium says this is an “important step” towards facilitating mass-market battery electric vehicle adoption.
The network itself will be based on the Combined Charging System standard technology, and will expand the existing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Europe.
Individual charging points will enable motorists to use DC current to fast-charge their vehicles with 350 kW of power, say the companies.
At the moment, the country with the highest number of charging points is the United States, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.
This is according to OpenChargeMap.org, which says there are approximately 80,000 charging stations across more than 40,000 locations around the world.
One of the major concerns among blue collar workers is the fear that robotic automation will take jobs that are sorely needed by the average working Joe who simply wants to provide for his or her family.
While it is understandable to think this way since automation can do the work in less time and with more efficiency, it may not necessarily be true that automation is going to replace human jobs.
A study emanating from the UK’s prestigious Oxford University indicates that automation may actually be a very good thing in that it will not only bring factories back home, but it will stimulate the economy, creating more jobs in the process. [Read more…] about ‘Believe it or not, automation may bring jobs back to the US’
Ford Motor and Baidu, one of China’s premier search engines, have made a joint investment of $150 million in Velodyne LiDAR – a supplier of the technology that could create self-driving cars.
The investment was made in order to help Velodyne find ways of lowering the costs of producing the technology, which involves expensive light-sensitive radars that allow cars to see a 3D version of their surroundings for up to 200 meters at all times.
Velodyne was already able to lower the cost of its technology from $80,000 to $8,000. However, once the company focuses on mass production, Velodyne expects that the price would be much lower thanks to the R&D investments of both Ford and Baidu. [Read more…] about Ford, Baidu invest in company that produces tech for self-driving cars
