A study by consultants Bain & Company warns Europe’s auto industry in no uncertain terms to step up efforts to develop proprietary battery technology. “In Asia and the US the big battery and car manufacturers are already building plants,” Bain said. Europe runs the risk of becoming an importer of a component that is seen [...]
Fujitsu develops traffic simulator with greater scope
December 14, 2010
Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a wide-area traffic simulation system that allows the reproduction of traffic flows involving tens of thousands of vehicles. “The new simulator makes it possible to verify in advance the effectiveness of a variety of traffic policies designed to improve traffic flow,” the Japanese research laboratory, part of the Fujitsu group, said [...]
Autoliv expands Shanghai plant to boost local electronics production
December 13, 2010
Autoliv is expanding its Shanghai plant, in a move to boost electronics manufacturing capacity in the Chinese market. The Stockholm-based maker of automotive safety systems and components said it is adding 4,000 square meters to its Shanghai plant to boost local electronics manufacturing capacity by 50 percent. The plant expansion will cost 13 million dollars. [...]
VW Logistics automates contract management
December 10, 2010
Volkswagen Logistics has adopted a new contract management system, cuContract, made by Circle Unlimited. Before adopting the system, the German carmaker’s logistics arm used a decentralized database. Contracts would first have to be scanned before being entered into this database. VW Logistics decided on cuContract because the system can easily be expanded and it can [...]
Dassault Systemes, Thales form system integration alliance
December 9, 2010
Dassault Systemes and Thales have agreed on a strategic partnership to jointly develop new product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. The partnership between the two French companies will focus on delivering end-to-end solutions based on Dassault’s V6 PLM platform. Both Dassault, a provider of 3D and PLM products, and Thales, a global technology group, want to [...]
Study: Intelligent logistics, modern IT will help fight congestion
December 9, 2010
A major study by the Economist Intelligence Unit foresees a huge increase in global traffic congestion. But industry leaders believe that intelligent logistics and the use of modern IT will help keep traffic moving. The report, “Keeping traffic flowing; Transport efficiency to 2030,” paints a worrisome picture of the global traffic situation in the next [...]
ITI launches 64bit version of SimulationX software
December 8, 2010
Software maker ITI has launched a 64bit version of its SimulationX software. The German specialist in virtual system engineering said release 3.4 of SimulationX will allow designers to use the full potential of computer operating systems and hardware. The 64bit release will improve simulation performance and allow for greater precision in model building, the company [...]
Brazil delays mandatory vehicle tracking until end 2011
December 7, 2010
Brazil has delayed until next year plans that will require all new vehicles to be equipped with GPS-based anti-theft vehicle tracking systems. The country’s National Traffic Council (CONTRAN) issued a new resolution November 24 that says all new passenger cars and trucks will require such telematics systems by the end of 2011. The rule applies [...]
Survey: Uncontrolled application growth means higher costs
December 7, 2010
The uncontrolled growth of software applications leads to higher costs, which takes money away from necessary IT investments, according to a CIO survey conducted by HP. The survey, which polled 500 CIOs in Germany, Britain, France, Italy and the Nordic countries, found that 74 percent considered software proliferation a major problem. CIOs found that as [...]
Interview: SAP boss reaches out to HP
December 3, 2010
Europe’s biggest software maker, SAP, would like to cooperate more closely with HP. “HP has been a good partner to us for many years and we are open to expanding that cooperation,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO of SAP. In an interview with Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Snabe said cooperation with the US-based technology group makes [...]
