Automotive Assembly

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KARIYA, Japan—Denso Corp. has launched a pilot program to test a new energy management system at its assembly plant in Nishio, Japan, as part of efforts to eliminate CO₂ emissions from the facility.

ETOWAH, TN—Piedmont Lithium is building a $600 million factory here that is scheduled to start production in 2026 and could produce enough lithium hydroxide to make 600,000 batteries annually.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX—Tesla has begun construction of a $1 billion factory here to produce lithium hydroxide for electric vehicle batteries. 

REGENSBURG, Germany—BMW’s assembly plant here has become the first automotive factory in the world to use an end-to-end digitalized and automated process for inspection, processing and marking of painted vehicle surfaces in standard production. 

At the end of 2020, the Renault assembly plant in Flins, France, embarked on a new path to focus on the circular economy. The automaker set a goal of buying less, extracting value from existing products, and creating a new industrial model centered on sustainability.

Engineers at Tesla Inc. have developed a new process that they claim will reduce EV production costs by 50 percent, while reducing factory space by 40 percent.

Atypical car contains some 30,000 parts, including fasteners, from dozens of suppliers. All these components must arrive at an OEM’s assembly plant in the right sequence at the exact moment that they’re needed. It’s a massive undertaking.

PLANO, TX—Siemens Digital Industries Software and Daimler Truck AG are collaborating to implement a state-of-the-art digital engineering platform built using the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services. The new platform will enable Daimler Truck to explore a future of commercial vehicle innovation and the efficient product development and life cycle management of trucks and buses and will be rolled out globally across Daimler Trucks’ engineering hubs, brands and business segments.

LINCOLN, AL—Honda Motor Co. opened what it calls a first-of-its-kind post-production option factory near its assembly plant here.

MONTERREY, Mexico—Luminar has opened a new highly automated, high-volume assembly plant here. The factory is dedicated to producing the company’s Iris automotive lidar sensors.