Honda Staff Seek Early Retirement Amid EV Shift

News: Industry Segments

2021-08-22

Honda Staff Seek Early Retirement Amid EV Shift

Over 2,000 employees at Honda Motor have applied for early retirement, as the Japanese automaker restructures its workforce to gear up to make more electric vehicles.

Honda’s move is the latest in the trend among automakers to move away from the production and sales of internal combustion engines. Those employees account for around 5% of Honda’s full-time staff in Japan. Although Honda had not set a target, the number of applications has far exceeded its initial estimate of 1,000.

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2021-08-21

Understanding the Global Chip Shortage

Erik Martin
Erik Martin

Semiconductors help power everything from your phone to your car. Here’s what to know about the major supply chain problem.

There are chips in nearly everything electric you own, from your phone to your computer to your car. There are even chips in items you wouldn’t expect, such as your washing machine, electric toothbrush, and refrigerator. But these tiny parts that power so much of our lives are now in critically short supply.

“Right now we have a global supply chain in crisis,” says Patrick Penfield, a professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University. “We’ve just never ever seen anything of this magnitude impact us before.”

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Komatsu Invests in Production and Service Center in Pará

Fabio Ferraresi
Fabio Ferraresi

Since 2020 Komatsu has been investing in Parauapebas, in the state of Pará in Northern Brazil, for a new facility that will provide maintenance for equipment and produce new equipment. The General Manager of the Mining Division for South America, Charles Medeiros says the unit will produce products for all regions in Brazil and for export.

Source: Automotive Business     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Pará is an important region for mining where companies like Vale are located and demand for local support, especially for maintenance and spare parts availability, is significant. The total investment announced is less than US$ 8 million and it is small investment for high volume production. It’s most likely that the plant will only assemble CKD units for mining operations in that region.  PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director Business Development South America, for Power Systems Research

Toyota Suspends Production in Sorocaba, Brazil

Toyota is one of the OEMs least affected by the semiconductor crisis, but it now says production will be suspended for 10 days at its Sorocaba plant. The announcement does not refer specifically to semiconductors and other components and materials may be affecting the production capacity.

Source: Valor     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: The shortage of materials and price escalation is affecting all OEMs and suppliers in the automotive supply chain, from basic steel grades to semiconductors. Price escalation goes up to 120% in local currency and OEMs are struggling to keep the lines running and maintain competitiveness. This time, even Toyota, known as the best planner and most stable OEM over here had to push the brakes and take a breath to return production in a better ordered way.    PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director Business Development South America, for Power Systems Research

Ford Ends Production of Troller

Even though Ford has announced the end of production of the off-road Troller T4 in Horizonte, Ceará, Brazil, by September 2021, the secretary of industrial development of Ceará says that while Ford is working to sell the productive unit, it wants to keep the brand and the product design as its property. Government of the state is trying to change Ford executives mind about the decision.

Source: Autoespoerte / O Globo    Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Troller T4 holds an important share of the sports outdoor market niche and can be explored by specialized players. The product holds an important reputation among off-road lovers and the end of production will make a hole in the product lineup aimed at these people.   PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director Business Development South America, for Power Systems Research

How Much Energy Does Bitcoin Consume?

John Krzesicki
John Krzesicki

Today, Bitcoin consumes as much energy as a small country. This certainly sounds alarming, but the reality is a little more complex.

Our clients design and build generators installed for data centers, factories, distribution centers, commercial buildings, office buildings, grocery stores, and banks for emergency backup, peak shaving, or continuous power.  Bitcoin miners utilize data centers for housing and managing their data (server) farms.  

Bitcoin is a digital currency powered by many computers worldwide working to maintain the Bitcoin blockchain, a public database of all transactions on the network ever made. Bitcoin miners compete to officially record and verify the transaction and earn bitcoin as a reward. These transactions are verified by solving complex cryptographic and mathematical problems for which Bitcoin miners use a lot of power. The computers that record and verify Bitcoin transactions consume power at a level similar to some countries.  The exact amount of energy used by a Bitcoin transaction can vary based on demand.

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Most Regions Will Post 20%+ Growth in Truck Production

Chris Fisher
Chris Fisher

Editor’s Note: This is an updated report from the Q2 2021 Truck Production Index report produced by Chris Fisher and Jim Downey, Vice President-Global Data Products, in July 2021.

Question: What is the global truck production picture? What is the outlook?

PSR Opinion: Overall, medium and heavy truck demand will finish the year on a strong note, and continued strength is expected into 2022.  On-going supply chain disruptions will continue to impact production throughout the rest of the year and likely into 2022.

Question: What kind of global production volume do you expect for this year?

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2021-07-27

Sinara May Dismiss 20% of Workers Because of Reduced Orders

Maxim Sakov
Maxim Sakov

The machine building company “Sinara – Transport machines” (STM), says it may be forced to dismiss 20% of personnel because it has lost most of its orders from Russian Railways for cranes and other railway service machines.

Sinara has lost 85% of the orders from Russian Railways for railway service machines. Because of decreasing orders from the railway monopoly, the main client of STM, 7,000 people on its plants have not worked since August. The total personnel number in STM is 32,000 people, so about 20% of its personnel is questionable. Now, the company is looking for a way to re-qualify these people

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KAMAZ Introduces Hercules Articulated Truck

The first pictures of the new KAMAZ articulated mining truck have been published, showing a configuration of the truck with a 6×6 chassis. It will compete with the Caterpillar 740 and Volvo A40F.

The articulated frame will increase maneuverability and off-road characteristics of the truck. Hercules will be equipped with a hybrid powertrain. The new truck will use a KAMAZ R6 engine of 450 hp, and the nominal output of every electric motor will be 517 hp. The load capacity of Hercules is 40 tons, and the full weight is 75 tons. A light option with 4×4 format and 25-ton capacity are also in the plans.

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Russia To Suspend Support of Domestic Auto Industry

The Russian auto market’s increased demand for new passenger cars has caused inventory shortages, and these shortages have caused Russian authorities to suspend State programs of industry support.

In May, for example, the number of the cars sold increased by 2.3 times, compared to same period in 2020. This growth is partly the result of pandemic restrictions last year. A total of 663,000 new cars have been delivered to the customers this year, up 39% from a year ago.

Another reason for the shortage of cars in Russia is a shortage of semiconductor chips.

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