European automakers are feeling the economic pinch like the rest of the world. But this is no time to scrimp on research and development, warned experts at the recent CLEPA Technology Day. It’s time to move up a gear and ICT is the right driver.
News of bailouts and loan packages to keep Europe’s automakers and suppliers afloat is a sobering reality of the current economic crisis. “We are facing an extremely difficult situation,” said Lars Holmqvist, CEO of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) at the Technology Day hosted by his organisation last week. Up to a third of auto suppliers are in, or will soon be in, financial trouble, he said. But he warned that tough times like these are no excuse to cut research and development budgets. “If we want to come out of the crisis in a competitive position, we have to keep R&D going during the crisis,” he suggested. New technologies to meet the EU’s CO2 requirements, for example, should give Europe a competitive advantage over rival automakers in the USA and Japan. “We will be the first to do it!” said Holmqvist. On the technology front, “it is also a straight line to electric”, he predicted, so a proposed call for projects related to electric and more efficient vehicles under the EU’s Framework Programme for research would be a welcome boost, he suggested. Even before the credit crunch kicked in last year, European researchers in the ILIPT project were working on a range of “intelligent logistics” concepts and systems aimed at delivering on the idea of a “five-day car” from order book to owner’s garage, compared to the average 40 days using current methods.
IT3 komment: Az európai autógyártók az informatizált járművekben és az informatizálásra épülő, felgyorsított gyártási folyamatban látják a kiutat az autóipar jelenlegi válságából. A pénzügyi válság miatt jelentősen érintett autóipar előremenekül, amikor az elektronikát a jármű hatékonyságának növelésére, és a gyártási folyamat felgyorsítására fordítja. Így jobban alkalmazkodik a vevők változó igényéhez: megrendelésre tud gyártani alacsony költséggel üzemeltethető autókat; és elkerülheti a készletre gyártást.
Forrás: cordis.europa.eu
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