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General Motors has announced the launch of CarBravo, a used vehicle shopping site, which is a direct rival to other used car retailers like Carvana and CarMax. CarBravo will be GM’s used vehicle shopping site and will be directly linked to its dealership network.
CarBravo will give buyers access to GM’s local and national stock for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC vehicles, plus non-GM brand vehicles as well. The retail platform will offer a transparent shopping interface with clear dealer pricing, vehicle history reports and 360-degree views of the vehicle. All CarBravo vehicles will be inspected and reconditioned to meet standards set by GM.
All of the vehicles will get a standard warranty coverage and other benefits like roadside service, courtesy transportation, and OnStar and SiriusXM trials on eligible vehicles.
CarBravo is slated to launch this spring.


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April 15, 2016
A merger brings new hires, while other companies announced new personnel who bring years of experience.
As of April 1, AstaReal Inc. and AstaReal Technologies Inc. merged into one singular entity, AstaReal Inc. Previously functioning as separate but related companies, AstaReal Inc. focused on sales and marketing, while AstaReal Technologies, established in 2014, concentrated on the U.S. cultivation and production of AstaReal® brand astaxanthin (Haematococcus pluvialis).
"AstaReal Inc. is now in its best position to continue scientific exploration and validation of AstaReal astaxanthin, and to ensure sustainable production meets future demand," commented Arun Nair, Ph.D., president of AstaReal.
In addition to the announcement of the merger between the two businesses, the newly streamlined astaxanthin producer announced two key appointments.
Nair has been named president of AstaReal Inc. He had previously served as president for AstaReal AB, Gustavsberg, Sweden. He will now lead both cultivation/production and sales and marketing efforts.
Nair has held executive positions at the Fuji group of industries for the past nine years, managing the group’s business in various positions. He obtained his doctoral degree in molecular biology from the University of Kagoshima, Japan. Nair has a wealth of experience in managing biotech startups and a total industry experience of more than 24 years. His focus is on functional molecules such as astaxanthin that help improve performance and health.
In addition, nutraceutical ingredient sales veteran Michelle Jenkins was named West Coast manager. Jenkins was most recently West Coast sales manager for Blanver, and prior, served as vice president of sales at B&D Ingredients, where she developed key nutraceutical accounts. At AstaReal Inc., her territories include the entire Pacific Coast, states west of the Rockies, parts of Texas, as well as key clientele interspersed throughout the region.
“Having an embedded presence on the West Coast is an enormous boost for our sales program and will contribute greatly toward AstaReal Inc.’s overall plan for strategic growth in this dynamic astaxanthin market," said Joe Kuncewitch, national sales manager.
Nellson Nutraceutical announced Jamie Better has been named the company’s chief executive officer. Better, who has been chairman of the board of directors since 2014, brings to Nellson an extensive track record of senior leadership experience across industries, and is an operating partner of Kohlberg & Co., Nellson’s majority shareholder. Better stated, “I look forward to leading Nellson through its continued evolution while supporting its customers through new product and market expansion efforts."
Better assumes the role from Scott Greenwood, Nellson’s current CEO, who will remain in an advisory capacity to the company. Under Greenwood’s leadership, Nellson completed two transformative acquisitions and achieved significant growth, positioning the company as one of North America’s leading third-party manufacturers and full-service providers of high-quality nutrition bars, nutritional powders and healthy snacks. “I am proud of the accomplishments we have achieved together at Nellson under Kohlberg’s ownership," Greenwood commented. “Jamie’s distinguished track record, together with his strong professional and personal values, make him an outstanding successor to lead Nellson into the future."
Seth H. Hollander, partner of Kohlberg, commented, “On behalf of the board of directors of Nellson, I wish to sincerely thank Scott for his distinguished service to the company. Scott was instrumental in building a foundation for sustained growth at Nellson."
Nutrition 21 LLC announced Sara O’Brien has joined as general counsel of JDS Therapeutics and its wholly owned subsidiary Nutrition 21.
O’Brien joins Nutrition 21 after working in the intellectual property (IP) departments of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Ropes & Gray, where she most recently specialized in patent litigation. Her private practice included extensive IP work in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, as well as IP portfolio management. Her litigation experience encompasses a range of technologies, including biologics, pharmaceuticals, computer software and other technologies. Her practice also encompassed intellectual property-based commercial transaction work such as complex contracts, licensing and supply agreements and bankruptcies.
“Sara’s intellectual property experience and industry knowledge make her a prime addition to the Nutrition 21 team," said Michael Satow, CEO and president of Nutrition 21. “We view her role as a sign of our commitment and dedication to supplying our customers with patent-protected, clinically substantiated and innovative ingredients. We are confident that Sara will play a vital role in our business."
O’Brien received her law degree with honors from the University of Connecticut.
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Mars Drinks UK have announced a limited edition run of Flavia Galaxy Caramel for use with the range of Flavia hot drinks machines.
This new flavour of Galaxy hot chocolate is due for launch week commencing 19th November 2018, and is being produced as a seasonal special in limited volume.
Galaxy Caramel offers a silky smooth caramel drink, made with real Galaxy chocolate. A seasonal winter indulgence with a hint of caramel, for those looking for something new and different.
With more good news! Galaxy Caramel will be offered at the same price as standard Galaxy hot chocolate, with the same case size of 72 fresh-packs.
Look out for more launch information in due course and don’t miss out, because when it’s gone it’s gone!
Written by: The KSV Customer Service Team.


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Grocery chains and pharmacies have struggled to keep items ranging from sanitization products to toilet paper to certain types of food in stock in recent days, raising concerns about their availability in the weeks to come. The trend could worsen as the outbreak requires authorities around the country to shut down businesses, workplaces and schools, according to Philip Palin, an author and expert on supply chains in catastrophe scenarios.
“Mandatory workplace closures—even those that try to explicitly exclude healthcare and grocery supply chains—will quickly and seriously undermine the capacity of all supply chains, many workers in essential sectors will choose not to work or find it not possible to work,” Palin wrote in a post for Supply Chain Quarterly on Monday. “Consumers will respond to this threat signal by increasing their already unsustainable pull on many products and services. Where consumer demand is highest, the effects will be worst.”
Some grocery store chains have already taken steps to conserve their supplies of key products. Wegmans, Walgreens and Publix are among the companies who have opted to limit store hours, while many other retailers, including Target, have enacted purchase limits to keep products from going out of stock.
Amazon said Monday it will hire an additional 100,000 workers to bolster its fulfillment and delivery capabilities amid a coronavirus-related shopping surge. Delta Air Lines unveiled a charter operation to fulfill cargo shipments during the crisis.
Still, the retail industry has indicated a level of concern about supply chains. In a letter to President Trump, the Consumer Products Group, a trade association whose members include General Mills, Clorox and Procter & Gamble, outlined a series of recommendations.
The group asked the Trump administration to set aside funding in future response bills to “mitigate supply chain disruptions and manage food, personal care, hygiene, cleaning, disinfecting and sterilization input shortages” and to create an “Office of Supply Chain” to identify and address difficulties.
“You don’t have to buy so much,” the president said. “Take it easy. Just relax.”
The National Retail Federation, another trade association, noted that “retail supply chains remain strong” but warned customers to avoid the urge to hoard supplies.
“If you don’t need an item in the next two weeks, leave it for someone who does," NRF President Brian Dodge said in a statement. "Hoarding and stockpiling creates unnecessary gaps between the time that someone who truly needs a product can find it back on retailers’ shelves. This is particularly important for our most vulnerable neighbors – the elderly and those who are struggling with other health issues.”
As of Monday afternoon, U.S. authorities have reported more than 4,200 confirmed individual cases of coronavirus and at least 74 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.


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Google's Caffeine Jolts Web Indexing
Aptly dubbed Caffeine, the system aims to update its Web index continuously to provide results almost immediately. The search engine can extract more relevant content, with results from blogs, forums and news, Google said in a blog announcing Caffeine. The index will provide the “largest collection of Web content we’ve offered,” but won’t be obvious to users.
“Some background for those of you who don't build search engines for a living like us: when you search Google, you're not searching the live web,” Carrie Grimes, a Google software engineer, said in a company blog announcing Caffeine Tuesday. “Instead you're searching Google's index of the web which, like the list in the back of a book, helps you pinpoint exactly the information you need.
“With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally,” Grimes wrote. “ As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before -- no matter when or where it was published.”
As for the actual name, a Google spokesperson explained the inspiration: “We call this index Caffeine because, like how you feel after a cup of coffee, it moves quickly and deliberately to ensure the delivery of the freshest information from across the Web.”
The new-and-improved search is a step forward for Google, according to its spokesperson, because it makes it possible to deliver fresher Web results, allows the index to be more comprehensive as the Web grows and enables the engine to do more to improve the quality of search.
Google said there will be updates continuously to the search index, and that Caffeine isn’t a one-time fix.
“(These updates will be made) to adapt to the rapidly changing nature of the Web,” said the Google spokesperson. “However, the last major update was back in early 2006.”
Google has been working on Caffeine for more than a year, according to the company spokesperson.


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Keeping It Cool: FOOD for Lane County Receives Funds For Emergency Generator
In an effort to meet an increase in demand, FOOD for Lane County purchased a new warehouse in west Eugene, last fall. According to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture study, 14.6 percent of the county experiences food insecurity. That’s higher than the state’s 11.6 percent.
FOOD for Lane County distributes about 8 million pounds of food to pantries and meal sites every year. Executive director Tom Mulhern said more than half of the food they receive is perishable.
“That calls for refrigeration and freezer space to be able to store and redistribute those particular items so that was a big feature of this new warehouse that we just opened,” Mulhern said.
To ensure their 3,500 square ft freezer is operable in the event of a power outage or natural disaster, FOOD for Lane County recently secured a $300,000 dollar grant from M.J Murdock Charitable Trust.
“FOOD for Lane County is one of the key elements in our local disaster preparedness program…to be able to respond to community need by providing an adequate supply of food to people throughout the area will be significant,” Mulhern said.
The nonprofit still needs $3 million dollars to complete their $8.5 million campaign to cover the cost of the new west Eugene location.
© 2020 KLCC


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Bethel College Men’s Basketball Team Helps Light Up The Sky – Harvey County Now
By Wendy Nugent, Harvey County Now
NEWTON—The Bethel College men’s basketball team has fired up fans to explode with excitement and this summer they are facilitating other types of explosions with fans and Newton area residents.
This is because they sell fireworks at two locations in Newton, in the North Dillons car park and south of Pizza Hut.
“That’s how we allow ourselves a lot of things in our program,” Bethel College men’s basketball coach Jayson Artaz said, taking a break Sunday night after setting off fireworks in the North Dillons tent location.
This is the fourth year that they have sold fireworks.
Artaz said the team has players from England, Niger, Africa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Iowa. Eight to 10 team players work in the stands.
Artaz wasn’t sure how sales would go this year with the extended sales time Newton allowed.
“Usually it was like four days, and a fast and furious thing,” Artaz said, adding that he wasn’t sure what impact that would have on sales over eight days.
Stalls sell everything from items that small children enjoy, like sparklers, to large items, like those lit in fireworks.
“Snappers are always a big hit with little kids,” Artaz says.
Hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily through July 4, when locations will be open until midnight. They will basically accept any type of payment, Artaz said.
There’s a reason people should buy fireworks at the Bethel College basketball stands.
“It’s nice that a lot of the profits go to something local,” he said, adding that in many other places the money goes to a big company or someone from there. out of town. “The guys like to talk to the little kids who come. Last year the kids came and asked to take pictures with the players and autographs.
Fireworks prices start at 25 cents and go up to $270.
“It’s basically a huge kit that will take your whole night,” Artaz said of the $270 item.
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Self-driving truck software startup Plus is reportedly in talks to merge with the same investor group that brought public electric vehicle startup Canoo Inc.
A spinoff and overseas listing of its new division can help build credibility as a reliable partner.
SPAC Churchill Capital IV (NYSE:CCIV), which is in a deal to take Lucid Motors public, rose 4.9% on speculation of potential partnership to make EV cars with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
SPAC GigCapital3 (NYSE:GIK) advanced 17% as the shareholder vote for the company’s merger with electric vehicle company Lightning eMotors took place earlier today.
President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States must ramp up production of electric vehicles to catch up with and then surpass China after he virtually toured an electric bus and battery manufacturing plant on Tuesday.
Navya, a leading company in autonomous driving systems, and REE Automotive, a leader in e-Mobility which recently announced its merger with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp.
Wisk Aero LLC, a maker of electric-powered aircraft designed for use as flying taxis, claims its technology was stolen by Archer Aviation Inc., a rival startup valued at $3.8 billion in a blank-check deal earlier this year involving United Airlines Holdings Inc. and investment banker Ken Moelis.
Electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors may be nearing a Michael Klein-run SPAC agreement to take the California based company public, according to Reuters. The potential development sent shares of blank-check company Churchill Capital IV (CCIV) up more than 30% on Tuesday afternoon.
Some of the world’s largest asset managers from Blackstone to BlackRock have signaled an appetite to invest in socially responsible companies—and special-purpose acquisition companies are all too happy to serve them.
Electric aircraft startup Archer Aviation Inc. plans to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in a deal that will give the company a multibillion dollar valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.
REE Automotive, an electric-vehicle technology startup, has agreed to go public through a merger with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
CIIC stock has faded a bit, but a broader pullback in EV SPACs means it could have further to fall
Proterra Inc., which makes electric buses and batteries, agreed to go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company ArcLight Clean Transition Corp.
London-based Arrival will combine with US firm CIIG Merger. The combined company expects to list on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “ARVL.”
Investors are paying attention to ChargePoint, Inc. One of the world’s first and largest electric vehicle (EV) charging networks, it has revealed that it will go public by merging with Switchback Energy Acquisition Corp. The deal will value the company at $2.4 billion.
The Lion Electric Co., a maker of electric vehicles such as yellow school buses, is in talks to go public through a merger with blank-check firm Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp., according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Stock in special purpose acquisition company DiamondPeak pulled back from a steeper decline to trade down more than 5% Tuesday afternoon. It apparently is a reaction to an issue involving Workhorse, but that’s wrong-headed. Trading in the stocks should be the other way around.
HYLN stock is a long-term winner because RNG is an immediately usable clean energy solution for trucking
EV charging company ChargePoint is “nearing a deal to go public through a reverse merger” that could value the company at more than $2 billion.
Spartan Energy Acquisition (NYSE:SPAQ) stock came to prominence only a few weeks ago. Prior to the Fisker deal, it wasn’t much talked about outside of niche circles.


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Panasonic Avionics is enhancing its in-flight mobile connectivity offering through a strategic partnership with GigSky, a global mobility provider based in Silicon Valley, California.
The partnership between Panasonic Avionics, its subsidiary AeroMobile and GigSky enables any eSIM-equipped mobile phone user to enjoy their in-flight mobile connectivity service—regardless of network operator—on selected airlines and flights. By downloading the award-winning GigSky app prior to departure, passengers can effortlessly pay for and access a daily connectivity pass.
“Digital innovation is at the forefront of everything we do at Panasonic Avionics. Our collaboration with GigSky marks our first eSIM partnership and enables us to enhance and bring more choice to the passenger experience,” said Kevin Rogers, senior director, Mobile Services at Panasonic Avionics. “With GigSky’s support of our mobile services platform, passengers can connect their mobile phones across the globe regardless of which network provider they are with, replicating on-the-ground integrated connectivity in the skies.”
Ravi Rishy-Maharaj, founder and CEO at GigSky, added, “We are thrilled to partner with Panasonic Avionics to bring a first-of-its-kind service to airlines and passengers. Through the GigSky app, we now offer data services in the air, land, and sea with our partners. With the addition of an inflight plan, customers can stay connected at their destination–and in between destinations–truly enabling an always-online, always-connected experience, anywhere they go.”


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Our friends over at StartSLC and Sustainable Startups hosted Utah's largest grassroots startup festival over the weekend in downtown Salt Lake City! The 3-day event featured numerous startup workshops, keynote presentations, a hackathon, and even a pitch competition with a whopping $250,000 awarded to the best new startup (...regrettably, we missed the deadline to apply). It was an honor to be asked to participate in Saturday's "Tech 4 Good" panel along with Austen Allred from Grasswire (referred to as "The Internet's Newsroom") & Jordan Menzel of CrowdHall (an online venue for crowd-sourced town halls). Looking forward to next year!
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Propertyfinder.com management mulls MBO amid group review
The management board of Propertyfinder.com is mulling an MBO as its parent company, REA Group, reviews its UK operations.
REA Group announced plans to review the portal as part of a review of its UK operations in a statement issued yesterday. It says it will consider various options, including possible closure of all or part of the business, which also encompasses hotproperty.co.uk and ukpropertyshop.co.uk.
Speaking exclusively to The Negotiator, Nick Leeming, major client director at Propertyfinder.com, says there is a range of options for the future of the portal, including external investment and acquisition, but adds that various members of the management board, including himself and Gillian Kent, chief executive of the portal, are in the throes of discussions about an MBO.
He says: “We are progressing this option, but we are talking about months rather than a matter of weeks; this is not something that gets resolved over night.”
He adds that the portal is currently trading at a loss, in line with its growth strategy.
Commenting on REA’s announcement, Alex Chesterman, chief executive of Zoopla.co.uk says: "It is not entirely surprising that REA Group are reviewing their UK operations. The business of online property marketing is changing rapidly and the subscription-based models such as Propertyfinder.com do not align the interests of the portal and the agent customers in the same way as performance-based models.
“We are likely to see more consolidation or closures in the market as more and more agents shift their marketing spend away from subscription portals to models where they can track, measure and ultimately only pay for the results they get."
Leeming says: “That is interesting, given that the UK’s top portals are all subscription-based models, based on consumer traffic. While free offerings are an attractive offering, they don’t yet have the ability to attract consumers in great numbers."
Nevertheless, Leeming says he will consider whether to retain a subscription-based model for Propertyfinder.com if the MBO is successful.
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Drinks giant Coca-Cola is considering building a dairy processing plant in Cork.
Senior executives in the company have held a number of meetings in Ireland in recent months to learn about the Irish dairy sector, according to the Irish Farmers Journal.
They have also visited Teagasc Moorepark in Cork and the Dairy Processing Technology Centre (DPTC) at the University of Limerick.
The company is increasingly looking to diversify away from sugary drinks, and has been working closely with the IDA to potentially establish a dairy facility here.
In recent years, countries such as Ireland, the UK and Mexico have introduced sugar taxes in a bid to curb obesity levels.
Coca-Cola first launched its Fairlife milk brand in 2015, which costs twice as much as regular liquid milk and contains 50% more protein and 30% less sugar.
It invested €75m in 2018 to build a new Fairlife processing facility in Ontario, Canada.
But it has yet to bring its milk brand to European consumers.
In the US, the company sources milk direct from Fair Oaks Farms, a 30,000-cow dairy farm in Indiana.
But it is not clear if Coca-Cola plans to buy milk direct from Irish farmers.
Irish Farmers Journal reporter Lorcan Allen told Vincent Wall on Newstalk Breakfast: "I've heard rumblings over the last number of weeks that Coca-Cola were looking at an announcement here in Ireland, and the more I looked into it I was surprised at the extent of how many meetings they've actually held here in Ireland.
"Senior executives from Atlanta have been over to Ireland to learn about the Irish dairy industry, the structure of the industry in terms of our family farms and the capabilities.
"What I do know is that they're really taking a strong look at our R&D capabilities as a dairy sector.
"They're not going to be producing a very basic dairy commodity product, they're looking at producing an added value fortified product with real science".


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An Electric McLaren Won’t Happen Until Governments Decide On What They Want An EV To Be
At the recent American launch drive of the McLaren Artura, Jamie Corstorphine, McLaren’s Director of Product Strategy, spoke to CarBuzz about the challenges McLaren anticipates as the world goes electric. The brand was one of the first to dabble in hybridization for the sake of performance with the world-beating P1 hypercar before introducing the Speedtail and now the Artura. But the big question is if electrification will be the way forward with everything now.
“Well, how long have we got? It’s a complex question,” Corstorphine said, laughing. “Absolutely, we are moving to electrify all our range, and I’ll say all new models, and I mean models, will be electrified going forward.” But electrified doesn’t mean electric, and McLaren sees benefits to how hybrid supercars perform. As far as electric cars go, there’s still government legislation standing in the way since no two countries have the same guidelines on the matter.


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A suburban Chicago car dealership has been shut down and stripped of its dealer license by the state after customers reported the dealership failed to pay off trade-in loans, putting those customers' credit at risk.
As many as 500 transactions with Nissan of St. Charles are now under investigation, the Illinois Secretary of State Police told NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago.
"Five hundred cases that we're reviewing that clearly show [Nissan of St. Charles] didn't transfer the title or plates for these vehicles," Elmer Garza, deputy director at the Illinois Secretary of State Police, said.
Customer Daniel Wooters of Lockport said he knew something had gone wrong when he received paperwork for two auto loans in his name: one on his new 2018 Pathfinder and one on the 2014 model he traded in last November at Nissan of St. Charles and hadn't seen since.
"The day we traded it in, I took out the car seat, thinking everything was good," Wooters said.
A collection of complaints lodged with the Better Business Bureau and Illinois Attorney General’s office against the business paint a similar picture.
"It has been over 50 days since I traded in my vehicle," one complaint reads. "They assured me [the] vehicle would be paid off within 10. … Still today [the] bank has not received payment."
"I worked extremely hard to establish my credit to have it damaged by a company who was responsible for paying off the previous vehicle," another complaint reads.
The State of Illinois took action on Feb. 1, when the Secretary of State downgraded the dealership from "good" to "not in good standing" to do business in Illinois.
That very same week, the dealership painted a rosy picture of business, declaring on social media, "It’s going to be a great month at Nissan of St. Charles!"
The state then "officially shut them down and took their dealer license away from them," Garza said.
The dealership is now under investigation by the Secretary of State Police and Illinois Attorney General.
Nissan of North America told NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago it sent a notice of termination, revoking the dealership's authority to operate as an independently run Nissan dealership.
"Nissan dealerships are all independently owned and operated," Nissan of North America said in a statement, adding it is "not a party" to vehicles sales and calling the current situation "extremely unfortunate."
Nissan said that while it is "deeply empathetic over the plight of any customer whose vehicle transaction may have not been processed according to state laws," the carmaker is not in a position to intercede.
What was the dealership hiding from customers?
NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago attempted to ask a man identified on the dealer’s website as the floor manager, but he told us he no longer works there and that if we didn’t leave, he would call the police.
We also tried to reach the dealership owner, Fred Vargason, but our calls and emails were not answered.
Meanwhile Wooters said he is now struggling to pay notes on two cars, even though he hasn’t seen one of the vehicles for months. Since Nov. 9, he said he has paid about $4,500 and doesn't know if he will get the money back.
NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago confirmed through a Freedom of Information Act request that the new owner of Wooters' old truck got her financing through Nissan’s loan arm. The carmaker said it is looking into this case.
The state has set up a hotline and email for affected customers of Nissan of St. Charles (630) 693-0551 x248 and firstname.lastname@example.org.


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BERLIN (Reuters) – European Union member states are intensifying cooperation on the production of battery cells for electric cars and they should extend this approach into new industrial areas such as hydrogen technology, the German economy minister said on Tuesday.
“We want to support the creation of a complete value chain for battery cells in Europe: from the processing of raw materials to battery cell production to recycling,” Peter Altmaier told an economic conference in Berlin.
The German government is supporting the local production of battery cells with 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) to become less dependent on suppliers from Asia.
German carmakers already face tough competition from Chinese and U.S. rivals in electric mobility. The European Union has greenlighted state support for battery cells as part of its Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) scheme.
Among the companies benefiting from the support are German battery maker Varta, luxury carmaker BMW, chemical group BASF as well as French automaker Peugeot with its German Opel subsidiary.
The economy ministry expects the battery cell initiative to create more than 20,000 new jobs over the next 10 years. This is likely to cushion the impact of job losses caused by weaker demand for combustion engines.
Altmaier said that, in the future, the most innovative and environmentally friendly battery cells should come from Europe.
The increased cooperation on battery cells, enabled by the European Commission’s IPCEI scheme, should become a blueprint for other European industrial projects, for example for hydrogen technologies, Altmaier added.
The German government has passed a 9-billion-euro hydrogen investment plan as part of a stimulus package to help Europe’s largest economy recover from the coronavirus shock and accelerate a shift towards green technology.
Hydrogen fuel is produced via electrolysis in a process that passes electricity from sources such as wind and sunshine through water, to extract carbon-free hydrogen.
Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks


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Did you want to get your hands on one of the 500 Ford GTs being built over the next two years? Well too bad. The Ford GT is officially sold out for now, as Ford sent out more than 6,000 rejection letters to would-be buyers. But if all that you’re really after is the GT’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, which produces an estimated 600 horsepower, then you may still be in luck.
In an interview with AutoCar, chief of Ford Performance Dave Pericak hinted that the 600 horsepower EcoBoost motor could be offered to applicants outside of the GT. Pericak hinted at its usage in other racing series, as well as by small boutique carmakers.
Ford already has a number of similar setups with outfits like Cosworth, which get bulk deals on crate motors before massaging them to sing at even higher power levels. The 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine, for example, was used to power the Radical SR3 street racer, and the 1.6-liter EcoBoost powers Britain’s Formula Ford racing series. And of course there’s the venerable 5.0-liter Coyote V8, which is being tapped to power all sorts of boutique builds, including the revival of TVR.
With all that taken into consideration, it seems likely that the 3.5-liter EcoBoost in its 600 horsepower state of tune will be offered up as an aftermarket option as well. Now that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to call up Ford and order one shipped to your house, necessarily, but it does mean that the engine won’t be entirely exclusive to the 500 Ford GT buyers the Blue Oval has already selected.
If you did somehow get your hands on an EcoBoost V6, what project car would you drop it into? Bonus points for anything other than a Mustang.


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The Volvo traditionally innovative safety systems introduced the V40, a model that has the first airbag for … pedestrians. The V40 was presented at the recent motor show held in Geneva and has two new security systems consist of cameras and sensors. The patron-air pedestrian The system continuously monitors the road, detects pedestrians that are on the […]
It’s about living in the U.S., when Apple introduces a new gadget you can put their paws up before anyone else. So as expected, minutes after the presentation of the new iPad Retina display some of the leading technology blogs in the country have rushed to publish his first impressions after spending a few minutes fiddling with the coveted third-generation […]
Canon 5D Mark III – one of the cameras ‘hot’ one in 2012. 5D Mark III has two CF card slot and SD HDR mode. Autofocus system of high density similar to Canon 1Dx 61 points. Our products are durable metal shell, a waterproof, dust and weather resistant.
The French firm Aldebaran Robotics recently launched a new version of its robot called NAO, which they think can be the ideal personal assistant.
HTC has developed a new tablet HTC Quattro on a quad processor. This 10.1-inch tablet on Android touchscreen display has a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels and is equipped with AP30 Tegra chipset 3 from Nvidia, as well as smartphone HTC Edge . As reported, Quattro is equipped with 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB internal […]
It is no secret that the stars spend a lot of time and money to create a glamorous image,for this makeup plays a big role and how they look like without this secret weapon? Star makeup really work wonders. Perhaps that is why some celebrities in there normal life aggressively want to hide from cameras which are seeking […]


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Taiwan-based networking device assemblers continue to relocate their production lines from China back to Taiwan or to Southeast Asia, despite a recent surge in COVID-19 infections locally.
James Wang, president of network communication equipment provider Sercomm, once noted that China had been rivalless until the US stepped up countermeasures, disrupting China's economic scale.
Supply chains would not be relocating production out of China if it were not for the US-China trade war, and US president Joe Biden is not reversing the direction that his predecessor Donald Trump had set.
Taiwan-based network communication equipment providers are of a smaller scale and can act more swiftly in response to changes. When the US-China trade conflict spread to the network communication equipment sector in 2018, suppliers flocked to Taiwan and Southeast Asia to set up production bases. According to Gemtek chairman Howard Chen, three months after the company made the decision, new production facilities were in place. Chen quipped that it was the first time he felt like a big spender. This also reflected how much pressure network communication equipment providers came under in the face of the trade war tariffs.
Apart from Taiwan, Vietnam is the most important production hub to network communication equipment providers, including Gemtek, Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC), Arcadyan and Hitron. Among them, WNC and Arcadyan have plans to build their second facilities in addition to their current ones in Vietnam, with the new capaacity scheduled to be up and running in the second half of 2021. The new production lines will contribute to growth in the share of their capacity outside of China.
According to WNC chairman Haydn Hsieh, the company's second facility in Vietnam is about 90% complete. Installation of the production lines is scheduled to start in June and they are expected to be churning out products in the third quarter of this year. WNC already has customers placing orders specifically for products to be manufactured at the new facility. WNC's Vietnam capacity will ramp up at the highest speed over the next six to 12 months and the share among WNC's total capacity will grow from 10-15% at present to 20-25% by early 2022.
Aside from its second facility in Vietnam, which will begin production in the second half of 2021, WNC's second plant in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) is also under construction, with equipment installation planned for the second quarter of 2022 and production to begin in the third quarter. By then, WNC will have relatively equal proportions of capacity in Vietnam, Kunshan (China) and Taiwan. With the new facilities up and running, WNC's capacity utilization will be much better in the first quarter of 2022, which will help optimize its cost structure.
Arcadyan is also building its second facility, which will add to its capacity starting the fourth quarter of this year. According to Arcadyan, the construction remains on schedule despite the recent increase in COVID-19 cases. Arcadyan's new facility is planned with three times the capacity of its first plant in Vietnam. Its China capacity will not decrease as a result of the production expansion in Vietnam so the ratio between its China and Vietnam capacity will change from 70:30 to 50:50 by year-end 2021.
In contrast to network communication equipment providers that are actively expanding capacity in Vietnam, notebook PC manufacturers that do not sustain pressure from heavier import tariffs have maintained their wait-and-see attitude since the late stage of Trump's term. They said that when the US-China trade conflict was escalating in 2019, notebook PC manufacturers were urged by customers to respond. They all prepared contingency plans to set up production bases in Southeast Asia or Taiwan. However, their plans remain on paper to this day.
Quanta, Compal, Wistron and Inventec all have assembly lines in Taiwan. Some of the notebook PCs Compal and Inventec supply to their US customers are assembled in Taiwan. They both had plans to expand their capacity in Taiwan in 2019 but their customers did not ramp up their orders. Quanta had its Linkou, northern Taiwan plant ready while Wistron was prepared to start production in the Philippines. Neither of them have proceeded to volume production.
Compal's Vietnam factory is the only one that is in operation outside of Taiwan, rolling out products for a US customer that keeps requesting for additional capacity but not at a rate as fast as what the customer had proposed earlier.
According to the manufacturers, notebook PCs sell at razor-thin profit margins and include more than 1,000 components, making it difficult to shift production. Their customers mostly choose to cope with changes by staying put to avoid running up costs.


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by NUR HANANI AZMAN / pic by TMR FILE
LABOUR-intensive industries are urging the government to resolve labour woes quickly across critical sectors as not all work can be automated as well as well derailing the economic recovery prospect.
To date, Malaysia’s rubber industry has lost RM30 billion in the last three years due to the lack of workers, while Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) warned the industry may not generate an extra RM20 billion revenue this year, due to the nationwide acute shortage of manual harvesters.
SME Association of Malaysia national secretary general Chin Chee Seong said small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are also facing a shortage of 300,000 workers involving food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing, furniture as well as agriculture sector.
“Service industry, of course, there is a shortage of workers for retail F&B and small contractors for renovation, logistics and transportation, they rely on these workers.
“Many local farmers are finding it difficult to get workers now with a shortage of foreign workers. So, we really need the government’s help to assist SMEs for survival,” he told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR).
Chin suggested the government do a campaign to encourage more Malaysians to take up unskilled jobs and tell them the salary is not that low.
“Foreign workers now are very demanding and asking for salaries from RM2,000 to RM2,800 with accommodation as well. The levy tax that the companies have to pay by the companies is huge too.
“Hence, if locals are willing to take out the job, I think they can equally get a good pay,” he said.
In the longer term, he hopes that the relevant ministries and government agencies would engage with industry players to find ways to cut down dependence on foreign workers in order to move to a high-income nation.
Malaysian Footwear Manufacturers Association (MFMA) president Rachel Foo said the footwear industry is facing the same challenges especially when many are trying to commit to the order for the upcoming Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.
She is hoping the Ministry of Human Resources would decide on the ‘right’ number of foreign workers to be allowed to work in the country again.
“Not all industries can easily switch to ‘automation’ or interest from local workers. For example, Malaysian footwear is famous for strappy sandals, and to automate the process is very difficult, because it requires human skill and finishing.
“The government can consider starting with a minimum local vs foreign workers quota, and adjust it by each sector later on,” she told TMR.
Foo said of the standard operating procedure can be designed to cover many industries differently, the number of foreign workers can also be adjusted according to each industry’s request.
“We urge the government to reconsider the decision in bringing foreign workers. The situation of each industry must be studied individually. Human resource is a very complicated subject, no blanket rules should be applied across all industries,” she added.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Plantation, Industries, and Commodities (MPIC) said that Malaysia is now awaiting consideration from source countries, namely Indonesia, in relation to the mechanism to bring in foreign workers for the oil palm plantation sector.
Deputy Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng said, Indonesia is still considering to send its migrants workers to Malaysia even though it had previously agreed to do so.
“Indonesia’s priority is to finalise the memorandum of understanding on the recruitment and protection of Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia.
“That’s what I said that we depend on foreign workers but also depend on source countries which have agreements to send their workers to our country,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) is of the view that in order for the industries, especially the export based companies, to bring the business outcomes to a level before the pre- pandemic level the general skill labour conditions in the year 2022 must be replenished with over 600,000 foreign labour workforce to fill the manpower gaps as quoted above as well as to cater for the some of the new investments that would still require some level of low skilled manpower for certain processes within their operations.
FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said employers in manufacturing continue to face difficulties in sourcing for locals to fill the shortages in the unskilled general workers category arising from the current freeze in new recruitment of foreign workers.
“Industries have no choice but to rely on foreign workers as locals are not keen on certain jobs and industries especially in the dangerous, dirty and difficult or 3D sectors. This short-term measure is critical to the revival of businesses and the economy,” he said in a statement.


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Hilton and American Express are once again joining forces to extend on a philanthropic initiative the companies announced at the beginning of April to provide one million hotel rooms to frontline medical workers.
Now, the businesses are taking things one step further by donating USD $1 million from American Express to Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen (WCK) to supply “healthy, freshly prepared meals” to healthcare professionals staying at participating Hilton establishments across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- See also:
World Central Kitchen is an organization founded in 2010 by Chef Andrés and his wife that “creates smart solutions to hunger and poverty” by using “the power of food to heal and strengthen communities through times of crisis and beyond.”
The organization assists communities devastated by disasters with responses to establish “resilient food systems.” Since its origination, WCK has served more than 18 million meals to communities impacted by natural disasters and other crises around the world.
Now, healthcare professionals staying at participating Hilton establishments in association with the free room initiative can now pick up healthy meals that are delivered daily to the hotels, an official press release explains.
The donation to World Central Kitchen as part of this program will allow the organization to pay for the cost of ingredients as well as the wages for restaurant workers who may have laid off due to the pandemic.
Across the United States, restaurants have experienced the unfortunate consequences of the coronavirus pandemic through having to close completely or only maintain their operations for take-out and delivery services, resulting in a decrease in operations and unwilling reduction of workforce.
In tandem with its initiative to use food to strengthen communities, WCK, in association with American Express and software company Resy, is merging restaurants into its existing structure, meaning that restaurants can hire some of their workforces back to prepare the meals in this new program.
“The donation to World Central Kitchen will provide a fresh meal, delivered daily, to healthcare professionals, while helping to support the restaurants and their employees,” the release continues.


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Photo caption: (L-R) David Rose of Southland Power Trust, Gwen Baird of Mitre 10 MEGA Invercargill and Doug Fraser, Chair – The Power Company Limited
4 November 2020
14 December Update: 41,791 free energy-efficient LED bulbs were claimed during this month-long promotion funded by EECA and The Power Company Ltd, supported by Southland Power Trust. If these bulbs are used to replace incandescent bulbs, they could save over 2000 MWh of electricity (equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 250 homes) and 200 tonnes of CO2 – every year!
Christmas is set to be a little brighter this year for Southland and West Otago locals, with vouchers for free LED light bulbs landing in letterboxes around the region this month.
Thanks to a partnership with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and Mitre 10, customers of community-owned The Power Company Ltd will be able to collect four free energy-saving bulbs from participating Mitre 10 stores around the region.
According to EECA, LED bulbs use up to 85% less electricity than incandescent bulbs and last longer too, so they’re kinder to the environment in two ways. Each LED bulb could save people up to $300 over the course of its lifetime – it’s a simple swap with positive benefits for pocket and planet.
The free bulbs are 12W LED ‘warm white’, Energizer brand, screw or bayonet fitting and are equivalent to a traditional 75W bulb. Vouchers can be redeemed at Mitre 10 MEGA Invercargill, Mitre 10 Gore, Mitre 10 Winton and Mitre 10 Te Anau until 30 November 2020.
“This is one in a series of local initiatives we’re supporting that will contribute to a more sustainable future for our people and our communities. Earlier this year we did a similar thing with low-flow showerheads in Auckland in partnership with local agencies. We’ve also partnered with a supplier, EXPOL, to provide polystyrene recycling facilities at 16 stores around the country, solving a tricky recycling problem for our customers,” comments Grant Fraser, Mitre 10’s sustainability lead and Chief Legal & Property Officer.


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Mar 8, 2018
GOTS certified facilities cross 5,000-mark in 2017
Mar 8, 2018
The number of facilities certified to Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has crossed the 5,000-mark in 2017. GOTS certified facilities increased 8.2 per cent from 4,642 in 2016 to 5,024 last year. At present, GOTS certified facilities are located in 62 countries around the world with continuous growth in both production as well as consuming regions.
Bangladesh (+40%), North America (+39%), Portugal (+39%), Europe (+29%) were the countries/regions that saw the largest increase in GOTS certification in 2017, GOTS said in a press release.
GOTS certification covers the processing of certified organic fibres along the entire supply chain from field to finished product.
“The growing number of GOTS certifications shows that GOTS is taken as a solution for managing risks, reputation and market differentiation. We are very pleased with the development in North America. It will have the same pull effect as also seen in Europe by creating increasing capacities in the producing countries,” said GOTS director Claudia Kersten at the GOTS Annual Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina.
India has the largest number of GOTS certified facilities at 1,658, followed by Bangladesh (534), Germany (480), Turkey (445), Italy (307), China (292), Pakistan (194), Portugal (180), the US (99) and South Korea (69).
India has consistently maintained its position at the top since year 2008. “India is the largest exporter of organic textiles, but I shall also be focussing on domestic consumption of certified organic clothing this year,” said Sumit Gupta, GOTS representative in India & Bangladesh. Bangladesh has touched the number two spot for the first time, leaving behind Turkey and Germany. “The textile industry in the country has enhanced focus on sustainability now and more companies are able to comply with GOTS criteria for environment and social compliance.”
In 2017, the 19 GOTS accredited independent Certification Bodies reported more than 1.74 million people working in GOTS certified facilities.
The number of chemicals on the GOTS Positive List also shows an increase of 14 per cent to more than 17,900 from 720 manufacturers. The GOTS Positive List contains tradenames of approved chemicals that must be used by all textile processors for their GOTS certified production.
Copyright © 2023 Fibre2Fashion. All rights reserved.


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With help from former MLS MVP Mike Magee, the Chicago Fire officially dropped the 2020 primary jersey at the MLS FORWARD 25 event tonight. The club is calling it the “Homecoming Kit,” because of the return to Soldier Field this season.
For the first time in Fire history, the team will wear a navy kit for its home matches. The jersey has red trim, red adidas stripes, and thin, red pinstripes that run throughout the shirt. It also features the club’s controversial new badge.
Motorola is back for another year as the Fire’s jersey sponsor. Additionally, the shirt features a new MLS font for the name and number on the back.
The MLS 25 logo appears on both sleeves—for now. Some MLS clubs have already signed sleeve sponsorship deals for the upcoming season, and a Fire spokesperson tells Hot Time “Chicago Fire is currently in the market with the opportunity.”
The entire Homecoming Kit will include the navy jersey, navy shorts and red socks. Just like in past years, the 1998 MLS Cup Championship star will appear above the crest of the authentic version—the kits the players actually wear on the field—but it won’t be on the less expensive replica jerseys, according to the club. Right now, it appears only the replica jerseys are actually for sale.
As we’ve previously reported, this won’t be the only new Fire jersey this season. The team’s secondary jersey will be officially unveiled by the end of the month.
Fans can pre-order the navy primary jersey right now at ShopChicagoFire.com, and it should also be immediately available for use in EA Sports FIFA 20 across all platforms.
Take a look:


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Lenovo Earmarks $1 Billion Investment to Boost AI in Infrastructure, ThinkSystem and ThinkEdge ServersLenovo Earmarks $1 Billion Investment to Boost AI in Infrastructure, ThinkSystem and ThinkEdge Servers
Lenovo revealed that demand for AI-capable infrastructure generated $2 billion in revenues.
June 16, 2023
In a push to expand its portfolio of IT infrastructure optimized for AI workloads, Lenovo will invest $1 billion during the next three years to bolster its ThinkSystem and ThinkEdge servers. The company also earmarked the investment to fund Lenovo’s expansion of its partner ecosystem capable of delivering solutions that can apply and optimize the processing of AI to workloads.
Driving Lenovo’s latest AI funding commitment comes on the heels of a record year in revenues from customers’ AI infrastructure initiatives. During Lenovo’s 2023 fiscal year, which ended on March 31, 2023, AI contributed $2 billion of the company’s $10 billion infrastructure solutions group (ISG) revenue, the company revealed this week.
Lenovo is describing the $1 billion investment as the second phase of its focus on AI, dating back to 2017 when it committed $1.2 billion. Robert Daigle, director of Lenovo’s global AI business, said that investment covered AI but also IoT, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
Expanding the AI Innovators Program
Lenovo used the initial funding to build out its ISG AI team, Innovation Centers, and eventually announced its AI Innovators program last year, Daigle told Channel Futures. Since launching the AI Innovators program, it has grown from 30 partners last fall to over 45.
Lenovo’s Robert Daigle
“We’ve onboarded over 150 turnkey enterprise solutions,” Daigle said.
According to Daigle, one of the fastest-growing demands is for more AI-capable compute at edge locations such as retail sites.
“If you look at where GPUs are being sold, there’s a 41% CAGR at the edge,” Daigle said. “This is the highest growth area from any other cloud or data center segment. A lot of enterprises are deploying AI at the edge.”
Similarly, Lenovo will boost the capabilities of its AI Centers of Excellence labs. Launched in 2018, Lenovo operates its COEs in each of its geographies.
“Initially, they were labs set up for customers to do some remote work with us where they can log in remotely and have added a loaner gear program,” Daigle said. “We’ve actually pivoted our services in the Centers of Excellence to be able to better support customers’ needs just to help them shorten the time to value in reducing the risk with getting started with these AI projects.”
Lenovo also announced that the COEs now give customers and partners access to Lenovo’s data scientists, AI architects and engineers. They also provide referrals to ISV partners, recommend AI-optimized infrastructure, and help address AI ethics questions via Lenovo’s Responsible AI Committee.
Besides announcing its latest financial investment, Lenovo launched 70 new AI-optimized servers with a focus on those designed for real-time inferencing at edge locations. Among them is Lenovo’s new ThinkEdge SE360 V2, the latest version of its purpose-built edge server. The new products stem from last fall’s launch of over 50 new infrastructure products.
According to Lenovo, the SE360 V2 supports Intel’s Data Center GPU Flex Series, the NVIDIA L4 Tensor Core GPU, the Nvidia AI Enterprise software platform and Qualcomm’s Cloud AI 100 platforms. Lenovo also introduced the ThinkEdge SE350 V2 for hybrid cloud and modern HCI deployments. The upgraded systems come with double the storage capacity and powered by Intel’s Xeon D processor.
Lenovo also launched the ThinkSystem SR675 V3, consisting of three server configurations in a single unit. It will be available with the latest Nvidia OVX system for building and operating simulated virtual environments. Based on NVIDIA’s OVX architecture, the ThinkSystem SR675 V3 will be available with up to eight Nvidia L40 GPUs for ray tracing with Nvidia’s RTX-accelerated graphics.
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage would be released in August 2023 according to leak
If the leak has to do with Ubisoft, it is probably true, but this week an interesting new one has emerged. Assassin’s Creed Mirage would be released earlier than planned or so it seems.
According to an image shared by someone claiming to be a GameStop employee, the new Assassin’s Creed game is coming out in August. An exact date has yet to be shared either in a leak or officially, but if that release window holds up, Assassin’s Creed fans could be playing the game in the coming months instead of having to wait for the holidays. season.
The leak in question was shared by a user who posted on Reddit and shared an image of what is supposedly seen in the GameStop interface when looking at games that will be released in the coming months.
Some games had specific release dates, while others only had general windows, and in the case of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, that window is August 2023. The same image was shared on other social media after the initial post was published and can be seen below.
Gamestop employee on reddit sees Assassin’s Creed Mirage for August in their system… 👀#AssassinsCreedMirage pic.twitter.com/SI6lk5w6Ok
— JorRaptor (@Jorraptor) May 3, 2023
Naturally, there are those who are skeptical of the game’s proposed release window. For one thing, it could be seen as a placeholder date, and they often move around and are of little value when it comes to pinpointing a game’s release date beyond the year it’s coming out. As is the case with any kind of leak nowadays, there is always the chance that things have been completely faked as well.


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Dropbox is killing off unlimited storage in its business-focused Advanced plan following a surge in shady activity. It wrote in a blog post that as other services made similar changes to limit storage capacity, it has seen an increase in people using Advanced plans “not to run a business or organization, but instead for purposes like crypto and Chia mining, unrelated individuals pooling storage for personal use cases or even instances of reselling storage.”
While there will of course be legitimate outliers when it comes to unlimited storage plans, Dropbox says bad actors “frequently consume thousands of times more storage than our genuine business customers, which risks creating an unreliable experience for all of our customers.” It already has policies that prohibit abusive behavior, but the company says that creating a set of acceptable-use restrictions is unworkable. To that end, Dropbox is moving to a metered model.
The company will gradually move current users over to the modified Advanced plan starting on November 1st. Customers will get at least a 30-day heads up before Dropbox migrates them to the new policy.
Over 99 percent of customers on the Advanced plan each use less than 35TB of storage per license. Dropbox says those teams can continue to use however much storage they’re taking up at the time they get migration notification, plus an extra 5TB of pooled storage for five years with no price increase to their current plans.


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In the past few days, information about NVIDIA’s Hopper/Lovelace architecture has continued to flow out. The Hopper is used for computing cards for data centers, and the Lovelace is used for game graphics cards for players. At this stage, the news is still confusing, the information leaked from different channels is also different, and the accuracy is still open to question.
According to past news, Nvidia’s Hopper architecture is its first multi-chip module design (MCM)-based GPU, and its competitors are Intel’s Xe-HP and AMD’s CDNA 2 architecture. According to Twitter user @3DCenter_org
‘s previously leaked information, Nvidia will launch products based on the Hopper architecture around the middle of 2022. The GPU will be manufactured based on TSMC’s 5nm process node, and it is rumored that it will be released soon. Its GPU will have two chips, with a total of 288 SMs, which can provide three times the performance of the current A100 computing card. The new computing card equipped with this GPU may become the H100.
In addition, many Twitter users have recently leaked the news of Nvidia’s Lovelace architecture GPU. According to the report that VideoCardz
summarizes this information, Nvidia
has completed the design of the next-generation GPU and will not change it. This means that the information circulating on the Internet is likely to be the final specification. Lovelace architecture GPU will be manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process, but it is not certain whether it is N5 or N5P. This depends on Nvidia’s strategic choice. The influencing factor is AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture. AMD is likely to launch the first gaming graphics card with MCM packaging.
Someone previously pointed out that the Lovelace architecture GPU is probably not a game graphics card for desktop platforms, but a part of Nvidia’s self-driving car system, which belongs to the Orin series. Nvidia’s strategy against AMD RDNA 3 architecture products may be simpler than people think. It is to bring down the other party by reducing GPU costs as much as possible.
Most people who disclose this information maintain a relatively consistent understanding of the release time of the GeForce RTX 40 series, and believe that it will not be released until at least the end of 2022. NVIDIA currently maintains a rhythm of updating its game graphics cards every two years.


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On the 5th of January 2012 Microsoft celebrated the decline of its own web browser; Internet Explorer 6, by baking a cake and throwing a party. Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) has been a thorn in the side of the web development industry for many years due to it’s lack of Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. The main implications are that web developers frequently have to go back over a ‘finished’ project and tweak it to work in IE6, adding additional days and costs onto the project. The Internet is awash with many ‘hacks’ that can be used to force IE6 to display elements in the same way as the other popular browsers however the end result is never quite as clean.
Microsoft’s cause for celebration was due to the market share of IE6 dipping below 1% in the US. Microsoft, who created IE6 in 2001, have been putting in a lot of effort to kill the browser once and for all; in March 2011 Microsoft created a websitedisplaying the usage statistics across the world in an attempt to educate about and dissuade users from using the browser.
The world-wide market share for IE6 has gradually been declining as users upgrade to more recent versions, or, switch to a different browser altogether. In 2011 market share for IE6 dropped by over 4.5% (11.9% in Jan 2011 down to 7.33% in Dec 2011), however, in January 2012 IE6 showed a surprise rise in market share, up to 7.93%.
In the UK IE6 currently holds a 1.4% market share due in part to large corporations who refuse to update based on cost and time implications. On a worldwide scale China holds by far the greatest market share, currently holding over 25% of users worldwide.
IE6 is only compatible with Windows XP, an operating system released by Microsoft in 2001. All modern computers come with the more recent Windows Vista or Windows 7 installed which both start with more recent versions of IE as standard (IE7 and IE8 respectively). Windows XP has seen a similar rate of decline as IE6 over the past few years, however, at the beginning of 2012 Windows XP also showed a resurgence in users, again caused in large part due to China.
On the 15th December 2011 Microsoft announced that from January 2012 IE would start to automatically update as part of the Windows Update feature built into the Windows operating system. The scheme would gradually roll out across the world in an attempt to automatically upgrade all users from IE6 to the much more recent Internet Explorer 9. Users will still have the ability to opt out of these updates by disabling automatic updates in Windows Update.
As a whole the web industry is trying to eradicate the use of IE6 due to it’s cost implications on projects. Many web developers refuse to test in IE6 in an attempt to force IE6 users to upgrade manually. When thinking about a new projects we encourage our clients to consider the cost implications of IE6 on their project – is the extra cost required to ensure the website displays correctly in IE6 worth 1.4% of potential users?


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“We know mobile accessibility is critically important for our customers as smartphones and tablets become more commonplace. The WinWholesale app helps customers with daily tasks and also puts customers in contact with Win Group locations,” said Steve Edwards, vice president, WinWholesale marketing.
The app has five options:
• Find a location. Enter user location information and the 10 closest Win Group locations appear on a map with contact information.
• Field tools. Five calculators are available — HVAC, pipe size conversion, pressure conversion, water conversion, and electrical conversion. Users also can suggest adding a field tool.
• Favorite locations. Find and select up to 10 Win Group locations to save as “favorite locations.”
• Request a quote. Get a quote from preferred locations.
• Business tools. Links to WinWholesale videos, news releases, and recruiting information and materials to explore opportunities with the company.
The app is available on the iTunes App Store for iPhones and iPads, and on the Google Play Store for Android devices. Search on “WinWholesale” to locate and install the app.
Edwards said WinWholesale will continue to fine tune and update the app based on customer needs and industry changes.
For more information, visit www.winwholesale.com.
Publication date: 8/12/2013


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Shopping for Christmas gifts for new mothers and children can be a daunting experience anywhere.
Double it in China, where equivalents to Toys R Us or Mothercare are thin on the ground. Without some forward planning, one could end up running between a Wumart or a Carrefour, then over to a local retail chain, and even a quick check on the internet and a handful of catalogues, before finally finding an acceptable gift.
That is not to say that consumers are deprived of choice. There are over 50,000 suppliers of mother and baby products in China, providing more than 24,000 different items, according to Global Entrepreneur. For children’s clothes alone, there are as many as 17,000 manufacturers in the market. In comparison, an electronic megastore would struggle to stock more than 5,000 product types. The problem: few ‘mum-and-baby’ retailers offer all this choice under one roof.
But shoppers in Nanjing are in luck. This week, Jiangsu Baby King Industrial opened its first ‘kidswant’ flagship mall, bringing a one-stop solution to expectant (and new) mothers, as well as children from newborn to 12 years-old.
Baby King hopes to attract customers with various value-added services in its ‘lifestyle’ mall and through its home delivery service. So, apart from a wide selection of items to buy in the mall, parents can take their kids to watch a children’s play, get advice on mothering, go to an open-air playground and even experience some of the products sold in the store.
In the Nanjing area, the company has also hired 30 female sales managers with mothering experience to help nurture customer relationships.
Baby King believes this reassuring service will win over new mothers. Since the majority of women in China will only have one baby – a policy requirement, of course – most have no experience of childbirth.
And first time nerves make for customers more than ready to pay up for a range of ‘essential’ baby items.
Baby King was founded by Wang Jianguo, the former head of leading electronic retailer Five Star Appliance, which became a Best Buy subsidiary earlier this year. He was attracted by the fact that none of the key players in the crowded (yet fragmented) mother-and-child-market has even a 10% share. China is also said to be undergoing a baby spending boom (more parents with the cash to spend on nappies, wipes, strollers and milk formula). Research conducted by Baby King’s parent company Five Star Holding shows that the industry is expected to grow around 30% a year from now until 2028.
For Baby King, that is a green light to expand its store network into cities like Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou and Shanghai next year. It hopes to open 50 lifestyle malls in five years, reaching annual sales of Rmb5 billion.
Baby King isn’t the only company with such ambitions. It will compete with other players like Lijia Baobei and Red Baby. But it hopes its ‘lifestyle’ approach to the business will eventually give it additional clout with customers. In turn, that should help it get better deals with upstream suppliers and distributors. “We are now mending the road (the supply channel), so that in time to come it will be available for all, be it a Porsche or a tractor,” says Xu Weihong, the president of Baby King.
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Peanut Salmonella Case a Warning for Supplement IndustryPeanut Salmonella Case a Warning for Supplement Industry
A federal jury last September convicted Stuart Parnell of 67 criminal counts after prosecutors introduced evidence to show Peanut Corp. of America mislead customers about the presence of Salmonella.
September 23, 2015
Stuart Parnell, the 61-year-old former owner of the disgraced Peanut Corp. of America (PCA), was ordered this week to spend 28 years in prison, marking the longest sentence ever in a U.S. food-safety prosecution.
The defunct PCA was tied to a 2009 outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium that sickened 714 persons in 46 states and left nine dead.
The case illustrates the potential severe consequences of adulterating food—and dietary supplements are a subset of food—under the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FD&C).
“It’s important for supplement marketers to realize that violations of the FD&C, of which the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act is a part, need to be taken seriously," said Rick Collins, a partner with the New York-based law firm Collins, McDonald & Gann, P.C., in an emailed statement to Natural Products INSIDER. “The perception that FD&C violations are only limited to one or at most three years of prison exposure is mistaken. Cases involving adulterated products, including dietary supplements, can include charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, all of which ratchet up the exposure. Parnell’s sentence shows the hammer the Government wields, if it wants to, in an adulterated product case."
Still, Collins pointed out the prosecution against Parnell involved an egregious set of circumstances: multiple consumer deaths linked to tainted food products and attempts to hide the danger.
“It would be a mistake to read too much into the whopping sentence itself—few dietary supplement company executives who run afoul of the law in adulterated product cases would face anywhere near this exposure," said Collins, a former Nassau County Assistant District Attorney who has represented clients prosecuted under the FD&C.
A federal jury last September convicted PCA’s former owner of 67 criminal counts after prosecutors introduced evidence to show peanut executives mislead customers about the presence of Salmonella, fabricating documents that declared the products were free of pathogens when they hadn’t been tested or results revealed the food was tainted. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also said PCA executives weren’t truthful with FDA officials who had visited the company’s plant to investigate the outbreak.
“The tragedy of this case is that at a peanut processing plant in Middle Georgia, protecting the public lost out to increasing of profits," U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore of the Middle District of Georgia said in a statement. “This case was never just about shipping tainted peanut product; it was about making sure individual wrong doers were held accountable and the losses suffered by the victims and their families are never forgotten."
Michael Parnell, Stuart Parnell’s 56-year-old brother who worked as a food broker on behalf of PCA, was sentenced on Monday to serve 20 years behind bars. Former PCA executive Mary Wilkerson, age 41, received the lightest sentence of the three defendants: five years in prison.
"To be sure, the long sentences handed down today will not bring back the nine Americans who died after eating contaminated peanut products that Parnell and his co-defendants knowingly marketed, nor will they retroactively undo the sicknesses and hospitalizations of those who survived," said David Plunkett, senior food-safety attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), in a statement. "But they will send a very strong signal to food manufacturers that pursuing profits at the expense of food safety can bring the most severe of consequences."
W. Louis Sands, the federal judge in Albany, Georgia, ruled Stewart Parnell and Mary Wilkerson should be held accountable for more than USD$100 million in losses, and Michael Parnell should be held accountable for more than $20 million in losses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He also found Stewart Parnell and Mary Wilkerson should be accountable for harming more than 250 victims, and Michael Parnell should be accountable for harming more than 50 victims, according to the release.
“Americans expect and deserve the highest standards of food safety and integrity," said Stephen Ostroff, M.D., FDA Acting Commissioner, in a statement. “Those who choose profits over the health and safety of U.S. consumers are now on notice that the FDA, working with the Department of Justice, will strive to use the full force of our justice system against them."
Stuart Parnell reportedly apologized before he was sentenced by Sands and told victims, “I think about you guys every day." While Parnell acknowledged problems at his plant, he did not address emails and company records that showed he knowingly shipped Salmonella-tainted food and fabricated lab records, the Associated Press reported.
“He had absolutely no idea there was anything wrong with the product," attorney Ken Hodges said. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have eaten it himself. He wouldn’t have fed it to his children. He wouldn’t have fed it to his grandchildren."
But commenting on the sentences, prominent food-safety attorney Bill Marler wrote in his blog that “justice was served."
Collins said the media’s focus on the food-safety case may trigger talks about increasing regulations over foods and supplements, and lead to a bigger budget earmarked for FDA inspections. The agency is notoriously underfunded.
“The push for greater regulatory oversight over the supplement market has been a high-profile priority for both state and federal legislators this past year," Collins said, “and Parnell may be used by some as a poster child for what happens when industry is given too much leeway to regulate itself."
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CVB celebrates National Travel and Tourism Week
Campaign runs May 7-13, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2017
(Huntsville, AL) – National Travel and Tourism Week is being recognized this year, May 7-13, 2017, and the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is celebrating by hosting their annual Tourism Summit, in addition to other special activities. National Travel and Tourism Week is a national, week-long campaign administered by the U.S. Travel Association that highlights the importance of the travel industry to the country’s economy.
The CVB has good reason to celebrate, since 2016 saw the economic impact of travel and tourism to Madison County reaching its highest levels ever, providing over 15,400 jobs and an economic impact of nearly $1.2 billion in Madison County alone. Those figures, as reported by the Alabama Tourism Department, represent a 4.9% increase in traveler spending on hotels, restaurants, shopping and transportation.
The campaign follows Huntsville’s hosting of the TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange) conference, the world’s largest convention for travel bloggers and other travel media professionals. Hosting the conference put the Rocket City in the international spotlight as a top meeting and visitor destination.
In celebration of National Travel and Tourism Week, the CVB will host its annual Tourism Summit later in the month. Additionally, the CVB hopes locals and visitors will continue to familiarize themselves with the unique stories of Huntsville through the recently unveiled You Are Here project. The You Are Here project takes a playful approach to using placemaking signage to highlight 16 locations throughout Huntsville that all possess an intriguing fact about their creation or connection to the community.
Visitors are also invited to stop by the Huntsville/Madison County Visitor Center® throughout the week to enjoy free popcorn.
“Travel and tourism to Madison County is big business,” CVB President/CEO Judy Ryals said. “It directly impacts the pocketbooks of local residents, and we’re excited to celebrate its impact during National Travel and Tourism Week through our new You Are Here project, the Tourism Summit and free popcorn in the Visitor Center.”
2017 Tourism Summit
May 24, 2017
Von Braun Center
Each year, the Huntsville/Madison County CVB joins forces with the local hospitality industry to host the Tourism Summit, a state of the industry update and professional development seminar for hotel, restaurant, attraction and quality of life influencers in Huntsville/Madison County.
This year’s Tourism Summit theme is “Celebrating the Faces of Travel.” Motivational speaker Steve Rizzo will present the keynote address, “Get Your Shift Together” at 11:30 a.m. in the Von Braun Center’s South Hall.
Free popcorn at the Huntsville/Madison County Visitor Center®
The public is encouraged to stop by the Huntsville/Madison County Visitor Center® in downtown Huntsville through Friday, May 12, at 5 p.m. for a free bag of popcorn to join CVB staff in celebrating the local importance of travel and tourism.
People can also participate in National Travel and Tourism Week through social media. Those who post a photo with one of the 16 You Are Here signs will be entered to win a special Huntsville prize. Entries will be accepted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and should use both the hashtags #nttw17 and #iHeartHsv. One winner will be chosen per day through May 13.
For more information, contact Kristen Pepper, Huntsville/Madison County CVB Marketing Manager at 256.551.2294 or email@example.com.
About Huntsville/Madison County CVB
The Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is a non-profit 501(c)(6) organization which was developed in 1970 to create economic growth for Huntsville/Madison County by marketing the community as a top-of-mind convention and visitor destination. As the official city/county agency which promotes the area as a tourist destination and convention site, the CVB works with an array of hospitality industry partners to market our destination to visitors of all types.


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Flipkart announced the In-a-day delivery last year and now, the e-commerce portal has come up with the Same Day Guarantee Delivery in 10 cities across India. With this Flipkart will be the only player in the e-commerce industry to provide this service in India and stand ahead of competition.
To avail the same day guarantee delivery, users ought to place their order before 12 noon on a business day and their orders will be delivered by 9 pm the same day. Also, users will have to shed Rs 200 per item for shipping on the same day and there is an introductory offer charging only Rs 140 till April 30.
This service will be available in cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Noida, Manesar, Faridabad, Thane and Navi Mumbai along with more cities in the pipeline.
Additionally, Flipkart has also announced that if they fail to deliver the ordered in the same day guarantee service on the same day, the users will receive the product for free provided that the amount is not more than Rs 5,000. However, this is also a promotional offer and it is applicable only till April 30.
Flipkart has extended the In-a-day Guarantee Delivery even to Sundays to cater to the needs of its consumers and this service is available in 10 cities. Also, in Bangalore the online retailer has announced the useful Try and Buy service.


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PMA has announced a program of activities for 2014, starting with a ‘Boot Camp’ event in Melbourne for PMA members on May 7, then one-day consumer events in Brisbane (September 6) and Melbourne (September 13), concluding with a three-day trade conference and show in Sydney (October 31 – November 2) at the Manly Pacific Hotel.
The PMA Boot Camp consists of a morning workshop run by Darren Vowles on Digital Marketing and an afternoon session from well-known photo industry marketing consultant Peter Budd entitled ‘Build Youself a Better Business’. Sessions are $395 for members and $495 for non-members, with a 20 percent discount in addition to focussed one-one sessions with the two presenters for those who attend both sessions.
The Brisbane and Sydney consumers events – described as small ‘Big Photo Shows’, are in conjunction with Ted’s Cameras. Suppliers will be invited to participate, and there are plans to go to other major cities and regional areas in 2015.
The 2014 PMA Conference will be run over three days, with a trade show, a combined industry dinner, annual general meetings and relevant educational speakers and topics.


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Consumer complaints of “thin blue plastic pieces” prompted Koch Foods Inc. of Fairfield, OH, to recall 119,480 pounds of rib-shaped beef patties, according to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
Consumer complaints of pieces of rubber in barbecued pulled beef prompted J.T.M. Provisions Co. to recall more than seven tons of the product, according to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
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Continue Reading Ohio company recalls 7 tons of barbecued beef for rubber bits


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'We just had to learn as we go': Marshfield-area restaurants prepare for Lenten fish fries amid COVID-19 pandemic
Friday fish fries are a staple of Wisconsin culture, but as the 40-day Lenten period between Ash Wednesday and Easter begins this week, local restaurants are preparing for an influx of customers. They also must deal with the added safety challenges and unpredictability brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In the midst of last year's Lenten season, bars and restaurants were suddenly forced to close their dining areas on March 17 to slow the spread of the virus and scrambled to find a way to continue to serve customers with carryout options and delivery services. Gov. Tony Evers' safer-at-home order was issued March 25.
While restaurants are able to serve in-person diners this year, many say carryout orders are still favored and overall customer numbers are down.
The Marshfield News-Herald talked with three popular Friday fish fry destinations, as determined by a recent reader survey, to see how they are preparing for this year's Lenten season.
During a typical Lent, Crabby Dave’s, 501 S. Central Ave. in Marshfield, serves about 240 people on Fridays. Owner Christina Kunkel said she isn’t sure what to expect this Lenten season. She’s guessing carryout orders will continue to be the norm, since people still aren’t choosing the dine-in option.
Kunkel said fish fry sales usually go up during Lent. During the safer-at-home shutdown, the restaurant’s die-hard customers kept carryout sales consistent, but they missed out on the liquor sales that brought in a lot of profit.
At Crabby Dave’s, diners can get beer-battered or broiled cod; a perch dinner; beer-battered or broiled shrimp; steak and shrimp; or cod and broccoli au gratin. Kunkel said the two- or three-piece beer-battered or broiled cod is a go-to for customers.
Ann Dieringer, manager of Nutz Deep II, which has locations in Marshfield and Spencer, said they also expect fish fry orders to increase during Lent, especially at the business’s Spencer location.
Dieringer said the restaurant's most popular fish fry option is the combo platter, which includes one piece of walleye, one piece of haddock and Redhook Ale shrimp. They also offer a po'boy sandwich, which is beer-battered or Redhook Ale shrimp topped with lettuce, coleslaw, cheddar cheese and tartar sauce on a toasted hoagie.
Like other restaurants that relied heavily on in-person dining and liquor sales, Nutz Deep II was forced to make changes to its entire business plan during the safer-at-home order last spring. Within two days of the shutdown, they had put in place an online ordering system, which is now the avenue for about 25% of their orders. They also started offering sealed containers of liquor and beer for people to take home with their carryout orders.
Carryout was popular, but the pandemic severely cut down on the number of customers, Dieringer said.
"We just had to learn as we go like every other business did," Dieringer said.
Dieringer said they still do a fair amount of carryout, curbside pickup and delivery orders.
Scott Kleinschmidt, owner of Buck-A-Neer Supper Club, 122923 Marathon County C in Rozellville, said the restaurant received a lot of carryout orders during last year’s Lenten season, but those orders didn’t come close to what their dine-in numbers were before the pandemic.
Business for the Buck-A-Neer’s Friday night fish fry has been fairly consistent recently, with the restaurant serving about 200-250 people. He expects more business on Fridays during Lent. The restaurant offers dine-in and carryout options.
In addition to the COVID-19 shutdown, the restaurant faced another hurdle last year when an August fire that started in an upstairs apartment caused severe smoke and water damage. They were closed for more than four months and reopened for business on Dec. 30.
The supper club’s Friday fish fry menu includes a seafood buffet, a two-piece cod fish fry, jumbo shrimp and lobster. Kleinschmidt said they also offer a family-style option where you can request larger orders or fish and fries.
Favorite Marshfield-area fish fries
The Marshfield News-Herald recently asked readers to share their favorite local fish fry destinations. The following restaurants were nominated:
Bakerville Sports Bar & Grill: 10631 County B in Marshfield | 715-676-3768
Blue Heron BrewPub: 108 W. Ninth St. in Marshfield | 715-389-1868
Buck-A-Neer Supper Club: 122923 Marathon County C in Rozellville | 715-384-2629
Crabby Dave's: 501 S. Central Ave. in Marshfield | 715-384-4868
Just 4 One: 807 N. Weber Ave. in Stratford | 715-391-1110
Kizzy & Sue's: 5788 Main St. in Auburndale | 715-652-2612
RiverEdge Golf Course: 10191 Mill Creek Dr. in Marshfield | 715-676-3900
Sceeter & Otis Village Inn: 10994 Main St. in Hewitt | 715-384-3948
Sunrise Restaurant & Bar: 511 N. Central Ave. in Marshfield | 715-384-7748
The Vintage House: 10150 U.S. 10 in Marshfield | 715-676-2772
Contact USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reporter Melissa Siegler at email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Marie2Melissa.
RELATED: Buck-A-Neer Supper Club to reopen Dec. 30 after August fire left water, smoke damage
RELATED: Starbucks to open new Marshfield location on North Central Avenue this summer


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eBay Live Auctions Closure Impacts Ableauctions.com
By Ina Steiner
Ableauctions.com said it is reviewing its strategic options in the online auction marketplace and may take the company in a new direction as a result of eBay's decision to suspend its live auction operations and the decreasing demand for liquidation inventory from top U.S. retailers.
Ableauctions.com said it is considering seeking out and acquiring a private company with revenues ranging from $50 million to $150 million and selling its existing subsidiaries and has not yet found a merger partner. According to its press release, "That being the case, the proceeds from the sale of the Company's assets and existing subsidiaries would be dividend out to shareholders. Any such transaction will likely require a vote of the Company's shareholders." It went on to say, "As it explores new options, the Company is focused on aggressively expanding what it believes will be its most profitable division, its $10.8 million investment portfolio that is comprised of loans, real property, development property and a joint venture."
Ableauctions.com's subsidiary, iCollector, has begun to wind down the eBay Live Auction portion of its business, which represented approximately 78% of its revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2008, and 22% of the its total revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2008. iCollector is also actively looking for prospective buyers or strategic partners. The eBay Live Auction component of the iCollector business is expected to close no later than December 31, 2008.
Ableauctions.com operates the domains iCollector.com, Naalive.com and Unlimited Closeouts.com.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to email@example.com.
You may quote up to 50 words of any article on the condition that you attribute the article to EcommerceBytes.com and either link to the original article or to www.EcommerceBytes.com.
All other use is prohibited.


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TOKYO — After repeated cuts in its plans final 12 months, Toyota’s international 2023 manufacturing will probably be again with a vengeance.
In outlining its tentative output plans for suppliers, Toyota mentioned worldwide car manufacturing may soar to a report degree of 10.6 million automobiles this 12 months.
That is an enormous bounce from the corporate’s earlier manufacturing facility report of 9.05 million in 2019, earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic and international semiconductor scarcity started interrupting operations.
“The worst time is behind us,” declared Kazunari Kumakura, chief officer of the buying group.
Toyota has steadily bolstered manufacturing plans by wrangling various semiconductor sourcing, constructing direct ties to chip makers and speaking extra carefully with suppliers.
The corporate churned out 8.58 million automobiles globally in 2021.
Outcomes for all of 2022 will probably be launched Jan. 30. However by means of November, worldwide output for the Toyota and Lexus manufacturers was up 7 %, to eight.33 million automobiles.
Cranking up output previous 10 million automobiles would mark a big achievement for Toyota because it races to recoup misplaced manufacturing and restock diminished inventories. It had hoped to make up floor in 2022, however repeatedly confronted setbacks because of the semiconductor crunch, pandemic lockdowns and even pure disasters.
In November, Toyota once more minimize its output plan to 9.2 million automobiles, from 9.7 million, for the fiscal 12 months ending March 31.
However Toyota’s newest outlook additionally comes with an enormous caveat within the type of a draw back potential of 10 % — an acknowledgment of the lingering threat of continuous microchip and pandemic disruptions.
Toyota determined to supply steerage in a variety moderately than a single goal determine. Meaning the corporate sees output starting from round 9.5 million automobiles, below worsening provide constraints, to as excessive as 10.6 million below a best-case situation.
“We discover it troublesome to foretell what manufacturing quantity will probably be like,” Kumakura mentioned. “Wanting forward, there’ll nonetheless be chips which might be arduous to safe and different chips that may be secured stably.”
Toyota’s newest plan for February places international manufacturing at 750,000 items.
Japan’s prime automaker has been remarkably clear in speaking its manufacturing plans and revisions over the previous 12 months. Its forecasts, in typical Toyota trend, are typically conservative. It deliberate 800,000 items for November, for instance, however truly made 833,104.
The common updates are supposed to assist components makers plan for smoother provide supply.
Like its opponents, Toyota is racing to churn out as many automobiles as doable whereas demand is excessive for its tremendous slim inventories. Toyota Motor North America had solely an 18-day provide of automobiles as of Jan. 1, down from 21 a month earlier, in keeping with the Automotive Information Knowledge & Analysis Heart.
That in contrast with a 29-day provide at Honda, 24 at Mazda and 60 at Ford.
Provide constraints have additionally stymied Toyota’s deliveries in Japan. The posh Lexus model has restricted orders there due to semiconductor shortages, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported. It cited one supplier as saying that wait instances for deliveries take at the least six months.
Output on assorted Lexus traces in Japan was suspended in November and December, undercutting output of such fashions because the Lexus LS, IS, RC and ES passenger automobiles in addition to the NX, UX and RX crossovers and GX SUV. Lexus automobiles are particularly vulnerable to semiconductor shortages as a result of the premium fashions use so most of the chips.