Author: Kloepfel
Catering division goes to Aurelius The Deutsche Lufthansa AG is selling the remaining part of LSG Group to the private equity firm Aurelius. The airline already handed over the European activities of LSG Sky Chefs to the Swiss company Gategroup in 2019. Regarding the signing of the contract with Aurelius, Remco Steenbergen, CFO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said, “We are pleased to have found the right investor for LSG Group, who also has the full support of the LSG Group management.” Lufthansa: Focus on the Airline Business According to Lufthansa, the sale of the catering division is part of the…
Reveal hidden profits in the indirect commodity groups Reveal hidden profits in the indirect commodity groups Duet of expertise and buyer’s gene Regular sourcing and tendering: Customer requirements and suppliers change Standardization of products Learning by Doing: Colleagues & Coaches on a temporary basis Read in this article how to make visible and leverage high hidden savings in indirect commodity groups. Experience shows that companies usually focus their purchasing activities on direct commodity groups. These classically include raw materials that are used to manufacture the company’s own product portfolio. Within the retail industry, these would be the classic trade goods.…
Why is contract management important? Why is contract management so often underestimated? What role does purchasing play in contract management? How to implement contract management with Kloepfel Consulting? What happens after the site analysis? How is the contract data entered? Is it possible to generate contracts with such a tool? Marc Röver, Senior Manager Kloepfel Consulting Henning Esser, Consultant Kloepfel Consulting Authors: Marc Röver, Senior Manager Kloepfel Consulting and Henning Esser, Consultant Kloepfel Consulting Why is contract management important? Well-functioning contract management creates transparency about the rights, obligations, conditions and prices that companies agree with their suppliers. However, many companies…
How do you find energy prices that are in line with the market? The turbulence on the energy market has probably not escaped anyone’s attention in recent months. The following guidebook article shows which challenges have to be considered when purchasing energy. Benedikt Benz, responsible Lead Consultant Energy at the Kloepfel Group, and other energy experts from the Kloepfel network explain in an interview which special features and challenges are currently encountered in the procurement of energy. General features of energy procurement Energy is an exchange-traded product. Due to the constant trading on the stock exchange, natural price fluctuations take…
Indirect procurement By Heiko Steinmetz, Manager Kloepfel Consulting Contents: Print requirements: The paper market is gradually stabilizing again: prices and availability are leveling off, declining slightly, tendering is worthwhile (in some cases 5-15% savings) Agencies: Due to inflation, many agencies are currently raising prices/hourly rates: Time to think about a pitch or take a closer look at processes and needs to identify potentials Media (print): Publishers are increasing advertising prices due to rising (production) costs. Media agencies also receive higher commissions as a result of higher ad prices. Potential through negotiation or pitch Maverick buying (power of departments, lack of…
Geopolitical concerns take first place Concern about geopolitical risks displaces concern about rising costs from first place Decline in demand hardly an issue 38 percent dependent on inputs from China The concerns of German specialists and managers of medium-sized companies with annual sales of up to 500 million euros have shifted over the past seven months. This was determined by Kloepfel Consulting, a management consultancy specializing in supply chains, in a recent online survey of 186 specialists and managers. The random survey was conducted across all industries. The previous survey took place in September 2022. Participants were asked on which…
HWWI Commodity Price Index continues to decline in March Index for Energy Raw Materials declines by 9.4% (US Dollar basis) Index for Food and Beverages declines by 3.4% Index for Industrial Raw Materials declines by 3.6% (Hamburg, April 12, 2023) In March, the HWWI Commodity Price Index continued to fallsignificantly, as in the previous two months. It fell by 8.3% and was thus 44.9% below thevalue of the same month of the preceding year. Once again, falling prices for energy rawmaterials were the cause of the decline in the overall Index. The Index for Energy RawMaterials fell by 9.4%. The…
Senior Procurement Consultant (f/m/d) www.kloepfel-karriere.com Procurement Consultant (f/m/d) www.kloepfel-karriere.com Junior Procurement Consultant (f/m/d) www.kloepfel-karriere.com
Recession announced for industrialized countries – including Germany The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently published new forecasts regarding the growth rate of the global economy. According to their information, Germany is expected to fall into a recession this year. The global economic growth is expected to decline from 3.4 percent in 2022 to 2.8 percent in 2023, and then rise to 3.0 percent in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent forecasts. The IMF reports that this growth will be weaker and slower due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing division of the world,…
Increase of 4.8 percent compared to the previous month In February 2023, new orders in manufacturing increased by 4.8 percent compared to the previous month, according to preliminary results from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). This marked the third consecutive monthly increase in new orders. However, compared to the same month of the previous year, new orders decreased by 5.7 percent. Large orders in the “Other Vehicles” category had a particularly positive impact on new orders in February, with an increase of 55.9 percent. “Other Vehicles” includes the construction of ships, railway vehicles, aircraft and space vehicles, as well as…
Battery-electric tractor unit for more sustainability Logistics company DB Schenker will be adding 100 battery-electric trucks from Mercedes-Benz to its fleet. The Mercedes eActros LongHaul model will be used. A letter of intent has been signed between DB Schenker and Mercedes-Benz Trucks, as both companies recently reported. Sustainability strategy of DB Schenker According to Cyrille Bonjean, Head of Land Transport at DB Schenker in Europe, the logistics provider aims to become the world’s leading provider of green logistics. This goal can be pursued further by expanding the electric fleet. With the eActros LongHaul, it is now possible to use battery-electric…
As part of a representative survey conducted by the independent business magazine brand eins and Statista, the Kloepfel Group has once again received the “Best Consultants” award this year. The management consultancy, which is specializes in supply chains and procurement and is part of the EPSA Group, has now been awarded this recognized industry seal of approval for the eighth time in a row. For the award, consultants and clients are surveyed in detail. Consulting companies are not eligible to apply for this award. More than 1,900 management consultants and over 1,500 executives from consulting clients took part in the…
Competent solution approaches in technical procurement Technical procurement increases real benchmarking and competition with alternative suppliers, but also the (further) development of strategic partners. A guarantee for success is the technical understanding of your components and the comparison to the manufacturing capabilities of the target supplier. Thanks to several hundred customer projects, a database of qualified suppliers is available. Kloepfel Consulting has been accompanying customer projects from different industries in the sourcing process for more than 15 years. Due to the transparent, stringent and systematic approach, you as a customer always have an overview of the project status, from obtaining…
Matchmaker between parts and manufacturing processes What role do manufacturing costs play in technical sourcing? For us, technical sourcing is not about sourcing technical products and driving down prices. Rather, it is about reducing costs by finding the supplier that specializes in producing the product based on its manufacturing structure (e.g., the right manufacturing methods and machinery). Suppliers that do not specialize in the desired technical product (e.g., electronic components, custom drawing parts, castings, gears, plastic parts, pneumatics, and others) are usually much more expensive. Nevertheless, they try to produce the product requested by the technical buyer or procurement engineer…
Guest article by A.B.S. “In procurement lies the profit” is an old merchant’s adage that still holds true today. Negotiations are usually won by those who pursue a clear strategy and objective – this has not changed in the new year, despite the mood of crisis. In fact, no other commercial factor has as great an influence on the profit of a trading company as the conditions of goods procurement. Against this background, one of the first and most important tasks of every retailer is to optimize its procurement prices and negotiate clever strategies so that lucrative large orders remain…
How can companies defend against cyber-attacks? Protect against cyber attacks Measures in case of emergency The danger of cyber-attacks on medium-sized companies and thus also on purchasing is high. According to a study by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), around 60% of all German companies were targets of cyber-attacks in 2020. According to the global Allianz Risk Barometer 2023, risk managers in companies are most afraid of IT system disruptions and business interruptions. The survey polled 2,712 risk management experts in 94 countries. Among them were CEOs, risk managers and insurance experts. Many companies have made supply…
Customer Interview: How Meyra got the research grant with EPSA Interview with Andreas Nahrwold, Head of Development for manual wheelchairs and Alexander Bergen, Head of Development for power wheelchairs at Meyra. What topics were funded under the research grant? It was about technologies that significantly simplify the handling and control of (electric) wheelchairs for the user. Which departments at Meyra were involved in the application process? In addition to the research and development department, the finance department and the managing director were involved. EPSA then identified the eligible projects using the technical information provided by the research and development department.…
Understanding the Politicization of China’s Economy Is the politicization of China’s economy a threat to SMEs? In my opinion, the politicization of the economy, data protection laws, and so on, are being overhyped by the West. Yet these are all just instruments of the Chinese government. In other words, the economic policy, the legal system and all these issues, are tools that are all subordinated to the big goal. And the big goal is that China wants to get back to where it was for thousands of years – to the top of the world. What do Chinese citizens think…