Author: Kloepfel
Making the supply situation transparent Transparent communication with all stakeholders Set up task force Establish alternative sources of supply Reduce requirements Avoid hoarding In view of the China-Taiwan conflict, Kloepfel Consulting, a management consultancy specializing in supply chains, has published the most important recommendations for action to help companies secure their supply of microchips. This urgently to consider, since according to news magazine Focus about two-thirds of all chips come from Taiwan. Background Xi Jinping has been threatening Taiwan with war for years. According to the American intelligence service CIA, the question is not whether there will be a war,…
HWWI Commodity Price Index: Lower volatility, slight downward trend continues HWWI overall index declines by 1.3% (US dollar basis) Energy raw material price index declines by 1.5% Industrial raw material price index rises slightly by 0.9% (Hamburg, December 13, 2022) As in the previous month, the HWWI Commodity PriceIndex continued to decline in November (-1.3%). The sub-indices for energy commoditiesand for food and beverages declined slightly, while the index for industrial commoditiesrose moderately (+ 0.9%). Index for energy raw materials: Decreasing prices for coal and crude oil, slight increase in natural gas price After the sub-index for natural gas prices…
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
Price Expectations Decline Compared with the previous month, fewer companies plan to raise their prices in the near future. This is shown by the latest survey by the Ifo Institute. Ifo price expectations for the economy as a whole fell from 46.2 points in November to 40.3 points in December. Price expectations fell most sharply in the manufacturing sector, from 53.5 to 42.0 points, and in the construction sector, from 38.4 to 28.3 points. However, price increases are also planned less frequently in trade and among service providers. In the retail sector, price expectations fell from 50.6 to 42.0 points.…
Results of Goodyear’s annual Sustainable Reality Survey. Sustainability is top of mind for transportation companies. This is one of the findings of the latest Sustainable Reality Survey, published annually by tire manufacturer Goodyear. More than 1,400 fleet operators from 33 European countries participated in the latest survey. For the majority of respondents, sustainability is important to their business, Goodyear reports. Larger fleets are more likely to implement concepts and measures to reduce their CO2 emissions and waste. 41 percent of fleet operators say that sustainability measures are not only good for the environment, but can also reduce the company’s operating…
Biontech plans to acquire Instadeep Biontech intends to acquire technology company Instadeep. The conclusion of an agreement to this effect was announced by both companies last week. Instadeep is an artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) company. It says it is a leader in AI-based decision-making systems. Biontech made an initial equity investment in Instadeep back in January 2022. Now the Mainz-based immunotherapy company plans to acquire the remaining shares in Instadeep. The current transaction includes an upfront payment of approximately 362 million British pounds in cash and Biontech shares, according to Biontech. In addition, Instadeep’s shareholders are eligible…
Preparing effectively for the new year 2023 The year 2022 was once again marked by a wide variety of economic events. In order to enter the next year 2023 smoothly, Kloepfel Magazine has compiled ten of the most popular articles from 2022. 4 Immediate measures against supply bottlenecks Risk analysis Optimize inventory management Make raw material costs transparent Find alternative sources of supply With this press release, the purchasing and logistics consultancy Kloepfel Consulting provides German companies with tips on what to do about the currently prevailing supply bottlenecks and lunar prices due to globally disrupted supply chains. www.kloepfel-magazin.com Exploding…
Medium-sized companies concerned 73 percent have corporations as major customers Concern about corporate flight from Germany 36 percent of companies with corporate customers would be severely affected 32 percent are considering relocating production abroad 58 percent give the current economic policy a poor to insufficient rating The management consultancy Kloepfel Consulting, which specializes in supply chains, surveyed German SMEs across all sectors from 31.10.2022 to 03.11.2022 to find out what they think about a possible corporate flight from Germany. A sample of 186 specialists and managers were surveyed online. 73 percent have corporate groups as major customers 73 percent of…
Securing the energy supply through LPG and maintaining value creation in Germany If you look hard enough, you can still find ways to mitigate the consequences of the current energy crisis. LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) can be a solution, as continuous market observations by the Kloepfel Group have shown. The current gas crisis can be countered with a well-thought-out replacement supply of LPG. High prices and uncertain supplies currently characterize the gas supply. As a result, the production of entire branches of industry is threatened. As a result, developments in the gas market are now pushing many companies to look…
HWWI commodity price index continues to fall HWWI overall index falls by 13.1% (US dollar basis) Natural gas price falls by 27.6% Crude oil price rises slightly by 2% (Hamburg, November 11, 2022) In October, the HWWI commodity price index fell by a totalof 13.1% compared to September. All three sub-indices (food and beverages, industrial rawmaterials and energy raw materials) declined. The index for energy raw materialsdecreased most significantly. The other two indices fell only slightly: the industrial rawmaterials index by 2.6% and the food and beverages index by 2.3%. Index for energy raw materials: Price decline for gas and…
Procurement Consultant (f/m/d) www.kloepfel-karriere.com Junior Procurement Consultant (f/m/d) www.kloepfel-karriere.com
Agreement with suppliers from the USA and China The BMW Group announces it has reached agreements with companies in the USA and China to supply CO2-reduced steel. According to Joachim Post, BMW AG board member responsible for purchasing and supplier network, steel is one of the main drivers of CO2 emissions in BMW’s supply chain. For this reason, he said, the company has decided to reshape its steel portfolio so that more than a third of the global production network will be supplied with CO2-reduced steel from 2026. “In this way, we are reducing the carbon footprint of our supply…
IMK presents study and recommends increasing the resilience of supply chains In the period from the beginning of 2021 to mid-2022, German industry was unable to produce goods worth around 64 billion euros due to a lack of intermediate products. This is reported by the Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) of the Hans Böckler Foundation based on a study it conducted. As the IMK explains, in their study the economists compare the actual gross value added as recorded by the Federal Statistical Office with an estimated counterfactual scenario without bottlenecks in intermediate products. The researchers currently come to the following conclusion:…
Increased stockholding Companies in German industry have stepped up their stockholding since 2020 in response to global supply bottlenecks. This is shown by a survey conducted by the Ifo Institute. 68 percent of companies have increased their inventories. 65 percent have expanded their supplier network and 54 percent have increased the monitoring of their supply chains. “Supply chains have become more complex and thus more prone to disruption. Small breaks can often cause a loss of production,” explains Lisandra Flach, head of the Ifo Center for International Economics. SMEs in particular are increasing inventory levels As the survey results show,…
At the beginning of 2023, the new Due Diligence Act, better known as the Supply Chain Act, will come into force and many German companies underestimate the challenges it poses. This is shown, for example, by a survey cited by the WELT. Only 7 percent of the companies surveyed assume an increased or high risk in their supply chain in view of the new law. By contrast, the legal experts at Graf von Westphalen (GvW), the law firm that conducted the survey, believe the figure should be 46 percent. The danger of such a misjudgment is that companies do not…
Competent solution approaches in technical purchasing Technical sourcing 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…
Individual. Fast. Sustainable. Shipping goods is expensive and often the invoiced freight is incorrect and higher than agreed. Invoiced freight rates differ by up to 5% from what was agreed to. A complex tariff structure and countless ancillary charges make a fully manual check very time-consuming. A fully automated invoice verification provides a remedy. With ‘best-in-class’ software and the expertise of our logistics experts, we uncover incorrect invoices, free your staff from tedious and time-consuming tasks, and create a transparent database for freight service purchasing. 2-fold leverage of savings Creation of 100% transparency Benefit from expert knowledge and best-in-class software…
How can gas shortages and extremely high energy prices be dealt with? Gas and electricity are currently causing major problems for many companies. In the worst case, the situation is already threatening the existence of some companies. Therefore, the consultants at Kloepfel Consulting are keeping a very close eye on what’s happening. At the same time, thanks to many years of experience, they develop measures for dealing with complex challenges. Thus, if necessary, Kloepfel Group can name alternatives, put together a package of measures and offer real help. Current situation, general conditions The current crisis clearly shows the special importance…