Author: Kloepfel
Industry on course despite supply problems Global material bottlenecks and delivery problems are increasingly causing problems for the mechanical and plant engineering industry. This is according to a statement published on Tuesday by the VDMA industry association. In it, the VDMA confirms its forecast of real production growth of 10 percent for 2021. At the same time, however, the association also points out that higher growth would have been possible without material bottlenecks. According to VDMA President Karl Haeusgen, the order situation is good. Commenting on the current situation, Haeusgen said, “As in all industries, the supply difficulties for some…
Commercial vehicles to be converted to electric cars Renault Refactory is planning a conversion project to convert commercial vehicles to electric cars. For now, Renault’s pilot project only reconditioned used vehicles. But after taking positive stock of the operation (Refactory) in Flins, which has been running for a year, the French automaker now wants to take the next step and retrofit commercial vehicles as well. Renault focuses on circular economy According to the press release, with the Refactory, Renault Group is running the first European center for circular economy in the mobility industry. With the Factory VO integrated into it,…
H2: HWWI Commodity Price Index continues to rise strongly in October HWWI overall index rose by 18.7 % (US dollar basis) Crude oil prices increased by 12.5 Natural gas prices increased by 42.6 (Hamburg, November 10, 2021) The HWWI commodity price index continued to rise sharply in October, exceeding the previous month’s value by 18.7%. Compared to the previous year’s value, the overall index recorded an increase of 120%. All three sub-indices for energy raw materials, industrial raw materials and food, beverages and tobacco rose in October. The HWWI commodity price index was driven most heavily by the continued strong…
Purchasing is running hot! Material shortages, procurement problems, long delivery times: Purchasing departments currently have their hands full to secure the most necessary resources for production. Because the goods must get to the assembly line! Many buyers are caught in the procurement paradox: They act out of necessity – and this obscures their view of better solutions that are not only more effective, but also more sustainable. Three tips help to break the vicious circle. 1. Deep market analysis through digital tendering Many buyers still source in the “classic” way: through their (referral) network or hand-picked individual requests. Most buyers…
Kloepfel Recruiting: Recruitment for TFL When TFL Ledertechnik GmbH took over the organic leather chemicals business from Lanxess, there was an urgent need to fill a position at Chempark Leverkusen: Lead Buyer Technical Procurement. For a quick and straightforward solution, the company contacted Kloepfel Recruiting. Riccardo Jaffore, Head of Global Procurement at TFL, describes how the successful filling of the position took place from the customer’s point of view. Which position were you looking to fill with the help of Kloepfel Recruiting? We were looking for a position in technical purchasing for chemical production in the Chempark in Leverkusen, Germany.…
Problem in the system? By Thomas Wandler, Senior Partner Kloepfel Consulting Purchasing regularly faces the challenge of reducing costs but fails due to internal resistance. With the traditional suppliers, a change is often very difficult and entrenched processes often stand in the way. I am not talking here about partners with whom you jointly develop products and secure your own performance. Rather, I’m talking about products and services that are largely interchangeable and easily comparable. Comparison makes you rich Many of the incumbent suppliers are very well networked within the company and argue with a maximum service level that is…
Industry on course despite supply problems Global material bottlenecks and delivery problems are increasingly causing problems for the mechanical and plant engineering industry. This is according to a statement published by the VDMA industry association on Tuesday. In it, the VDMA confirms its forecast of real production growth of 10 percent for 2021. At the same time, however, the association also points out that higher growth would have been possible without material bottlenecks. According to VDMA President Karl Haeusgen, the order situation is good. Commenting on the current situation, Haeusgen said, “As in all industries, the supply difficulties for some…
“Shanghai Express” as an alternative to sea and air transport The existing range of container train connections between Hamburg and China has recently been expanded. There is now a train connection between the DUSS terminal in Hamburg-Billwerder and Shanghai. The Port of Hamburg recently announced that the first container train of this new connection reached the DUSS terminal in Hamburg-Billwerder on October 25. The train had departed from Hamburg’s twin city Shanghai. In line with the new connection, the train traveled via Kazakhstan (Alashankou), Belarus and Poland (Małaszewicze) to Hamburg. Maiden voyage with fifty 40-foot containers The operator of the…
Stricter controls and faster intervention Customs will guard the export of goods and technologies more strictly in the future Customs will in the future more strictly guard the export of goods and technologies that could be used for civilian and military purposes, as well as for terrorist purposes. The related EU export control regulation was launched on Sept. 9. Cybercrime will be curbed The EU Commission particularly points out the fact that thus offenses against human rights in connection with technologies for digital espionage can be stopped more efficiently. Thus, the old Export Control Regulation of 2009 is replaced and…
Strong rise in energy commodity prices HWWI overall index rose 8.8% (U.S. dollar basis) Crude oil prices rose 5.3% Natural gas prices increased by 31.1% (Hamburg, October 12, 2021) The HWWI commodity price index increased by an average of 8.8% in September compared to the previous month and was 91.5% higher than the corresponding figure for the previous year. The increase in the HWWI Commodity Price Index was due to strong price increases in energy commodity markets. In addition to coal and natural gas prices, crude oil prices also rose sharply in September. The background to the price increases is…
Interview with Ludovic Montécot No stone is left unturned when digitalization takes hold: Digitalization is revolutionizing processes in purchasing. What this means exactly, which processes are being streamlined or automated, and whether “analog” buyers can still survive in the long term, tells us Kloepfel Senior Manager Ludovic Montécot. In the big picture: What does digitalization mean in purchasing? In practice, it means: Optimizing inefficient processes in purchasing by using digital tools or technical means that make your life easier. “Inefficiency” means, for example: The manual collection of data. This is completely unnecessary nowadays, because you can transfer many values from…
Relieve purchasing and release potentials The company builds large motors and drives for a wide variety of applications. Due to its very good order situation, the medium-sized company was confronted with supply bottlenecks and the purchasing department was working far beyond its limit. To overcome these challenges, the company decided to optimize its purchasing department. To do so, the engine manufacturer relied on external operational and strategic support from Kloepfel Consulting. The first step was to relieve the company’s own purchasing department as quickly as possible with the help of an interim purchasing manager. The interim purchasing manager was responsible…
Our specialized consultants, with their extensive purchasing experience, are dedicated exclusively to the optimization of indirect costs. In doing so, they achieve on average between 8 and 12% cost savings, which thus contributes 1:1 to profit growth for our customers. Due to our expertise in the individual commodity groups, which we have built up across all industries, we have many years of experience, methods and levers for achieving savings. Our specialists support you, for example: in professional tenders in direct negotiations in optimizing your range of services in the creation of transparency in data preparation in the selection and search…
321,000 electric cars brokered in August Registrations of electric cars pick up in China. In August, 321,000 e-cars were brokered in China. Compared to the same month last year, this represents an increase of 120 percent. Market penetration reaches a record high of 17.8 percent in 2021. Climate neutral by 2060 China itself is strongly committed to reducing CO2 emissions and has set a target to reduce them by 2030. By 2060, China should be carbon neutral. It also plans for electric cars to account for about 20 percent of new car purchases by 2025. However, there is a chance…
Decision on OPEC+ production quotas The countries of OPEC+ will expand their oil production only moderately. To this end, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reached an agreement with other allies, which together with OPEC form the so-called OPEC+, on Monday. Increase in daily production by 400,000 barrels The OPEC press release indicates that various decisions of previous meetings were confirmed at the 21st OPEC+ ministerial meeting, which was held via video conference. Now, accordingly, OPEC+ is scheduled to increase its oil production by 400,000 barrels per day in November. As Der Spiegel writes in its online edition on Monday,…
The shelves must be filled by Christmas Of necessity, Great Britain’s government has decided to issue 10,500 work visas for foreign skilled workers. The reason for this is severe supply shortages affecting not only supermarkets but also gas stations. By means of the transitional arrangements, 5,000 truck drivers and 5,500 poultry processing specialists will be recruited. Under the transitional arrangements, workers in the UK will be allowed to work until Christmas. The goal is to fill any toy stores and supermarkets by the holidays. Service stations run out of fuel The Road Haulage Association, the industry body, has said that…
Effects of raw material bottlenecks The purchasing consultancy Kloepfel Consulting has surveyed 134 purchasing specialists and managers online on how they deal with current supply bottlenecks and price explosions. The random survey was conducted from August 3 to August 18, 2021. Optimistic companies Despite supply bottlenecks and price explosions, the respondents are optimistic. Only one in ten participants states that their production is at massive risk. Purchasing performs well In many cases, purchasing has learned from previous crises. For the majority, the following are a matter of course: analyzing supply chains, maintaining supplier relationships systematically and comprehensively, global sourcing, dual…
HWWI Commodity Price Index Declines in August HWWI overall index fell 1.3% (US dollar basis) Crude oil prices fell 5.2% Iron ore prices fell 23.5% (Hamburg, September 13, 2021) The HWWI commodity price index fell by an average of 1.3% in August compared with the previous month and was 72.6% higher than its corresponding value a year earlier. Developments on the commodity markets in August were influenced, among other things, by the renewed rise in infection figures worldwide. The decline in the overall index in August was attributable to falling prices for crude oil and for some industrial raw materials.…