Author: Kloepfel

“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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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,…

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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…

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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…

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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.…

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Kloepfel Consulting looks back on decades of logistics and freight cost optimization. Our experts provide sustainable strategies for cost reduction and more effective processes! Get insights on how you can unleash your logistics, too. Hit the brakes on transport prices now! Road transportation capacity on the spot market is causing freight prices to swing to serious heights. Specifically, there is currently a 3-year low in transportation capacity and a 3-year high in transportation costs. Here’s how German SMEs are nevertheless securing capacity and the best possible terms. Read the full article here: www.kloepfel-magazin.com Watch out, toll trap! Haulers often miscalculate…

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Price negotiations are particularly difficult when a so-called monopolist is involved. However, it is necessary to differentiate between real and “home-grown” monopolists. What the difference between the two lies, what the purchase has to consider when negotiating with monopolists and how to achieve purchasing optimization, reveals the following article. The biggest problem for buyers: monopolists can make their prices quite arbitrary. Price increases are therefore not uncommon and most companies accept them silently. Meanwhile, there are various industries in which companies are happy to receive goods at all. Therefore, buyers often shy away from price negotiations. Monopolies: the different scenarios…

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Since more than 15 years Parcel Broker GmbH is specialized in the worldwide shipment of jewelry, watches, valuables and other valuable items. The company ships around 150,000 parcels a year on behalf of more than 1,500 customers, such as jewelers, goldsmiths, jewelry and precious metal dealers. Now the company has optimized its logistics. Project goal: cost reduction of global parcel services . As part of the project, various parcel services were put to the test. The goal was to optimize the logistics costs especially around parcel transport together with the purchasing consultancy Kloepfel Consulting. In addition, structural optimizations were carried…

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Rising prices will lead to falling purchasing power Germany’s import prices rose by 15 percent in July. This was due to higher prices for oil, gas and other energy products. The last time a comparably high increase of 17.4 percent was measured was in 1981. Experts were only expecting an increase of over 13.6 percent. Prices had already risen by 12.9 percent in June. Economists expect the higher prices to be passed on to consumers by companies. The rate of inflation At 3.8 percent, the inflation rate has reached its highest level since 1993. Experts forecast an increase of up…

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Slowed down upswing Austria’s industry is feeling the problems in the supply chains. That is according to Bank Austria’s latest report on its Purchasing Managers’ Index. The bank has been publishing this index, which is produced in collaboration with the British market research institute IHS Markit, since 1998. Currently, Austrian industry continues to recover strongly. However, the momentum is waning somewhat, as Bank Austria notes. Purchasing managers’ index down The Purchasing Managers’ Index fell in August for the second time in a row. However, Bank Austria describes the current index value of 61.8 points as excellent. The indicator continues to…

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Joint venture for seating systems and interior solutions Brose and Volkswagen intend to join forces to create a leading global supplier of seat systems and interior solutions. This is the result of a recent press release from the automotive supplier Brose. The new company will be called Brose Sitech. Brose and Volkswagen already signed a contract for this in the spring. Now the antitrust authorities have given all the necessary approvals for the joint venture, as Brose reports. This means that the new company could start operations as planned at the beginning of 2022. Seat systems and networked interior solutions…

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HWWI Commodity Price Index Continues to Rise in July HWWI overall index rose 4.1% (U.S. dollar basis) Crude oil prices increased 1.5% Lumber prices fall another 49.2% (Hamburg, August 11, 2021) The HWWI commodity price index rose by an average of 4.1% in July from the previous month, exceeding its corresponding year-earlier value by 87.2%. The rise in the overall index in July was again due to price increases in the markets for energy commodities, particularly in the markets for coal and natural gas. On the markets for industrial raw materials, the positive price trend of recent months did not…

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