Author: Kloepfel
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Don’t let logistics prices overtake you now! The Corona Lockdown is over for the time being – and with it the most profound restrictions on the logistics industry. The immediate effects are shown by the “Logistics Indicator” of the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (ifo). On behalf of the Bundesvereinigung Logistik e. V. (BVL), these surveys the economic development in the logistics sector: In May, the main indicator was above the pre-crisis level at 102.5 points. This also means that German SMEs should act now to secure the best price conditions in the upturn. Critical hurdle for SMEs: opaque logistics…
Maarten Erasmus is a partner at Kloepfel Benelux and specializes in direct sourcing for the industry Imagine this: You have a fantastic product and you know that a company could be very happy with it. In your mind’s eye, you can already hear the feedback, “If only we’d had this sooner…”, and in a good mood you contact the potential customer. You are connected to the purchasing department via the reception desk. Halfway through your introduction, you are told to send an email to the info@ address, and for the next few weeks there is radio silence. Why is this…
Interview with Patrick Esselborn, Kloepfel Services, the service center for purchasing processes What are the current challenges in purchasing? The challenges posed by the Corona pandemic in procurement and supply chain management are enormous. Repeatedly rising prices, supply bottlenecks, employees in quarantine but also advancing digitalization and increasing legal requirements require highly qualified purchasing and supply chain teams to lead their areas safely into the future. Most purchasing departments are currently working at the edge of their capacities and skilled employees are hard to find. On the other hand, external factors such as political framework conditions, economic developments and climate…
Lean management system and purchasing consulting hand in hand IFOX Systems GmbH creates resource transparency with its data analysis tool: every euro spent is classified as value added, waste or necessary waste. This also helps Kloepfel Consulting in its purchasing consulting: Achieved savings and optimizations are quickly illustrated and hidden potentials can be more easily identified to have them lifted by Kloepfel experts using proven methods. In an interview with Kloepfel senior partner Alexander Hornikel, Stefan J. Blöchl, Head of Operations at IFOX Systems GmbH, explains the advantages of the cooperation for medium-sized purchasing companies. Mr. Blöchl, with IFOX you…
RWI/ISL Container Throughput Index RWI (Leibniz Institute for Economic Research; formerly Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung) reported higher container throughput a few days ago. The institute shared results of a quick estimate for the month of June. Growth in all world regions According to the report, the container throughput index of RWI and the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) rose slightly in June compared to the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis – from 125.3 points (revised value) to 126.4 points. According to RWI, the increase was distributed relatively evenly among the world regions. In addition, the institute…
More deliveries than ever before Tesla continues its successful course. In the past quarter, the electric car manufacturer was able to increase its sales by 87 percent to a good 12 billion dollars despite raw material bottlenecks. Profits increased tenfold to 1.1 billion dollars. The last quarter was therefore the first in which the one billion mark was cracked. But Tesla did not only set new records in terms of money. The number of vehicles delivered has also never been as high as in the past quarter. A total of 206,421 vehicles were produced, of which 201,000 were delivered. In…
Chip manufacturers changed production to meet demand The automotive industry faces semiconductor shortages through 2022. Alan Priestley of the analysis firm Gartner forecasts an easing in the memory chip sector from 2023 to 2024. All other sectors will recover at different rates as the reasons vary. Only a few alternatives The reasons are the effects of the Corona virus on the one hand and digitization on the other. At the beginning of the pandemic, demand in the automotive industry shrank. Consequently, demand from chip manufacturers also declined, as companies in the automotive sector do not carry high inventories. Priestley explains,…
Paris/Düsseldorf/Brussels, June 2021 – The French EPSA Group has acquired four companies of the Düsseldorf-based Kloepfel Group as well as the Belgian Kronos Group. According to analyses by market research firm Lünendonk, the new alliance of EPSA, Kronos and Kloepfel is the largest consulting group specializing in procurement and supply chain management in the pan-European region, with more than 1,300 employees. In total, the merger comes to 1,600 employees. Strong manpower for difficult times The current structural crisis is forcing economic players to reorganize or even restructure and find new levers to deal with this unprecedented situation. This is where…
June 2021 Author Thanh Duy Tran, Senior Partner at Kloepfel Consulting The importance of purchasing for functioning companies is currently made clear to medium-sized entrepreneurs once again. A wide variety of manufacturing industries are complaining about supply bottlenecks and lunar prices. Steel, aluminum, copper, plastics, electronics, electrical components and even purchased parts are causing headaches for many SMEs. Security of supply is the number one issue in many companies. Purchasing develops from being the ordering department to being the savior of production, opening up both profit-taking and new opportunities for growth. Read in this article how buyers master the current…