Author: Kloepfel
No sympathy for sample-declaring action In 2015 the diesel scandal broke through the Wolfsburg car manufacturer Volkswagen. Since then, hardly a week has passed in which there have been no new headlines about it, even about other manufacturers. Now the carmaker has announced how high the costs have been so far. VW board member Hiltrud Werner told the Handelsblatt that legal costs alone are in the three-digit billion range. According to her, the bottom line of the scandal was 28 billion euros. Lawyer’s fees will continue to rise And costs could rise even further this year. In Germany alone, hundreds…
About the customer: Toys “R” Us has been represented in Germany since 1986 – and has easily become one of the largest toy retailers in German-speaking countries. The idea of a toy store has been enthusiastically received by parents and children over here. The business development of Toys “R” Us in Germany has been a great success story since the foundation of the German branch in 1986 and the opening of the first specialist store in Koblenz one year later. 95 branches in German-speaking countries Starting point: The aim of the procurement cost optimization project was to analyze the present…
Diplomacy on the assembly line. Why more and more German companies are building an economic bridge to Russia. The West now fears a cold war with Russia. Hacker attacks. Opinion-making. Armament. But many medium-sized companies defy political tensions and have discovered Russian companies as important partners. In order to cope with the intensified competition on the Russian automotive market, many German vehicle and special vehicle manufacturers set up new production factories directly in Russia. In the course of this development, many suppliers followed suit. The result was a high-quality market for suppliers in Russia that meets all the requirements of…
Bridge financing secures business operations The insolvent fashion manufacturer Gerry Weber has found an investor for its subsidiary Hallhuber. With bridge financing, Hallhuber’s business operations can be continued until further notice. At the end of January, the fashion group from Halle (Westphalia) filed for insolvency. The subsidiary Hallhuber is not affected by this application. Investor has purchase option The parent company reported in an ad hoc announcement that the financing for the subsidiary amounts to around 10 million euros. There was also a purchase option. Who the investor is is not known. If the investor withdraws the purchase option, Gerry…
Implementation in around 40 restaurants in 3 months Nearly 100 trained users of the platform Process streamlining for decentralized use Comprehensive data security and policy compliance Frankfurt am Main, 14.02.2019 – Fresh cocktails, good food and a lot of fun are part of the daily business of Sausalitos Holding GmbH. But the gastronomy chain can also be seen in its procurement. Since 01.09.2018, the Munich-based umbrella organisation has been relying on the purchasing platform Sourcify.net for its procurement activities. The e-Procurement system allows the digitalization of certain procurement processes, individually tailored to the needs of the company. Users benefit from…
In an interview with senior partner Alexander Hornikel and project manager Marcus Schilling, Michael Veigel, Chief Financial Officer at DocMorris, describes the cooperation with Kloepfel Consulting and the process of the project. Were you skeptical or open-minded at the beginning of the project? As a CFO, I am generally rather skeptical. Nevertheless, I was very open-minded; otherwise this project would not have come into being in the first place. I liked the approach, No Cure – No Pay, on a success basis. The negotiations went smoothly, as Kloepfel responded well to our adaptation requests. From this it was also clear…
Optimum product group management needs to be lived actively Successful product group management requires a restructuring of the company: away from the subdivision into purchasing and sales; towards a management of the company according to product groups as strategic business units. The strategic processing and pooling of goods and services into marketable product groups enables product group management to achieve optimum cost prices while taking into account the total cost of ownership. Product group management is a prerequisite for being able to operate improvement levers and thus assumes a central position for achieving savings. Challenges Many companies have already calculated…
In December, HWWI Commodity Price Index dropped again HWWI Commodity Price Index fell by 9.5% (US dollar base). On monthly average, crude oil price decreased by 10.3%. Sub-Indices for Industrial and Food & beverages dropped also. (Hamburg)In December, the HWWI Total commodity price index fell by 9.5% (in Euro: – 9.6%). Thus, commodity prices declined in the last month of the year 2018 again significantly, even though less strong than in November. The HWWI Total index fell to 112.9 points (in Euro: 110.0 points), which is 4.8% (in Euro: – 1.0%) lower than a year ago. The Index for Energy…
More truckers soon The number of applications for training in the transport and logistics sector rose in 2018 compared with the previous year. Also, more young people were interested in the job of a truck driver. This was evident from the survey conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (German shortcut BIBB). According to the results, last year 6,192 people signed an apprenticeship contract as a merchant for forwarding and logistics services. This is an increase of 7 percent compared to the previous year, in which only 5,760 contracts were signed. The number of applicants for a…
Further new toll standards adopted The Federal Highway Toll Act was amended again. The new standards are valid from 01 January 2019. In the course of the new regulation, the toll amount will no longer be determined on the basis of the number of axles, but calculated on the basis of the total weight combined with the number of axles from 18 tons. In addition, several amendments to the Road Haulage and Road Traffic Act have been adopted. For example, electronic and natural gas vehicles are not initially affected by the toll. This also includes fuel cell vehicles. According to…
Industry performs above average Deutsche Telekom has published a digitization index that shows how well companies and individual industries are implementing digitization. In this context, the logistics sector performed above average. The transport, traffic and logistics sector achieved 61 out of a total of 100 index points. With this, the industry is six points above the overall economic average and is considered a pioneer. The top ten percent of logistics companies even achieved an index of 91 points. According to the study, the logistics industry has consistently implemented the opportunities of digital transformation. Logistics companies are increasingly using digital solutions:…
Also an Underdog included The federal government wants to push ahead with the expansion of the 5G frequency. Until last Friday, companies could apply to the Federal Network Agency. Mobile phone holes and slow internet will soon be a part of the past. After the application deadline, four candidates were on the list. According to insider information from the Federal Network Agency, the German newspaper Handelsblatt reports about Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica. But not only the big players want to participate in the auction for the expansion of the 5G frequencies: the underdog United Internet is also up for…
So far no reaction from Trump It was one of the topics in 2018: the USA’s punitive tariffs against other industrial nations. The steel and aluminum industries in particular were hit by import duties. The EU also responded to steel imports with tariffs in the summer of 2018. Originally, these were only intended to apply provisionally. Now the member states have decided to continue charging these fees – and do so permanently. EU wants to prevent market distortion At present, the additional duty rate is 25 percent. This applies to imports that additionally enter the EU due to US customs…
Cable plant in Mönchengladbach-Rheydt affected The French company Nexans operates several locations in Germany, including Mönchengladbach-Rheydt and Hanover. However, the cable manufacturer plans to cut around 600 jobs. A total of around 100 jobs are to be cut at the factory in Rheydt. A total of 400 people are employed there. Rheinische Post reported on the planned reduction. The company confirmed the announcement to the newspaper on Thursday. The employees had already been informed, the company continued. Nexans lacks profitability But not only will jobs be cut, the strategy of the locations will also be changed. The head office in…
The company is only doing well in the USA Internationally, things are not going well for the US car manufacturer Ford at the moment. The company is slipping more and more into the red in Europe. The reason: high special costs and increasing problems in China and Europe. In the fourth quarter of last year, a loss of around 116 million dollars was calculated, according to the company. In the same period last year, however, a profit of 2.5 billion dollars was achieved. Operating profit fell by 28 percent to $1.5 billion. Even though the figures were weak, the market…
After merger with Karstadt: thousands of jobs in danger According to a report, the employees of the warehouse group Galeria Kaufhof must prepare for job cuts, as these could now follow after the merger with Karstadt. According to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the head of the joint venture, Stephan Fanderl, said at a management meeting: “In its current state, Galeria Kaufhof is not viable in the long term”. Together, the management decided on a comprehensive restructuring program for the company. The employees were now informed about the risks at a staff meeting. 2,600 jobs affected According to the report, 2,600…
Real could disappear from the market The Real self-service department store chain has been up for sale for months. Now the retail giant Kaufland has announced its interest. The giant wants to take over several of the 287 stores in Germany. The Real self-service department store chain has been up for sale for months. Now the retail giant Kaufland has announced its interest. The giant wants to take over several of the 287 stores in Germany. The newspaper “Lebensmittel Zeitung” reported that Kaufland wanted to take over 100 branches of Real. Kaufland did not give a statement after inquiry of…
The demand of medium-sized businesses for the various services of management consultants also says a lot about the related economic trends. For example, the information chart on the current company figures of the purchasing specialist Kloepfel also reflects clear trends in medium-sized purchasing. Across all companies, the Kloepfel Group acquired a total of 134 new customers in 2018. This is a new record for the full-service purchasing service provider and also shows that purchasing is becoming increasingly important for SMEs. In this article you can read about the biggest challenges and most important trends in purchasing in 2019. 2019 will…