Author: Kloepfel
Positive forecast, but a lot of work The car rental company Sixt, one of the largest in Germany, doubled its profit to 439 million euros in 2018. The reason for this is the constantly growing demand for rental cars at home and abroad and the sale of the stake of DriveNow, a car sharing company, to BMW. CEO Erich Sixt looks positively on the current year. On Monday, he announced that he expects a significant increase in sales and stable earnings before taxes. The car rental business in the USA and other European countries continues to expand. However, Sixt still…
Cooperation with Japanese Space Agency JAXA Together with the Japanese space agency JAXA, Toyota now wants to start a new era in space research. The first project is a manned fuel cell vehicle with which it should be possible to explore foreign planets. The concept vehicle is about six meters long and will provide space for about four astronauts. The mobile space station can be operated both manually and from Earth, but autonomous control is also possible. In combination with an efficient fuel cell propulsion system, the rover will have a range of up to 10,000 kilometers. “At JAXA, we…
Excessive demand leads to delivery problems Sporting goods manufacturer Adidas presented its sales figures for 2018 at the annual press conference. Although it was possible to increase sales by five to eight percent (currency-adjusted), production bottlenecks put a spanner in the works for the Group. Currency-adjusted sales rose by eight percent to just under 22 billion euros. In particular, demand in the mid-price segment was so high in North America in the first six months of 2018 that it could not be fully met. “We have a delivery problem and we are very unhappy about it,” says Kasper Rorsted (CEO…
Total of 100,000 jobs affected According to figures from the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle, short IWH) around 6,600 employees in the German logistics sector could lose their jobs if an unregulated Brexit occurs. This was reported by the newspaper Deutsche Verkehrs Zeitung (DVZ). Scientists from the IWH and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg have jointly created a simulation in which the job effects of a hard Brexit and the resulting decline in exports were determined. The figures do not include other dangers, such as a decline in the willingness to invest. The impact was…
Allegation of unfair competition The music streaming service has lodged a complaint with the EU Commission against the tech group Apple. The Swedish company accuses the US group of unfair competition because of the commission Apple withholds from competing providers. In addition, the rules of Apple’s app store restrict user choice and slow down innovation, according to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. For apps uploaded to the app store, the providers receive 70 percent of the revenues generated by the app. The remaining 30 percent will remain with Apple. This also applies to purchases within an app, for example if a…
In an interview with Alexander Hornikel, Senior Partner at Kloepfel Consulting, Matthias Malessa, former HR manager at adidas AG, talks about his career at adidas, success critical goals and values, HR 4.0 and the war for talents. WHY DID YOU START AT ADIDAS? I would describe my career as a “career of perceived opportunities”. Originally, I wanted to work in international controlling after studying economics and i had this opportunity at adidas. Then the passion of my wife and me for Asia came into play and it opened up an opportunity to work as group controller for adidas in Hong…
Increase productivity in 5 steps “A tidy house, a tidy mind.” As children we have heard this sentence again and again from our parents. With her Netflix series, Japanese bestselling author Marie Kondo has triggered a real clean-up and organization hype. But not only in private life, but also at work, tidiness can have a positive effect on work. In order to make value chains and work processes as efficient as possible, LEAN management offers various methods. The 5S method describes five principles to ensure smooth processes at the workplace. In principle, it is important to place working materials in…
Previously iPhone payment app rejected After the savings banks had previously rejected the use of Apple Pay, the introduction of the mobile payment service now seems probably to be considered. “The savings banks and Landesbanken in Germany are continuously working on improving their payment solutions for their customers. In this context, we are having very positive discussions with Apple to find out how we can introduce Apple Pay for all our customers,” said a spokesperson for the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (German shortcut DSGV). Apple Pay was launched last December after a long delay. With the app, users…
Automotive industry faced with numerous challenges The year 2019 does not look too rosy for the automotive industry. Forecasts predict a decline in production of 5 percent to 4.8 million vehicles in the German plants. According to industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, profit warnings, production cuts and staff reductions are highly likely. Industry struggles with problems The main problems facing the industry are still the conversion to WLTP exhaust gas measurement values, the diesel crisis and driving bans. Other problems include the weakening Chinese automotive market and the trade dispute between the USA and China and the Brexit. In addition, the…
The HWWI raw material price index rose again in February HWWI total index rose by 3.0% (US dollar basis). Crude oil prices rose by 7.4%. Increase in the index for industrial raw materials. (Hamburg) In February, the HWWI commodity price index rose by an average of 3.0% per month (in euros: +3.6%) compared with the previous month. The HWWI Commodity Price Index was at 116.7 points in February 2019 (in euro: 114.0 points) and thus 4.0% (in euro: +4.4%) lower (in euro: higher) than in February 2018. Once again, the index for industrial raw materials showed the largest increase. Prices…
The Jefta Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Japan officially came into force on 1 February 2019. Jefta accounts for 30 percent of world trade and is the largest free trade agreement in the world. According to its 300 pages, the devil is in the detail. In this article you can find out how to support the customs and foreign trade experts at Kloepfel 4PL Solutions in order to benefit from Jefta. The aim of Jefta (Japan-EU Free Trade Agreement) is to remove barriers in trade between EU and Japanese economies as far as possible. Due to the…
Even old things prove their worth Haigerloch, Baden-Wuerttemberg, 21.02.2019 – Theben AG of Baden-Wuerttemberg has recently optimized its purchasing. They were supported by the purchasing consultancy Kloepfel Consulting. Founded in 1921, the family-owned company with over 700 employees worldwide is a leading provider of intelligent solutions in the Smart Home and Smart Energy sector. With regard to its innovative and competitive strength, Theben AG has now sustainably reduced its procurement costs and simplified its internal and external purchasing processes. Besides the high procurement costs for strategic materials, the purchasing department of Theben AG must also keep an eye on adherence…
In January, the HWWI Commodity Price Index recorded a moderate increase. HWWI Total index rose by 0.4% (US dollar basis). On monthly average, crude oil increased by 4.5%. Industrial raw materials as well as food prices rose. (Hamburg)In January, the HWWI Commodity Price Index increased by 0.4% on monthly average (in Euro: + 0.1%) compared to the previous month. Thus, commodity prices rose in the first month of the year 2019, after the overall index had registered declines in November and December of last year. In January 2019 the HWWI Commodity Price Index registeredat 113.3 points (in Euro: 110.1 points)…
Entry and exit without authorisation The Brexit is about to take place at the end of March and so far, the government has not been able to commit itself to concrete plans. Therefore, a hard Brexit becomes more and more probable. In order to prevent the collapse of entire supply chains, trucks from the EU will be allowed to enter and leave the UK without a permit. This will ensure smooth import and export. “The United Kingdom must be sure that, as usual, foreign products can be imported and British products can be exported,” a government statement in Die Zeit…
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…