Supply Chain Management
We deliver optimal results
Our mission is to strengthen the entire supply chain throughout the product life cycle – always in the area of tension between required quality, necessary flexibility, available innovations, increasing sustainability requirements as well as minimal costs.
Supply Chain strategy
The design and effective management of supply chains – from the supplier to the end customer – is one of the key tasks for long-term corporate success. This involves a series of dedicated measures aimed at optimizing the efficiency, agility and responsiveness of the entire value chain. We help you improve your supply chain today, as well as strategically position it for the challenges of tomorrow.
Our subject areas include:
- Development of an overarching supply chain strategy, as well as its interdependencies with the underlying functional strategies (purchasing, logistics and transport, production)
- Definition of customized organizational and governance models
- Setting up programs to increase supply chain resilience
- Dedicated network and site planning
- End-to-end process management along the entire value and supply chain
- Supply chain transformation in terms of innovation, digitalization and sustainability
Supply chain planning and analysis: Sales, demand and production planning
Sales, demand and production planning is a central component in the implementation of supply chain strategies. The focus is on the smooth coordination of sales planning, demand analyses and production capacities in order to ensure the provision of products in the short, medium and long term.
We help you to develop and set up concrete data and planning models in order to derive and evaluate scenarios. In doing so, we pursue the goal of transparency along the entire supply chain and the sustainable effect of being able to make better decisions based on data. By integrating real-time data and advanced technologies, the planning process remains agile and responsive.
This serves as an overarching enabler for a variety of capabilities of a modern supply chain:
- Early identification of demand patterns and bottlenecks in purchasing, securing of required resources.
- Better route planning, more efficient warehouse management and reduced excess inventories in logistics and transport.
- Optimized capacity utilization in production as well as basis for cost-efficient design of sites, plants and machines.
Purchasing
Particularly in view of the current challenges faced by companies, purchasing is assuming an increasingly important role in organizations: from increasing supplier performance, to sustainability along the supply chain, to promoting supplier innovation and purchasing new technologies.
We are familiar with the wide-ranging spectrum of tasks faced by today’s purchasing organizations and understand how to classify the high demands placed on purchasing within companies. In doing so, we support you in mastering this multitude of different tasks with flying colors.
Quite specifically, for content-related challenges, these include:
- Setting up cost optimization programs and initiatives.
- Supporting procurement processes – from preparation, to negotiation, to awarding.
- Ensuring sustainability requirements along the entire supply chain.
In addition, we are also your partner at eye level when it comes to the alignment of your purchasing organization itself:
- Development of future-proof and innovative purchasing strategies.
- Definition of effective structural and process organizations.
- Transformation of purchasing in terms of sustainability and digitalization.
Production
In addition to planning, material procurement, manufacturing, assembly and quality control, production also includes logistics. Ensuring maximum success and optimal processes in these fields across all manufacturing technologies and industries for our customers is our ambitious and always achieved goal.
Our strengths in the area of production are:
- Industrialization / plant ramp-up as an important step in the introduction of new production capacities or technologies in a company. In the course of industrialization, a new plant or production line is gradually transferred to regular operation, with tests, adjustments and optimizations taking place to ensure efficient and fault-free operation.
- Production optimization through analysis of manufacturing or production processes. Common optimization measures include reducing waste, improving workflows, optimizing the use of machines and resources, and adjusting production planning. In this way, maximized production capacity, increased quality and minimized operating costs are achieved.
- Security of supply to ensure a reliable and uninterrupted supply of necessary components for the smooth operation of production facilities and manufacturing processes. This includes ensuring sufficient inventories and supplier connections to prevent production stoppages due to supply bottlenecks, natural disasters or other disruptions in the supply chain.
- Modern production methods as innovative approaches to increase efficiency, quality, and sustainability. Key components include, among others, Industry 4.0 (IoT, smart factory, big data), sustainability-optimized production processes, Lean production, and Total Quality Management.
Supplier management
Supplier management forms the basis for providing the end customer with products of the right quality, at the right time and in the right place. In this context, we are familiar with both the challenges faced by OEMs to ensure preventive and reactive supply and the efforts made by suppliers to ensure delivery capability.
To meet these challenges holistically, we always take into account the interfaces and influencing variables from development, purchasing, logistics, production and quality.
Our expertise in supplier management with pragmatic approaches lies in the following areas:
- Supplier selection, taking into account the specifications of Purchasing for awarding contracts and, if necessary, for optimizing the supplier network.
- Supplier accompaniment for initial achievement of the required quality level and performance as well as for optimal supplier connection to the OEM. This also includes support during the core phase of industrialization on the way to series production.
- Supplier stabilization either by eliminating a singular supply bottleneck (task forces, bottleneck management, development of a risk radar, supply cockpits) or by intensive intervention due to structural crises (restructuring, reorganization, insolvency, interim management).
- Auditing and requalification as a central component for constantly ensuring and maintaining quality and performance at suppliers across products and technologies.
We complement the traditional procurement functions with additional areas regarding supplier management:
- Supplier development to increase performance or productivity, improve delivery reliability and product quality. The goal of supplier development can be to achieve a higher classification with the OEM. The evaluation results of the OEMs can be used to identify levers.
- Expediting and thus active collection of information for adherence to the schedule and quality targets with regard to the scope of delivery or acceleration on the basis of created transparency and identified qualitative and quantitative deviations from the agreement status.
Project examples
WITH US, THERE IS NO SOLUTION OFF-THE-SHELF
Absolute identification with the specifics, concerns and problems of our customers distinguishes us as an excellent consultancy. We accept their challenges as if they were our own. Our examples for Supply Chain projects speak for this.
