Studies, white papers and industry papers

White paper: Supply Chain Network Management 2023

BOOSTING ROBUSTNESS, RESILIENCE AND RESPONSIVENESS

What does the stable supply chain network of tomorrow look like? Those who come out on top will be supply chain networks that at their core have three capabilities: Robustness, responsiveness and resilience.

All reconfiguration measures are geared towards strengthening these three capabilities. Companies then benefit from the fact that a robust network has suitable measures in place to protect them against events with a lower severity and enables continuous operation. The more responsive the network is, the quicker the company is capable of making suitable adjustments and to continue with the performance. 

White Paper: Go GREEN 2022

COMPETITIVENESS AND FUTURE ASSURANCE

Heat records, forest fires, dried-up rivers and lakes — climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can no longer be ignored. In Germany, industry is responsible for around one-fifth of GHG emissions. According to the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, two-thirds of these emissions are generated during energy production, while one-third is released during the manufacture of products in the metal and chemical industries, for example.

While such process-related emissions – methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases in addition to carbon dioxide (CO2) – are mostly unavoidable, the CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuels to generate electricity and heat can very well be reduced or even completely avoided. This is the reason why the German government is pushing for the conversion to a climate-neutral industrialized country – across the entire value chain.

White Paper: Strategy Excellence

How to make the future happen

The question currently arises as to why the topic of strategy is just now gaining renewed attention among many companies. In our opinion, this is due to two developments: First, external influences such as political decisions or shorter technology cycles on companies and their market environment have significantly increased in strength and speed in recent years. As a result, the added value that companies create for their customers is coming under much more rapid and sustained pressure than it was a few years ago. Second, many companies are increasingly struggling to implement strategic initiatives. According to recent studies, the rate of ineffective strategic initiatives is around 50%. This represents a waste of resources that companies can no longer afford.

For companies, it follows from these two developments that they must implement excellent strategy development and deployment processes to ensure their long-term success in the marketplace.

Study: German Industry 4.0 Index 2022 

Staufen AG has compiled the German Industry 4.0 Index every year since 2014. Thus, the metric is nearly as old as the term Industry 4.0 itself. The 2022 index indicates that the German economy is threatening to split down the middle. 2, the German Industry 4.0 Index was compiled as part of the study “Companies in Transformation.”

For this, we surveyed a total of 363 companies in Germany in the fall of 2021, a good two-thirds of whom are from the mechanical and plant engineering industry, the electrical industry, and the automotive sector.

Industry paper: Food

Apart from the large retail chains, the food sector in Germany is generally characterized by numerous small and medium-sized companies. Most of them have no experience with lean management to date. Producing small batches, delivering just-in-time and responding flexibly to customer wishes is therefore difficult for them to imagine.

Currently, the food industry is dominated by overproduction and excessive inventories. And that has a number of negative effects.

Study: Green Transformation in Mechanical and Plant Engineering

In mechanical engineering, experts currently see three megatrends, which must be combined at companies. Sustainability, digitalization, and systems engineering. According to expert opinions, in order to be able to guarantee comprehensive sustainability, mechanical engineering must work symbiotically with its customers. It is only possible to tackle systematic tasks such as the circular economy by uniting system builders and operators.

So that the green transformation succeeds, companies and their suppliers must cooperate more closely and increase their readiness for transformation. As the results of the study show, it’s likely that not all companies will succeed.

Industry Paper: Private Equity

Financial investments are in demand – now more than ever.

When it comes to analyzing a company’s numbers, financial investors are unreservedly among the professionals. But that doesn’t mean they also have a profound understanding of what is happening on the factory floor. The opinion of the companies surveyed in this private equity study clearly shows: financial investors are valued for their important role and are readily chosen as partners.

At the same time, however, companies would like to see more dialogue at eye level and a better understanding of the peculiarities of their respective industries. Yet, only if partners are on equal footing with mutual respect can the mix of entrepreneurial creativity and financial expertise with a strong capital base realize its full potential.  – to the benefit of all involved.