Supply Chain Operations

Challenges from present and future are as multifaceted as the processes in companies. Nevertheless, they must be met and the company must be prepared for the future. They have the task, we the way.

As part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, we have the task of conducting practice-oriented research for you and further developing existing systems on the basis of our findings. With our help, you benefit from the latest developments that are tailored to your needs.

At present, these are in particular developments around the topic of industry 4.0 and digitization.

• What is Industry 4.0 and how is Industry 4.0 introduced?
• What is changing in your processes and for your employees?
• What opportunities does Industry 4.0 offer your company?
• Does Industry 4.0 pay off for you at all?

These and many other questions are addressed in our mission statement "Management of Industry 4.0". Our mission is clearly formulated.

• We want to make Industry 4.0 not only tangible and understandable for companies, but also actively support them in adapting and implementing it!

Neutral, professional and with many years of experience, we work with you to find your way forward. We focus on the processes and systems that meet your individual requirements for your individual situation and future.

Acute need for optimisation, planned further development or the advancement of innovations - whatever drives you, we will be happy to support you!

Inventories are in the area of conflict of many interests and are subject to various influences - inventory reductions to save capital commitment costs and capacities, inventory build-up for high supply security and degression effects in purchasing.

To strike the right balance is a degree hike. We support you in designing disposition rules, inventory dimensions and order policies according to your needs, integrating suppliers and customers and finding the right software support.

Tender or how to tell a supplier what to do. This task is sometimes very complex and also very sensitive in terms of information policy. Starting with the process description, which defines the scope of the service to be tendered, through the analysis of the system load that the supplier can expect, to the evaluation and selection of the incoming supplier offers, tenders require a professional, technically experienced and often neutral handling.

Our experience ranges from the awarding of the smallest sub-processes to logistics service providers to invitations to tender for the takeover of entire locations as part of contract logistics. The security and requirements of your processes and structures as well as the satisfaction of your customers are clearly in focus.

Cost-effective, flexible and at the same time secure, stable and fast processes are the core of successful companies. In addition to modern resources, the customer-oriented design of processes and the integration and motivation of employees are particularly important.

With the customer as our starting point, we analyse your processes in order processing as well as information and material flows. Together with you, we develop and implement concepts and improvement measures to increase and secure performance that suit you, your strategy and your employees. Success goes hand in hand with a holistic view of the process chains with all their facets. 

Returns are part of everyday life for many companies - not only in e-commerce. Because the customer is directly affected in the event of returns, professional and customer-oriented returns management is indispensable. A fast and customer-friendly reaction helps to keep the customer despite undermined mistakes. The aim is to keep the costs for returns as low as possible.

We will be happy to support you in balancing a high level of customer service with the design of cost-effective returns processes. The spectrum of this task ranges from the creation of cost transparency in returns logistics to the development of the necessary processes depending on different service levels. The goal is the satisfaction of your customers.

The demands placed on companies are constantly changing. Companies and their employees must follow these requirements, because continuous improvement not only affects processes and machines, but also employees. This involves safeguarding and distributing existing knowledge within the company and building up new skills.

Individual or pre-defined - our seminars are precisely geared to these goals of knowledge management. Depending on your interests, you can attend seminars on the following topics.

• Inventory Management
• outsourcing
• process optimisation
• returns logistics
• system planning

An optimal material flow is made possible in particular by the direction in which the work equipment is arranged. This arrangement must be adapted to the work processes specified by the range of products and services. This applies in particular to demanding customer-supplier relationships, such as just-in-time or Kanban production.

The company locations must be designed accordingly. The dimensions of new plants and their layout must go hand in hand with the design of lean, material flow-oriented productions.

From greenfield planning to the adaptation of existing sites, we take a holistic view of your planning task right down to the process level.