Issue 7 (October 2008)

Editorial

News

Porsche Consulting Management Board augmented; New seminars for resident doctors in the Porsche Akademie; Porsche Consulting: Mission Mediterranean – Team Germany and its partner Porsche Consulting are setting sail in the Audi MedCup

Road Construction with no Speed Limit

Kirchhoff AG is exploring new routes in road construction. Lean processes have been implemented in asphalt construction in collaboration with Porsche Consulting, leading to a completely new system for planning and controlling logistics in the business. The benefits gained - shorter construction times and the resulting cost savings - should gradually make themselves felt in all construction phases, with the help of process optimization.

The construction industry needs to rediscover its process quality

Prof. Christoph Motzko of the Technical University of Darmstadt, is both an advocate and a guide for the German construction industry. The professor is currently researching such issues as the “real-time management of construction processes” at the Institute for Construction Management. For a year, the institute has been cooperating with Porsche Consulting in the field of process optimization. In the following interview, Prof. Motzko talks about the current situation in the construction sector, the new challenges, and the importance of lean processes to the entire industry.

First Choice

Deutsche Post World Net has an ambitious goal: it wants to be the customers’ number one choice, worldwide. And so “First Choice” is the name of the program, which also includes Porsche Consulting. For good reason: the Stuttgart consultants have customer focus throughout their lean management approach.

Sushi Made of Wax

Seeing and understanding—that’s one of the great secrets of success in introducing the methods of lean management. No wonder the idea comes from Japan. Because there, images and symbols regulate everyday life as they do working life, as you’ll find out from the insights on the following pages and a voyage into the world of sign language.

Pain Therapy

Porsche Consulting relies on a practical approach to consultancy, to a large extent shaped by personal experience. Good examples of this are proved by Edgar Ebersoldt and Siegfried Runkel. These consultants once experienced the restructuring process up close at Porsche, including the introduction of Japanese production methods. Today, they have brought KAIZEN and lean production to Porsche’s customers, and gladly look back at how it all began.

Opportunities for improvement are always there

Michael Macht knows both sides of the coin. As the first CEO of Porsche Consulting, he knows how relevant the know-how gained during Porsche’s turnaround is to external customers. And as the Production and Logistics Executive of Porsche since 1998, he knows about the challenge of integrating a permanent improvement process into the corporate culture. “We still have consultants in house - including from Porsche Consulting. This support guarantees that the process doesn’t seize up,” he explains in this interview.

Wealth of Variety

Product diversity is a hallmark, but for enterprises it can also quickly become a serious problem. For a wide range of products and product variants often involves costs that are too high. These costs are due to extra outgoing expenses for development, production, procurement or sales. Porsche Consulting shows through its variant management approach how complex procedures can be brought under control again. Properly understood, the method provides transparency, and even enables companies to achieve a hitherto undreamt-of level of product diversity.

Pressing Issues

The Teutoburger Öhlmühle (Teutoburg Oil Mill), 2007 winner in the up-and-coming companies’ category of the Deutscher Gründerpreis (German Start-Up Prize), is seizing its opportunity. The prize - coaching from Porsche Consulting - is bearing fruit today far beyond the start-up savings introduced at the time. And for good reason: the company that produces high-quality cold-pressed cooking oils is growing fast.