Issue 5 (June 2007)

News

The Engineers of Mobility

Mobile office. Expandable if necessary. The Porsche Design Roadster Briefcase M holds your laptop, documents and organizer. It is especially easy to maneuver as a trolley. Total stability for travel. Optional shoulder strap. You can find Porsche Design Luggage collection at the Porsche Design Stores listed below or at selected retailers.

Quite Bowled Over

In Japan, you have to take your shoes off—and not just when you’re visiting a restaurant. As a rule, anyone who makes their way to the motherland of Kaizen to attend the Porsche Consulting seminar comes back profoundly impressed. 14 employees of the Benteler Group, which has enjoyed worldwide success in the field of automotive engineering, among other fields, also dared to confront Japanese production methods—and accumulated entirely new experiences.

In Search of Lost Time

Given that its name is something of a tongue twister and sounds unusually extravagant, nonetheless, the Process Chart & Analysis Sheet is one of the most important basic tools for introducing and visualising standardised working processes and, in turn, the basic requirement for lean production.

Forza Italia!

They’re ready for the off in Milan. The strong team at newly founded Porsche Consulting Italia S.r.l. aims to conquer the market south of the Alps, pass on process know-how—and enjoy life to the full while fulfilling the high expectations of head office in Bietigheim.

Salto mentale

To ensure its competitiveness on the international market, the Italian company GLEM Gas S.p.A., a manufacturer of gas cookers, build-in hobs, and ovens, has switched its production process to the “just-in-time” principle, with the aid of Porsche Consulting. After the first cultural shock was overcome, the encounter with Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of ongoing improvement, kindled a real fire among the employees.

The Alchemy of Processes

You can’t re-invent the wheel every day, but it’s a different story with tyres. That is, if you know a bit about black magic, because in the trial laboratory more than 200 different ingredients go into the final round unit: Resins, oils, carbons—and of course rubber. At Goodyear’s Technical Center, experts are constantly working to find the best composition, employing a large measure of creativity. Their sense of organisation needed some honing, and so Porsche Consulting’s help was enlisted to introduce a Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) into the development system. Goodyear has been maintaining the CIP itself for a long time now.

Breeding Ground for Success

Looking forward with optimism: on 19 June, the tenth award ceremony will be held in Berlin to present German entrepreneurs in four categories with the “Deutscher Gründerpreis” (German Start-up Prize). The aim of the initiative is to encourage entrepreneurial spirit in Germany. The four partners in the initiative are the magazine stern, the Sparkassen savings banks, the ZDF TV channel and Porsche. Prize-winners and nominees are assigned successful family companies as their “mentors”. Good reason, then, to ask some experienced trustees what entrepreneurism is all about and what are the real secrets of success that lie behind healthy growth and corporate culture.

The Racing Laboratory

In the new Porsche Motorsport Centre, a small range of pure-bred racing cars are manufactured by hand. Production of the high-performance vehicles follows a precise strategy based on the fabrication principles in use at the main Zuffenhausen plant. By means of lean processes, the motorsport experts create the foundation for worldwide success.

Gold for the Empress

Silk made from gold—the good reputation of the creations of the Wellendorff jewellery manufactory reaches as far as international noble houses. Tradition binds, but the Pforzheim company strives to make constant improvements. Working with Porsche Consulting, the concept of lean thinking has been introduced into the production process and successfully implemented among artists and individualists.