automotive
Willi Elbe Group
Transparency and efficiency in
the target cost calculation
TESTIMONIAL
"The solution developed by nuveon enables us to carry out calculations across our entire portfolio and for various customers in a comprehensible, reliable and economically viable manner."
Frank Veigel, Head of Sales Coordination
HOW IT BEGAN
The challenge
At the main plant in Tamm near Stuttgart, all processes at all locations are controlled and coordinated by currently more than 650 employees. This is also where the core competence for the areas of research and development as well as materials management and sales lies. As a modern supplier to the automotive industry, the focus for the Willi Elbe Group is not only on quality but also on profitability in the underlying processes. Transparency and precision are particularly important when it comes to calculating products and the resulting offers. The data required for this was compiled in extensive Excel tables in the past and formed the basis for target costing and the preparation of offers.
Despite the modular principle, there is a large number of variants in the product portfolio and the calculation process became a complex challenge. Several employees were needed to collect and structure this data. But despite great efforts, the data quality was not always optimal. Decentralized data management and a lack of transparency made calculation difficult and sometimes led to different results. Added to this was the use of different calculation charts by customers, which made standardization more difficult. In order to meet the increasing demands of the market and the company's own quality standards, it was therefore decided to modernize the existing processes.
TEAMWORK
The solution
While searching for a suitable solution, the company became aware of nuveon. As a specialist in the analysis, optimization and control of production processes, nuveon has the necessary expertise. The web-based technologies developed by nuveon served as the basis for a new type of product calculation system that can be used with any web browser, regardless of the device. The previously tedious calculation of machine hourly rates should be future-oriented with the new solution.
"The solution developed by nuveon enables us to carry out calculations across our entire portfolio in a way that is comprehensible, reliable and economically viable for various customers," says Frank Veigel, Head of Sales Coordination at the Willi Elbe Group, convinced of the results._cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_
The innovative product calculation system is now used across all series and records a wide range of data - starting with machine data management through to the work processes. This also includes detailed information about wage costs, set-up times, material, parts lists and the required lot sizes. The linking of work schedules and working times is also part of the new system.
The high demands on data quality in particular were decisive for the introduction of the nuveon solution. Because as a reliable partner to the automotive industry, the Willi Elbe Group is required to hand over detailed cost analyzes as early as the offer phase. Extensive information about the calculation of the hourly machine rates is often requested from the automobile manufacturers. It is not uncommon for statements to be made down to the energy consumption, the expected maintenance costs or the scheduled cycle times.
Since automobile manufacturers have individual requirements for offers and calculations, easy export is a crucial point. What used to be laborious manual work can now be recorded automatically and transferred to the desired customer format. “Thanks to nuveon, we are able to implement a target cost calculation for our products that would have been unthinkable in the past in terms of quality and speed. This secures us decisive competitive advantages in this hard-fought market in the long term,” emphasizes Frank Veigel.
But the product calculation system developed by nuveon goes one step further: it also enables processes to be simulated. This aspect is particularly important when planning new acquisitions in the machine park or for estimating future costs, e.g. B. with rising electricity and material prices, should not be underestimated. And shift sequences and utilization rates can also be viewed in business games. In this way, the effects of changes to the machine parameters can be determined immediately. This is an important point, especially when calculating the resulting hourly machine rates.
IMPACT
benefits
The web-based product calculation system from nuveon now has a permanent place in the Willi Elbe Group. It is the central basis for a company-wide and cross-location calculation of all products.
"We are more than satisfied with the solution and the work of the nuveon team. We not only benefited from nuveon's extensive experience during implementation and introduction. New ideas and requirements from our company are always implemented quickly and reliably. Ultimately, these points contributed to the success of the new system,” sums up Frank Veigel.
Current plans for linking the calculation program to the ERP system show that integration with third-party providers is also an important aspect.
