Kerkhoff Consulting GmbH

BooksGerd Kerkhoff and his consultants publish monographs on the topics of purchasing, procurement, and supply chain management, which have been published by the renowned publishers, Wiley and Springer.

Cost Engineering We optimize the manufacturing costs of your products, taking into account current and future customer needs. Yes we can!"" Product doctor, technology expert, cost optimizer, yield enhancer... Our customers have already given us many creative names. To make them fit for their competitive environment, we examine and analyze their products along the value chain and scrutinize all costs. The world of our service offering is quickly explained. We identify cost drivers, create cost transparency and make your existing products fitter for the market. Manufacturing companies value us for: an agile team of product, design and manufacturing experts 30 proven methods and processes software developed in-house a lot of know-how from more than 22 years a healthy pinch of shirt-sleevedness and down-to-earthness  We know our customers' world inside out. And also their "pain points". Two things are always in short supply: time and money. For a product to succeed in the marketplace, both components must be used optimally. We are dedicated to the mission of increasing your profitability by detecting any waste and making your products future-proof and competitive. We are experts in cost-oriented product development that evaluates the benefits for end users. We work together with you to optimize manufacturing costs. We evaluate production materials, production processes as well as the product design and the technology used - always in close cooperation with the disciplines of sales, product management, design, purchasing, production and quality assurance. Optimisation of production costs for products in series productionPotential Ø 11 % Our focus is on lowering production costs in order to improve the short and medium-term operating result. We work intensively with the sales, product management, design/development, purchasing and production departments in order to exploit the greatest possible potential. We proceed in three stages: Scoping: We identify the leverage with the greatest savings potential. Analysis of potential: We develop tangible measures to optimise production costs in terms of material, design and process. Implementation: We implement these measures together with you and implement them in the product management, design, purchasing and production departments. Cost-oriented product developmentPotential Ø 28 % We combine the needs of your customers with production cost targets. We apply methods such as design thinking, value analysis and DFA. We ensure a cost-optimised product structure with the benefits for the customer in mind. With the consistent application of target costing, we create transparency and fact-based decision-making tools for the entire development process. This allows you to keep production costs under control right from the development stage and, at the same time, integrate newly acquired knowledge into your standard workflows. Additive ManufacturingAdditive manufacturing has increasingly established itself as a technology in recent years. In addition to the conventional applications in prototype construction, the process is also used in after-sales, tool construction, individualised series production (medical technology) and in series production of small parts with unit numbers of up to 1000.For many of our customers the question is whether the introduction of such technology is beneficial. We evaluate your parts range quickly and accurately to assess whether a change will pay off immediately or strategically when it comes to the costs of implementing 3D printing technology. For the potential we identify, we develop tailor-made concepts for implementation in cooperation with you. Organisational Development Cost EngineeringWe want to sustainably optimise your product costs and set you up securely for the future. We do this in a systematic manner and also consider the interaction and integration of your individual departments, such as sales, product management, design/development, purchasing and production. We develop the necessary know-how in your company and enable you to act independently with newly acquired knowledge - with the help of technical specialists as well as methodology and technology experts. The organisational development is supported by our school of excellence, in which the necessary know-how is developed in all departments. We will act as a mentor and provide specific training for all the necessary skills and methods.

Software for cost calculationTransparency as the basis for sound management decisions With software for cost calculation, purchasers, designers, controllers or value analysts gain transparency over actual manufacturing costs. Direct material costs, direct manufacturing costs, special direct manufacturing costs as well as material overheads, manufacturing overheads and production-related value consumption flow into the calculation. Kerkhoff Software offers intelligent products and services around cost calculation and benchmark data. The application tools make the work of our customers and consultants more efficient and provide - with the inclusion of external market data - exact calculations. Our software products are intensively tested for their suitability for everyday use by Kerkhoff consultants and continuously improved. In this way, we ensure that our products are performant and up-to-date, meet constantly changing requirements, and offer our customers exactly the performance they want. Development partnerships with our customers also contribute to this. Successful solutions for individual requirements are created in trusting cooperation, which are then made available to all customers. Our aim is to provide our customers and partners with services and products that make them more successful. If you are interested in further information on our services or in a development partnership, we would be pleased to hear from you at any time.Software for product cost calculation - development of price indices and benchmark data on cost developmentsWhether for purchasers, designers, controllers or value analysts - we do not see ourselves simply as a "toolbox" provider, but as topic-related and specialist consultants for precisely those problems that a company has to face in its daily competition. Of course, we have a software-, idea- and technology-based focus. However, even the best software or idea must first be understood, coherently and meaningfully integrated, and judged to be suitable for the problem before acceptance for it can arise. That is why it is important to us not only to offer standardized products, but also services that get to the heart of the task at hand - be it a software adaptation, a new development, training measures or simply technical consulting. Product cost calculationThe calculation of purchased parts, the analysis of in-house manufactured products or design- and planning-driven product costing - these tools are no longer used only in the automotive sector. Rather, medium-sized and large companies in a wide range of industries are interested in high cost transparency, because this is the only way they can maximize their efficiency while simultaneously reviewing all costs - both direct and indirect. ... quick overviewWith the help of Kerkhoff Cost Analysis (KCA), so-called preliminary calculations for a quick cost overview are created within a few minutes. For this purpose, the program accesses extensive databases which contain the necessary, always up-to-date information. ... the world is enoughKCA also has the complete data spectrum for offline costing, such as for materials, wages, energy, machine and overhead costs. Regionally and industry-specifically differentiated worldwide, the data serves the fast and flexible creation of calculations and analyses. ... in the right cycleIn order to be able to determine the cycle time quickly and efficiently even in the most diverse production methods, KCA also includes so-called cycle time modules. These modules are the result of close cooperation with the experienced engineers of Kerkhoff Cost Engineering and other development partners.... for a professional overviewOnce the calculation has been made, there is not only cost transparency, but further cost analyses are also available. Here, KCA users gain the necessary insight for their company to develop recommendations for action. For example, they receive answers to the following questions: Which region produces the component or assembly at the lowest cost? Should alternative materials be preferred? Is there room for negotiation in the product? What needs to be taken into account in price negotiations? What are the biggest levers for maximum savings?... know-how transferOn request, we offer our customers - carried out by our engineers - training programs for any production method, mastering of negotiation situations or even analysis tasks in the company. Price indicesThe Kerkhoff Costing Cloud software offers index-driven cost analysis. Via a variety of provided indices, raw material, semi-finished product, product, service and industry costs are analyzed and price/cost changes are shown for a desired time period.The operating requirements are minimal. Since it is a cloud Internet application, no installation is required on the user terminal. Multi-user capability allows sharing of analysis.Costs and their development over timeAn overview of the costs of a wide range of products, services, raw materials, semi-finished products or entire industries - including their change over time. Development of the "right cost feeling"A correct picture of cost developments and thus a good, accurate sense of them is conveyed via historical and forecast cost trends.Decomposition of product costsThe decomposition of product costs, separated according to the different materials, and the coupling with cost indices provide answers to the central question, among others: What was, is, can and will the product cost? Industries and their cost distributionsThe detailed display of industry-dependent cost distributions is used for further analyses, which allow answers to questions such as: Is the cost distribution of a supplier within or outside the average values?Industry-dependent cost developmentsWage, productivity, energy, space and unit labor cost changes in an industry at a glance - this quickly makes it transparent whether, for example, supplier statements are accurate.Costing BenchmarksIn every cost analysis and every calculation, such as a so-called greenfield approach (costs in a simulated environment) or a global sourcing analysis, benchmark data form the basis for sufficient accuracy.However, data and its quality also play an important role in the determination of offer prices, purchase part prices, design-related change costs and development-accompanying target costing.On request, we offer these required benchmark data packages and associated updates on the desired topics. Of course, the necessary interfaces to our customers' systems are created. Even if further data collection/research - beyond our offer - is required, we are of course the right contact. Regionally differentiated dataWorldwide regionally differentiated data: Currency rates, vacations, vacation periods, working hours, overtime, electricity costs ... Application example: Calculation basis of a global sourcing calculation Wage dataWorldwide regionally and industry-specific differentiated wage costs - broken down by qualification levels and tariff zones. Application example: Calculation of wage-related manufacturing costs Social Contribution DataWorldwide regionally differentiated data: Health insurance, pension insurance, unemployment insurance, daily sick pay, Christmas bonus ... Application example: Determination of wage-dependent ancillary costs Overhead cost dataWorldwide overhead cost factors differentiated by region, industry, and sales volume for all indirect cost areas, such as material, manufacturing, sales, administration, development, logistics, space, maintenance, and insurance costs. Application example: Determining the cost of goods sold of a product and its manufacturing costs Material dataPlastics, steels, alloys - thousands of different materials with their chemical and physical properties, price per ton, costs of further processing (semi-finished products) ... Application example: Verification of product-dependent material costs, substitution recommendations, historical cost development. Machine dataProduction method dependent data: Investment, residual value, depreciation, power requirements, footprint, dependent properties ... Application example: machine hourly rate calculation, evaluation of value chains Price development dataHistorical price developments of over 8,500 different commodities. Calculation of own or third-party costs including correlations, which allows to evaluate developments. Industry evaluation: industry-specific cost distribution and development.Application example: price negotiation preparations, market observations, search for alternative input factors