BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Porsche Consulting has been advising the Accell Group, the Dutch bicycle manufacturer, on lean lead times. This was brought about by the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, WFSGI.
During the WFSGI Manufacturers’ Committee Meeting in December 2013, WFSGI decided to develop workshops and event activities on a neutral platform for its members. Last month Accell Group conduct its first onsite factory analysis and in-depth workshop with Porsche Consulting, a partner of the WFSGI.
The bicycle industry is characterized by high seasonality, and country-specific requirements. This results in high product variance, the need for very flexible production capacities through the year, longer lead times from order to delivery than, for example the European car industry.
In order to address these challenges, the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry supported Accell Group to initiate together with Porsche Consulting a workshop session with its manufacturers and suppliers.
Porsche Consulting is a 100 percent subsidiary of Porsche AG, and was founded in 1994.
The company will advise Accell on end-to-end supply chain planning, supplier management, and "lean manufacturing."
“We need to become more flexible in production and reducelong lead times,” said Jeroen Snijders Blok, COO of Accell Group.
“It is important that the entire bicycle industry stands together and to jointly improve lead time in order to remain competitive in European manufacturing."
Accell executives have visited the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen, Germany.
"We have now specified a list of measures that we want to put into action," said Blok. “In order to increase supplier flexibility, supplier development projects should be launched. We intend to build regular involvement of manufacturers, product managers and suppliers at an early stage of the development process in order to meet the demands of our customers and to build an equal understanding of market requirements along the whole supply chain.”
