Winning concept takes a holistic approach to avoiding transportation of materials and minimizing raw materials storage
The 2nd VDA Logistics Award goes to… Robert Bosch GmbH
Munich/Frankfurt am Main, 27 February 2009. The winner of this year's VDA Logistics Award is a Czech subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. Bosch was announced as the winner of the VDA's prize at the Association's eighth Logistics Congress in Munich. The prize was awarded this year for the second time; last year it went to Webasto AG.
Speaking at the Logistics Congress Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), described the winning concept as a very good example of the drive for innovation in the German automotive industry. "The automotive sector stands for especially progressive and mature logistics concepts along the manufacturing chains," Wissmann said. Process optimization and cost reduction had to be accompanied by sparing use of resources and by environmental protection, he added. "This means that in order be competitive tomorrow, we need a smart way of linking ecological innovations and economic activity today. This is the special goal used as a yardstick for modern logistics," Wissmann stressed.
"We are delighted and very proud that the jury of renowned experts selected our plant in Budweis," said Dr. Karl Nowak, President, Corporate Sector Purchasing and Logistics at Robert Bosch GmbH. "Bosch is applying its new holistic logistics concept in the Budweis plant in a very economical and competitive manner. In addition, the optimized control of the flow of materials and goods allows flexible and environmentally friendly production. This Award will provide additional motivation to all our sites to achieve supply chain excellence."
The project: Robert Bosch, spol. s.r.o., a subsidiary of Bosch's Gasoline Systems division in the Czech town of Budweis, makes components for gasoline and diesel technology. Typical components are fuel delivery modules, gas pedals, cylinder head covers, suction modules and systems for denoxing exhaust. The site has more than 1,700 employees working in production, and nearly 300 in development.
The worldwide introduction of the "Bosch Production System" in the company's plants means that the employees at the Budweis site have realized a holistic, lean production and logistics system with exemplary complete integration. A material flow center (MFC) acts as the central hub connecting the delivery of raw materials and parts with the evened out production, and also connecting production with the customers in the automotive industry via high-frequency delivery. For example, 40 per cent of the raw materials processed are "shipped-to-line," i.e. they are not stored but fed directly into production. Around 30 per cent need only short-term storage. The high-frequency delivery to the customers also brings about huge reductions in storage costs. Overall, the successful project significantly decreased the total logistics costs in the Budweis plant, reduced the number of steps per box by two thirds, and brought down stock levels by nearly 30 per cent.
The jury for the VDA Logistics Award comprised VDA President Wissmann and Prof. Dr. Ingrid Göpfert, Chair of General Business Administration and Logistics at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, along with Henner Cnyrim, Senior Vice President, Head of Central Electronic Plants at Continental, Tina Rumpelt, Editor-in-chief for special projects at AUTOMOBIL-PRODUKTION, Dr. Karl Sommer, Head of strategy & planning in materials management at BMW AG, and Dr. Thomas Wimmer, Managing Director of the German Logistics Association (BVL).
Printable versions of the pictures taken at the presentation of the VDA's second Logistics Award are available on the Internet:
http://www.vda.de/de/meldungen/2_logistik_award/index.html
