• Tooling in Germany
• Successful digital networking on the shop floor in tool making
• Successful motivation of employees
• Tooling in China – injection molding

You get a brief overview of the studies and the opportunity to download them directly. Participate in the latest developments around tooling. We hope you enjoy:

Study “Tooling in Germany”

Germany is European champion! Not (yet) in soccer; this will be decided in France this summer. It is the German tool industry, which was able to secure the title of the European production champion in 2015 once again. Similar to our national players the products of German tool making companies have an excellent reputation worldwide. Especially the high quality, sustainable efficiency and long-term production stability of manufactured tools in Germany are appreciated abroad. But what makes the German tool making, even by international standards, so successful? How is it ensured that Germany can win the title in the coming years and how it actually looks in comparison with its international competitors? These and many other questions are answered by tooling experts from the WZL of the RWTH Aachen and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in the study “Tooling in Germany 2016”. The study provides an insight into the German economy as well as a detailed overview of the latest key figures of the German tool making. The study also contains future trends and challenges that must be addressed by German tool making companies.

The study “Tooling in Germany” points out the development of the German tool making and the status quo. In particular, the key figures in the fields of product, process and resources are informative of the performance of German tool making operations and provide input and suggestions for the further development of our own tool operation. The term “stagnation is regression” applies to German tool making companies to make continuous improvements so we hopefully say soon: Germany is European Champion 2016 – in tool making and soccer.

Study “Successful digital networking on the shop floor in tool making“

The consequent progress of digital networking in private life achieved the tool making increasingly. By recording, processing and utilizing a variety of company and product data with the help of modern information and communication technologies, a significant increase in performance can be realized. In particular, the shop floor, where on average about 77% of all employees worked, offers various optimization potentials by digital networking. The tool making, which is characterized in particular by small and medium businesses only have limited resources and financial funds. Therefore, it is not effective to use standardized implementation solutions from other industries for the implementation of digital networking in tool making. Rather, an implementation strategy needs to be developed, which takes into account the particularities of tool making specifically.

The study “Successful digital networking” should be a provide guidance for tool manufacturers and introduce them into the topic of digital networking and identify concrete opportunities and potential on the shop floor. Therefore, the three fields order processing, leadership and knowledge & learning are considered in more detail. In each field specific digitization solutions are introduced and the necessary requirements and potential applications explained. The data on which this study is based were collected in various surveys and industry projects and thus enabling a display of the current technology standard and a representative overview of the industry.

Study “Successful motivation of employees“

90% of executives consider the motivation of their own employees as one of the most important criteria for the sustained success of the company. It is therefore not surprising that employee motivation is one of the trend terms of management of the decade and is strongly promoted by many companies.

An example:

A company with 1,000 employees have annual additional costs of nearly € 2 million, due to increased absenteeism and higher fluctuation because of low staff motivation, compared to an equal-sized company with high employee motivation. A model calculation for the German economy, based on the current level of employee motivation, comes to a total economic loss of € 138 billion as a result of an extensive study.

Something has to happen, that is for sure. Unclear is, what?

The study “Successful motivation of employees in tool making” provides an overview of the general employee motivation and satisfaction in tool making. Furthermore, it gives you possibilities how to increase the motivation of your employees by non-monetary incentives. An extensive survey in tool making found: Not the increasing salary is the decisive factor for the motivation of employees, but there are so-called soft factors, which significantly increase the motivation and long term the performance of employees

Put impulses and motivate your employees successfully!

Study “Tooling in China – injection molding“

China has become the largest consumer of plastic in recent years and also the largest producer of injection molds. Due to the high number of injection mold companies has the Chinese market great potential for procurement of these tools. However, the Chinese tooling market is still strong opaque and the performance and structure among the companies is very heterogeneous. Thus, it applies to study the Chinese tooling market accurately for successful procurement of Chinese tools. Based on this you can build long-term partnerships. The present study gives an overview of the industrial environment in China, the offered products, process design and resourcing and organizational structure of Chinese injection mold companies. In addition, the study offers an “inside view” of Chinese injection molding from the on-site visit of 13 companies in China and an expert commentary by Hans Griessl of Gerresheimer AG, who can look back on many years of experience of tool purchasing in China. Based on these representations, the study is a practical tool for buyers and gives application-oriented recommendations for action to meet the challenges of Chinese injection molding successfully.