Beyond Cost

Beyond Cost

Exploring the big shifts shaping manufacturing and cost management, and what they mean for companies, leaders, and entire industries.

Episodes

  1. Sep 2

    China's Speed Changes Everything

    What if German manufacturers aren't losing to Chinese technology, but to Chinese speed? In this episode of Beyond Cost, host Jakob Etzel talks with Prof. Dr. Martin Koers about the one area where German manufacturers still lead: combustion engineering. Then they turn to the three where China has already passed them: battery electric vehicles, software-defined vehicle architecture, and autonomous driving. Martin Koers ran the VDA, Germany's automotive industry association, for seventeen years and visited China many times, but he didn't understand the real speed of the country until he moved there to teach at Shenzhen Technology University. What he found was a 9-9-6 work culture, a cashless economy, and five-year government plans that set the goal while a brutal domestic market decides who survives.  In this episode, you will learn: Why Germany's edge survives in exactly one of four competitive dimensions, and loses in the other three How centralized decision-making and a different work mentality compress Chinese development timelines Why the lack of software-first design is leaving Germany behind What young Chinese consumers now think of BMW, Mercedes, and Audi  Germany still builds the best combustion engine in the world. The question is whether that's enough, and for how long. 🎙️Find Beyond Cost Podcast on: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6rTr7QqITMJrHgnoa8DT7F?si=e5a53d24c2cf48f2 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-cost/id1837436790 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Beyond_Cost YouTube Music https://music.youtube.com/@Beyond_Cost

  2. Jul 1

    No Risk Is the True Risk (DE)

    Europe's answer to every risk: find someone to blame, add a regulation, slow down. But what if that answer is the real risk? *See German version below.  In this episode of Beyond Cost, host Jakob Etzel talks with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Kampker, Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility at RWTH Aachen, about Europe's battery production deficit, regulatory overload, and why the fastest always beats the biggest. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kampker's argument is blunt: waiting for perfect conditions is the fastest path to irrelevance. From scrap rates as the most underestimated cost factor, to AI in manufacturing, to the wrong question being asked about autonomous driving. In this episode, you'll learn: Why Europe needs a dual strategy on battery production, and why one giant factory isn't enough  What scrap rates actually cost in e-mobility manufacturing, and why nobody budgets for them  How AI, laser drying, and humanoid robots will change manufacturing costs  Why the autonomous driving debate is asking the wrong question  What cost engineers and procurement leaders must learn today that didn't exist ten years ago  📖 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kampker covers this in depth in his latest book, check it out here: https://amzn.eu/d/09Ji11jK ___________________________________________________________________________________________  Antwort auf jedes Risiko scheint dieselbe zu sein: Schuldige suchen, neue Vorschriften schaffen, Prozesse verlangsamen. Doch was, wenn genau das zum größten Risiko wird? In dieser Folge von Beyond Cost spricht Jakob Etzel mit Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Kampker, Leiter des Lehrstuhls Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) an der RWTH Aachen, über Europas Rückstand bei der Batteriezellproduktion, die Folgen zunehmender Regulierung und warum in Zukunft nicht die Größten gewinnen werden, sondern die Schnellsten. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kampker vertritt eine klare Position: Wer auf perfekte Rahmenbedingungen wartet, macht sich selbst irrelevant. Im Gespräch geht es um Ausschussraten als einen der am meisten unterschätzten Kostentreiber der E-Mobilität, den Einsatz von KI in der Produktion und die Frage, warum die Debatte über autonomes Fahren oft am eigentlichen Thema vorbeigeht. In dieser Folge erfahren Sie: Warum Europa bei der Batterieproduktion eine Doppelstrategie braucht und weshalb eine einzige Gigafactory nicht die Lösung ist  Welche Kosten Ausschussraten in der E-Mobilitätsfertigung tatsächlich verursachen und warum sie häufig unterschätzt werden  Wie KI, Lasertrocknung und humanoide Roboter die Produktionskosten der nächsten Jahre verändern werden Warum die Diskussion über autonomes Fahren die falsche Frage stellt  Was Cost Engineers und Einkaufsverantwortliche heute lernen müssen, das vor zehn Jahren noch keine Rolle spielte  📖 Mehr dazu im aktuellen Buch von Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kampker: https://amzn.eu/d/09Ji11jK   🎙️Den Beyond Cost Podcast finden Sie auf: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6rTr7QqITMJrHgnoa8DT7F?si=e5a53d24c2cf48f2 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-cost/id1837436790 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Beyond_Cost YouTube Music https://music.youtube.com/@Beyond_Cost

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Exploring the big shifts shaping manufacturing and cost management, and what they mean for companies, leaders, and entire industries.