Industries   Mechanical Engineering 

Consulting in the Mechanical Engineering Industry


Companies in the plant and mechanical engineering sector produce high quality products, often with extreme precision and to unique customer specifications. They perform these services within an environment of increasing cost pressures and constantly shrinking delivery schedules. In a field where orders can be changed at short notice and demand can fluctuate significantly, flexibility is essential. These days, it is no longer enough to make products of excellent quality: customers are also demanding a comprehensive service range as well as progression from purely product-related business towards a project- and solution-oriented approach. To an increasing degree, customers are seeking to secure all of these aspects from a single source.

For the functional organisational units, this often gives rise to a classic conflict of objectives: the sales and distribution and design engineering departments are fully focused on customer requirements, whilst procurement and production are concerned with costs and productivity. The whole value chain therefore needs to be tightly interlocked. Examining entire supply chains – taking account of internal and external suppliers – plays a key role in terms of the potential for optimisation, controlling complexity and ensuring supply chains are more responsive.

In the plant and mechanical engineering sector, J&M utilises integrated management and IT consulting to optimise the entire value chain


For many years, J&M has acted as a strategic consulting partner to the plant and mechanical engineering sector for management and IT consulting. Our clients value our expertise when it comes to raising the efficiency and effectiveness of entire value chains. To an equal extent, J&M understands the specific needs of manufacturers in relation to industrial components, electronic components, automation engineering, mechanical piece production, machine assembly, plant engineering and job site assembly. Our consultancy services focus on:

  • An integrated approach to supply chain management and change management
  • Strategic coordination between all functional sub-areas in the value chain
  • Cost reductions and efficiency gains whilst maintaining levels of delivery service and effectiveness
  • Make-or-buy decisions for purchasing and procurement
  • Methodological expertise, especially in our LEAN SCM approach
  • Innovative IT systems for production and logistics (SAP APO, SAP LES, SAP LEAN environment, SAP MII, Asprova, ICON SCM, i2 technologies)

The result: Quantifiable and sustainable improvements to the business of our clients


Our clients, who range from medium-sized enterprises to major international concerns, value our holistic approach whereby we examine strategy, processes, organisation and IT as one. J&M has successfully brought its consulting and sectoral expertise to multiple projects in the plant and mechanical engineering field, achieving long-term improvements such as:

  • A reduction in lead times and inventories by 50% through process stabilisation, levelling and the introduction of clear regulations for contract management, production and assembly
  • 50% cut in set-up times through Six Sigma and Kaizen measures
  • Reduction of up to 100% in non-value-added activities thanks to LEAN SCM and the consistent application of leadership principles in all operational areas
  • Less complexity as a result of part rationalisation (25% fewer material masters)
  • Permanently eliminating quality issues and bottlenecks by introducing leadership principles

‘Thanks to this integrated approach, our order management team is now working in a more customer-oriented, efficient and precise way.’ 
Holger Steuerwald, Head of Order Management, Heidelberger Druck

‘The LEAN approach has simplified our production – thanks to standardised, slimline process flows, we can optimise batch sizes, inventories and process times.’
Ralf Goldbrunner, Head of Production, Krones

‘We have been able to reduce repetitive tasks and error risk considerably with the introduction of the automated sanctions lists alignment system. The responsible staff members can now concentrate on the efficient management of the few exceptional cases.’
Andrea Sauer, Project Leader, Sulzer Metco

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