Download Annual Report 2006 - Mühlbauer Group

CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, MANAGEMENT REPORT39customer needs and on competition must constantly bekept up-to-date, to be able to react to changes at an earlystage. In so doing, we utilize a wide variety of sources ofinformation that need to be sufficiently exploited in order tobe able to correctly depict the development of the market.Missing or insufficient customer care can result in a declineof customer satisfaction and negatively impact ourbusiness activities. It is therefore our goal to further intensifycooperation with consumers, to keep ongoing contactand develop trust-based relationships with our customers.The key account manager plays a major role in this, as aresult of which we focus on subjecting the role of our keyaccount management to continual development, so thatthe person holding this position is able to provide optimumcustomer care worldwide and recognize new trends.The markets relevant to Mühlbauer make high demandson the company’s product and services portfolio. Thecompany therefore always strives to take the lead in thedevelopment and introduction of innovative technologies,through its high technical competence and flexibility. In sodoing, customer requirements must be met with high-qualityand optimum product solutions, as repeated complaintscould result in a deterioration or even permanentloss of market access. High quality standards in the productarea, close cooperation and agreement with our customers,interdisciplinary communication and a goal-orientedmode of operation are therefore indispensable.When realizing large projects, the technological implementation,specific legal issues, sales, logistics and stable financingrepeatedly present new challenges to the company.Experienced and competent project teams from the differentareas ensure the coordinated processing of suchprojects within the deadline. This risk is additionally met bydeveloping a risk-oriented contract management that istailored to the individual requirements of the project partnersinvolved, and by monitoring every large project individually,for reasons related to risk policy.Mühlbauer strives to position itself, its machine and solutionconcepts, on the market at a very early stage, thusgaining technological and market leadership. There istherefore a potential risk that our technologies are copiedby other companies. We counteract this risk by continuallymonitoring the market, securing our key technologiesand procedures through patents, the targeted further developmentof our technological lead and the further extensionof our international organization.Technology risks. As a provider of complete solutions,Mühlbauer is a player on a market that is characterized byfast moving technologies and constantly changing customerrequirements. Our business success largely dependson our ability to launch the products and servicesdemanded by customers on the market at an early stage.Time delays caused by incorrect approaches when developingnew products must be avoided through the selectionof the appropriate basic technology. The recruitmentand targeted training of internal specialists, who generatenew process techniques and develop these to market maturity– also in close cooperation with associates and researchfacilities – represent risk minimization measures asdoes the constant monitoring of the market.Qualitative defects of our machines and the resultantbringing into circulation of defective end products by ourcustomers, hold potential risk for the rise of consequentialdamage caused by a defect. Preventive measures such asinternal product qualifications when developing new machinesand consultation when installing a QM system forproduction and further development at the customer, togetherwith corresponding contract designs, help to keeprisk at a manageable level.When procuring specific components and services, we relyon individual external suppliers. In so doing, there is apotential dependency risk, which can result in considerabledelays in development or our production, in particularin the event of long terms of delivery or quality defects.We therefore continuously try to improve supplier andprocess qualification, to further extend our second sourcestrategy and conclude quality assurance agreements.A company with great involvement in research and developmentmust take into consideration that the developmentof new products involves new technological solutions forprocesses and machine technologies, while the violation offoreign trade marks can disrupt development, productionand sales. Mühlbauer protects itself against possible infringementsof property rights by systematically executingresearch, to determine and evaluate third-party propertyrights.IT risks. In the information technology area, the Group utilizesa bundle of different measures to protect itself againstunauthorized data access and data abuse. Sensitizationregarding data security and data abuse issues, authorizationmanagement, encryption concepts, state-of-the-artfirewall and virus protection software solutions and the executionof penetration tests by external service providers totest the Group’s IT security, are measures that keep risk inthis area at a manageable level.Personnel risks. The Mühlbauer Group is dependent onThe percentages were determined on the basis of the exact figures and may differ from the rounding figures