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mANAGEmENT rEPOrT
Testing and approval agreements are also signed with customers
outside DB Group. DB Systemtechnik bundles all of our railway
expertise. It offers manufacturers the use of its certified testing
laboratory at an early stage of the development process. This
early consultation on approval and testing requirements, par-
ticularly for European approval processes, optimizes costs and
efforts, and significantly accelerates the approval process. During
the year under review, such approval tests were carried out on
behalf of industrial firms for vehicles such as Desiro, E-Lok
Vectron, ETr 610, X 61, XrE and TGV Duplex for Germany and
other European countries.
Comprehensive system optimizations comprising the further
development of technology for the infrastructure and vehicles
are extremely important for the rail mode of transport. Based
on this task we are driving technical innovations needed to
ensure commercial success and that contribute to a constant
increase in production efficiency as well as operational quality.
In the year under review, for example, we concluded the “GZ
1000” project, proving that freight trains with a length of up to
1,000 m were feasible.
Research and development
As a service provider, DB Group does not conduct its own
research and development in the narrow sense of the term.
Due to our technological competence and broad operational
experience, we do, however, initiate user-oriented developments
and support industrial firms with services including extensive
testing capabilities.
proCUreMent
The procurement of materials and services from the external
supplier market is a significant lever to control processes and
influence cost structures. A uniform Group-wide procurement
policy allows standardized handling processes to be applied,
and also ensures a uniform appearance in the market.
The year under review was still largely influenced by the
after-effects of the economic and financial crisis. In order to
counteract this, we established a program for optimizing supply
services in the procurement area. Within the framework of this
program all of the product groups were subjected to a systematic
analysis of their needs and potential levers.
Optimized life cycle costs are a key criterion here. In addition
to the immediate cost issues, the focus was primarily on capitalintensive
investments in order to optimize the level of committed
capital.
These activities were supported by the parallel launch of
international procurement teams. The purpose of these teams
is to implement best-buy strategies in the global supplier context.
The goal here is to create savings and anchor them in global
framework agreements.
In addition to the immediate program building blocks to
optimize procurement services, progress was also achieved for
significant strategic purchasing tools: during the year under review
a new supplier management system was introduced. This is a
defined overall process that qualifies, evaluates and develops
suppliers. Using continuous IT support, it creates a tool for strategic
procurement that can systematically develop our portfolio
of suppliers, improve its quality and inspire innovations. This also
includes creating the corresponding content-related concepts.
The supplier evaluation system will be in place starting 2011.
The total volume of orders placed of DB Group during the
year under review amounted to € 22.8 billion and was higher than
previous year’s level (previous year: € 19.2 billion). In particular,
the € 9.8 billion in freight and freight forwarding services purchased
from carriers was significantly higher than in the previous
year (previous year: € 7.3 billion). In addition, the volume of
industrial products purchased, with an order volume of € 4.2 billion
(previous year: € 3.5 billion), was also greater than in the previous
year. Construction and engineering services procured totaled
€ 3.8 billion (previous year: € 4.0 billion).
The procurement of third-party services, with an order
volume of € 2.7 billion, was also above the level noted in the
previous year (previous year: € 2.3 billion). In the area of cableand-pipe-bound
power and fuel, the order volume amounted to
€ 2.3 billion, which was slightly higher than the previous year’s
level (previous year: € 2.1 billion).
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