Munich Re establishes joint venture FlexFactory with Porsche

Global reinsurer Munich Re has launched a joint venture, called FlexFactory, in partnership with car maker Porsche and its consulting subsidiary MHP. Torsten Jeworrek describes it as a "future-oriented platform for opening up new markets".

The goal of the joint venture is to enable companies in the manufacturing industry to produce small series more flexibly and cost-effectively.

The companies believe there is a great demand for such solutions. Manufacturers from a wide range of industries, such as automotive, clothing or packaging industries, face the challenge that their customers' needs for individualisation are increasing and the production cycles are shortening while impacting their balance sheets. Meanwhile, conventional production plants have high fixed costs for small quantities.

The FlexFactory intends to address these challenges and the associated market potential by showing the way to a more flexible, economically calculable production landscape in cost-efficient structures.

The new company does not provide its own production facilities. Instead, it is supported by the core competencies of its three founding partners. Porsche contributes its manufacturing know-how; MHP its expertise in digital process optimisation, especially on interfacing development with production, and Munich Re its finance=ng and insurance models as well as a performance guarantee cover for planned production. Additionally, Munich Re’s subsidiary relayr supports its digital risk analysis via IoT sensor systems.

Jeworrek, member of Munich Re’s board of ranagement: “With the FlexFactory, we and our partners have created a future-oriented platform for opening up new markets, which addresses a central challenge of modern production. Our cooperation once again underlines Munich Re’s innovative power and solution competence as a risk manager and financing expert for Industry 4.0."

Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of the executive board and member of the executive board, finance and IT at Porsche AG, said: “The interest shown by the first potential clients shows us that there is great demand for customised products. This joint venture is still small, but it is perfectly formed. It can solve the challenge of producing even small series economically and thus open up a new chapter in industrial production. That is why we are combining the production competence of Porsche with the software know-how of MHP and the risk management expertise of Munich Re.”

Ralf Hofmann, founder, shareholder and chairman of the board of MHP, added: “It is our aim to create significant added value for our customers and for the entire economy with digital, flexible solutions and technological innovations. By bundling the strengths of Munich Re and Porsche with the depth of our expertise in digital technologies we can now do just that even in micro-scale custom production while simultaneously maintaining highly cost-effectiveness.”