Beyond Cost

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Beyond Cost

Show Notes

Every year, A2MAC1 tears down around 70 vehicles, analyzing everything from battery cell chemistry to semiconductor sourcing. For over 25 years, the company has built one of the most comprehensive automotive benchmarking databases in the world.

Sascha Voglgsang, Director of Costing and Insights, works at the intersection of teardown analysis, standardized costing, and market intelligence. His work reveals how architecture decisions, supply chain strategy, and integration levels translate into cost advantage or cost burden.

In this conversation with host Sasan Hashemi, Sascha Voglgsang explains what Benchmarking at an industrial scale really requires and how AI is beginning to change how cost insights are extracted from massive engineering datasets.

In this episode, you will learn:

Why scale and standardized methodology determine the value of Benchmarking

How integration trends reshape EV cost structures

What supply chain localization reveals about long-term competitiveness

How AI can support cost engineering without replacing expert judgment

Why continuous yearly iteration outpaces long platform cycles

The data is available. The real question is whether your organization is able to turn it into a competitive advantage.

More from Beyond Cost

Sep 2, 2026

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.

Jul 1, 2026

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

Jun 3, 2026

For 35 years, the world has measured sustainability by one number: carbon. But the same steel coil can produce carbon footprints that differ by more than 35%, all ISO-compliant, all "correct."

Feb 18, 2026

For every €1 invested in cost engineering, companies get €10 to €100 back. So why do most still miss the savings? Because they start too late.

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