Take your production to the next level - optimizing processes and workflows

Company with about 300 employees in the MAT Foundry Group. Production of highly complex drive and engine assemblies.

• Support in defining and developing products and services regarding technology and costs in collaboration with technical and executive management
• Providing technical expertise to the sales team by creating technical specifications for customer inquiries and drafting technical proposals

Company with 700 employees in the Bosch AG group. Production of brake discs for the automotive industry.

• Creating transparency about weaknesses and main loss drivers in machining
• Developing concepts and actions to optimize plant usage and increase employee productivity
• Developing measures to reduce technical and organizational downtime and performance losses
• Identifying necessary organizational adjustments
• Enabling the organization in problem-solving competence
• Optimizing interaction between production and maintenance to increase responsiveness
• Optimizing interaction between production and SCM for better planning and faster response to adverse influences
• Gradual implementation and deployment of measures and concepts using one line as an example
• Increasing equipment efficiency in machining from approx. 60-65% to over 85% on one line
• Boosting output (quantity) by approx. 40% on one line
• Changing on-site leadership organization, structure, and culture
• Improving delivery performance to customers

The company then implemented the measures on all other lines independently, as previously planned.

Global company (3,000 employees) in the automotive and consumer sectors, manufacturing speakers and speaker systems including plastic injection molding with plants in Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Mexico and China (2). Interim coverage in the Global Process Engineering (GPE) department.

• Project monitoring for the new installation of assembly lines for speakers in plants worldwide remotely
• Supporting the introduction of new technologies, such as ultrasonic welding worldwide
• Supporting local project managers in the plants
• Promoting execution discipline
• Initiating countermeasures in case of technical and scheduling deviations, e.g. supply chain issues
• Collaboration with sales, R&D, operations, maintenance, engineering, quality and purchasing
• Deep dive into GPE projects (resulting in saved project costs: €500K)
• Documentation and optimization of processes during milestone reviews for better and easier project monitoring
• Building a dynamic dashboard for monthly reporting to the GM

For a company in the group (GMH).

• Creating requirements specification together with production, quality, work planning and maintenance
• Obtaining quotes from relevant suppliers
• Preparing the investment request
• Know-how transfer and training with documentation
• Aligning inductive hardening with existing production (geometry, process, quality documentation)
• Risk analysis

Company in mechanical engineering (machining) small-batch to series production / 180 employees in production.

• Optimizing production processes
• Creating task and process descriptions (standardization)
• Implementing new organizational structure
• Reducing quality costs by about 50% (continuous improvement/Kaizen) through strict root cause tracking and resolution with 3D reporting/quality circles
• Optimizing production control and planning in SAP including a shop floor data collection system and analysis of exported data in Excel
• Clearing delivery backlogs

Originally Thyssen Umformtechnik GmbH, now part of the thyssenkrupp Business Unit Forged Technologies, the Remscheid plant with 200 employees develops, manufactures and sells large crankshafts for heavy industrial engines, e.g. for power generation, ship propulsion and rail vehicles – single, small batch and series production.

• Head of Engineering / Manufacturing (from 2013)**

• Managing up to 180 employees in production.

• Production, personnel and resource planning.

• Ensuring smooth production that meets quality, volume and cost targets.

• Implementing modern management methods and practices such as Lean, shopfloor management, and 5S.

• Identifying improvement potentials and taking measures for sustainable optimization.

• Training and upskilling employees.

• Head of Engineering (from 1995)**

• Managing up to 10 employees in engineering.

• Responsible for work preparation, technical consulting and sales support, concept development, planning, procurement, and commissioning of new and replacement investments, as well as offer costing.

• Creating planning scenarios and capacity plans.

• Introducing state-of-the-art management and quality assurance systems (e.g. 5S, KVP, value stream analysis, process leveling, P-FMEA).

• Conducting process analyses and optimizations using Lean and Six Sigma tools (5S/VM, Kaizen, quick problem solving, value stream analysis, process leveling, standardization, Poka-yoke, Kanban, setup time optimization, TPM, SPC).

• Leading NPI projects in collaboration with customers, sales, production and quality.

• Reducing lead times from 4-6 months to 3-6 weeks through technology and process optimizations in machining and workflow (e.g. reducing wait times).

• Reducing processing steps from 36 to 12.

• Group Leader Production Planning and Control (1991-1995)**

• Leading 4 employees.

• Work preparation for crankshaft manufacturing.

• Planning and on-time provision of materials and tools for production.

• Project experience in permanent employment**

• 07/2013-07/2015: Restructuring and change management. Reduced staff from about 180 to 95 employees. Identified future machine and personnel capacities and, together with management/executive board, defined the future production structure including staffing requirements and implementation. Created a skills matrix, set up and implemented a training plan with deadlines, and improved the error culture.

• 11/2012-04/2013: Project management for developing and implementing a KPI system for single and series production with a high variety of variants.

• 06/2012-09/2012: Project manager for planning machines for a production line in China, from initial concept to budget approval.

• 10/2011-04/2013: Project manager for replacement investment in 4 CNC machining centers, from concept to commissioning. Budget approx. €6 million.

• 06/2011-05/2012: Project manager for implementing shop floor data collection based on SAP.

• 11/2010-10/2011: Project manager for taking over an existing production line. Assessed feasibility (machines, processes, costs) of transferring a series production line from a plant in France, carried out machine adaptation measures, and implemented and integrated the line into the Remscheid site. Budget approx. €2 million.

• 12/2007-09/2010: Project manager for investment in 5 CNC machining centers and an inductive hardening unit, from concept to commissioning. Budget approx. €12 million.

• 02/2005-06/2006: Project manager for investment in an inductive hardening unit. Budget approx. €1.5 million.

• 03/2002-06/2002: As part of escalation management, short-term takeover of the 'DIN/ISO 9001 implementation' project, leading to on-time certification.

• 06/1998-08/1999: Sub-project manager for SAP implementation of the SD and PP modules.

• 02/1995-09/1997: Project staff / sub-project manager for investment in 4 CNC machining centers, from concept to commissioning. Budget approx. €3.5 million.

with IHK certification