Andreas Lober
Lead Consultant
Experience
Jan 2022 - Dec 2025
2 years Germany
Lead Consultant
Marktführer im Bereich Facility Management
- Duration: 12 months.
- Situation: Performance issues with high complaint volumes and massive order backlogs for a key account at five facility management sites (trades including heating, HVAC, electrical, sanitation, air handling, construction projects).
- Task and approach:
- Advising site and cluster managers on team coordination, prioritization and customer communication.
- Developing KPIs further and deriving measures.
- Comparing sites and sharing best-practice processes.
- Coordinating a cross-site energy performance management program to achieve sustainable savings in electricity, water and heating energy consumption.
- Outcome:
- Lastingly stabilized operational team performance and increased customer satisfaction measured by reduced fault reports and escalation issues.
- More focused management of suppliers and subcontractors with high transparency on scheduling and delivery.
- Identification of buildings with the highest energy consumption per net floor area and deriving cross-site measures.
Jan 2022 - Dec 2023
1 year Munich, Germany
Interim COO
Start Up im Bereich Chemical Innovations
- Duration: 8 months.
- Tasks and approach:
- Sparring partner for developing the business plan and investor pitches.
- Selecting, building and tailoring a CRM system, and based on it implementing order management.
- Customer acquisition, quote and order management.
- Selecting and implementing supplier relationships and building a supply chain from material sourcing to customer shipping.
- Defining the value proposition.
- Coordinating lab search.
- Recruiting and onboarding new employees.
- Outcome:
- Closed partnerships with additional investors and business angels.
- Moved the company from pre-seed to early stage.
- Secured first customer orders and processed them based on a defined workflow.
Jan 2021 - Dec 2022
1 year Rotterdam, Netherlands
Interim-Leiter Operations
LichtBlick / Eneco E-Mobility
- Duration: 11 months.
- Staff responsibility: 25.
- Situation: Transformation from a start-up pioneer to part of an international energy group; cultural barriers between Dutch and Franconian staff and many resignations on the German side; introduction of new customer segments and a new CRM system.
- Task and approach:
- Directly took over division responsibility as successor to one of the managing directors and managed day-to-day operations.
- Adjusted the organizational structure for new market requirements including assessing employee potential and filling new leadership roles internally.
- Cross-departmental process transformation for new customer segments (from utilities to B2B/B2C) and the new CRM.
- Outcome:
- Stabilized and optimized processes in a newly established organization based on clear responsibilities and KPIs.
- Integrated the Hamburg team (LichtBlick) into the operational unit.
- Significant increase in employee satisfaction (eNPS +30%) and customer satisfaction (NPS +25%).
- Onboarded new installation partners and established stable partnerships.
Jan 2020 - Dec 2021
1 year Munich, Germany
Interim-Leiter Service & Operations
Envision Digital
- Duration: 7 months.
- Staff responsibility: 7.
- Situation: Took over during start-up/scale-up phase with only partial service structures and rapidly increasing leads and orders in B2C and B2B.
- Task and approach:
- Mapped existing processes and interfaces with customers and service providers.
- Gradually built the team.
- Managed daily operations (customer process from inquiry to quote, e-charging infrastructure installation to aftersales service).
- Simultaneously optimized processes internally and with customers, electricians, call center, grid and metering operators, including evaluating and partially replacing partners.
- Ensured a smooth procurement and supply chain for all installation materials.
- Outcome: Handover of the area to the successor from “firefighting mode” into a structure with capable service partners and clear processes and responsibilities.
Jan 2020 - Dec 2021
1 year Münster, Germany
Interim Director Operations & Customer Service Medizintechnik
GN Hearing A/S
- Duration: 5 months.
- Staff responsibility: 30.
- Situation: Leadership gap in customer service during a transformation (outsourcing, knowledge loss due to departing employees), additional complication from the central service center in the UK (Brexit start) and new logistics challenges.
- Task and approach:
- Quickly took over department responsibility and managed day-to-day operations with customers and service providers.
- Solved current operational issues (customs, Brexit), prioritized and redistributed daily tasks (shifting old tasks and adding new ones).
- Implemented transformation activities as change manager and link between global requirements and local teams.
- Ensured high quality in transferring call center activities to the shared service center.
- Improved alignment between sales and service.
- Outcome: Handover to successor with clearly defined role profiles; significant reduction in repair and transport lead times (-30%); established a service KPI dashboard as a control tool.
Jan 2020 - Dec 2021
2 years Stuttgart, Germany
RemoteInterim Director Customer Service Europe
InternetStores GmbH
- Duration: 6 months.
- Staff responsibility: 90 (project managed 95% remotely).
- Situation: Vacancy in customer service leadership at three locations (Stuttgart, Berlin, Stockholm); the group with several European online shops (e.g. fahrrad.de, addnature.com) had grown rapidly causing organizational inconsistencies, suboptimal processes and massive customer complaints and backlogs during the Corona summer.
- Task and approach:
- Directly took over all three teams and managed daily operations with service providers and customers from 14 countries.
- Developed a new organizational structure (consistent role profiles, added development opportunities in the team, adjusted management levels to the larger department size).
- Customer journey mapping, efficiency and data transparency optimization.
- Introduced new service features (e.g. expert consultations, chatbot, social media integration).
- Outcome: Handover of the transformed department to the successor after 5 months; significant improvements in NPS (+20%), backlog handling (-55%) and response time (-45%); established a service KPI dashboard.
Jan 2019 - Dec 2020
2 years Munich, Germany
Transformation Manager und Prozessoptimierer
SWM Stadtwerke München
- Duration: 8 months.
- Situation: Newly created internal service department (30 employees) from two culturally different areas; inherited tasks; redundant parallel work without clear responsibilities; no transparency on project statuses.
- Task and approach: Analyzed workflows; jointly mapped responsibilities in change workshops I led; identified synergy potential through team restructuring.
- Outcome: Implemented a new organizational structure with clear functions; relieved the department with digital self-service solutions for internal customers; enabled focused daily management through KPIs; created transparency in project work with new roles and structures.
Jan 2018 - Dec 2020
2 years Augsburg, Germany
Projektmanager Managed Services im Automotive-Umfeld
NCR
- Duration: 8 months.
- Situation: BMW awarded all global IT services to a new partner who largely contracted my client; complication: partially unclear contract terms and BMW’s requirement that providers leave plant premises.
- Task and approach: As project manager for the client I clarified local requirements and ensured implementation with local providers and teams.
- Outcome: Services at new sites in 7 countries delivered on time and budget, partly with new staff in newly identified near-plant spaces; local responsibilities clearly defined by SLAs.
Jan 2018 - Dec 2019
1 year Munich, Germany
Interim Manager
Railpool GmbH
- Duration: 9 months.
- Staff responsibility: 22.
- Situation: Company grew fast without adapting processes; central service management department left leaderless after new head left during probation.
- Task and approach:
- Quickly took over department responsibility and managed daily operations with customers and workshop partners.
- Resolved ambiguities and friction within the team and with workshops, customers and other departments.
- Developed a new organizational structure (double the department size and an extra hierarchy level) and drove implementation as leader and change manager (evaluating scenarios, selecting team leads, defining roles, change communication).
- Outcome: Handover of the expanded department to the successor after 8 months with clear structures; improved customer satisfaction; reduced sick leave and turnover in the department.
Jan 2016 - Dec 2017
1 year Kassel, Germany
Multi-Projektmanager
SMA AG
- Duration: 7 months.
- Situation: Backlog of key projects in service operations development; took over as project manager for these projects, including:
- Go-to-market strategy for new service offerings: in after-warranty customers had contacted local installers who sourced products from wholesalers and sold without SMA influence; existing customer data on warranty status and system age was not used; result: almost no service revenue in after-warranty.
- Task and approach:
- Formed an Agile project team “Go-to-Market New Service Offerings”:
- Identified customer needs (value proposition) in the after-warranty market.
- Analyzed the installed base for additional service revenue potential based on system warranty status.
- Developed new service offerings (e.g. component replacement, warranty extension, system check).
- Adapted sales & operations processes for the new offerings with involved departments and partners.
- Prepared go-to-market and launched in pilot regions.
- Outcome: Launched the new sales models in pilot regions; introduced an app for customers to order services digitally; now a successful Germany-wide offering with six-figure revenues.
Jan 2015 - Dec 2017
2 years Cologne, Germany
Prozessoptimierer Auftragsabwicklung
UnityMedia
- Duration: 7 months.
- Situation: High growth targets for orders in a new business field and results below plan; low transparency from headquarters (Cologne) on order processing operations (Heidelberg).
- Task and approach:
- Detailed process analysis in the customer center (order processing) via interviews, process walk-throughs and multimoment studies, identifying non-value steps, system breaks and deriving action areas.
- Introduced continuous improvement (CIP) to involve employees in ongoing operational improvements.
- Developed KPIs to steer the entire process chain.
- Implemented measures step by step with all stakeholders.
- Outcome: Reduced cancellation rate in the quote process by 14%; sped up order processing time by 18%; increased new connection orders by 12%.
Jan 2009 - Dec 2016
7 years Munich, Germany
Service Operations Manager Region EMEA, ab 2012 mit zusätzlicher globaler Verantwortung
Robert Bosch GmbH Building Technologies
- Situation: No dedicated service unit in this Bosch division until 2010; as part of the newly established management team I helped build this service organization at the new site.
- Tasks and approach:
- Quickly took on daily operations as head of three service departments.
- Created transparency in key areas and implemented measures step by step.
- Focused on boosting customer satisfaction (faster repair lead times, higher repair quality, better customer support) and service EBIT; achieved progress with parallel initiatives, including:
- Optimized interfaces between RMA desk, repair technicians, service operations, providers and customers.
- Introduced CIP and KPI structures for all service staff to drive sustainable improvements.
- Established local service centers with external partners in growth markets (Russia, Turkey, South Africa): partner selection, contracting, KPI and process setup, training coordination.
- In- and outsourcing repair services with service partners.
- Introduced new packaging concept for spare parts and exchange units.
- Transferred quality analysis for customer returns from QA to the service center.
- Lean-based layout of the return center warehouse area (5S, Kanban).
- Launched an online shop to sell obsolete stock including pricing and operational management with the provider.
- Implemented a claims process with suppliers for defective components under warranty.
- Transferred first-level tech support from business units to a provider in Romania.
- Launched a new service offering “warranty period extension.”
- Rolled out best practices from EMEA to other global service regions (Americas, APAC).
- Outcome:
- Reduced service lead times (from order receipt to repair to return) by 40%.
- Increased service EBIT by an average of 8% annually.
- Sustained reduction of errors and damages.
- Lowered freight costs by 15% (volume bundling, contract optimization).
- Grew service revenue in regions with new local service centers by an average of 20%.
- Generated €100,000 annual revenue via the new online shop.
Jan 2008 - Dec 2010
3 years Munich, Germany
Bosch Inhouse Consultant Supply Chain Management
Robert Bosch GmbH Building Technologies
- Led taskforces in global optimization projects (e.g. bundling sea freight volume with Chinese suppliers via a hub; optimizing the supply chain from the distribution center to Russia; implementing software for transport cost tracking and automated invoice verification).
- Conducted worldwide trainings on Bosch process standards.
Jan 2005 - Dec 2009
3 years Switzerland
Senior Consultant bei Service- und Logistik-Projekten
Accenture Management Consulting
- Process optimizations, change management, implementation as project and subproject leader in various industries, including:
- Telecom infrastructure: country project manager in post-merger environment; implemented a new business model in Portugal and Switzerland through self-led change workshops.
- Mid-sized specialty chemicals/metallurgy: rolled out service level agreements as part of a change program for better performance transparency and competitiveness.
- High-tech manufacturer (PCs): optimized repair/return processes, e.g. introduced an incentive system for distributors to reduce no-fault-found rates.
- Energy company: developed industry benchmarks and recommendations for business process optimization based on interviews and data analysis.
- Automotive OEM: analyzed warehouse processes, identified and implemented relevant optimization measures.
- Steel producer/automotive supplier: identified savings potentials in the cross-European supply chain and implemented measures.
- Activities were Europe-wide.
Jan 2002 - Dec 2004
3 years Karlsruhe, Germany
Project Manager
Robert Bosch GmbH, Automotive Aftermarket
- Cross-departmental project management for spare parts supply from Bosch plants to global independent aftermarket workshops and parts dealers.
Jan 1996 - Dec 2003
7 years Stuttgart, Germany
Projektleitung und Projektmanagement
Schenker AG
- Led plant logistics project at a semiconductor customer in Portugal as part of a factory expansion.
- Managed projects for various clients in automotive, high-tech, semiconductors and mechanical engineering.
Summary
Since 2016 I have supported companies as a self-employed interim manager and consultant across industries in organizational transformations and operational challenges. My approach: “listen well – observe closely – act boldly” – this way I take hands-on responsibility and focus on results.
- Building up organizations or transforming them in fast-growing structures or new market demands
- Process optimization focusing on performance improvement, cost reduction and maximizing value-adding, sustainable processes as well as adapting best practices
- Leading teams and service providers – designing and operationalizing strategic goals
Industries:
- Technical consumer goods
- E-mobility
- Energy (municipal/public sector)
- Solar technology
- Facility management
- Mechanical engineering
- Telecom
- Medical technology
- E-commerce/FMCG
- Automotive
- Transport/logistics
- Electrical engineering
I lead, develop and motivate teams of up to 100 people, acting as a change enabler and empathetic leader. My strength is making teams perform better through a trust-based dialogue and creating a win-win for staff and management.
Skills:
- KVP/Kaizen
- Kanban
- AI/Chatbots
- Celonis Process Mining
- Lean Management
- CRM optimizations / CRM demand management
- Multimoment studies
- Agile project management
- Value proposition
- 5S
Languages
German
Native
English
Advanced
Portuguese
Intermediate
Education
Oct 2004 - Jun 2005
Nimbas-Bradford Graduate School of Management
Master of Business Administration · Business Administration · Utrecht, Netherlands · with Merit
Oct 1996 - Jun 1999
Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg
Diplom-Betriebswirt · Business Administration · Mannheim, Germany
Oct 1986 - Jun 1995
Gymnasium Dinkelsbühl
Abitur · Dinkelsbühl, Germany
Certifications & licenses
PRINCE2 Foundation
PRINCE2 Practitioner
Six Sigma Yellow Belt
Team Kanban Practitioner
Kanban University
Similar Freelancers
Discover other experts with similar qualifications and experience