Bernd Habicht
Project Manager for Secondary Vehicle Procurement, procurement volume xxxx million EUR
Experience
Jan 2024 - Present
1 year 7 months Berlin, Germany
Project Manager for Secondary Vehicle Procurement, procurement volume xxxx million EUR
DB Infrago AG
- Quickly took responsibility after predecessor change
- Prepared alternative procurement scenarios transparently from a commercial standpoint
- Reconnected loose, interdisciplinary threads by topic and personally
- Identified win-win potential in collaboration with customers
Dec 2022 - Dec 2023
1 year 1 month Dresden, Germany
Interim Infrastructure Manager; Interim Plant Manager
DB Regio AG
- Stabilized the team after the departure of the leader (as Interim Infrastructure Manager)
- Developed and aligned further development concepts with customers and team (as Interim Infrastructure Manager)
- Ensured optimal cooperation with approval authorities, including the Federal Railway Authority (as Interim Infrastructure Manager)
- Stabilized and further developed the plant (as Interim Plant Manager)
- Ensured successful recertification (as Interim Plant Manager)
- Increased operational excellence with shop floor and performance indicator management (as Interim Plant Manager)
- Improved quality using Ishikawa diagrams (as Interim Plant Manager)
- Increased output with Go Gemba (as Interim Plant Manager)
- Hired and coached new leaders (as Interim Plant Manager)
Jan 2021 - Dec 2022
1 year Berlin, Germany
Interim Cross-Functional Manager – Inventory Reduction, Parts Availability Improvement
Stadler Deutschland GmbH
- Systematically identified data gaps in Lean Management controls
- Developed and aligned a concept to close the gaps
- Created an optimization model leading to significant inventory reduction
- Stabilized suppliers and optimized organization and processes
Jul 2021 - Dec 2021
6 months Berlin, Germany
Interim Supply Chain Support - Logistics & Purchasing Plants in China, France, USA, Germany
Carl Zeiss Meditec AG
- Supported purchasing side of industrialization projects
- Improved and standardized purchase contracts
- Redefined service levels and negotiated up to 10% savings
- Developed spare parts management concept and negotiated service & maintenance pricing
- Designed, negotiated, and introduced consignment stock for spare parts
- Achieved 20% savings in inventory, service, and training costs
- Achieved up to 66% savings in maintenance costs
Jul 2021 - Dec 2021
6 months Berlin, Germany
Interim Department Head - General Purchasing
Stadler Deutschland GmbH
- Redefined service levels, developed KPIs for regular performance measurement, agreed targets, and set up reporting
- Professionalized contracts for personnel services procurement
- Advanced contract and logistics requirements standards
- Selected new team members and standardized onboarding
- Concluded plant and service contracts well under budget
Jul 2019 - Mar 2020
9 months Düsseldorf, Germany
Interim Supply Chain Manager - Managing Service Providers
Puratos GmbH
- Improved interface management between European production plants and third-party logistics providers
- Redefined service levels, developed KPIs for regular performance measurement, agreed targets, and set up reporting
- Enforced criteria for bottleneck control across disciplines
- Identified improvement needs with plants and external providers, supported on-site improvements
- Analyzed inventory and transports, optimized shipment structures
- Significantly improved costs
- Handled complaints, clarified and met customer requirements
- Developed and implemented improvements in win-win workshops with customers
Aug 2016 - Dec 2016
5 months Eberswalde, Germany
Interim Head of Taskforce “Relocation and Clearance of Eberswalde Plant”
DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung GmbH
- Compensated project delay to avoid six-figure penalties
- Recovered 6 weeks of delay and finished 3 days before the deadline through developed winning spirit and clear, performance-oriented leadership
- Improved staff commitment through intensive shop floor work
- Exceeded targets every day
Jan 2015 - Jul 2016
7 months Frankfurt, Germany
Interim Head - Subproject “Process Optimization of Spare Parts Supply”
DB Konzernleitung
- Optimized business process from requirement emergence to delivery at installation site
- Assessed big data opportunities to improve forecast quality
- Defined a 3D printing evaluation model for use in purchasing contracts
Jul 2015 - Dec 2015
6 months Bydgoszcz, Poland
Interim Head - Taskforce Pesa (Train Supplier)
DB Konzernleitung
- Caught up on delivery delays and reviewed failed project organizations
- Recovered most of the delay
- Identified interdisciplinary interfaces and developed them into seamless connections
- Held one-on-one meetings with key players on both sides to offer support for quickly fixing the biggest gaps
- Conducted stakeholder meetings on-site: to discuss capacity increases, leadership changes, and support in staffing when needed
- Streamlined task assignment, monitoring, and error correction
Jul 2013 - Aug 2013
2 months Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Interim Senior Advisor - “Organization and Processes of the Supply Chain”
DB Cargo Joint Venture mit Etihad Rail
- Designed the initial setup and process organization of the joint venture
- Created structure, process, profile, and sizing concept
- Aligned training concepts for compliant purchasing procedures
May 2013 - May 2013
1 month Paris, France
Interim Senior Advisor – “Procurement and Logistics Optimization”
DB Euro Cargo
- Reviewed setup and process organization, supported improvements
- Trained in cross-functional project management
Apr 2011 - Sep 2013
2 years 6 months Zabrze, Poland
Interim Division Head: Purchasing & Logistics & Project Manager “Focus Polska Procurement”
DB Schenker Rail Polska
- Supported post-merger integration of acquired companies
- Built a winning team with leaders from many acquired companies
- Increased efficiency, among other things by introducing Kanban
- Stabilized parts supply for “German cars” relocated to Poland
- Quickly improved parts supply—first with Excel, later with SAP through integrated planning of sales, asset management, vehicle maintenance, production together with purchasing and materials
- Reorganized supply chain setup and process organization to unlock purchasing potential
- Selected and developed new department heads
- Bundled purchasing and logistics needs quickly across DB in a cross-functional way
- Improved disposition programs and parameters with German experts
- Transferred requirement and disposition data from Excel to SAP through training
- Achieved 20% savings with cost modeling and win-win workshops with manufacturers of textile protective clothing
- Exceeded board’s purchasing savings targets by 120% through better tenders and negotiations, including game theory
- Designed and introduced new warehouse and distribution logistics
- Led an interdisciplinary project team “BEST – Bringing Europe Specialists Together” virtually with enthusiasm
- Evaluated and decided site and make-or-buy alternatives through scenarios
- Created business case, presented and pushed investment proposal to the board
- Prepared tender, sourced suppliers, led negotiations, and awarded contracts
- Modernized the warehouse in 10 months, on schedule and within budget, with 900% more internal pallet spaces and 100% more external storage
- Established Kanban for internal production supply
- Introduced paperless picking
- Reached break-even in just over 3 months
- The team won the international DB Award “Efficiency & Economy” with a 60% process efficiency increase over 60 teams
- Supported international tendering and negotiation for locomotive procurement
- Concluded an improved 24-hour service contract for critical spare parts
- Developed a successor from within the team
Jan 2010 - Dec 2017
7 years Munich, Germany
Head of DB Science, University, Committees and Funding Management, Compliance Coordinator and Interim Lead
DB Konzernleitung
- Led subproject “Reorganization of Knowledge Management”
- Chaired the group-wide steering committee oriented to best practices
- Enforced creation of a dedicated board-level organizational unit
- Optimized group-wide collaboration with universities
- Negotiated and rolled out a standard cooperation agreement
- Published the first research catalog for German-speaking railway research
- Showcased DB research and technology at university tech days
- Established mentor concept for leadership to retain scholars
- Represented DB to scientific institutions, committees in Germany and the EU, associations, and industry
- Focused previously uncoordinated appearances, organized and moderated DB-wide coordination meetings successfully
- Advanced topics in German and European committees
- Funded a chair professorship through DB and industry partnerships
- Sole DB representative in the BMWi project “Railway Research 2025”
- Established mentor concept to retain scholars in Technical Department
- Standardized group-wide processes for securing funding
- Provided successful commercial advice to SHIFT2RAIL applicants
- Conceived and published the first DB funding manual
- Doubled funding revenues
- Increased compliance awareness, especially on cartels
- Responsible for compliance risk assessment in procurement
- Co-designed and rolled out compliance training for about 1,000 group purchasers
Feb 2008 - Dec 2010
2 years 11 months Berlin, Germany
Division Head, Technical Strategy, HR, Controlling
DB Systemverbund Technik & Dienstleistungen
- Led process to develop technical strategy
- Supported holistic strategic alignment with technology radar
- Took lead in initiating, designing & implementing efficiency improvements
- Built and led an interdisciplinary Project Management Office
- Saved 40% of commercial staff through standardization
- Saved €70M of €300M department costs via Lean Management and tight monitoring of improvement projects
- Supported development of the first internal satisfaction metrics survey
- Conceived and implemented the first professional, department-wide customer survey
- Set performance indicators for a management information system
- Moderated alignment of improvement measures
Jan 2003 - Jan 2008
5 years 1 month Berlin, Germany
Division Head Special Projects; Division Head: Sales Coordination
DB Dienstleistungen GmbH
- As Division Head Special Projects:
- Sustainably improved performance and costs of €4B worth of service providers
- Cut costs by 30% through post-merger integration of 7 companies
- Led PMO to eliminate duplicate structures
- Supported development of group-wide organizational and process setup
- Successfully shaped the second board proposal “Founding DB International” by contributing group knowledge and intensive pre-alignments
- Supported reorganization of DB Jobservice
- Led a cross-group make-or-buy project to set technical and business foundations
- Created 1,100 in-house positions across the group
- As Division Head Sales Coordination:
- Improved external revenues, developed organization and systems
- Doubled external revenue to €200M in three years
- Promoted professional development and collaboration of 300 sales staff
- Bundled services into customer-oriented system services
- Standardized offer calculations
- Professionalized marketing by publishing the first product catalog and brochures, and refining the core message
- Professionalized trade fair appearances, bundled 10 DB exhibitors into 4 customer-focused service offerings, trained stand staff together
- Established trade fair controlling and joint follow-up
- Developed a successor from the team
Oct 2001 - Dec 2003
1 year 3 months Munich, Germany
Project Manager: “Unlocking Procurement Potential”
DB Konzernleitung
- Set up and led project to reorganize DB’s procurement organization – €50M project budget, 1,000 purchasers, procurement volume >€8.0B, savings target €1.9B
- Launched project and structured with PMO
- Held kickoff with DB CEO, 20 full-time core team members from all business areas, 1 BCG partner, 3 directors, and various consultants
- Moderated workshops for 24 subprojects with up to 200 project staff
- Reported progress to stakeholders including the group board
- Sent bi-weekly project briefings to the organization including the works council
- Achieved €200M quick win through renegotiations
- Identified and operationalized another €1.1B for successors via neutral EU tenders, e-auctions, and supplier portfolio globalization including selection, evaluation, and development
- Increased procurement attractiveness by establishing career paths
- Moderated cross-functional teams for holistic process optimization, e.g., group-wide demand aggregation and planning optimization
- Concluded multi-year framework agreements with better conditions
- Improved interdisciplinary negotiation preparation and execution
Jul 1999 - Sep 2001
2 years 3 months Berlin, Germany
Division Head Purchasing Vehicle Spare Parts and Materials Management
DB Konzernleitung – DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung
- Quickly improved customer focus and acceptance of parts procurement
- Integrated spare parts purchasing and materials management
- Maintained 160,000 SAP records for disposition optimization
- Trained in cost modeling, target costing, and specification simplification
- Improved prices and service with international suppliers
- Developed a successor from within the team
Jul 1999 - Dec 2000
1 year 6 months Germany
Interim Project Leader: “Optimizing Spare Parts Procurement and Stock”
DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung
- Optimized processes in logistics and procurement for 110 maintenance sites
- Developed demand planning in Excel and transferred to SAP with staff training
- Concluded framework agreements, reducing lead times
- Improved parts availability by 20% and logistics costs by 20%
- Reduced inventory and write-down needs by 30%
- Developed concepts for a more efficient nationwide spare parts warehouse
- Developed and interdisciplinary evaluated make-or-buy, central warehouse physical/virtual, overall/technology-driven scenarios
May 1998 - Dec 2000
2 years 8 months Erfurt, Germany
Executive Management: Technical, Operations and Sales
DB Tankservice GmbH
- Established a high-performance, efficient organization from 14 independent units of the federal and state railways
- Built a team with winning spirit without losers
- Found the best place for everyone as an experienced player-coach
- Initiated change from state railways to market player Deutsche Bahn
- Established Lean Management, benchmarked with international corporations
- Reduced operating costs by 50% in agreement with the central works council
- Cut investment costs by 50% through international suppliers
- Reduced construction times by 70% through standardization and modularization
- Designed and implemented a sales setup
- Tripled external revenue
- Established sales & marketing, trained staff, and implemented marketing tools
- Developed a successor from the team
Apr 1998 - Apr 1998
1 month Meckenheim, Germany
Consultant
Self-employed
- Prepared cooperation between IVG and Deutsche Bahn AG
Oct 1996 - Jul 1997
10 months Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Interim Chairman of Management Board: Strategy, HR, Sales
Raab Karcher Spedition
- Buy & build integration with modular service concept and efficiency increase
- Achieved turnaround of the largest freight forwarder “Raab Karcher” in 9 months
- Concluded interest and social plans with the central works council after over 30 regional meetings
- Integrated acquired companies to become the European market leader
Jan 1996 - Mar 1998
2 years 3 months Bonn, Germany
Managing Director: Strategy, M&A, Portfolio Management, HR, Sales
IVG Logistik
- Expanded mineral oil service portfolio to end customers
- Developed concept and business plan for acquiring companies
- Quickly completed portfolio expansion by acquiring 10 companies
- Rehabilitated the repair plant
- Transferred responsibility and authority for newly defined cost centers
- Integrated Eastern European sub-suppliers into the supply chain after intensive on-site quality assurance
- Completed restructuring in 9 months
- Introduced to DB AG as a restructuring expert by my boss at the request of his former trust colleague, the DB HR Director
Jan 1993 - Dec 1995
2 years Pfullendorf, Germany
CEO: Finance/Controlling, HR, Legal, Logistics
Geberit Produktions GmbH Deutschland
- Introduced Lean and Total Quality Management after stay in Japan
- Implemented SAP ERP system a year ahead of SAP’s schedule
- Shortened replication of production systems from 13 to 4 months
Jul 1992 - Dec 1993
1 year 6 months Pfullendorf, Germany
Member of Management Board: Head of Logistics and Purchasing, Authorized Signatory
Geberit Deutschland GmbH
- Built a reliable, high-performance supply chain and realized purchasing potential
- Learned Lean Management, Total Quality Management, Toyota Production System theory and practice in Switzerland and on-site visits in Japan
- Reduced lead time from 13 to 3 weeks through process optimization and introduction of two shifts in coordination with the works council and union
- Led reengineering of Sales & Distribution (DE, AT, CH, IT, NL) as project leader
- Developed a 10-year strategy for warehouse and distribution processes and structures
- Determined optimal location and make-or-buy in Europe using simulations
- Realized purchasing potential
- Managed packaging supply for commissions with cost modeling and win-win workshops with suppliers, improving lead times by 70% and prices by 30%
Dec 1991 - Jun 1992
7 months Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland
Staff of Group Board, Technical Department
Geberit Holding
- Supported development of 10-year strategy
- Prepared decision-making documents clearly structured
- Served as second project leader for “Start of Lisbon Assembly Plant,” compensating delays
- Reduced delay through intensive on-site work with suppliers
Apr 1991 - Jul 1991
4 months Langen, Germany
Division Head Materials Management
AMP
- Resigned during probation
Jul 1987 - Mar 1991
3 years 9 months Hamburg, Germany
Head of International Supply Planning & Control, Authorized Signatory
Hans Schwarzkopf GmbH
- Managed plants in DE, AT, CH, IT, NL, GB, HU with SAP, ensured product availability
- Developed European planners as a team, then rolled out SAP in 9 months
- Moderated plant closures in Italy and UK without a single day lost to strikes
- Developed a successor over years from within the team
Nov 1983 - Jun 1987
3 years 8 months Aalen, Germany
Department Head: Production and Inventory Control
Carl Zeiss
- Introduced holistic control for efficient service improvement
- Improved finished goods availability with 30% inventory reduction
Summary
Can win the hearts of your team. As a charismatic player-coach often built winning teams. Self-motivated, strong analytically, structured, and stable under frustration. Optimization concepts coordinated and enforced across disciplines, implemented with joy in success and plenty of shop floor work.
Languages
German
Native
English
Advanced
French
Elementary
Education
Apr 1975 - Dec 1983
Technische Universität Berlin
Diplom Ingenieur · Industrial Engineering and Management · Berlin, Germany
Certifications & licenses
Controller Diploma
ISO 14001
ISO 9001
Six Sigma Foundation
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