Jens H. - External Consultant

Go to Website

Unkel, Germany

Experience

Jan 2025 - Mar 2025

3 months

Switzerland

External Consultant

Price Waterhouse

€850M revenue; focus on auditing/consulting; 3,850 employees
SCM project manager
Led a client project in procurement
Client project: procurement organization for a ministry (€3B purchasing volume/850 employees)
Successful concept development for supplier classification

Apr 2024 - Nov 2024

8 months

External Consultant

SSC Management Consult GmbH & Co KG

€25M revenue; focus on restructuring/turnaround; 22 employees
SCM project manager
Led client projects in procurement
Client Project I (04-07/2024, mid-sized manufacturing company - €70M revenue/450 employees, plastics technology):
Segmentation into strategic and operational procurement
Defined roles for strategic/operational buyers
Defined interfaces between operational procurement/production/sales and strategic procurement/quality/product development
Client Project II (08-11/2024, mid-sized manufacturing company - €120M revenue/630 employees, battery technology):
Advised on new software to reduce inventory value and ease operational procurement
Introduced statistical customer forecasts and a purchase suggestion system including automated rescheduling suggestions for placed orders

Jan 2018 - Feb 2024

6 years 2 months

Head of Supply Chain Management

Skylotec GmbH

€120M revenue; personal protective equipment industry; 1,000 employees
Responsible for purchasing (raw materials/equipment/services), logistics (inbound/intra/outbound), order processing and SCM
Purchasing volume €80M
Headcount 50 FTE, 3-tier hierarchy
Achievements in purchasing:
Introduced commodity group structure, purchasing controlling and organizational split into operational and strategic procurement
Launched lead purchasing functions within the group
Early integration of strategic buyers at the start of innovation projects
Implemented total cost approach (product/transport/quality)
Supported MoB and insourcing of production technologies
Eliminated agency purchases by building direct sourcing in Asia
Re-sourced various A-items in best-cost regions (China/Eastern and Southern Europe)
Insourced various product ranges to use free capacity of acquired companies (5% ratio)
Streamlined assortment with product management and sales (-2% cost of goods sold)
Established an annual cross-functional project planning process with quality and R&D to secure staffing needs
Stabilized supplier-transport-delivery chains during COVID-19 and Ukraine conflict
Drove inventory controlling to reduce COVID-related overstock (-8%)
Renegotiated COVID/Ukraine price increases (-4% of purchasing volume)
Created transparency on purchasing projects using JIRA
Optimized the entire logistics service network for inbound/outbound logistics (30% ratio)
Introduced new fleet service providers (12% ratio)
Reduced stock cover by 10%; average annual real-term purchasing cost reduction of ~1.5% p.a. until COVID; improved supplier OTIF by 12%
Achievements in logistics:
Planned, built and transferred logistics systems/processes/personnel for new production sites (Engineered Systems/Respiratory Masks/Sports)
Introduced a robot-controlled small parts storage system (minus 4 FTE)
Developed a drawer concept for an automatic pallet storage system including new building and cost calculations (higher space efficiency)
Implemented 5S (order & cleanliness in lean management) including KPIs
Introduced market-competitive wages and a bonus system to improve staff quality, cutting FTE by ~30% and largely eliminating temporary workers
Achievements in order processing:
Took over customer service team and introduced KPIs to prevent errors and ensure timely order entry
Achievements in SCM:
Linked planning in procurement, production, sales, logistics and subsidiaries by introducing advanced planning software (DISKOVER)
Improved the S&OP process to secure mid-term production capacities and materials
Increased on-time delivery performance from 70% to over 90%
Project lead new respiratory mask business (2021):
Selected suitable plant site, activated all SCM functions and managed product development (20 FTE); then handed over to new business lead

Apr 2006 - Jun 2012

6 years 3 months

Board Member until 12/2006 and then Sole CEO

MIK International AG

€10M revenue; barn equipment industry; 15 employees
Responsible for purchasing, product development, new business areas and later overall company management
Purchasing volume €7M
Headcount 15 FTE, 3-tier hierarchy
Increased revenue by 20%
Legal proof of product piracy by former board, former owner and colluding key suppliers in 2007/2008
Handled major legacy issues (product complaints and stopped development of non-marketable products)
Qualified the supervisory board
Modernized/expanded assortment to stabilize revenue, reduce volatility and enter more price-sensitive markets
Successfully expanded sales in Eastern Europe and Latin America
Internationalized procurement to Asia
Implemented modern software for product development and construction planning
Created data transparency/quality and meaningful metrics for sales and controlling
Introduced a performance-based bonus system
Reorganized banking systems and added financing forms (factoring/leasing)
Advised supervisory board in 2011 to increase liquidity through investors to become a full-service barn equipment provider
Majority sale of the company in 2012

Jan 2001 - Mar 2006

5 years 3 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Head of Trade Sales and Distribution

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH

€400M revenue; newspaper production; 600 employees
Responsible for wholesale/retail, train/airline sales, sales marketing, distribution, IT sales service and order processing
Revenue responsibility €25M
Headcount 35 FTE, 3-tier hierarchy
Enforced reduced trade margins vs. wholesale association (-5%)
Restructured national field sales with 20% FTE reduction while optimizing customer support
Redesigned the entire promotional materials range for trade
Slimmed organization by moving voucher subscription management to central subscriptions, IT service to central IT and trade secretarial to overall sales secretariat
Set up an innovation forum in sales to systematically develop and run innovation projects
Introduced SAP Data Warehouse for data transparency and sales controlling tools
Implemented a professional complaint management system to evaluate logistics providers
Helped design a database to link sales, marketing and editorial activities across departments
Built a national distribution system “from scratch” for the Sunday newspaper; initial revenue ~€12M and major circulation growth (most successful newspaper launch since the ’90s)
Served as FAZ shareholder representative on seven wholesale companies and held various industry association roles (VDZ, BDZV)

Oct 1999 - Aug 2000

11 months

Head of Board Project Business Development “Adhesive Technologies”

Hilti AG

€3B revenue; construction tools industry; 10,000 employees
Headcount 12 FTE
Developed “Adhesive Technologies” business field with a 12-member global project team
Obtained board and international management approval of the business plan

Nov 1998 - Sep 1999

11 months

Program Manager Implementation of Hilti Procurement Strategy in Central Purchasing as Part of Management Team

Hilti AG

€3B revenue; construction tools industry; 10,000 employees
Finalized and successfully implemented Hilti procurement strategy
Reporting to purchasing management and overarching supply chain committee

Apr 1997 - Oct 1998

1 year 7 months

Strategic Buyer Motor Components

Hilti AG

€3B revenue; construction tools industry; 10,000 employees
Purchasing volume €35M
Cost reduction of ~~€1.8M (~~5%)
Successfully eliminated a key supplier with €12M purchasing volume through re-/insourcing (project lead)
Piloted & later activated the Design for Manufacturing & Assembly tool in toolbox for system-based cost optimization of existing designs (project lead)
Make-or-buy decisions for existing assembly lines (team member)
Product benchmarking for an assembly plant (team member)

Summary

Realignment/management of procurement organizations in mid-sized manufacturing companies (internationalization/centralization/strategic realignment)
Handling all commodity areas such as raw materials, auxiliaries, operating supplies, equipment and services
Automation/digitalization of processes
Restructuring organizational setups
Implementation of new software systems
Building ERP-based reporting and KPI systems
Management of complex, interdisciplinary projects
Management by objectives
Situational, appreciative leadership
Open to innovation
Forward-thinking
Creative
Goal- and result-oriented
Structured
Focused
Strong negotiator and executor