Interim Inventory Manager Aerostructure

A French Tier-1 supplier of aerospace structures (doors, fuselage) and interconnectivity (wiring, racks, on-board equipment, electronic systems) with €470 M revenue and over 5,900 employees.

• Optimized inventory management and procurement processes to improve cash flow and reduce costs.
• Conducted detailed business process analyses to identify and implement improvements.
• Developed and standardized work procedures to boost efficiency and minimize errors.
• Established and maintained KPIs and reports to track progress and measure success.
• Achieved eight-figure cost savings by rescheduling orders quarter to quarter in 2024 and 2025.
• Introduced an inventory reporting and management tool to monitor KPIs and drive inventory reduction measures.
• Identified five inventory optimization actions (insourcing/outsourcing, production redistribution, lean one-piece flow) with a 30 % reduction potential within 1–2 years.
• Launched inventory dashboards via Power BI.
• Set up a weekly Inventory Control Tower to present KPIs, achievements, and ongoing improvements to management and the board.

A mid-sized global leader in automotive and commercial vehicle tow bars for OEM & aftermarket, €1 B revenue, 3,500 employees.

• Led a 300-person supply chain team across 5 production plants (Germany, France, Romania, South Africa, UK), DCs (UK, Poland, Denmark, France), and 1 contract logistics provider in Germany.
• Drove strategic development, reorganization, and restructuring of the supply chain.
• Analyzed and optimized the value chain.
• Insourced external contract manufacturing and intercompany production.
• Standardized internal and intercompany packaging.
• Rolled out unified SCM KPIs (OTD; backlog €/#; expedition freights €/#; logistic claims €/#; logistic cost; logistic savings; sales/inventory; inventory turn rate) for Europe and Africa.
• Benchmarked pricing for the German contract logistics provider.
• Optimized inbound and outbound freight for Europe (created freight matrix).
• Implemented logistics claim handling in SAP for suppliers.
• Delivered cost savings of:
• €1.9 M via various projects (€1.2 M warehousing, €400 k freight, €300 k packaging)
• €3 M inventory reduction through coverage analysis and monitoring
• €1 M stock reduction by setting up a consignment stock with a steel supplier
• €100 k in freight costs by optimizing packaging
• Increased production capacity by 15 % in Romania plant by insourcing contract work from 65 % to 80 %.
• Raised truck fill rate from 60 % to 90 % via packaging optimization.

A mid-sized family firm, global leader in mirror systems for commercial vehicles, €365 M revenue, 3,000 employees.

• Interim leader of supply chain management (55 people) covering purchasing (sourcing, RFQs, negotiation, supplier management) for raw materials (plastic granules), aluminum castings, plastic, cable, electronics components, procurement, production planning, scheduling, inventory control, customs, domestic and international transport, and order picking.
• Developed and implemented supply chain optimizations.
• Improved all production processes.
• Trained successor in supply chain management.
• Reported to the CEO of Automotive Senior Experts (ASE).
• Made make-or-buy decisions for plastic and metal manufacturing.
• Introduced SCM KPI system.
• Implemented shopfloor management.
• Laid out and launched a lean strategy for FY2021.
• Executed a product launch.
• Achieved cost savings of:
• $1.5 M by reducing inventory from 3 weeks to 2 days via consignment stock and daily deliveries
• $600 k by outsourcing metal manufacturing (cut 5 FTE)
• 13 % part price reduction through insourcing plastic components
• Improved:
• SAP booking accuracy by 15 % (from 75 % to 90 %), cutting daily COGI errors from 75 to 40 on one line
• Inventory accuracy by 20 % with barcode and scanner solutions
• Inventory turns from 8 to 11
• OEM part delivery reliability from 97 % to 99 % and aftermarket from 83 % to 95 %
• Year-end inventory variance from –$540 k to –$160 k in 2020.

Site closure and takeover by Demmel AG in May 2017.

• Managed logistics, purchasing, production planning and control, inventory, customs, domestic and international transport, order picking, shipping, and the Faurecia Excellence System with 95 employees.
• Reported to the plant manager.
• Introduced team leads and a lean logistics structure.
• Improved work processes and communication, launched shopfloor management.
• Achieved Faurecia Master of Production Control & Logistics certification for managers.
• Cut €350 k in logistics costs by deploying the lean Faurecia Excellent System, boosting score from 13 to 40.
• Reduced missed deliveries (MPM – Missed Deliveries per Million) from 350,000 to 60,000.
• Raised inventory accuracy from 70 % to 98 %, recovering –€3.4 M.
• Launched Faurecia Internal Control Basics Audits, increasing score from 20 to 55.

A market leader in premium vehicle trim and decorative elements, €650 M revenue, 5,900 employees.

• Led logistics, purchasing, production planning and control, inventory, customs, transport, and order picking with 65 staff.
• Restructured the logistics department.
• Reported to the plant manager.
• Localized European goods in the NAFTA region.
• Managed consignment stock of materials.
• Optimized workflows and processes.
• Increased transparency with visual management.
• Cut inventory by 22 % (–$2.6 M) via localization and paint consignment.
• Boosted inventory accuracy by 26 % (from 72 % to 98 %, $2.2 M).
• Saved $416 k by reducing premium inbound and outbound freight.
• Achieved a 98.8 % year-end inventory result.

A consulting firm specializing in IT, logistics, and supply chain solutions, $150 k revenue, 1 employee.

• Managed operations and consulting for IT, logistics, and supply chain projects.
• Built an automotive plant blueprint in Guanajuato, Mexico, while closing a US plant.
• Secured a follow-on project for a pharma plant in Mexico.
• Opened the plant 2 months early with on-time customer deliveries at no extra cost.

A global top food company for cereal products, €13.5 B revenue, 33,500 employees.

• Prevented a €1 M daily sales outage.