Kathrin M. - Interim Manager / Project Manager

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Bobingen, Germany

Experience

Jan 2022 - Present

3 years 11 months

Interim Manager / Project Manager

Self-employed

production**
Interim operations and production management
Optimization of production planning
Planning, organization and execution of process optimizations at existing sites
Planning, organization and execution of new production sites or production lines
Introduction and expansion of digitalization and transformation processes at operational sites
Strategic investment planning
Building and energy management - ESG
Restructuring and process optimization of products, lines and divisions along the entire value chain
Project management/integration of new modules LEAN, KVP, MES
Production controlling, performance optimization, cost savings, evaluation of in- versus outsourcing
Introduction of new products technically and organizationally
Planning of manufacturing processes, single and group workstations, lines, complex and interlinked processes
Procurement/material management**
Interim purchasing management
Analysis and optimization of the value chain
Inventory management – LEAN, KVP, purchasing success KPI
Supplier selection, evaluation and negotiations
Contract and price negotiations
Complaint management
Management responsibility**
Staff management
Team development
Change management & organizational development**
Support of change processes, technical, organizational and personnel
Transition management
Consulting & coaching

Jan 2022 - Dec 2024

3 years

Facilitation and Coaching: Regular Leadership Meetings

Self-employed

Project for a client in the food industry during an interim assignment.

Objective:

Strengthening leaders in their role during the interim assignment.

Activities:

Monthly 2-hour meetings with the following topics:
Setting goals for the site and the respective department.
Clarity in the leadership role.
Psychological safety in leadership.
Dealing with mistakes – error culture.
Implementation of lean methods and continuous improvement (KVP) – cross-departmental.
Communication and conversation management (recruitment, probation, feedback, criticism, conflicts, development).
Implementation of sustainable onboarding and offboarding processes (introduction plan, mentoring, knowledge management, "good" departure).
Questions and issues from leaders.

Benefit for the company:

Security and role clarity in leadership support leaders’ autonomy and scope of action – towards Positive Leadership.
Acceptance of new, joint solution approaches for efficient and self-responsible work in teams.
Future-proof setup and orientation of the organizational unit with digital support.
Creation of a flat hierarchy.
Preservation of existing knowledge.
Better use of personnel capacities.
Optimization of personnel costs.

Jan 2022 - Dec 2024

3 years

Deputy Operations Manager (Interim Management)

Self-employed

Project for a client in the food industry.

Objective: Development of operational business and future-proof orientation of the site.

Activities:

General and specific process optimizations in production.
Establishment of preventive maintenance and repair management with appropriate spare parts inventory.
Resolution of investment backlog and advancement of sustainable replacement investments.
Promotion of cross-departmental collaboration, introduction of initial agile projects.
Cost controlling.
Staff management and development.
Analysis, concept development and implementation of building and energy management.

Benefit for the company:

Increase in machine performance and output.
Reduction of waste regarding materials, capacities and downtimes.
Cost and performance optimizations leading to increased earnings.
Efficiency gains through digitalization, technology and semi-automation.
Long-term employee retention through involvement in processes and regular training.

Jan 2022 - Dec 2024

3 years

Deputy Operations Manager (Interim Management)

Self-employed

Project for a client in the food industry.

Objective: Development of the strategic business and future-proof orientation of the site.

Activities:

Structural and organizational analysis of the site along the value chain.
Development of a 3-year plan for site development: technical, organizational and personnel.
Timelines and milestones for implementation.
Building management including replacement and new investments.
Replacement and new investments for machines and equipment.
Expansion of production from two shifts to three-shift operation.
Personnel planning for the implementation of a three-shift operation.
Training and development of employees.
Expansion and optimization of IFS, HACCP, GMP, audits, and occupational safety measures.
Strengthening relationships with authorities.
Implementation of ESG projects for sustainability, energy and waste management.

Benefit for the company:

Optimized, sustainable positioning of the site for a successful and profitable future.
Process and cost optimization along the entire value chain.
Performance and earnings increase.
Optimization of capacity utilization.
Efficiency gains through digitalization, technology and semi-automation.
Securing future-proof jobs and employee retention at the site.

Jan 2022 - Dec 2024

3 years

Deputy Operations Manager (Interim Management)

Self-employed

Project for a client in the food industry.

Objective: Development and implementation of recyclable primary packaging at the site.

Activities:

Creation of a project plan in collaboration with suppliers.
Upgrading machines to allow more flexible operation with different packaging materials.
Execution of various machine tests with documentation and iterations.
Parallel evaluation of materials and products by quality assurance regarding quality, shelf life and compliance.
Gradual transition to "real" production with periods for iteration and further improvement to maintain and increase performance and output.

Benefit for the company:

Savings in materials and raw materials, and thus costs.
Increase and improvement of the recycling cycle – waste vs. cost.
Active implementation of EU sustainability standards and DSD requirements, improving the carbon footprint and enhancing the social contribution to sustainable business.
Positive message that can also be used externally in marketing (no greenwashing).

Jan 2004 - Dec 2021

18 years

Augsburg, Germany

Production Manager

Dr. Grandel GmbH

Projects – strategic alignment.

Jan 1996 - Dec 2003

8 years

Augsburg, Germany

Purchasing, Supply Chain

Dr. Grandel GmbH

Jan 1992 - Dec 1996

5 years

Technical Purchasing

Landert GmbH

Project Manager: Inventory Management KPI Implementation

Self-Employed

Project for a client in the cosmetics & healthcare industry. Objective: Reduce total inventory by 10% within one year (achieved in 14 months).

Tasks:

Project team from various departments.
Step 1 - Optimization of operational activities to reduce inventory:
Adjust lot sizes and lead times.
Regular review and adjustment of the forecast by sales – monitor deviations of the top 100 best-selling items.
Optimize new and promotional products with product data sheets in the ERP.
Review and create sensible and feasible purchasing groups, quantities, processing and delivery times.
Establish call-off contracts.
Check, write off and execute destruction potential.
Step 2 - Review product families for strategic simplification of the assortment:
Review and revise KPIs for item classification A, B, C - based on contribution margin, revenue and sales.
Consider product life cycles and relaunches.
Develop concepts for strategic approaches to optimize the product portfolio.

Benefit for the company:

The goal of reducing inventory was achieved within 14 months.
At the same time, inventory turnover and liquidity were increased.
Created awareness to focus on high contribution margin and high revenue items and product families.

Project Manager: Personnel Change Management

Self-Employed

Project for a client in the cosmetics & healthcare industry. Duration: 18 months.

Objective:

Reorganize staffing of the production planning management role.

Tasks:

Previous production planning manager dropped out due to long-term illness.
Assumed interim leadership of production planning and at the same time developed a young production planning manager internally – handover as team leader within 6 months.
Coaching of the new production planning manager.
Team building activities, as the other two employees were also new.
New division of work areas and respective coverage.
Team development with workshops to ensure independent work and take on additional tasks in health & safety and documentation.

Benefit for the company:

Preservation of existing knowledge.
Coaching and team building measures brought acceptance and new solutions for efficient and self-reliant work in an equal team.
Future-proof setup and direction of the organizational unit with digital support.
Formation of a flat hierarchy.
Personnel cost optimization.

Project Lead: Contract Processing Procurement

Self-employed

Project for a client in the cosmetics & healthcare industry. Project duration: 6 months.

Objective:

Review and evaluate manual processes in-house vs. outsourcing.
Secure supply capability through multiple contract packers.

Activities:

Analyze manual packaging items in the ERP for cost and lead time to determine whether in-house or external contract packing is more efficient.
Group items by similar packaging.
Define internal/external planning and lead times.
Request, inspect, and evaluate new contract packers.
Obtain quotes, negotiate processes, instructions, quality, and prices.
Award initial orders, support on-site processes with necessary adjustments.
Conduct feedback and optimization meetings after 6 months.

Benefit to the company:

Reduced costs and lead times.
Optimized capacity (especially under high load) to ensure supply capability.
Secured contract packing under consistent quality requirements through multiple providers.
Utilization of available capacity for short-term orders.

Project Lead: Planning and Execution of Production Relocation

Self-employed

Project for a client in the cosmetics & healthcare industry. Project duration: 6 months.

Objective:

Relocate the cosmetics production of 6 lines while maintaining ongoing manufacturing to keep supply capability.

Activities:

Set up a project team.
Appoint technical leads for each machine.
Create a detailed schedule with monitoring.
Develop a detailed technical and organizational plan.
Used sprints to ensure timelines.
Before relocation, schedule products on the machines early and build up inventory to maintain supply capability.
Dismantle, deep-clean, service machines, and implement technical improvements.
Install machines in the new area and restart production.
Review and optimize production processes with employees.

Benefit to the company:

With three months of advance production, product availability for the market and special customer orders was ensured.
Planned downtime allowed for maintenance, technical improvements, and upgrades on the machines.
Production resumed after relocation without technical failures, meeting the schedule.
Production processes were optimized and newly documented. Component lead times to the finished product were reduced from 5 to 4-3 days.
All sales activities were completed on time without interruptions.
Supply capability and revenue were secured.

Project Lead: Production Process Optimization

Self-employed

Project for a client in the cosmetics & healthcare industry. Project duration: 3 months.

Objective:

Establish optimal changeover sequences and reduce changeover times on the filling machines, integrating into the ERP.

Activities:

Review active items in the ERP that run on the machines.
Create changeover groups from the technical team's perspective.
Define changeover group labels for ERP integration.
Validate changeover times from ERP production controlling together with planning and technical teams in practice.
Adjust changeover times and optimize within the changeover groups.
Import changeover groups and times into the ERP per item.
Test in the planning environment.
Deploy on the live system.

Benefit to the company:

Reduced changeover times and costs by 20% with better scheduling in the area.
Improved transparency of items in changeover groups and sequences.
Established a comparison of planned vs. actual changeover times as a basis for further optimizations and reduced downtime.

Project Management: Implementation of Electronic Scheduling Board

Self-employed

Project for a client in the cosmetics & healthcare industry.

Objective:

Replace the manual magnetic board with an electronic scheduling board.

Activities:

Form working group with planning and IT.
Align with the standard GUS ERP and address special requirements from the existing planning.
Review and set up items against their capacities with changeover groups and sequences.
Verify production times from production controlling.
Define target plan times.
Conduct planning tests on a test system with necessary adjustments.

Problem: Not fully implementable on all capacities at once because ERP visualization was not yet available.

Adjustment:

Step 1 - Export planning from ERP to Excel to maintain and simplify planning.
Step 2 - Update ERP visualization with the next relaunch (approx. 4 months).
Step 3 - Resume the project for a fully digital implementation.

Benefit to the company:

20% time saved in detailed planning for the action week.
Increased flexibility and transparency during process adjustments.
Complete clarity on item details at all workstations.
Optimized workstations in planning.
Planning simplified with drag & drop.
Knowledge and processes documented in the system.

Team Coach

Self-employed

Project for a client in the cosmetics & healthcare industry. Conducted 2 workshops 3 months apart.

Objective:

Resolve negative issues causing stress in work processes from the psychological risk assessment and turn them into positive actions.

Activities:

Development, design, and action possibilities at the workplace were rated as too low.
Externally imposed work interruptions were rated as too high.
Communication, cooperation, and mutual support in the team were rated as too low.
A tense work atmosphere was recorded – conflict with a colleague.
1st coaching: inverted thinking method, scale work for current vs. target state, world café for solution ideas and implementation, assign responsibilities.
2nd coaching: review topics from the 1st session – what works well, what issues remain, possible solutions, implementation and responsibilities.

Benefit to the team:

Team members felt heard – appreciation for their work and conflict resolution created more motivation, strengthened ownership and mutual support.

Benefit to the company:

Creation of a flat hierarchy.
Involvement of everyone in process optimizations.
Improved processes and workflows.
Satisfied, loyal staff – stronger company commitment.
Reduced sickness rates.

Team Coach / Facilitator

Self-employed

Project for a client in the optics industry. Conducted 2 workshop days with an outdoor activity.

Objectives:

Team building for two groups, achieving 100% staff growth in 12 months.

Activities:

Goal setting: introductions, defining objectives, expectations, values, collaboration model.
Day 1: methods for getting to know each other, indoor trust-building game, work on team expectations and values.
Day 2: outdoor activity, identifying expertise, defining team DNA and team spirit in joint work.

Benefits for the team:

Personal connections after a long period of digital work.
Discovering personal values and roles in the team.
Building trust and bonding.

Benefits for the company:

Strengthening the sense of unity in the team.
Acceptance of one another.
Defining goals, working out collaboration, clarifying roles.
Strengthening good relationships.

Summary

Interim & project management for sustainable transformation

You want to take your operational processes to the next level? That takes time and requires expertise. To move quickly to implementation, temporary external support can be the ideal solution.

What to expect:

Balanced management of output, costs and investments
Activation of untapped resources
Promotion of employee development and growth capacity

As a self-employed expert with technical know-how, clear communication and a strong performance mindset, I act confidently – even in male-dominated industries. I take on plant, operations or production management roles, primarily in the food and cosmetics industry. I also implement optimization projects with a focus on planning and process design in a targeted way.

Your benefit - my mission: I bring your site and your teams into strategic, operational and cultural balance – for measurable progress and lasting success.

Interim. Project. Result. I make change possible – with substance and impact.