Consultant, Interim Manager, Trainer and Coach

Self-employed with a procurement focus.

• Consulting an automobile manufacturer on how to shorten its product launch process (focus: Product introduction process): analysis of the current process; identification of weak points; derivation of optimization options; discussion and agreement with cross-functional partners.

• Subject matter expert on site at an automotive supplier (focus: Reduction reject rate).
• Due to the high and incomprehensible scrap rate in a supplier's production, there was a repeated threat of a supply bottleneck with possible line downtime.
• Step-by-step analysis of the manufacturing process and development of suggestions for improvement.
• Creation of transparency regarding scrap rates and raising awareness among production employees.
• Result: Reduction reject rate of 50%.

• Subject matter expert in the selection of an e-Sourcing and e-Auction system for a business unit that has been outsourced (focus: Requirements and selection of procurement system).
• Creation of the supplier longlist.
• Moderation of a large customer workshop to record all requirements.
• Creation and verification of the tender documents and the selection criteria contained therein.
• Offer analysis and clarification with suppliers.
• Development of a recommendation for action.

• Restructuring of procurement from transaction-driven, operational procurement to shared, strategic and operational procurement (focus: Restructuring Procurement): Analysis of processes and workload; development of measures to reduce workload; analysis of procurement volume and product groups; definition of roles and task packages; planning employees for roles; change management; implementation.

• Subject matter expert in the analysis of the portfolio of IT contracts with external third parties acquired as part of an outsourcing deal (focus: Contract and cost analysis).
• Identification of savings potential and development of measures for implementation.
• Analysis of contractual gaps between customer and third-party contracts.
• Spend addressed: 200 Mn. $ p.a.
• Result: Validated savings potential of 12%.

• Reorganization of the IT department from subject areas to an ITIL-based organization (focus: Reorganization IT): definition of relevant business processes; adaptation of individual processes; development of the future organizational structure; creation of a training concept for all employees; planning communication within IT and to internal customers.

• Project management for the cancellation of planned events and trade fairs in the context of the Corona pandemic (focus: Corona-related event cancellation).
• Identification of suitable strategies to minimize the ("sunk") costs for third parties.
• Training of internal stakeholders and negotiations with suppliers.
• Result: Cost avoidance of >3.5 Mn. USD

• Global procurement manager for IT hardware, services and telecommunication (focus: IT-Procurement).
• Strategic tasks: supply market analysis, tendering, negotiation of terms and contracts, supplier selection / rating / development, reporting, budget planning.
• Member of procurement council, bundling volumes within the whole company.
• Spend addressed: 190 Mn. € p.a.
• Result: Savings of 13% p.a.

• Due to retirement, an operational buyer was no longer available in a production plant (focus: Process and system adaptation).
• The ordering system had to be taken over by strategic procurement.
• There was a lack of time and methodological know-how for process analysis and optimization.
• The responsible employee was supported through coaching in the analysis, conception and - in particular - change management and communication in order to win over internal customers for the desired changes.

• Trainer for an advanced cost structure analysis training at a large plant manufacturer (e.g. cement mills), in which various cost structure analysis methods are taught and practiced (focus: Cost structure analysis).
• Training content (excerpt):
• Target cost analysis
• TCO calculation
• Linear Performance Pricing

• Conception, creation and implementation of a basic procurement training course for owners and managing directors of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies (focus: Basics of procurement).
• Training content (among others):
• definition of success in procurement
• “best” price
• negotiation exercise
• Harvard concept

• Project manager in three negotiations worth a total of €500 million for the collaborative expansion of the mobile communications infrastructure (focus: Negotiation infrastructure project).
• Creation of the project “playbook” and agreement with negotiating partners.
• Planning, scheduling and moderation of the respective negotiation rounds.
• As a subject matter expert: Preparation of negotiation strategies and arguments; follow-up of negotiations and preparation of decision templates for cross-functional partners and procurement management.

• Consulting and coaching the customer in the further development of central procurement (focus: Development central procurement).
• In the existing holding structure, locations are largely autonomous in terms of procurement.
• Central procurement is to be gradually strengthened and take on new procurement topics in order to generate added value.
• In this context, pilot projects were started, a procurement manual was created, and target processes and the target organization were developed.
• The procurement manager and his employees were selectively coached.

• Interim management of operational procurement and the procurement systems & processes team with a total of eight employees, during an ongoing procurement transformation (reorganization) (focus: Operational Procurement, Processes & Systems).
• Development of an organizational structure including job profiles, continuous improvement of processes, change management and accompanying communication.
• Result: no interruption of “daily business”, with simultaneous successful reorganization.

• Project manager in a project to optimize the processes and organization of the respective department support (focus: Process and organization optimization).
• Analysis of the current processes, resulting problems and workload.
• Conception of a cross-departmental (pool) solution.
• Definition of topic experts and agreement on backups, e.g. during absences.
• Development of workflows and new processes.
• Calculation of the expected future workload.
• Change management.

• Conception of the tendering strategy for telecommunications services (focus: Tender), preparation of the tender documents, evaluation of the offers, clarification and negotiation of the offers.
• Spend addressed: 3.2 Mn. € p.a.

• Subject matter expert and coach for the project team to support cost reduction for telecommunication and data services in Germany, Italy and Scandinavia (focus: Cost reduction).
• Analysis of current contracts, derivation of potential and corresponding measures, validation and implementation.
• Result: Savings of 0.95 Mn. €

• Conception, creation and implementation of a training for customer sales on electronic auctions (focus: Sales training e-Auctions).
• Training content:
• Auctions – what can go wrong?
• Success factors at auctions
• Limits for auctions
• Correct behavior as a sales representative when you are invited to an auction

• Development of the procurement strategy for “managed services” (focus: Strategy development), including definition of objectives and measures, the cooperation model and the relevant actions.
• Spend addressed: 1.8 Bn. € p.a.
• Result: higher savings potentials identified than expected

• Pre-selection of suppliers, preparation of tender documents, including an evaluation matrix, creation of best-in-class contract wording (focus: Tender SAP).
• Evaluation of the tender results, development of negotiation strategies and preparation of the decision template.
• Spend addressed: 8 Mn. € p.a.

• Accompanying the ongoing tender for the selection of an external service provider (focus: Outsourcing operational procurement).
• Preparing the outsourcing, in particular: conception and support of communication and change management; providing access to relevant IT systems; checking security requirements and creating measures to keep data confidential; designing and implementing the remaining governance organization and processes; preparing to set up a category management structure.

• Project manager in a project to increase the efficiency of operational procurement processes (focus: Efficiency increase procurement processes).
• Analysis of as-is and definition of to-be processes with procurement and internal customers.
• Description of IT requirements (SAP, specifications) and agreement with IT.
• Coordination of the implementation of measures (programming and introduction).
• Change management and communication.
• Training of the users and procurement employees.
• Result: Efficiency increase of ~30%.