REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate)
in Germany, matched in minutes from 15,000 CVs with the power of AIIdentify freelancers who can analyse work processes, carry out time and method studies, and support shopfloor improvement with REFA methods. Get fast, precise matching with vetted freelancers holding the REFA-Grundschein.
Meet FRATCH REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany
Karlheinz Götz
Last position:
Consultant / Test Analyst / Supporter at Insurance office, Spaichingen
Project: Process optimization & IT support in an insurance broker office.
Project activities:
- Analysis of processes and definition of requirements
- Consulting for the implementation of a cloud solution (soho)
- Installation and verification of new infrastructure HW
- Cloud installation & configuration
- Definition and creation of use cases
- Performing user acceptance tests (UAT)
- User training / training
- IT support (cloud, PC, server, printer, network)
Label: Insurance, infrastructure, configuration, training, support
Jürgen Deiß
Last position:
Consultant at Transformer Factory
Consultant for a transformer factory and authoring a specialist and textbook in novel form.
Mario Pape
Last position:
Owner & Interim Manager at MaPa Consulting FZ-LLC
- Project and interim management for manufacturing companies, national & international
- AI implementation and consulting for mid-sized companies
- Restructuring, reorganization, factory planning (greenfield & brownfield)
Andreas Kürzinger
Last position:
Consultant / Interim Manager Engineering (Machining) at Neumayer Tekfor GmbH
Process optimization and automation
Development and documentation of savings potential to reduce manufacturing costs
Analysis of production processes to identify weak points
Coaching the Engineering department to improve ways of working and lean philosophy
Elimination of work steps with annual savings of approx. €150k
Increase in machine shift output from 3,600 to 4,250 pieces (18%)
Increase in shift output of two machines from 105 to over 120 pieces (14%)
Preparation for the integration of automated 100% inspections and laser marking into the machine process
Material optimization to stabilize machining processes
Cavit Sarioglu
Last position:
Renovation of own properties at Private building project
- Independent planning and execution of renovation projects on several residential properties, including coordination of trades, budget and schedule control, site supervision, material procurement and quality control
- Experience in interior finishing, building services, exterior areas, as well as compliance with construction and energy efficiency standards
Lisa Dilg
Last position:
Transformation Architect Project & Process Management at Dilg GmbH
Development of the current-state process with integration of standardized software packages ERP/CRM/BDE/MES
GAP analysis including assessment of the technical capabilities of the existing machine park
Development of a future-state process to improve efficiency in the execution of customer projects in manufacturing
Identification and joint development of solution approaches
Tendering and selection process for an ERP system including BDE and MES capture
Integration of a tool management system
Building customer focus and communication
Introduction of a shop floor system in the company
Tendering and definition for the procurement of a new measuring machine according to DIN 9001
Appointment of key users including training
I work with a simple and clear approach that focuses on reviewing current processes, identifying gaps, and designing future states to improve efficiency and support growth.
I value open and honest communication, making sure every team member feels empowered and has room to develop their potential.
Throughout my career, I have optimized complex workflows in manufacturing, automation, and engineering.
Thomas Hartung
Last position:
Project Manager & Tender Manager at GEA Group AG
- Implemented an access control solution and prepared tender documents for a visitor management system.
- As project manager, I was responsible for the successful rollout of a cloud-based access control system for two sites with around 4,000 employees.
- Accountable for the successful execution of the project.
- Created and aligned project plans and status reports with all stakeholders.
- Prepared/coordinated an initial effort or cost estimate and related planning for operational services implementation.
- Identified interfaces.
- Ensured budget and schedule compliance.
- As tender manager / demand manager, the following specific tasks were my responsibility:
- Analyzing potential suppliers.
- Gathering requirements.
- Creating and aligning the requirements catalog.
- Developing an evaluation matrix.
- Preparing the tender documents.
Norbert Gunia
Last position:
Support for implementing the Pimcore CMS as well as support assistance and partner management at Akademisch Arbeitsgemeinschaft GmbH
- Support for implementing the Pimcore CMS, support assistance, and partner management for the existing application landscape.
- Know-how transfer to the existing application landscape.
- Advising stakeholders on the new implementation.
- Support in data modeling for Pimcore.
- Designing and overseeing data migrations from Salesforce to Pimcore using ESB.
- Creating user stories.
- 3rd level support for business-critical processes.
- Technologies: Salesforce Marketing, Sales, and Service Cloud; Talend ESB; Pimcore; Shopware; ERP system Move; DB2; MySQL; MS Office; MS Visio; Jira; Confluence.
Andreas Kälber
Last position:
Project Manager at Winkelmann Building+Industry / Reflex Winkelmann
As part of a greenfield project, a new production plant is being built in Slovakia to produce industrial media storage for OEMs and distributors once completed.
Procurement and industrialization of production equipment for prefabrication.
Design, procurement, installation and integration of complete production lines based on stamping, forming and welding technology with integrated, labor-reducing processes.
Establishment of a production environment under strategic aspects according to the latest state of the art.
Overall and continuous communication with the entire greenfield team, adjacent departments and plant and executive management.
Development of concepts together with key suppliers and identification of ratio potentials along manufacturing process chains using value stream analyses.
Collection, assessment and application of process data such as throughput times, manufacturing times, setup times, wait and idle times using time and multimoment studies as well as surveys.
Forward-looking design of production systems and processes with the goal of implementing automated and competitive process solutions as part of comprehensive supply chain management.
Planning of production workflows, definition of manufacturing methods, design of the overall layout and workstations.
Determination and recording of process cost rates, overhead rates, cost evaluation of production processes, machine hourly rates, depreciation as well as expected share of claims and rework costs to optimize manufacturing costs.
Continuous optimizations of product designs for their adaptation into automation-oriented production environments until the plant's SOP.
Multi-project management for the engineering, design, procurement, installation and process integration of all relevant trades with respect to plant engineering, lifting equipment, production equipment and QA installations.
Ongoing establishment of an overall concept in constructive, plant engineering, logistical, IT and QA aspects.
Klaus-Dieter Bleuel
Last position:
Site Manager Lithium-Ion Battery at Porsche
- Independent construction management of global projects for lithium-ion coating systems
- Leading and coordinating international assembly teams and subcontractors
- Responsibility for meeting the contractually agreed milestones for installation and commissioning
- Handling remaining open items on the construction site in a timely manner
- Regular exchange with the project manager on the current project status
- Leading the daily internal site jour fixe and taking part in site meetings with suppliers and customers
- Documenting processes and progress in weekly reports
- Responsibility for occupational safety and health protection on site
Michael Schiffer
Last position:
Principal Consultant / Managing Director at The Implementers GmbH
Consulting and interim management in the automotive industry, healthcare and other sectors focusing on program management, production launches, plant management, supplier development, cost reduction, process optimization, AI implementation and AI-driven process automation.
Key projects:
Concept for performance documentation of a pain therapy department with interdisciplinary input and reconciliation with OPS catalogue (Feb 2026).
Complete billing system for a medical practice with multi-tenant support, state machine workflow, ZUGFeRD/EN16931-compliant invoice generation, OpenEMR integration; implemented with ~4 200 LOC Python, ~1 700 LOC SQL, 30+ endpoints, 13 DB migrations (Dec 2025 — Feb 2026).
Clinical decision support system for inpatient pain therapy including automated processing of pain questionnaires, AI-generated therapy recommendations and longitudinal analysis; stack: FastAPI, Ollama, PyMuPDF, React + TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Docker (Sep 2025 — Mar 2026).
End-to-end AI-powered transcription and documentation pipeline from physician-patient conversations with WhisperX transcription, five-stage LLM pipeline, review UI and self-hosted infrastructure; stack: FastAPI, WhisperX, Ollama, React + TypeScript, Docker (Aug 2025 — Feb 2026).
AI-powered pipeline for document recognition and automated bank reconciliation processing >3 000 transactions and >4 000 documents with multi-model OCR, LLM-based document separation, web UI and loop-based prompt versioning; infrastructure: Docker Compose, PostgreSQL, Ollama LLM server (Aug 2025 — present).
Supplier development for suspension parts including changes, new launches, relocations and bottleneck management for KTM (May 2023 — Nov 2024).
Leading transfer of 150 serial production items after supplier plant closure for KTM (Jul 2022 — Jan 2024).
Lean and process consultation for Swiss manufacturer of electro components at Von Roll Schweiz AG (Jun 2018 — Nov 2018).
Ongoing back office support and process improvement for a private pain therapy & TCM practice including anesthesia protocols, website setup, digitalization and process optimization (May 2018 — May 2025).
Acting plant manager for interior trim components in Hungary focusing on stabilization, tooling optimization, headcount reduction and backlog reduction at MAO Automotive GmbH & Co (Feb 2018 — Jun 2018).
Start-up consulting and coaching for private pain therapy & TCM practice covering concept, business plan, financing, construction, setup and SOP implementation (May 2017 — Apr 2018).
Program manager for critical suppliers DAG BR238 door trim leading supplier qualification, sampling, PPAP/EMPB tracking and process approvals at Megatech Industries Deutschland GmbH (Jul 2016 — Oct 2017).
Interim COO and acting plant manager in aluminum profile processing automotive supplier with 350 employees and €80 M revenue, leading expansion in Slovakia at PWG Profilrollen-Werkzeugbau GmbH (Sep 2015 — May 2016).
Leading labor and material efficiency program for headliner production focusing on process, material, labor and supplier cost reduction at Motus Headliner GmbH (Jan 2015 — Aug 2015).
Leading development program for interior door trim DAG C292 including launch phase onsite in MS & AL at Toyota Boshoku America (Sep 2012 — Jan 2015).
Leading cost down team for DAG C218 door panels at Toyota Boshoku Europe NV (Mar 2012 — Aug 2012).
Sun visor development consulting for project team in Turkey including optimization, market analysis and design reviews at MARTUR FOMPAK (Jan 2012 — Dec 2014).
Leading transfer of injection molding tools to new suppliers including sampling, assembly trials and PPAP/EMPB coordination at Toyota Boshoku Europe NV (Jan 2012 — Aug 2012).
Program manager for BMW sun visors L7 Platform with production transfer and new development of F30 sun visor at Magna (Jul 2010 — Dec 2011).
Heike Grigat
Last position:
Interim Manager at Ypsotec AG
- Worked in the Project Management Office (PMO) advising and supporting multiple parallel projects with a focus on cost savings and process optimization
- Analyzed existing workflows and developed optimization proposals in close cooperation with departments
- Monitored project progress, deadlines and goal achievement
- Increased efficiency and digitalization in procurement
- Process optimization in logistics
- Temporary cover for operational procurement
- Achieved savings equivalent to 1.6 FTE in procurement
Franz Schreiber
Last position:
Business Development Sales & Marketing - Lead Generation at Various software and telecom companies
- Market development for software products & services and strategy
- Designing online marketing concepts including lead and acquisition management
Ismail Özmen
Last position:
Interim Manager; Systemic Business Coach; Freelance CNC-CAM Programmer and Product Designer; Founder and at Self-employed
- Process optimization
- Productivity increase in production
- Lean management
- Shopfloor management
- Production management
- Production control and planning
- Outsourcing
- Leadership training
- Private coaching
- Career coaching
- Self-management training
- Heidenhain, Siemens, Millplus
- CAD design with Fusion 360, SolidWorks
- FDM
- SLA
- Product design
- Prototyping
- Series production
Wolfgang Vosseler
Last position:
Self-Employed Activity at Reflexa-Albrecht Werke GmbH
Responsibility for building services engineering at the Rettenbach and Oederan production sites
Managing the owner family's properties and residential real estate, including service charge settlements, maintenance, renovations and tenant changes
Overhauling the existing folder structure in facility management
Tracking recurring inspections and maintenance
Commissioning and managing suppliers and service providers
Warranty tracking in new construction
Sustainable management of the cleaning service provider
Long-term property and budget planning
Completion and finalization of the energy audit
Organization of the relocation of a production line from Günzburg to Rettenbach
Expansion and extension of existing PV systems to cover the plant's own electricity needs at the Rettenbach site
Discover over 15,000 top freelancers
REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) statistics
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
33 years
Position duration
2.8 years
Positions per freelancer
16
Top business areas
Operations, Project Management, Quality Assurance
Top industries
Manufacturing, Automotive, Professional Services
Certification focus areas
Operations, Quality Assurance, Production
Bachelor's degree or higher
80%
Master's degree or higher
27%
Doctorate
10%
Certifications per freelancer
9
Most common languages
German, English, Spanish
Speak two or more languages
85%
Based on our profile pool as of 26 Aug 2026.
Daily rate distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of freelancers holding this certification in Germany are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows how many freelancers charge within that range.
Average rates for REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany
Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.
The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.
The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.
Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 26 Aug 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
About the certification
What it is
The REFA-Grundschein, also known as the REFA Basic Certificate or simply REFA Grundschein, is an entry-level qualification in work study and industrial engineering. It shows that a person understands how work is analysed, described, measured and improved in a structured way.
What it validates
- Basic REFA methods for observing and describing work
- Time study and method study fundamentals
- Process and workplace analysis
- Understanding of performance, effort and standardised work design
- Practical support for planning, improvement and costing tasks
For companies, the certificate signals a freelancer who can work with facts, not assumptions. In Germany, that is useful in production, logistics, operations and process improvement projects where clear methods and clean documentation matter.
Typical holders
The REFA-Grundschein is often held by industrial engineers, process planners, production staff, supervisors and consultants who work close to the shop floor. It is also a good fit for freelancers supporting lean improvement, capacity planning, layout changes or standard work projects.
Freelancers with this background usually know how to translate daily work into usable data. They can talk to operators, document the current state and help teams compare different ways of doing the same task.
Core knowledge
- Work analysis and work structuring
- Time recording and evaluation
- Method comparison and process improvement
- Basic ergonomics and workplace design
- Standard time thinking for planning and controlling operations
The certificate is rooted in REFA methods, so it is especially relevant where companies want disciplined improvement instead of ad hoc changes. It can support projects in manufacturing, technical services and logistics, including sites in Germany that work with German-speaking teams and local shopfloor routines.
What it means for hiring
A freelancer with the REFA-Grundschein is usually prepared for hands-on analysis work. That can include observing tasks, documenting sequence steps, supporting time studies, creating clearer standard processes and helping line managers see where effort is lost.
For employers, this lowers the risk of bringing in someone who knows the theory but not the day-to-day reality of operational work. It is a practical signal for projects that need careful measurement, clear language and acceptance from production teams.
Where it fits
The REFA-Grundschein is not a senior strategy certificate. It is a foundation for applied work study. That makes it useful when a project needs structured analysis at the operational level, especially before larger redesign, automation or capacity decisions.
It is most relevant in settings such as:
- Manufacturing and assembly
- Logistics and material flow
- Industrial planning and operations support
- Shopfloor improvement and standardisation
- Cross-functional process reviews with German-speaking stakeholders
Frequently asked questions
Key details about REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate), drawn from the questions we get asked most.
The REFA-Grundschein proves that a freelancer understands the basics of REFA work study. That includes analysing work steps, documenting processes, and using methodical approaches to improve work organisation. It is a practical signal, especially for operational projects where structure and accuracy matter.
The REFA Basic Certificate is an entry-level qualification. It covers the foundations of work analysis and process design, while more advanced REFA training goes deeper into planning, leadership, specialist methods or broader industrial engineering topics. For employers, the Grundschein is a sign of solid basics rather than full expert-level depth.
This certificate fits people who work close to operations and improvement. Typical profiles include industrial engineers, production planners, consultants, supervisors and freelancers who support time studies or shopfloor optimisation. It is especially useful for anyone who needs to speak the language of the workplace and turn observation into usable data.
Projects that involve method study, time recording, standard work, workplace design or process improvement benefit most. The certificate is also useful in manufacturing, logistics and technical operations where work needs to be analysed in a clear and accepted way. In Germany, it can be especially relevant when teams expect structured documentation and practical communication.
Many people pursue the REFA-Grundschein as a foundation certificate, so it is often suitable before deeper specialist work. Some practical familiarity with production or operations helps, because the content becomes more useful when you can relate it to real work situations. The exact entry path depends on the REFA training route chosen.
Preparation is mainly about understanding everyday work processes. It helps to be comfortable observing tasks, comparing methods, and working with clear definitions, timings and documentation. Candidates who already know a production or process environment usually find it easier to connect the course content to practice.
The REFA-Grundschein is generally treated as a foundation qualification rather than a short-lived licence. In practice, employers care more about whether the holder still applies REFA methods correctly and keeps their skills current. If someone has not used the methods for a long time, recent project experience matters more than the certificate alone.
In Germany, the REFA-Grundschein is well known in industrial and operational settings. Companies look for it because it suggests a shared method vocabulary for work study, process analysis and workplace improvement. That makes it easier to bring in a freelancer who can contribute quickly and work well with local teams.
The average hourly rate for freelancers with REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany is 117 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 935 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers with REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany, 80% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 27% hold at least a Master's degree, and 10% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers with REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany have 33 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 2.8 years.
The most common languages among freelancers with REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany are German (100%), English (83%), and Spanish (10%).
The most common industries among freelancers with REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany are Manufacturing (95%), Automotive (68%), and Professional Services (53%).
The most common business areas among freelancers with REFA-Grundschein (REFA Basic Certificate) in Germany are Operations (95%), Project Management (88%), and Quality Assurance (88%).
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FRATCH CEO
