proALPHA Experts in Germany

Process architect and transformation driver for company-wide excellence initiatives (covering a vacancy) Establishment and management of a company-wide process and governance framework to strengthen structure, leadership and effectiveness in an internationally growing family-owned company. Responsibility for the global process house, end-to-end governance, process role architecture and further development of the integrated management system – including international implementation (Romania, USA).

Scope:

• Management of the Business Excellence department with 6 employees and functional leadership of 20+ Process Owners
• Establishment of a global process operating system (architecture, roles, governance, global-local logic)
• Development of a group-wide control and KPI system for processes (transparency, KPIs, maturity)
• Introduction of mechanisms to ensure effectiveness in day-to-day operations (role enablement, communities, feedback)
• Governance and role framework for new production sites in Romania and USA (mandates, roles, decision logic)
• Stabilization and further development of the integrated management system (IMS)

Sustainable Results:

• Global process operating system established - Structure, roles, governance and global-local rules defined as a binding framework and anchored in the management system — the basis for consistent management and scalability.
• End-to-end process ownership strengthened - Process Owner roles globally defined, qualified and anchored in Communities of Practice — clear ownership structures across all sites for the first time.
• KPI and process management logic established - Uniform KPI system, maturity model and reporting principles developed — the basis for fact-based decisions, prioritization and transparency throughout the company.
• Effectiveness in day-to-day operations increased - Enablement architecture, onboarding mechanisms, regular meeting formats and feedback loops introduced — the process system is applied in daily work and continuously improved.
• Governance framework for new site implemented - Mandates, roles, decision paths and escalation logic for the new production site in Romania developed — clear structure for setup, management and integration.

Responsibility:

• R&D budget €6,7 Mio. p.a.
• 65 employees in the teams: PMO, Software, Mechanics, Electrical & Electronics, Systems Engineering/Testing/Autopilot, Kite Design
• Sole signing authority & member of the management board

Activities:

• Overall technological responsibility for a highly complex mechatronic system (autonomous flight system, ground station, electronics, software)
• Organizational development of R&D from a start-up to a scalable structure
• Introduction of technology/development roadmaps & product development process, alignment of priorities with Product Management/Sales
• Transformation to a fully agile way of working (SCRUM, Flight Levels) with an established feedback culture
• Introduction of a strategy process for the entire company
• Representation of R&D in investor relations and responsibility for IP protection activities (IP)

Achievements:

• TRL progression & product maturity: advanced from TRL 6→7/8; completed CE risk assessment for serial deliveries; responsible for the world's first certified power curve of a high-altitude wind turbine
• Development strategy: reduced cost-intensive field tests in favor of a validated digital end-to-end toolchain (simulation, load calculation, structural design) and lab tests as the primary development path; shortened design cycles by 50–75%
• R&D architecture & organizational transformation: differentiated the development organization into pre-development, product development and series support; transformed the start-up structure into a scalable, agile organization (diverse teams, stronger team engagement); turnover in R&D <4%
• Company-wide AI transformation: introduced/scaled AI tools across all areas – 92% usage rate, 78% demonstrated application competence
• Investor dialogue: represented the company in international investor dialogues

• Processing of a five-month backlog of incoming documents;
• Clarification of residual items and overdue open items;
• Review, reconciliation and clarification of accounting matters;
• Analysis of existing workflows and implementation of process improvements;
• Processing of accounting transactions in SAP FI and MM

• Review and assessment of the existing situation
• Identification and definition of implementation measures to close existing gaps

• Plant planning in conveyor technology
• Engineering and design of conveyor systems for the automotive industry / battery transport
• Software, CAD: AutoCAD Inventor 2019 3D + Vault

• Revenue €90 million, 50 employees

• Industry: Shipbuilding, marina

• Temporary assignment as Head of PMO

• Recording and validation of PMO processes

• Creation of capacity planning through 2032

• Evaluation of standard preservation processes, including VSM and macro mapping

• Creation of planning tools for project coordinators

• Participation in coordination meetings with Meyer Werft

• Data preparation for the monthly review

• Contribution to the tendering strategy for new ships

• Creation of roles and responsibilities and job descriptions for project managers and project coordinators

• Project management for the Disney Adventure cruise ship

• Re-design of the reporting tool

• Creation of a planning tool for project coordinators with a planning horizon through 2032

• Design of an on-call service, including work instructions

• Creation of calculation models for quotations

• Project management for Disney Adventure

• Managed the Internal Sales and Sales Steering teams
• Change management
• Developed and appointed the Head of Internal Sales
• Worked through backlogs (inquiries, orders)
• Led and participated in several cross-departmental projects
• Developed / implemented KPIs, identified / initiated measures
• Further developed Hubspot CRM
• Reported to the CSO

• Development of Power BI reports, measures, and KPIs for sales, purchasing, materials management, warehousing, and production
• Analysis of the proALPHA database (Progress OpenEdge) and high-performance SQL queries for extraction and transformation
• Data models, ETL processes, and pipelines including automated refresh via Power BI Service and Data Gateway
• Gathering requirements and implementation in close coordination with the specialist departments

Selected projects:

• Sales report: revenue, incoming orders, and order status
• Purchasing report with automated purchase suggestions (Power Automate)
• Monitoring of missing parts for production and materials management
• Production bills of materials on Microsoft Fabric including deployment pipeline (Dev → Prod)
• Forecast comparison report
• Central Power BI apps that bundle all reports by department

Technologies: Power BI, DAX, Power Query (M), SQL, proALPHA, Progress OpenEdge, Microsoft Fabric, Power Automate, Python

• Interim management and management consulting with a focus on sales, brand management, internationalization, business development, and market entry strategies for international consumer goods and trading companies.

• Improving processes in the purchasing area
• Digitizing purchasing processes
• Optimizing end-to-end manufacturing processes

• Overall responsibility for IT, including the creation and implementation of the IT roadmap/IT strategy and the resulting measures in the organizational structure, processes and systems landscape

• Member of the Management Board

• Organizational development

• Development of the corporate strategy

• Introduction of a new SteerCo process for Germany in coordination with the Dutch group

• Restructuring and optimization of incident, problem and change management

• Moderation and execution of software and partner selection processes for the introduction of new systems/applications

• Initiation and negotiation of business relationships with external service providers and suppliers, including contract design

• Ensuring IT security and data protection in accordance with legal requirements and best practices

• Expansion of internal data centers and infrastructure to ensure SLAs for internal operations, including cloud services and cybersecurity

• Budget planning and control as well as resource management for the area of responsibility

Assembly and start-up of pharmaceutical filling lines; supported three vial lines through successful FAT and one syringe line through successful SAT.

• Monthly / quarterly and annual financial statements in accordance with HGB/IFRS
• Fixed asset accounting
• Reconciliation of general ledger / sub-ledgers
• Support with the migration to D365
• Statistics and advance VAT returns

ERP system: MS-NAV / D365

• Independent HR and business consultant, interim manager
• Network for interim managers, project managers, coaches, consultants
• Recruitment and placement of specialists and managers for management and business succession, executive coaching and individual placement
• Business consulting with a focus on corporate strategy and management, purchasing, IT outsourcing, customer self-service, payment transactions, value added services, digitalization, restructuring and recovery