Trainers

Sebastian Bardy studied industrial engineering at the TU Darmstadt and is a research assistant at the Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW). He is doing his doctorate at the Center for Industrial Productivity and is mainly concerned with competence building for the integration of data-based process improvement. To this end, he is researching how the cooperation between learning systems and people in production can be improved.

With a degree in Economics, Jonathan Bauer has been certified as a restructuring and reorganization consultant (IfUS Institute). He is an expert in business and performance management offering support in performance and profit improvement programs and in growth and restructuring projects. He is a trainer at Staufen Academy.

Jonathan Bauer has more than seven years of practical experience in offering business and performance management consulting service to industrial and commercial organizations. He specializes in preparing sustainability concepts, footprint and profit improvement projects along with their long-term implementation in the automotive, automotive construction, textile, food, and mechanical and plant engineering industries.

After studying pedagogy, Dr. Dirk Bayas-Linke started working as a consultant in qualitative market research with international clients. He accompanied the Blend a med brand from product development to brand launch. Subsequently, his consulting field expanded to include change management, organizational development and consulting. At the same time, he wrote his doctorate on the subject of organization and leadership. In his many years as a freelance consultant, he has gained experience in a wide variety of industries (including insurance, IT, defense and automotive) and has worked at all levels in organizations on the topics of change, complex transformation, strategy, leadership and organizational design from conception to implementation. Dirk Bayas-Linke has been Principal since 2018 and is responsible for Change and Organizational Development.

As a consultant and trainer within the WIEPROconsulting department at SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG since 2022, Yannic Blessin is in charge of the electronics plant in Bruchsal. Here, he launches and supports assembly and logistics projects. He is a trainer at Staufen Academy.

Yannic Blessin completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the DHBW Mannheim and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Graduate School Rhein-Neckar. From 2016, he acquired expertise in the optimization and redesign of production and quality assurance areas in his role as a project engineer at PFW Aerospace GmbH, a supplier of fuel tanks, structural components and piping systems for the aviation industry. Later, he was in charge of setting up the central Manufacturing Metrology function and successfully implemented process-integrated, standardized economic quality inspections. Before joining SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG, Yannic Blessin was an external consultant and was tasked with Lean Management and Task Force projects.

After his studies, Dominik Bühlmann worked as an independent China expert and translator. Due to his language skills and previous work as an operator at Pfisterer AG in Malters (LU), he was given the opportunity to accompany the establishment of the new production site in Wuxi, People’s Republic of China, as Production Management Assistant. His tasks consisted of introducing the lean management program under the guidance of an external consultant, implementing short- and medium-term projects to increase quality and productivity, accompanying and interpreting the associated workshops, and ensuring communication between the Chinese workforce and the Swiss factory management.
Dominik Bühlmann has been working as a consultant at Staufen.Inova AG since 2015.

Jérôme Cieplik has been a consultant in the WIEPROconsulting Global Logistics Planning of SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG since 2019. He completed a degree in industrial engineering before furthering his expertise in logistics and digital plant management. 

In his role at WIEPROconsulting Global Logistics Planning, Jérôme Cieplik is primarily responsible for the realization of standardization and change projects at international locations. Moreover, he has also been assigned the role as Global Process Owner Outbound Logistics.

He initiates and accompanies integrated change projects relating to material and information flow design, and also standardization projects relating to logistics and assembly processes.

He was able to demonstrate his skills in the field of world class manufacturing / engineering and value stream analysis in various plants and countries in many projects and workshops. His training as a Kaizen / KVP coach at Novem Car Interior Design GmbH and at MAGNA Interiors built the basis for this. In several Six Sigma Black Belt projects, he significantly contributed to the improvement and efficiency of processes. He gained his leadership skills as part of his training and practice assignments. This enables him to successfully manage project teams across all areas. Pierre Cloth has been an associate of Staufen AG’s Operational Excellence team since 2016. He is now employed as a Project Manager.

Christian Czejka ist seit 2001 bei der SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG beschäftigt und seit 2017 als Berater in der Abteilung Christian Czejka is working for SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG since 2001 and has worked as a consultant in our WIEPROconsulting department since 2017. He completed an apprenticeship as an industrial mechanic and proceeded with a study program of mechanical technician and industrial engineering. Within WIEPROconsulting he is primarily responsible for the implementation of change projects at international locations in Europe. He initiates and supports comprehensive change projects that deal with the topics of material and information flow design, process optimization and layout design.

Dominic Decker has worked as a consultant at SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG in the WIEPROconsulting department since 2016. He completed an apprenticeship as an Industrial Clerk and proceeded with a study program of Business Administration and Engineering at the university of Pforzheim. Within WIEPROconsulting Dominic Decker is primarily responsible for the implementation of change projects at international locations in Northern and Eastern Europe as well as for external customer projects. He initiates and supports comprehensive change projects that deal with the topics of material and information flow design, process optimization and layout design.

Michael Feldmeth has implemented various Lean projects in the automotive industry as well as in mechanical and plant engineering. His projects included the restructuring of the entire order processing. The focus of the projects was the optimization of the production processes as well as the associated administrative processes. Due to the production of cooling systems and special machines, he was able to achieve a significant increase in efficiency and flexibility of production by reorganizing the manufacturing according to Lean principles and by training the employees. Most recently, he worked at Robert Bosch GmbH in the Central Department for the Development and Coordination of the Bosch Productions System. He was responsible for the further development of the production system according to the future requirements of the manufacturing industry. Michael Feldmeth has been working for Staufen AG since 2014. Since 2019 he is employed as a Project Manager.

Since 2007, Verena Franz has been with RECARO Aircraft Seating, and today she also collaborates with Staufen Academy, where she is a trainer. Initially joining the process management team in Schwäbisch Hall, she took on her first leadership role at the plant in Texas in 2010. After returning to Germany, she directed and globalized the complaints system, among other things, while she later assumed responsibility for quality management. Since 2022, Verena Franz has assumed global responsibility for the Lean and Management Systems Team. This included implementing the global Lean Enterprise Program and working on continuously enhancing the internal Lean qualification program. In 2023, Verena completed Lean Leader training. 

Moritz Gadow holds a degree in Industrial Engineering (M.Sc.). He is a consultant and trainer at Staufen. Moritz Gadow has extensive expertise in the methodology of lean management and a solid understanding of processes, particularly in assembly, production and maintenance systems. He is committed to developing tailored concepts and implementing them in a systematic manner. He has extensive experience in the aviation, automotive and mechanical engineering industries.

Moritz Gadow focuses on integrated optimization approaches with value stream design, the design of synchronized assembly systems and has expertise in value stream-oriented factory design, incorporating the optimization of assembly and logistics processes.

David Gänsbacher has an engineering degree in logistics and production (Politecnico Partner di Torino). He boasts 12 years of consulting experience as a project manager and sparring partner at top management level and is active as a trainer at Staufen Academy. Over the years, he has successfully supported over 20 clients in the transformation process while developing best-practice partners in Germany, Italy and China. David has industry experience in aerospace, automotive, mechanical engineering and the process industry.

With more than 15 years of professional experience in the automotive sector and as a consultant at Staufen AG in Italy and Germany, plus international project experience (Europe, Asia, North and South America), he offers management training and coaching for process and leadership excellence.

Alexander Gutbrod ist seit 2001 Berater und Trainer in der Abteilung WIEPROconsulting bei SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. KG. Er war am Aufbau des SEW-Wertschöpfungssystems beteiligt und anschließend mit der internationalen Implementierung betraut und begleitete umAlexander Gutbrod is in the Department WIEPROconsulting of SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. KG since 2001. He was involved in the construction of the SEW value adding system and then entrusted with the international implementation and supervised comprehensive restructuring of complete manufacturing and assembly plants of SEW-EURODRIVE. From 2009 on he was involved in the planning of the industrial gear factory of SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. KG and was responsible for the assembly until 2015. Since 2015 he is back at WIEPROconsulting and supervising the production areas at the plant in Graben-Neudorf.

Jürgen Hammer absolved his Dipl.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering. He was responsible for the management of many successful national and international transformation projects focusing on operational excellence. He has an outstanding technical knowledge and high level of industry expertise in the areas of mechanical and plant engineering as well as automotive. Also he is experienced in executive training and coaching in shopfloor management and leadership development programs.
He gained more than 5 years of industrial experience in machinery and plant engineering and more than 1 year as Interim Manager in the field of industrialization furthermore outstanding more than 16 years experience as Management Consultant, Lead Trainer and Coach.
His reference projects are the development of a global footprint for a globally active American pump manufacturer and the development of a European footprint for a global Swiss elevator manufacturer. He also managed oprational excellence programs in the areas of energy supply, passenger transportation and supply engineering and an holistic optimization of order fulfillment processes in the machinery and plant engineering sector. The factory planning of greenfield and brownfield factories in connection with Industry 4.0 concludes his profile.

Lutz Herborn successfully completed a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. e has an interdisciplinary and thus integrative way of thinking from a technical and economic point of view as well as a strong process-oriented thinking, especially when analyzing end-to-end processes. He has already gained industry experience in mechanical and plant engineering, automotive and vehicle manufacturing as well as multi-layered professional experience in the areas of consulting, corporate and start-up.
His experience and competencies lie in supply chain management and operational excellence, extensive industrial experience in production planning of an automotive manufacturer, strong knowledge in lean management as well as methodological and technical competencies in process mining.
His reference projects include the optimization of a material supply process in a medium-sized company on the basis of lean manufacturing methods, the implementation of an innovative process mining model for supply chain planning, the structuring and introduction of a uniform schedule control for cross-departmental project management and the introduction of store floor management in the indirect area.

Mariana Hergl is a trainer and consultant at Staufen AG. She is known for her high level of cross-cultural expertise and is involved in international consulting projects and in-house training in a range of industries.

With a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, she acquired her Lean Six Sigma Green Belt in France. Her wide-ranging expertise spans many different aspects of process optimization and Lean Management.

As an experienced trainer, Mariana supports future Lean experts and trainers on their career paths while inspiring them with the content of diverse areas – from the basics of Lean Management to topics specific to production.

Alexandra Hey is psychologist, accredited trainer and qualified six sigma master black belt and professional scrum master. She gained long-term experience in leading transformation programs in large international corporations and uses a dual focus on change management/ organizational development and lean management/ six sigma. Her industry focus is on service companies and indirect areas in manufacturing. She improves service quality and productivity as well as customer and employer satisfaction.
Alexandra Hey gained more than 20 years experience as internal and external consultant with 6 years as an expatriate. She gained extensive leadership experience with 2 years as Executive Board Member of a German insurance company. As reference projects there is to name the transformation of two energy companies introducing lean and agile. Also the process improvement and digitalization as well as implementation of Shop Floor Management in indirect areas of various clients. The trains and coaches internal change agents, project leaders and leaders.

Dusan Kalabic is a production specialist and has gone through all stages of production. After training as a mechanic followed a long-time production practice. He continuously developed competencies and went through all hierarchy levels in production: skilled worker, group leader, shift master, master, production manager, head of production technology grinding, head of production technology and tool prototype construction, Plant Manager Production System. A very broad technology know-how completes his profile. He has also completed his teaching skills in teaching technical subjects in adult education. Various optimization projects in production and maintenance, as well as the application of lean methods / analysis brought him in-depth understanding of the application of Lean Management in theory and practice. He brings his many years of leadership experience in lean leadership, as a master coach in the implementation of Shop Floor Management. Since mid-2010 and after a short break, again since mid-2019, he works as a Senior Expert at Staufen AG in Germany, but also throughout Europe and China.

Jens Kittlitz has been working for SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. KG since 1991 in the training department and in diverse cutting production areas. After the completion of his training as an industrial mechanics followed a long-term production practice in the fields of operating and fitting CNC lathe and cutting machinery. Further qualifying himself as a technician, he has been working as an instruction master since 2010, focusing on conventional CNC lathe machinery as well as on examining and team building.

Jens Kohlhaas joined WIEPRO Consulting at SEW Eurodrive GmbH & Co. KG in 2011. He graduated in Business Administration and Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Cologne. In his professional career he also worked for a logistic service provider in the automotive industry with a focus on inbound logistics. At WIEPRO Consulting Jens Kohlhaas focusses on project work in SEW‘s assembly and production plants in Asia – especially China. Currently he is involved in material flow and process optimization projects in China, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. In addition he conducts trainings for Lean manufacturing and Lean assembly methods in Germany and abroad.

Janice Köser is working at Staufen AG as Academy Manager since 2012. Her career started in 2007 as working student in the event management at Westpac Corporate Banking in Sydney. After finishing her Master of Commerce at the Macquarie University Sydney in 2008, she took over the professional guidance of congresses and cooperation events as Project Manager for WELT GROUP, FOCUS and F.A.Z. at premevent GmbH and Management Circle AG. Through this, she gained far-reaching contacts in economy and industry, science, and politics. Moderation and hosting plenary discussions complete her profile. Since 2011, Janice Köser is lecturer at the International School of Management (ISM) in Dortmund, Frankfurt Main, Cologne, and Stuttgart, teaching Strategic Event Management and MICE. She is member of the Staufen company audit AZAV / ISO 9001 / ISO 29990.

Lukas Kreinest holds a degree in Industrial Engineering (RWTH Aachen). He is a consultant and trainer at Staufen AG. He combines a broad knowledge of production optimization and Lean Management with a systematic and entrepreneurial perspective on problems and solutions along with strong analytical skills and a quick mind.

With several years of professional experience in the automotive and supplier industry, in plant engineering and in the semiconductor industry, Lukas Kreinest also offers expertise as a Lean Consultant – primarily in the areas of production and logistics.

Detlef Kuhn completed a degree in Micro and Precision Engineering and expanded his professional knowledge in the areas of production technology and design. He is a consultant in the WIEPROconsulting department of SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG and a trainer at Staufen Academy. His responsibilities at WIEPROconsulting include the realization of change projects at international locations in Europe and market launch processes.

Detlef Kuhn initiates and accompanies integrated change projects in the areas of material and information flow design, process optimization and layout design, including MAXOLUTION system solutions. Furthermore, he leads training programs in Lean Production and conducts Best Practice Days.

Vincent Kurtz is qualified as Master of Science in Industrial Engineering. He gained experience as a test Engineer at a German automotive OEM in the department Total Vehicle Development. Furthermore his skills are the Management consulting in the areas of Restructuring & Finance and Operations and also the leading execution of trainings of student management consultants. Vincent Kurtz reference projects are value stream analysis with subsequent setup time optimization with reduction of 50%. Moreover the development of a disposition model for inventory optimization. He also leads 5S workshops in medium-sized enterprises e.g., in production and assembly; business planning and restructuring and the development of a funding concept for an NGO.

Axel Davila Lage has a degree in Industrial Engineering and is a certified Change Manager, Six Sigma Master, and specialist for occupational safety. He is a consultant at Staufen and a trainer at Staufen Academy. His many years of experience include consulting and industry, where he worked for many years at plant and company level. His intercultural skills were acquired in various international projects.

He is a qualified expert in the areas of OEE improvement, TPM and maintenance, occupational safety, strategy development, Shop Floor Management and the design and implementation of production systems.

Michael Metzger is an experienced Lean consultant for indirect areas, functions and processes. While studying for an industrial engineer degree, he had early gained experience due to his practical activities with lean approaches. On this basis, he initially carried out several Lean Administration projects in various areas of the automotive industry at home and abroad. Subsequently, he transferred the approach also in other branches such as e.g. machinery and plant construction, logistics, energy industries and the banking industry he was able to achieve significant improvements. His experience as coach and trainer completes his competency profile. Michael Metzger has been an adviser at Staufen AG since 2013, he started as a consultant in Lean Administration and works as a Project Manager since 2016.

CURRENT AND FUTURE TRAININGS OF THIS TRAINER
The impact of lean on key business figures

Christian Möllers studied business economics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, focusing on finance, accounting and taxation. After completing his studies, Christian Möllers worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers AG WPG for five years, where he lastly conducted various auditing and consulting projects as Senior Consultant. Within the scope of these activities, he obtained a solid, cross-sectoral financial analysis. Subsequently, he joined BK-Partners Asset Management in Mexico, where he was responsible for a variety of due diligence projects in financial and strategic analysis of various international investment opportunities. Since 2013 Christian Möllers has been working at Staufen AG in the restructuring of medium-sized companies.

Irina Müller gained her first practical lean experience as a degree candidate in the manufactory of an automotive supplier. The results of the centralization of external warehouses to optimize the production supply resulted in her diploma thesis. After moving to the logistics service provider, she became a project manager in contract logistics. There she was responsible for the planning and implementation of tailor-made logistics concepts for customers in the automotive and aerospace industry. Her successful projects included the introduction of the supermarket principle for the production supply of a first-tier supplier, the restructuring of in-house logistics processes to reduce processing time and sources of error, and the new launches of locations. As a consultant in the intralogistics of a food retailing company, she supervised the planning and execution phases of automated high-bay warehouses as the deputy project manager. During this time, she deepened her knowledge of the shelf and conveyor technology. She has been a consultant at Staufen AG since November 2018.

Sebastian Nett was able to gain experience with the holistic approach of lean management during his studies at RWTH Aachen and KTH Stockholm. During his internship in project management at Daimler AG, the theoretical skills could be used in practice. He was involved in steering column development for various model series. He wrote his master thesis on the evaluation of product allocations in the design of global production networks at the WZL of the RWTH Aachen University. After graduation, he supported Tier1 customers as an application engineering consultant regarding the matching properties of connectors and terminals.
Since 2018 Sebastian Nett has been a consultant for Staufen AG, supporting his customers in holistic lean transformations in the electronics and automotive industries. He analyzes processes end-to-end by using value stream analysis and design, reduces complexity in production processes through suitable segmentation of the underlying product portfolio and designs and optimizes production and logistics processes of the product value streams.

Maja von Olnhausen has been a consultant and trainer for WIEPROconsulting at SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG since 2007. She initiated and supervised nine years of improvement projects in production and assembly at plant Graben-Neudorf. Focus was on the concatenation of plants, operating concepts, set-up times as well as material flow optimization and re-design of assembly workplaces. Since 2016, she concentrates on development structuring administrative processes, communication, and interfaces.

Maja von Olnhausen has a degree in Industrial Engineering and has been a consultant and trainer in the WIEPROconsulting department at SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG since 2007. In collaboration with Staufen Academy, she conducts several training programs at SEW. 

Over many years, Maja von Olnhausen launched and accompanied improvement projects at the Graben-Neudorf production and assembly plant and the Bruchsal large gear unit plant. She primarily concentrated on interlinking systems, operating concepts, optimizing setup times and material flows and redesigning assembly workstations.

Since 2016, Maja von Olnhausen has been involved in development focusing on process analysis and the design of administrative processes. They include the accompanying communication, interface analysis as well as the required knowledge management. She also oversees the conceptual development and rollout of tools for development projects involving interdisciplinary stakeholders. She played a key role in developing and launching sustainability processes. She was responsible for project management of the preliminary project for the new implementation of a PLM domain.

After studying business management at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Remco Peters began his career as a consultant at Agamus Consult. He developed his consulting experience at Cap Gemini as a member of international projects in the automotive industry. Most recently, he was responsible for Practice Lean Manufacturing & Administration at MBtech Consulting GmbH. The main focus of his consulting work is to design and implement lean business processes in the automotive and manufacturing industries. He is an expert on the subject of Shop Floor Management and the sustainable change of organizations. Since 2013, Remco Peters has been working for Staufen AG as a partner and mastercoach in the area of Shop Floor Management.

After studying economics at the universities in Wuppertal and Nottingham, Marco Pett began his career at Robert Bosch GmbH in Salzgitter, where he had already gained initial experience of Lean methods within the CIP department. At GIRA Giersiepen GmbH & Co KG, he began his career in controlling, with a focus on administrative processes, before he used various Lean methods as the head of plastic production. In the course of this activity, he was responsible for the successful introduction of the Toyota-Kata method as well as from Shopfloor management in production. As an internal trainer, he also oversaw the implementation of Kata and Shop Floor Management in various other areas and was responsible for the design and implementation of internal training.

Maximilian Reintke completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering (PTW at TU Darmstadt with a focus on Industrial Production Management) and is a Staufen-certified Lean Leader. As of 2019, he has been a Lean Manager at INSTA GmbH and is a trainer for the Lean Assembly I Small Series seminar in collaboration with Staufen Academy. 

Maximilian Reintke specializes in strategic and operational improvement initiatives across the entire logistics and production value stream (SMT and THT production) and particularly in the introduction of Shop Floor Management and its extension to Green Shop Floor Management. Additionally, he is a coach and leads KATA improvement projects. 

Nicolas Romfeld is Project Manager at STAUFEN.AG. He is Coach for executives, employees and teams, as well as Consultant for agile work and lean management. Already during his studies, he used lean management methods within student consulting projects. Since then, he managed several optimization projects with STAUFEN. Quality Engineers and STAUFEN.AG, in different industries, in production and assembly as well as in indirect areas. Currently, Nicolas Romfeld is specialized on collaboration in development departments using lean development. Agile work is his passion for more than five years, that’s why he is significantly involved in the development and expansion of Staufen’s consulting approach Agile Performance. He is also a companion for employees, teams, and companies in the transition towards an agile organization.

Andreas Schillinger has been working in Lean Management since 2005. His career began with the roll-out of fischer ProzessSystems at the factory in Buenos Aires. After his time in Argentina, he supported the plant in Auburn Hills, USA with the optimization of assembly, logistics and toolmaking. From 2006 to 2011, he was responsible for internal process improvement in the fastening systems sector in Germany. The main focus of the project was the implementation of Lean methods in cold forming, plastics processing and assembly, including the restructuring of internal logistics. In 2011, he took over the Lean Management of voestalpine Stampec GmbH in the Nagold and Böhmenkirch plants with the creation and introduction of an internal production system, an increase in the OEE (in particular through set-up optimization), a reorganization of the assembly and the organization of the company proposal. Andreas Schillinger has been an associate at Staufen AG since 2014.

Sebastian Schneider has many years of management experience in the corporate and project world and has assumed responsibility for holistic lean transformations as well as the coordination and management of major projects on several occasions. Furthermore, he has expert knowledge in the areas of aviation, transportation, public service and military.
His reference projects include the implementation of a lean culture in the steel industry, the establishment of a communication system based on lean criteria in operations and administration (shopfloor management), and reorganization and organizational development in the fiber optics and automotive industries.

After his apprenticeship and studies, Gunter Schöller has gained extensive experience in the realignment of the processes and their IT support in training and service areas in management functions. In addition to managing large and heterogeneous teams, he was able to successfully apply the principles of GPO and Lean. This formed the basis for long-term consulting activities at Management Partner GmbH. At two large regional banks, he successfully managed institutes by optimizing processes in the asset and liability business, IT migrations, the implementation of models of the associations and the concept of branch and media distribution. Lean projects in the sectors trade fairs, housing industry, industry and defense as well as interim management complete his profile. Gunter Schöller has been a Senior Expert at Staufen AG since 2015.

Christian Schurr has been able to gather experiences in using lean methods by working in restructuring projects. Due to his training as LeanAgent at MTU, he has become an expert in lean topics. He was responsible, as coach and subproject manager, in several projects of the production system at L‘Orange. During his time as deputy head of the department Christian Schurr implemented shop floor management, whereby his cost center was managed on the basis of, inter alia, performance figures.
With his team he built several U-cells and optimized the assembly to a lean flow production.
Since 2017, Christian Schurr is a consultant in the production and logistics team at Staufen AG and since 2019 he is employed as a Project Manager.

Johann Soder is COO of SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG, Bruchsal.
After his apprenticeship as an energy system electronics technician, he took over the management of electronics production in 1995. As plant manager, he was responsible for for the Bruchsal location. Under his management, within 5 years an innovative electronics plant with state-of-the-art production and logistics processes. In 2000 he founded WIEPROconsulting, an organization that designs and optimizes business processes throughout the company. In October 2005, he was appointed Managing Director Production; from October 2007, as Managing Director Technology, he is responsible for the areas of innovation and production. Since March 2018, as COO, he has been in charge of the operating business of SEW-EURODRIVE, one of the global market leaders in the field of drive technology/drive automation. It employs 18,000 people worldwide. 16 manufacturing plants and 80 DriveTechnologyCenters in 51 countries provide global presence, best service and fast availability.

Gerrit Speidel has a Master of Business Administration in General Management and is a trainer at Staufen Academy. He has many years of experience in product development an is an expert for Lean Development. Gerrit Speidel adopts a holistic and entrepreneurial approach to problem solving and has industry expertise in the automotive and trade industries.

With three years of consulting experience specializing in the optimization of indirect processes, Gerrit Speidel has also acquired over
ten years of professional experience as an engineer with responsibility for development, acting as team leader and project manager at an international automotive supplier, plus intercultural leadership experience as team leader of a development team in a service center in the Czech Republic.

Thomas Spiess has broad experience in precision-, luxury- and consumer goods- as well as textile and fashion industry. Besides his long-standing project management- and leadership experience in global Supply Chain Management, Thomas Spiess also has long-standing experience with challenging global supply chain projects. Amongst others he was responsible for the concept and development of an European duty-free warehouse including improvement of inbound- and outbound transport, relocation of production from Western to Eastern Europe and to Asia with improvement of the production- and sourcing network. Thanks to the large international leadership- and moderation experience Thomas Spiess achieved also cross-cultural excellent results.
Thomas Spiess has been working for Staufen Inova since 2015.

Freda von Stackelberg is a graduate in industrial engineering with a focus on the areas of production and logistics. During her studies, she already dealt with the Lean subject within the framework of the Lean Hochschulgruppe e.V. She was able to further deepen this knowledge due to her logistics internship at Bosch Rexroth where she implemented BPS into projects. During her diploma thesis at Staufen, she elaborated a theoretical discussion on organization and cooperation. Since 2011, Freda von Stackelberg has been successfully implementing national and international lean transformation projects at the Staufen AG for the design of lean processes and the introduction of Shop Floor Management in various sectors. Within Staufen AG, she is a professional expert for the introduction of the structured problem solution.

Eric Nils Timmer started his career with the introduction and implementation of Lean methods early. As a master at Mercedes-Benz (management of 40 employees), he used Leans’ philosophy and its tools to achieve the safety, quality and cost-effectiveness targets. As a Lean Manufacturing Expert, he successfully carried out numerous transformation projects at home and abroad. Most recently, Eric Timmer was responsible for Lean implementation in production and administration at Mars Deutschland GmbH as Head of Lean and Training. In addition to the development and leadership of his employees, he successfully coached executives at all levels. As an expert in Lean Manufacturing, Eric Timmer focuses on the introduction of Shop Floor Management as well as on the analysis, design and implementation of efficient factory processes. He is also distinguished by his expertise in the design and construction of Lean Shop Floor organizations. Since 2014 he has been working for Staufen AG as Project Manager in the area of Shop Floor Management.

After his studies in physics Peter Ullrich gained his first practical knowledge in the electronics manufacturing department of Solectron. As Technical Project Manager he was leading lean projects for the optimization of product launches and the respective engineering structures. On top of that he was responsible for introducing new product families. As Consultant for process management he optimized and implemented at first for Actano, later on as freelancer numerous business processes in the areas development and supply chain at leading automotive manufacturers. Peter Ullrich was also leading programs for the increase of efficiency and flexibility of project management processes. In the course of his consultant activities he also developed and lead several supportive training measures. Since 2015 Peter Ullrich is bringing his experience as associate in value added excellence in Lean Development to Staufen AG.

Uwe Vogel holds a degree in mechanical engineering, is a systemic coach and organizational developer. He is a trainer at Staufen Academy. Uwe Vogel is a leading expert in the area of strategy, sales and service. He has headed up a large number of integrated international transformation programs in groups in many different industries and has over 20 years of international management experience in the machine tool industry (including as Managing Director of TRUMPF Asia Pac 2001-2008).

As a consultant, Uwe Vogel has been engaged in the profit-oriented concepts and implementation of strategic initiatives (Lean Transformation, restructuring, strategic realignment) for many years. Uwe has also gained many years of experience as a coach for top management with a strong market and customer focus.

Rainer Völker holds a degree in Technology Management Engineering, is a trained Shop Floor Management Coach and a member of the Staufen Academy’s team of trainers.

Alongside his many years of experience as a consultant, coach and trainer in an international project environment, he has in-depth practical experience in successfully managing interdisciplinary transformation projects with clear responsibility for results. Rainer Völker specializes in the systematic design of change processes and has extensive industry expertise, particularly in mechanical and automotive engineering, pharmaceuticals, process industries and medical technology.

With more than 10 years of experience in consulting projects, Rainer Völker focuses on integrated transformation processes, operational excellence and implementing sustainable lean methods in all areas of an organization. He also brings strong intercultural skills to the table, in part thanks to several professional stays abroad.

Dipl.-Ing. Dirk Wettlaufer graduated in mechanical engineering from Dortmund Technical University (majoring in technical operational management). During his studies, he worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics in various industrial projects. At Albrecht Jung GmbH & Co KG, Electromechanical Devices and Systems, he held a number of different positions and was appointed plant manager of the Luenen plant in 2000. The main focus of his work is on production, logistics and the design of the entire process chain in accordance with lean management principles. During a factory planning project, he had the opportunity of restructuring the operation of the entire plant in line with the principles of Lean Management and production. He also imparts this knowledge at the Hesse Vocational Academy as part of the bachelor course in mechanical engineering.

Marc Wiedmann has worked as a consultant at SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG in our WIEPROconsulting department since 2017.  He completed the Dual Study program for mechanical engineering at SEW and joined the new founded group WIEPROsupport in 2013.

Within WIEPROconsulting, Mr. Wiedmann is primarily responsible for the implementation of change projects at international locations, focused on Asia, as well as  market launch processes in the product development.
He initiates and supports comprehensive change projects that deal with the topics of material and information flow design, process optimization and layout design.
Furthermore, Mr. Kuhn also leads training sessions about value-stream-analysis and -design.

Tobias Wolf has been working as consultant in the WIEPROconsulting department of SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG since 2004. The graduate industrial and business engineer (Dipl.-Wirt.Ing.) has carried out numerous improvement projects at the Bruchsal electronics plant. Since early 2011, he has been in charge of the Graben-Neudorf assembly plant. The main focus is on the realisation of cost savings and cycle time reductions as the result of consistent process orientation in assembly and logistics. In addition, he supervised various manufacturing projects and played a major role in the development of lean structures at SEW in China.