Case Studies
Helping organizations and teams translate challenges into clarity, connection, and continuous improvement. These operational excellence case studies show how leaders in FMCG, Food, Life Sciences and AgriTech turned complexity into alignment, faster decisions and lasting results.
Challenge:
A global flavors and fragrances manufacturer operated around 7 sites in 5 countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Maintenance was not organized around Operations, and unplanned breakdowns held back equipment performance.
Approach:
I led Engineering and Maintenance across the region. I turned maintenance into an Operations-focused reliability organization through asset strategies, root cause analysis and autonomous maintenance. In parallel, I supported the European COO’s Continuous Improvement agenda by embedding Lean management and structured problem solving.
Outcome:
Unplanned maintenance fell by 73%, and critical-equipment MTBF rose by more than 20%. OEE improved by 10-15%, throughput by 17% and equipment availability by 32%.
Challenge:
A global crop protection R&D organization launched a digital transformation across 6 regions and 7 functions. Executive direction, functional priorities and interdependencies were not yet connected into one execution model.
Approach:
I set up and led the Transformation Office. I introduced a Lean Value Tree linking Vision, Goals, Bets and a portfolio of Initiatives. I led a multidisciplinary team across seven workstreams, building ownership and discipline through challenge and escalation.
Outcome:
Priorities and dependencies became visible, which enabled faster decisions, clearer trade-offs and less duplication. The operating model was embedded so execution continued after handover.
Challenge:
Master data processes in a global flowers business suffered from delays, and the causes were not visible.
Approach:
I used Celonis Process Mining to diagnose the delays, exposing upstream process deviations and automation opportunities. We then improved the process and automated key steps.
Outcome:
Manual effort fell by 20%.
Challenge:
A global FMCG company ran a €2B annual portfolio of 500+ new product development projects in Europe. Projects competed for resources, priorities shifted frequently, and management struggled to make informed trade-offs.
Approach:
I led the European PMO team and established NPD portfolio governance through Stage-Gates, Planview visibility and standardized project practices. I led monthly executive reviews of the portfolio. They drove prioritization, resource allocation and stopping discipline by systematically challenging the bottom 20% of projects.
Outcome:
Earlier cross-functional visibility of project dependencies improved end-to-end time-to-market and enabled proactive operational planning.
Challenge:
A make-to-order equipment manufacturer needed to cut lead time. Long design cycles slowed fulfillment and tied up scarce engineering capacity.
Approach:
I led a team of about 15 project engineers from order through factory acceptance test. We improved engineer-to-order flow through visual workload management, parametric 3D design and cross-functional order readiness.
Outcome:
Design Engineering time dropped from 4 weeks to 1, a 75% reduction. Total lead time fell from 14-16 weeks to 12.