Niel Prinsloo

Operations & Risk Management Professional | Preventive Risk Frameworks | Asset Protection | MSc Entrepreneurship & Innovation | Passionate About Driving Business Growth & AI-Driven Transformation

Porto Metropolitan Area

About

Operations and Risk Management Professional with international experience across South Africa, Spain, and Portugal. I specialize in process risk management, technical asset protection, and operational improvement, with a strong background in Lean/Kaizen and continuous improvement. My career has focused on building and implementing preventive risk frameworks that reduce hazards, strengthen compliance, and improve resilience across manufacturing and industrial environments. At corporate level, I have overseen risk management initiatives designed to align process safety with business priorities, working closely with cross-functional teams, plant managers, and insurance risk engineers. This hands-on and collaborative approach has allowed me to deliver measurable improvements while fostering a culture of accountability and performance. Alongside my professional experience, I am pursuing a Master’s in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, further strengthening my ability to connect operational excellence with strategic growth and transformation. Always open to connecting on opportunities in operations, risk, and business transformation, where I can apply my expertise and continue creating long-term value. #RiskManagement #OperationalExcellence #ProcessSafety #BusinessTransformation #Leadership

Experience

  • SONAE ARAUCO (10 yrs 3 mos)
    • Corporate Risk Management Coordinator
      Mar 2019 - Present · 7 yrs 4 mos

    • Production Manager
      Jun 2018 - Feb 2019 · 9 mos

    • IOW Country Coordinator
      Apr 2016 - May 2018 · 2 yrs 2 mos

      Coordinate, support and report the road map implementation of the corporate IOW initiative. Support IOW training by identifying training needs and providing internal training. Evaluate implementation progress through internal and external audits. Ensure the management of the overall activities related to the IOW implementation road map for the different operational units. Planning of training modules for all employees at all units. Conduct routine internal audits on IOW activities in preparation for external audits. Plan and coordinate the external audits for the four levels of IOW implementation and progress evaluation. Provide coaching by collating all best practices - update of training manuals, communicate and implement across all units. Report and provide regular feedback to steering committee of implementation status and audit results.

  • Project Engineer at Sonae Novobord
    Dec 2012 - Mar 2016 · 3 yrs 4 mos

    Project engineer responsible for all the relevant plant optimization projects and loading of all capital expenditure applications. General responsibilities also include risk management and budget control. Capex consideration, implementation and tracking of progress. Improvement of factory's risk profile for insurance purposes and overall risk reduction. Assisting with maintenance budget control and utilization improvement. Acted as Engineering Manager from March 2013 to March 2014.

  • Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium (3 yrs 5 mos)
    • Mechanical Engineer
      Jul 2009 - Nov 2012 · 3 yrs 5 mos

      Maintenance planning and scheduling. Improvement projects and optimisation of plant processes. Budgeting. Management of personnel and contractors. Identifying of obstacles to successful implementation of work plans and also identifying solutions. Planning of spares availability. Assistance in plant production yield. Ensure that plant downtime and pollution is kept to a minimum.

    • Junior Engineer
      Aug 2010 - Mar 2012 · 1 yr 8 mos

      Did various improvement projects and oversaw maintenance activities. Worked as a Project engineer for the whole of 2011 on the Furnace conversion project.