Wasserburg (Bodensee), Bavaria, Germany
From 2019 to February 2025: 2 Board Memberships: As Vice Chairman, Weidmueller Saudi Arabia Factory LLC, Dammam, Saudi Arabia & Member for Weidmuller Middle East FZE, Dubai, UAE. As a Senior Executive at Weidmüller Interface GmbH & Co KG I was handpicked for a specific strategic change project to position Weidmüller as an engineered solution provider to the Process (Oil & Gas) Industry, targeting initially a 100 Mio. € sales market. In this period: 2019 – 2020: Executive Vice President Special Projects: I spent 6 months conceiving the project Gasoleo – establishing “Klippon Engineering – A Weidmüller Brand" targeting the Process Indisutry. 2020 – 2023; in addition, Managing Director, Klippon Engineering UK. In this role I setup a vertical, business unit engineering solutions for hazardous areas in the Oil & Gas Industry, and established a global network of Sales Engineers, Application Engineers and Production/Assembly Sites. Then we founded Klippon Engineering UK Ltd (as a brand of Weidmüller, non-trading) and established, as a Joint Venture, a highly profitable factory in Saudi Arabia, and acquired for and integrated into Weidmüller a Canadian Company. All before finally moving on to become, in 2023 until February 2025, a Senior In-house Consultant: Mentoring the Klippon Engineering Team and growing the Joint Venture. From 1999 to 2019; a career as Head of Quality Management, with particularly strong Health & Safety, Energy, Environmental and Business Continuity experience and tested strength in reclamations management, in diverse industries. 20 years of being responsible for Quality including acting as Authorized Person for Equipment Used in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres; establishing management systems and leading strategically and operatively international Quality Organizations of up to 300 functional reports; in the Radio Television Transmitter, High-rise Construction, Aerospace, Electrical Power Generation, Power Management, Automotive and Electrical Connectivity Industries. From 1991 to 1999: Specialized in Surface Finishing / Electroplating: Manager (& Meister) with P&L responsibility. From 1982 to 1991: British Army - Royal Engineer Officer - Trials and Development Unit.
From the autumn of 2014 through to the summer of 2019, it was an honour to lead the Quality Function made up of some 300 staff distributed across the globe on a stretch of the journey towards excellence whilst serving the needs of Systems-, Development-, Operational-, Product-, Customer- and Supplier- Quality.
Leading a project which addresses the needs of the Process Industry globally with engineered solutions.
Role: To lead Quality in the Region (with the acquisition of Cooper, 6 Divisions, 35 sites, 15 000 Employees, 2.5 Bn USD turnover, 300 head strong Quality Community) whilst providing operative support and building the organizational capability. Initially managing a Support Team of 3 (Engineering, Manufacturing and Supplier Quality Managers). Focus: Harmonise, align and functionally improve the Quality System; the operational effectiveness of the Quality Function and product quality, by cross-functionally networking between Corporate, Sector, Regional and Divisional Headquarters and their respective Plants. Key Goals: Increase the Quality Management System’s effectiveness, New Product Development Quality, Reduction of the cost of non-conformance (CONC) and cost of quality and Improved Supplier Performance. Achievements: - CONC (significantly reduced); - Successfully implemented APQP into the Region’s 2 most important NPD Projects; - Defined and deployed the Supplier Quality Management Process; - Harmonized Regional requirements for the Customer Complaint Handling; - Resolved 9 significant Quality Escapes; - Acknowledged by the Corporate VP Q as new benchmark for RCA and Lessons Learned.