Rick Dänzer

Driving operational success for life-changing healthcare | Manager Manufacturing & Operational Excellence | MAS Business Administration and Engineering

Adliswil, Zurich, Switzerland

About

If you don‘t change it - you choose it. Leader with strong technical background, excellent analytical and strategic thinking. Catalyst for ideas and implementation thereof. Driving a high sense of urgency throughout the organization and preventing the "perfect" from denying the "better".

Experience

  • Manager Manufacturing & Operational Excellence at Abbott
    Nov 2025 - Present · 9 mos

    - Directing three specialized manufacturing areas through a team of supervisors and a senior industrial engineer, fostering a culture of accountability, safety, and high performance across the production floor. - Developing and executing a multi-year Operational Excellence (OpEx) roadmap to enhance manufacturing agility and throughput for life-changing medical products. -Establishing standardized leadership practices to align supervisory efforts with site-wide KPIs and Abbott’s strategic vision. - Overseeing budget & resource planning as well as talent development for a robust organization, ensuring cross-training and bench strength to meet fluctuating global demands.

  • Roche (Full-time · 5 yrs)
    • User Team Lead Sensor & Cartridge Operations
      Apr 2024 - Jan 2026 · 1 yr 10 mos

    • Senior Supervisor Reagents Manufacturing
      Jan 2024 - Apr 2024 · 4 mos

      Express development opportunity

    • Teamlead Sensor Operations
      Nov 2021 - Apr 2024 · 2 yrs 6 mos

      - Ensuring production performance while considering all economic aspects - Manufacturing unit coordination - Leading and developing a manufacturing team of up to 16 individuals inculding up to 3 shift leaders based on Roche Leadership Commitments - Consultancy assignment shopfloor management at Genmark, California - Responsible for shop floor and conflict management - Continuously improving and aligning the department with the agile organization

  • BIOTRONIK (Bülach)
    • Industrial Engineer
      Oct 2019 - Jan 2021 · 1 yr 4 mos

      - Project manager for the launch of a new facility for medium distribution and a reactor for the manufacturing of an API coating solution incl. development, qualification, verification and validation (> 6 Mio CHF). - Project lead for the introduction of a new storage concept tackling safety and capacity issues - Core Team member responsible for transfer activities in line with cGMP and ISO 13485 requirements - Subject matter expert in automation projects - Subject matter expert for MES (manufacturing execution system) - Supporting of R&D-projects introducing new products, machines and processes to production - Process optimization of high quality products and equipment - Creating of process documentation and facilitating trainings related to process understanding and introduction of new systems

    • Production Engineer
      Apr 2018 - Oct 2019 · 1 yr 7 mos

      - Core team member (sub project manager, engineering) for the launch of a new facility for medium distribution and a reactor for the manufacturing of an API coating solution incl. development, qualification, verification and validation. - Project lead (>100 k €) for the introduction of a new storage concept tackling safety and capacity issues - Responsible for the move of a complete cleanroom - Subject matter expert in automation projects - Subject matter expert for MES (manufacturing execution system) - Supporting of R&D-projects introducing new products, machines and processes to production - Production support, trouble shooting and process optimization of high quality products and equipment - Risk assessment of production processes and implementation of mitigation controls (pFMEA) - Creating of process documentation and facilitating trainings related to process understanding and introduction of new systems - Cleanroom layout planning - Award winner of the core value "competence"

  • Teacher at Berufsschule Winterthur
    Mar 2020 - Aug 2020 · 6 mos

  • Process Engineer at IGP Pulvertechnik AG
    Aug 2016 - Mar 2018 · 1 yr 8 mos

    - Optimization of production processes concerning energy efficiency and production capacity. - Mentoring of the installation and ramp up of a new factory in Sierstzen (PL). - Instruction and support of the future head of production at IGP Poland. - Contact for process questions at the new factory in Sierstzen (PL). - Surveillance of production trials. - Key player acting as a link between research, development and production. - Scale-Up and transfer of expertise from development into production. - Investigation of process parameters and fundamentals applying statistical tools and methods. - Make use of statistical data analysis software (MatLab, R, MiniTab, XLStat). - Troubleshooting. - Close interaction with the production and quality department cadre. - Comissioning of machines (IQ/EQ) - Co-lead of automation projects. - Performing process training and teaching of security standards. - Networking at various technology conventions. - Screening of in-development technologies. - Travelling up to 20 % throughout Europe.