Voices from practice

For several years I worked in a production environment at the interface of operational workflows, KPI work and continuous improvement. The focus was on topics such as process-team structures, operational meeting formats, OEE metrics, training, and the further development and implementation of RCPS approaches.

Maike Sterly, Head of Production, describes this collaboration as follows:

Stephan does not look at operational workflows, KPIs and digital implementation in isolation, but places them in the context of actual day-to-day work.

That same ambition shapes my work today: KPIs and reports should not only deliver information, but provide orientation in day-to-day operations, support decisions and enable improvements. That requires understanding processes, involving the people concerned, and designing solutions so that teams actually use them.

He quickly grasped complex topics, prepared them in a clear way and, together with the areas involved, translated them into practical structures.

In joint projects the aim was, among other things, to create transparency in production processes, develop KPIs thoughtfully and prepare improvement approaches so that they were relevant for managers and teams. What mattered was not only the technical solution, but also acceptance in day-to-day work.

This creates solutions that are well thought through and at the same time accepted and used in the operational environment.

This combination of process understanding, KPI work and structured implementation is still the core of my work with companies today.

From my perspective, Stephan’s strength is connecting process understanding, KPI work and structured implementation. Especially at the interface between operational workflows, transparency through metrics and practical improvement, he made an important contribution.

— Maike Sterly, Head of Production

For several years I worked in quality control at the interface of process understanding, KPI work and continuous improvement. The focus included optimising packaging-material inspection, building a shared KPI and steering structure for six laboratory areas, and teaching structured problem-solving methods.

Sabine M., former Head of Quality Control, describes this collaboration as follows:

Stephan led the project, mapped the entire inspection process and made critical activities, interfaces and bottlenecks transparent.

Together with the employees involved, work allocation, process steering and meeting structure were improved. The aim was not only a clean analysis, but tangible relief in day-to-day work and better steerability in the team.

As a result, throughput time was reduced by around 50 percent and the inspection batch backlog fell from about 600 to 200.

In addition, a shared KPI and steering structure was developed for six laboratory areas. Existing but barely steering-relevant statistics were organised in a KPI tree and brought together into a comparable logic for availability, performance, quality and planning quality.

All six laboratories were thus able to report in a comparable structure. Leadership and team meetings became more focused, planning more transparent and additional alignment meetings could be reduced.

In addition, employees and moderators were supported in structured problem solving. The aim was always to make complex relationships understandable, involve those concerned and anchor practical solutions permanently in day-to-day work.

What I found particularly valuable was that his work did not end with the analysis, but led to measurable and sustainably useful improvements.

— Sabine M., former Head of Quality Control