BestPractice Day 2009 - Speakers

Bernd Finke

Leader production automobile assembly, Daimler AG, Wörth

Leads the branch production automobile assembly at the Daimler AG in the factory in Wörth. After an apprenticeship as machine manufacturer and following studies in machine engineering he started working at the Daimler Benz company in 1974. At first in the production planning and in the customer service as field service engineer he changed to the production department automobile building in 1981 which he leads since 1984.

Dr. Ulrich Frenzel

Director Innovation Center, Freudenberg Dichtungs- und Schwingungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG

Built-up the Innovation Center (central think tank for product innovations and development service for the whole company) at the Freudenberg Dichtungs- und Schwingungstechnik in 2005. As its leader he is responsible for the innovation power of the company.
After studying machine engineering he joined the Parker Hannifin GmbH and was at last responsible for one business area. Afterwards he took over the management of research and development. First on the location in Stuttgart, later in Europe and at last global for the world wide operating Trelleborg Sealing Solutions for joining Freudenburg afterwards.

Marco Göpfert

Team leader, Daimler AG, Wörth

Since 2007 he is team leader for machine assembly and initial operation of the Daimler AG factory in Wörth. After an apprenticeship as machine manufacturer followed by a machine engineering study he entered Daimler Benz as constructor for manufacturing resources in 1991. Before his current position Markus Göpfert was working as team leader in delivery management and quality management.

Boris Grundl

Top Trainer & Coach, Grundl Leadership Academy, Trossingen

Boris has achieved a top career as an executive manager and leadership expert. The rousing conference speaker is among Europe’s elite of trainers. The secret of his success: he has perfected the art of leading and managing others at the highest of levels. Numerous top executive managers place their trust in the Academy managed by the wheelchair-bound Top Leadership Coach. He works as a popular speaker, author and guest lecturer at several universities. His stirring impulses and his rousing energy are the result of his personal fate – a fate which nobody could have wished upon him. As a 25-year-old top sportsman, Boris Grundl suffered an injury which left him 90% paralysed. Against all the odds, however, he has made a success of his life. Within a few years, he had conquered his setbacks to become the Director of Sales Marketing at a large European company. Almost nobody else can be acknowledged such a high degree of authenticity or profundity. His ability to move, stir and inspire others is unique. He doesn’t mince his words, has a keen sense of humour and summarizes everything to the point. You can view video excerpts from his lectures and further references of his work at www.grundl-akademie.de

Martin Haas

Executive Director, Staufen AG, Köngen

Martin is the founder, Partner and Executive Director of Staufen AG. Subsequent to studying mechanical engineering and gaining several years of planning experience in industry and research, he worked in vehicle manufacturing, taking responsibility for an assembly division at Daimler Benz. His experience on the production line has been further added to through his work for acclaimed management consulting organisations. At Staufen AG he is responsible for the strategic and content-related further development of the consulting business and the management of complex projects.

Herbert Högemann

Executive Director, Homag Holzbearbeitungssysteme AG (Homag Wood Processing Systems)

Herbert has been an Executive Director at Homag since January 2007 and is responsible for the areas of production, materials management and quality assurance. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Högemann was an Executive Director at Demag Plastics Group where he was responsible for production, settlement and strategic purchasing. Prior to this he worked for 10 years at Michael Weinig AG, Tauberbischofsheim, Germany, where his posts included Works Manager and where he was a member of the Senior Management Team.

Frank Krause

Director of Competence Development, Staufen AG, Köngen

Frank worked as an Assistant to the Production Management and as a KAIZEN Project Manager at ZF Getriebe GmbH. As a Project Manager at Porsche Consulting, he accompanied companies along the path to BestPractice. For Robert Bosch and Bosch Rexroth, he worked as an expert consultant to the technical executive, responsible for the area of lean enterprise and the world-wide introduction of the BOSCH PRODUCTION SYSTEM. His core competences as a Senior Expert at Staufen AG are in the coaching of executives regarding lean thinking, in the implementation of value added systems and process-oriented factory structures, lean administration and supplier development.

Stefan Krug

Since February 2008 Stefan Krug is CEO of the factory Coburg from Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. After his studies and a deputy professorship for automated production and production engineering (university Erlangen/Nürnberg) he started his industrial career at Brose in 1998. After his initial position as assistant of the CEO production and further following functions (among others leader of the profit center in the assembly factory Coburg) he took over his current area of responsibility.

Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker

Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan

is Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan and President of the Toyota Way Academy—an organization that teaches and certifies Toyota way practitioners. Dr. Liker has authored or co-authored 75 articles and book chapters and nine books. He is author of the international best-seller, The Toyota Way:  14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer, which speaks to the underlying philosophy and principles that drive Toyota’s quality and efficiency-obsessed culture.  The companion (with David Meier) Toyota Way Fieldbook, Mcgraw Hill, 2005 details how companies can learn from the Toyota Way principles. His book with Jim Morgan, The Toyota Product Development System is the first that details the product development side of Toyota. He is doing a series of books focused on each of the 4Ps.  The first book with David Meier is Toyota Talent:  Developing exceptional people the Toyota Way followed by Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way.  He is currently working on a book with Gary Convis on Developing Toyota Leaders.  His articles and books have won seven Shingo Prizes for Research Excellence and The Toyota Way also won the 2005 Institute of Industrial Engineers Book of the Year Award and 2007 Sloan Industry Studies Book of the Year.

Roman Löw

Works Management, GRIWE Innovative Umformtechnik GmbH, Westerburg, Germany

Roman has been Works Manager at Automocion Gestamp (global TIR 1 supplier to the auto industry), where he helped succeed in turning a company beset by crises into a benchmark for customers, suppliers and competitors in just 3 years.

In 2007, these activities have been acknowledged by the following awards: Winner of the factory of the year category for superb components manufacturing and winner of the Lean Award in the area ‘Special Prize Best Practise Lean Start-up.' Prior to this, Mr. Löw worked in several different posts at the Ford-Werke AG, becoming a member of the management team in 1982. In his current post he is responsible for up to 2,200 employees and his work concerns both European and North American locations.

Markus Riegger

Senior Expert, Staufen AG, Köngen

Markus worked as a Kaizen Improvement Manager at Daimler AG. As a Lean Manufacturing Expert and Trainer at the Mercedes Car Group he was responsible for the introduction of the production system in South Africa, the Netherlands and the German locations. As Manager of the Direct Processes production system at the Mercedes Truck Group, he was responsible for the implementation of shop floor management and coaching at the Wörth plant, as well as FUSO at the Japanese locations. As a Senior Expert at Staufen AG he is responsible for the building and development of competence as well as executive level management coaching.

Dr. Andreas Romberg

Business Unit Manager, Staufen AG, Köngen

Andreas gained considerable production line experience over a twelve year period in the area of components supply to the car industry (Bosch, VDO, SVS) most recently as Works Manager. As a Senior Expert and Business Unit Manager at Staufen AG he is responsible for the optimisation of product development and project management systems. The main focal points of his consulting work are to be found in the areas of critical chain project management, lean product development, organisational and process development, and supplier development and support in both the product development and the strategic process.

Dr. Andreas Sennheiser

Director of Technology / Engineering, Hilti AG, Thüringen, Austria

Andreas studied economics and management at the ETH (Institute of Technology) in Zurich before going on to complete his doctorate with Prof. Dr. Schönsleben at the Centre for Enterprise Sciences at the ETH Zurich in the subject of supply chain management. He subsequently worked at Hilti AG in Schaan (FL) in the Operational Excellence and Controlling division. Since August 2007, he has been manager of the Technology / Engineering division at a production plant of Hilti AG in Thüringen, Austria. Here, among other duties, he is responsible for the conceptualisation and implementation of lean manufacturing principles.

Johann Soder

Director of Technology, SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. KG, Bruchsal

Johann has been the Director of Technology at SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. KG since 2007, where he is responsible for the areas of innovation and production. As Production Manager, a post he held from 1995 onwards, he realised an innovative electronics factory with the latest manufacturing and logistics processes which resulted in him winning the Industrial Excellence Award 2000 for ‘the best factory’ and the TOP honorary prize of the federal ministry of economics in 2004. From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Soder also managed WIEPRO Consulting and also developed and perfected company-wide business processes.