Gerhard Schaefer Email & Phone Number

Consultant for Product and Process Development in the area of Consumer Goods and Medical Devices.In my current contract I support a Medical Device R&D and Manufacturing group in actual design challenges which occur in running projects by doing failure analysis and proposing design changes to overcome these issues. I am also involved in the design of a new Product Family in cooperation with internal and external partners. I give support in necessary design changes and supervise their execution. This is all done in compliance with the international Medical Device Regulations and Quality Assurance standards.

Led over nearly 13 years global toothbrush product design program for Manual and Kids. The global business has grown constantly with high single digits every year mostly driven by an equal growth in developed and developing markets.In these years I was personally responsible for the product development and launch of all Oral B Manual product platforms including sub brands like Pro/Duralon and Blend-a-Med.I was responsible for innovating across the price tiers of our portfolio from Entry brushes in the Emerging Markets to Premium brushes in the Developed Markets. I have championed platform simplification and cost innovation delivering significant savings across all our Manual Brush platforms. In my whole career the coaching and developing of my people always was a priority.

Firstly I led the R&D group for the development of various Espresso Makers with new to the world features to increase the usability for consumer. Later I was responsible as group manager for the product design of all hot beverages devices e.g. Aroma-Select top coffee maker line, Low price BRAUN entry coffee maker, Aroma-Select coffee maker with milk foaming function, BRAUN Water Kettles. This responsibility included the support of the manufacturing functions to get production readiness and furthermore the product maintenance for all hot beverage products in current production.

R&D Project Manager for Entry Shavers and later on for the development of a new Top Line Shaver program additionally I led the Product Maintenance across all product platforms.