Leading Keliber lithium mining and refining project, aiming to be the first European battery grade lithium producer from own ore

Board Member, Head of Sales until 3/2020 at Luxmet, also shareholder. Luxmet providies advanced systems for Steel and Metal industries especially for Electric Arc Furnace based steel making.

Keliber is a lithium mining project company executing ~660 M€ investment to start battery grade lithium production first in Europe. More than 100 share holders e.g. Finnish Minerals Group - Suomen Malminjalostus Oy, Nordic Mining, Arvo Sijoitusosuukunta, Sibanye-Stillwater, Jorma Takanen,... Share price March 2020: 33 €/share and in Sept. 2022: 157 €/share. Value increase driven by: permitting, definitive feasibility study, offtake-sales-agreements, financing (equity and dept) and favorable market development.

Reporting to the Board, managed business with 300 M€/a turnover, 54 M€/a EBITDA and 1000 people at 22 mines in 10 countries towards vision “engaged personnel delivering profitable growth”. Expanded company operations into Turkey in 2017 and executed investment there. Increased ore reserves from 323 million tons to 398 million tons. Sharpened company strategy focusing on product families and implemented Business Unit based performance monitoring. Developed management practices towards measurability and transparency. Started corporate wide LeanSixSigma program. Improved Net Working Capital Turns from 58 days (2016) to 51 days (2018). Prepared a business expansion into a new EU-country with a service concept for steel industry. Started evaluation of special mineral (wollastonite) operation in North-America. Developed management practices at Joint Venture companies with industrial partners from Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Belgium. Improved corporate reporting in line with GRI G4 and FIN-FSA regulations.

I managed Outokumpu’s largest P&L unit with a focus on business growth, further profitability increase, ROCE increase and leading safety imrpovements as first priority. Since I started in 2010 the Business Unit Tornio has turned clearly profitable and other tangible improvements are Safety (LTIFR) from 10 to 2, inventory turns from 88 days to 46 days, net working capital/revenue from 30 % to 6 %, productivity from 341 t/person to 763 t/person.

I led stainless steel operations and R&D in Bochum, Dahlerbrück, Dillenburg, Düsseldorf-Benrath, Krefeld, Terneuzen and Tornio. My prioritized working areas were harmonization of operative processes, improvement of supply chain efficiency, incrrease of capacity utilization rates by closing factories and optimizing product portfolio.

As immediate activities after merger of Outokumpu and Inoxum (Stainless steel business unit of ThyssenKrupp AG) I started at sales reorganization, product pricing model harmonizations, sales performance monitoring and organizational changes at R&D. During the first months after the merger I led stainless steel operations in Bochum, Dahlerbrück, Dillenburg, Düsseldorf-Benrath, Krefeld, Terneuzen and Tornio with a focus on customer satisfaction and short term synergy gains.

Managed BA General Stainless with service center network and Tornio mill totaling a revenue of 3150 M€/a. Managed a two company non-clean-team to create a European industrial set-up before the closing the merger of Outokumpu and ThyssenKrupp’s stainless-steel segment. Implemented vertical sales steering, restructured operations and eliminated cost by 45…55 M€/year and released 400…500 M€ working capital in Q4/2011…Q3/2012. Outokumpu Q2/2013: “Financial performance of Tornio operations clearly improved due to the restructuring and integration efforts implemented during the past 18 months.”

I was Managing Director of Outokumpu Stainless Oy and SVP, heading the world's most integrated stainless steel manufacturing operations at locations Kemi, Termeuzen and Tornio. Annual revenue 2010 was 2334 M€ i.e. about one half of Outokumpu Group. Profitability was improved from a clear operative loss to break even in 2010 and 2011 while the European market was strongly over supplied. I sharpened the strategy, strem lined selected operative processes and optimized product offering. Number of restructurings in area of cost (head count, materials and services) were started and executed.

Managed P&L units in Oulainen, Sievi, Kannus and Haapajärvi with all together 700…800 people providing manufacturing and NPI-services. Revenue about 110 M€/year. Created a new regional business strategy and increased the non-Nokia sales. Executed the Nokia product transfers to Poland and adjusted cost structure in Finland. Prepared an exit-Finland strategy for Flextronics Enclosures including management buyout concept. .

During those years I worked in various positions (Manager of Logistics, Manager of Logistics & Production and Managing Director) at the steel service center in Duisburg. I carried out plenty of change management activities in areas of quality management, ERP-systems, shop floor and machinery expansion, merge of Mülheim operations and head count adjustments.

I sold steel products for demanding purposes like automotive, construction and heavy mobile cranes. Marketing and promoting Raex Laxer as a new product with unique properties was the most succesfull activity of mine. This also collected international attention like follows: D.H. McQuiston; Successful branding of a commodity product:The case of RAEX LASER steel, Department of Marketing, College of Business administration, Butler University, Indianapolis, USA