Professional Career

Actually, I wanted to become a Rock Star (no, not a firefighter or train operator) but since that did not work out as planned, I had to change direction take another exotic and rarely chosen road. So I studied Business Administration at the Berufsakademie Karlsruhe (University of Cooperative Education Karlsruhe) and graduated in October 2000.

I then joined the Automation and Drives group of Siemens AG in Karlsruhe, spending my first year being a management trainee. A really interesting time, you could see two worlds collide: Theory and Practice. I then moved to the Global Procurement Department and worked on the implementation of the Reference Process House including topics such as sourcing models (consignment stock, contract warehouse, standard parts management etc.), electronic payment, eProcurement (eRFQ, eBidding, eAuction, EDI etc.) etc. and successfully talked suppliers into cooperating with us for a 'mutual benefit' or win-win, as the economists prefer to say. Well, the benefit of the suppliers pretty much was that they stayed suppliers.

In 2003 I decided it was about time to hit the road and be off to new horizons. I joined Siemens Energy and Automation Ltd. in Atlanta, USA full of expectation and ready to face the culture shock. I waited and waited but the culture shock would not show. I worked there for one year on Supply Chain Management including several interesting and enjoyable stays in Mexicoand gained many friends whom I still have contact to today. Especially the colleagues in Mexico were very welcoming and there is nothing better than a nice Fiesta with Teqila and some tasty, juicy BBQ. 

In 2004, I joined Siemens Ltd. Thailand as Head of Controlling and Reporting to diversify and gain further knowledge of commercial processes. Also, to be honest, to see a culture that is very different from my own in many ways. It was a stressful but interesting time and looking back I gained a lot from working together with the Executive Management which gave me the opportunity to learn management topics first hand.

Three years later, I decided it was time to give it a try and to apply the learned myself. That is why I moved to Transportation Systems, a business unit of Siemens Ltd. Thailand, and took on the challenge of being commercially responsible for the maintenance business including project accounting and controlling, purchasing and logistics, HR-related topics and IT.
This is what I am still doing and enjoying very much. Especially the management aspects are highly interesting, I can solve problems and initiate improvements addressing the processes as a whole while applying the previously gained knowledge. Therefore, I am looking forward to the future and the challenges yet to come.
Currently, we are maintaining the two major mass transit systems in Bangkok, the Skytrain and the MRTA (underground) and thus contributing to ease the burden of congested roads here in Bangkok a bit. Hey, I don't say that because I want to claim that I contribute socially but if you have ever been stuck here in traffic you know what I am talking about.

Well, so much about my professional development.