Elster · Colombia · 10 months
EBITDA turned around
EBITDA of a Colombian unit turned from approx. −$650k to approx. +$845k in around ten months.
Restructuring · Turnaround · AI in business
Stability under load. For industrial companies in transition.
I lead manufacturing companies through turnaround, from insolvency and restructuring to growth and IPO preparation: as interim CEO / managing director, Chief Restructuring Officer or advisor to shareholders and insolvency administrators.
Available now · C-level, permanent or interim · Europe
approx.250m EURP&L responsibility up to this revenue
approx.2,800staffglobal teams led up to this size
10+countriestransformations on four continents
30+yearsin industry since 1991, from Airbus to a global market leader
Results
What the numbers showed in the end
Four examples from 35 years: losses turned into profit, zero turned into a business.
Hella North America · 4 years
Greenfield to approx. $100m
New plant built, approx. 350 employees, Toyota Production System.
LM Wind Power · GE
Service unit founded
Global service organisation from zero to approx. €20m revenue at approx. 12% EBIT.
3A Composites · Schweiter Technologies
From losses to global market leader
Loss-making core materials business with approx. €250m revenue turned into a cash-flow-positive global market leader.
All figures rounded and approximate. Bars show order of magnitude and direction, not exact values.
Industries and company sizes
From the factory floor, not the textbook.
A doer, not a theorist. I have built plants, transformed production and led companies through insolvency, in eight industries, in large groups and mid-sized companies, in Germany and internationally.
Aerospace
Airbus · Telair, supplier to Boeing
Automotive
Hella, tier-1 supplier, plants in Germany and the USA
Metering
Elster, now Honeywell: electricity, gas, water
Wind energy
LM Wind Power (GE) · core materials from 3A
Solar and storage
HPS Home Power Solutions
Plastics and composites
PET and PVC foams, balsa, honeycomb cores: 3A, EconCore
Chemicals
Mitsubishi Chemical Group
Machinery and control systems
Dr. Wiesner Steuerungstechnik
Large groupsAirbus · Hella · Mitsubishi Chemical · LM Wind Power (GE) · Elster (Honeywell) · Schweiter Technologies
Mid-sized companiesTelair · EconCore · Dr. Wiesner Steuerungstechnik
Growth and SMEsHPS · trade and own start-ups
Managing director and CEOChief Restructuring OfficerInsolvency advisorBoard MemberGreenfield plant build-upGermany · Europe · USA · Latin America
Deep expertise
Nine fields where I have done the work myself
Production expert, logistician and buyer: know-how from the plant, earned with P&L responsibility.
Greenfield build-up
New plants from an empty site to series production.
Telair USAHella North America: 0 → approx. $100m
Brownfield restructuring
Reorganising, relocating and splitting existing plants.
Hella Lippstadt: approx. 2,000 staff in 4 unitsElster: relocation to Stará Turá
Acquisition, divestment and carve-out
Preparing, executing and integrating transactions.
Mitsubishi Chemical: divestment of a divisionseveral M&A transactions
IPO preparation
Making companies ready for the capital market.
IPO preparationPost-merger integration
Strategic partnerships
Turning partners, suppliers and customers into resilient alliances.
Industry and suppliers
Lean and Toyota Production System
TPS, zero defect and TQM implemented in practice, not just trained.
Telair · Hella · Elster Raleigh
Robotics and automation
Bringing robots and automated production into the line economically.
Series production
Logistics
Global supply chains, service logistics and own warehouse.
LM Wind Power Service & Logisticsown warehouse NotfallVersorgt
Procurement
Restructuring purchasing, negotiating terms, developing suppliers.
Global sourcingSupplier management
Artificial intelligence in business
Restructuring at AI speed.
I use AI agents operationally every day, not as an experiment. In a crisis, speed matters: situation report, liquidity planning, data room and communication in hours instead of weeks. I bring this know-how into every assignment and build it up inside the company.
From my own practice · 2026
Two companies, run with AI agents
- Online retail NotfallVersorgt.deProduct range, shop maintenance, suppliers, warehouse labels, campaign analysis, legal checks and video production run on AI agents with fixed procedures. One person, a whole business.
- Thomaßin – websites for trade businessesFrom the name to a live website with legal texts, contract, customer outreach and investor review in two days.
- This websiteContent, graphics and maps created with AI from LinkedIn data and interview notes, in one afternoon.
Situation report in days
Data from ERP, accounting and e-mail merged automatically: liquidity, order book, cost blocks.
Data room and reporting
Investor documents and reports to administrators and creditors: fast, complete and traceable.
AI adoption in mid-sized companies
Mapping processes, introducing agents for purchasing, sales, controlling and administration, enabling employees.
With control
Fixed procedures, mandatory sources and human approvals. AI accelerates; decisions are made responsibly.
What AI has achieved in companies I have worked with
- Leaner processesRecurring work in purchasing, administration and order processing automated.
- Better marketing and salesOutreach, offers and campaigns faster, more targeted and measurable.
- Less paperReceipts, forms and filing digital instead of in binders.
- Digitalised companiesFrom single processes to a consistent data foundation.
- Capacity planningBetter utilisation of people, machines and orders.
Services
What I take on
More than 30 years of leadership in industry and technology, many of them with full P&L responsibility for international organisations. I work on site and hands-on.
Interim CEO / MD and CRO
Operational leadership when existing management needs relief, support or replacement.
- Liquidity management and 13-week cash planning
- Communication with banks, suppliers and workforce
- Continuing operations in insolvency and self-administration proceedings
Restructuring and turnaround
From diagnosis to an implemented action plan, with measurable steps.
- Reorganisation of sales, marketing and organisation
- Cost and process programmes in production and administration
- Handover to future management
M&A, carve-out and build-up
Making business units ready for sale or building them up as stand-alone entities.
- M&A transactions, post-merger integration and IPO preparation
- Carving divisions out of group structures
- Greenfield plants and industrialisation of new technologies
Available now for permanent and interim C-level roles across Europe · international by arrangement
Career
35 years. Turnaround, build-up, insolvency.
From production manager at Airbus to CEO of a global market leader: leadership roles with P&L responsibility in large groups, mid-sized and growth companies, in seven countries.
7Restructurings and turnaroundsHella · Elster USA, Colombia, Slovakia · 3A · Mitsubishi · motorcycle dealer
3Plants and units built from scratchTelair USA · Hella North America · LM Wind Power
1Insolvency avertedDr. Wiesner Steuerungstechnik
1Insolvency in self-administration ledHPS Home Power Solutions
Operational leadershipBoard and advisoryRestructuring, ongoing
since 03/2025
Interim Manager – Insolvency Advisory & Restructuring
Self-employedEuropeInsolvency advisory and restructuring for manufacturing companies in Europe. Assignments confidential.
Restructuringongoing
01/2025 – 03/2025
CEO / Executive Board
HPS Home Power Solutions AGBerlinIdentified impending illiquidity immediately after taking office, initiated insolvency proceedings in self-administration and led them as CEO, including the investor process.
Insolvency in self-administrationInvestor process
2024
Advisor to management
Motorcycle dealer with workshopGermanySupport with restructuring and refocusing on the core business. According to the client, back in profit within a very short time.
RestructuringFocusSME
08/2023 – 12/2024
Managing Director, then Senior Advisor to management
Dr. Wiesner Steuerungstechnik GmbHRemshaldenLeak testing instruments and systems. Insolvency averted, followed by an orderly handover of management to the managing shareholder.
Insolvency averted
07/2022 – 01/2025
Non-Executive Board Member, Strategic Advisor
EconCore N.V.Leuven, BelgiumHoneycomb core technology: industrialisation, market expansion and scaling of production.
09/2020 – 07/2022
Managing Director CPP
Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Composites AGLenzburg, SwitzerlandTurnaround mandate for the business, combined with the divestment of a Mitsubishi group division.
TurnaroundDivestment
07/2012 – 07/2019
CEO and Board Member
3A Composites Core MaterialsAargau, SwitzerlandTurnaround of a loss-making business into the cash-flow-positive global market leader for core materials in wind energy, automotive and shipbuilding. Part of listed Schweiter Technologies. Global organisation with sites in Switzerland, the USA, Ecuador and Papua New Guinea.
Turnaroundapprox. 2,800 employeesapprox. €250m revenue4 countries
07/2009 – 06/2012
President
LM Wind Power Service & LogisticsNetherlandsFounded a global service organisation: full-turbine service as a stand-alone unit, from zero to approx. €20m revenue at approx. 12% EBIT.
Build-up0 → approx. €20mapprox. 12% EBIT
03/2007 – 06/2009
President, Regional Director, General Manager
ElsterOcala, Florida, USASeveral turnaround assignments, reorganisation of marketing and sales, market share growth.
TurnaroundMarket share
2005 – 2007
COO, President, General Manager
Elster (now Honeywell)Raleigh, USA · Bogotá, Colombia · Stará Turá, SlovakiaIntroduced lean in metering (Raleigh). Led and restructured three plants in Bogotá: EBITDA from approx. −$650k to approx. +$845k in around ten months. Coordinated a European restructuring with relocation from several plants to Stará Turá.
Restructuring3 countriesLean
09/2001 – 08/2005
VP Operations
Hella North AmericaCharlotte area, USABuilt a greenfield plant for a European tier-1 automotive supplier: from zero to approx. $100m revenue in four years with approx. 350 employees, based on the Toyota Production System.
Build-up0 → approx. $100mapprox. 350 employees
09/1999 – 08/2001
Vice President Operations
HellaLippstadt, GermanyRestructuring of an existing plant in Germany: splitting approx. 2,000 employees into four independent units.
Restructuringapprox. 2,000 employees
06/1994 – 08/1999
General Manager
TelairHausham, GermanyIntroduced the Toyota Production System in aerospace. First plant build-up in the USA to supply Boeing.
Build-up USAAerospace
09/1991 – 05/1994
Manager
AirbusMunich area, GermanyProduction control, programme management and introduction of new technologies.
International
From Ocala to Papua New Guinea
Leadership roles in Germany, the USA, Colombia, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium, with site responsibility as far as Ecuador and Papua New Guinea.
Locations
- 1Charlotte · Raleigh · OcalaHella North America, Elster · 2001–2009
- 2USA3A Composites, site · 2012–2019
- 3Bogotá, ColombiaElster, three plants · 2006–2007
- 4Ecuador3A Composites, site · 2012–2019
- 5Papua New Guinea3A Composites, site · 2012–2019
- 6NetherlandsLM Wind Power · 2009–2012
- 7Leuven, BelgiumEconCore · 2022–2025
- 8LippstadtHella · 1999–2001
- 9BerlinHPS Home Power Solutions · 2025
- 10RemshaldenDr. Wiesner Steuerungstechnik · 2023–2024
- 11Aargau / Lenzburg, Switzerland3A Composites, Mitsubishi Chemical · 2012–2022
- 12Munich / HaushamAirbus, Telair · 1991–1999
- 13Stará Turá, SlovakiaElster · 2006–2007
Leadership roleSite under my responsibilityCountry of assignment
Languages
Germannative
English10 years USA
Frenchfluent
Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarinbasic
Education
Executive MBARoss School of Business, University of MichiganDipl.-Ing. Electrical EngineeringRWTH Aachen University, 1991
Methods
Lean / TPSZero DefectTQMPMIChange Management
Recommendations
19 recommendations on LinkedIn. Read them →
Contact
Let's talk about your situation.
A first conversation is confidential and without obligation. A short call or e-mail is all it takes.
Phone+49 176 41981961
E-mailroman@roman-thomassin.de
AddressBergstr. 13, 86925 Fuchstal, Germany
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/rthomassinusa