My name is Rogier Grünewald and I’m from The Netherlands. Starting as Process Engineer at Philips, I was responsible for Process Development of a Prototype Production Line for OLED Displays. After many years I switched to Maxi-Cosi, part of the Dorel Group. Here I worked for 7 years as Senior Quality Engineer supporting the development, production and Customer Quality for Child Restraint Systems produced in Europe and Asia. The products produced in Europe are assembled by disabled people which creates a strong need for Poka-Yoke design. During these years I became a specialist in the field of Plastic injection, Fabric assembly, Safety harness production, Poka-Yoke and Process optimization. I spent months in China to improve the processes, teach the supplier, control and create awareness for the type of safety products that were assembled there.
After Maxi-Cosi I changed to DAF Trucks as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). DAF is the largest vehicle producer in The Netherlands and gave me the possibility to manage, monitor and correct more than 70 Suppliers. During my employment at DAF I gained experience in wiring harnesses, plastic injected parts, brake systems and rubber seals. I was trained as a Six-Sigma Green Belt and gained experience in metal stamping parts as well.
Switching to Inalfa Roofsystems offered me the possibility to Manage a large group of (Senior) Quality Engineers. In the many years I worked here I was responsible for Quality of the full Supply Chain. As always there are “good and bad ones”. Collecting data, analyzing, improving was a daily activity. Developing Suppliers created strong bonds between Inalfa and their Supply Chain.
My first employer after moving to Germany was Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited, also known as CATL. This China based Company is building Europe’s largest Battery Plant for the production of Energy Storage Systems for Electrical Vehicles. I was asked in 2017 to lead all Quality related operations for Europe and to build up the Strategy needed to successfully launch operations which started in 2021. During this time I was responsible for Supplier Quality, Customer Quality, Process Quality, Project Quality and Failure Analysis for which I built up a Laboratory in Munich in 2018. As the center of gravity moved from Munich to Thuringia in 2020, I decided to stay in the beautiful Munich Area and decided to found Q-Advice in 2020.
In parallelI (from October 2021 – June 2024) I joined Fritzmeier Systems GmbH located close to Munich to take on a position as Quality Director, responsible for Supplier, Customer, Production and Project Quality for all 5 Production locations in Europe.
In the last 19 years I was in China more than 80 times and travelled all over Europe to improve processes at all kind of suppliers. My experience includes plastic injection moulding, all components of battery systems, punched metal parts, fabric production and electronics.