Armin Schmidt

Graduate Engineer and General Manager / Plant Director with over 25 years of leadership experience in the paper and process industries. Full responsibility for production sites and major projects in Germany, France and Finland — with up to 330,000 t annual output, 165 employees and €150 million revenue. I stand for Operational Excellence, stable production performance, measurable cost and efficiency improvements, and a modern, safe and transparent leadership culture. Under my responsibility, OEE levels of > 90%, up to 10% fixed-cost reductions and 5–10% annual variable cost savings were achieved. I place the health and safety of my teams at the center of my leadership approach. Through consistent communication and a culture of shared accountability, we achieved accident-free periods of up to 1,460 days. I have successfully led and executed digital production and maintenance processes (IoT / Predictive Maintenance) as well as CAPEX/OPEX investments up to €15 million. As a leader, I focus on ownership, empowerment, transparency and clear KPI steering. My greatest motivation comes from seeing a team grow, perform at its best and succeed together. My teams describe my leadership style as calm, reliable, consistent and providing strong orientation – especially in challenging situations. My international experience across Germany, France and Finland strengthens my ability to lead high-performing multicultural organizations. Strategically, I focus on sustainability, energy efficiency and digital transformation. For me, digitalization and automation are targeted enablers for resource efficiency, CO₂ reduction, operational safety and process stability. I work with clear development plans to align sites for long-term competitiveness and to drive sustainable, „green industry“ transformation. Senior roles in Plant Management, Operations or General Management – ideally with progression towards COO/CTO / Technical Managing Director in an international industrial environment – strongly attract my interest, as they combine the level of strategic and sustainable responsibility in which I can create the greatest value.