Approach
Reduce complex issues to their essentials, clarify accountability, and frame solutions that can actually be implemented.
Dr. Thomas Zipse
Experience in industry, engineering and management as a foundation.
GroundLook Consult brings together decades of operational leadership, executive management and board work — and applies the same mindset to its own digital products today.
Today
Consulting, advisory board work and development of original digital solutions under the GroundLook Consult brand.
FocusManufacturing, engineering, logistics, business leadership and governance.
InternationalIntegrating and developing plants and organizations in Europe, North America and Asia
AdvisoryPractical, implementation-oriented and focused on tangible impact.
Digital productGroundLook Instant Concierge: context-aware local recommendations plus a subscribable live event calendar.
“Erfolg im Mittelstand”
Co-author of “Erfolg im Mittelstand – Tipps für die Praxis”. The second, revised and expanded edition was published by Springer Gabler and brings together practical guidance on leadership, core operating functions, financial management and specialized topics.
Curiosity & analytical rigor
Member of MinD – Mensa in Deutschland e. V. — motivated by curiosity, learning and intellectual exchange around complex questions.
Sharing experience
Volunteer adviser with AktivSenioren, mentor, and long-standing ski instructor and trainer with the German Alpine Club (DAV). A recurring theme is helping others apply experience and act independently.
Career highlights
From Fraunhofer IPA to executive management — always with concrete operating responsibility.
These roles show how technical, operational and entrepreneurial responsibility evolved over the decades into the approach that GroundLook Consult represents today.
Fraunhofer IPA
1981–1986Research engineer and deputy head of the Flexible Manufacturing Systems group This is where a systematic perspective on manufacturing, automation and factory organization took shape.
Philips / C.H.F. Müller
1986–1987Led CIM projects in medical technology, responsible for designing and implementing a CAD application system. Early experience using digital tools not as ends in themselves, but as functional, cost-effective support for real engineering processes.
SKF
1987–1989Managed planning and control in component manufacturing Planning, transparency and operational control became everyday management responsibilities.
Motorenwerke Mannheim
1989–1991Head of materials management and purchasing, responsible for material flow, production planning, scheduling and project procurement. Balancing growth, lower inventory and better results sharpened an understanding of the link between operations and financial performance.
Brose
1992–1997Initially head of group logistics, later head of Assembly Center, responsible for assembly, logistics, production planning, quality and controlling. In 1997 the Assembly Center won first place in the customer-oriented companies category of “Factory of the Year.” Lean practices, team organization and consistent customer focus became hands-on management tools.
KS Kolbenschmidt
1997–2005Managing director for manufacturing, at times also responsible for engineering and advanced development, with responsibility for a global manufacturing network. International plant integration, standardization, continuous improvement, TPM, Kaizen and restructuring combined technical, commercial and cultural change.
Demag Cranes
2005–2007Managing director of manufacturing and head of the Industrial Cranes segment Scaling, capital employed, delivery reliability and profit accountability were central in a global industrial setting.
GroundLook Consult
since 2007Independent consulting and roles on supervisory, advisory and administrative boards Today this experience increasingly supports original digital product ideas such as GroundLook Instant Concierge.
Supervisory & advisory boards
Long-term strategic sparring, not one-off advice.
Board work complements the operational perspective, including positions at HEWI, Eissmann Group Automotive, bardusch, KAMAX, Stadtwerke Lindau and previously Natoil. The focus is on strategy, investments, organization, leadership and critical oversight of execution.
The story behind the name
GroundLook: look beneath the surface.
The name originally reflected the idea of getting to the bottom of things and keeping one's feet on solid ground — with a playful nod to our location in Lindau on Lake Constance. Today the idea applies surprisingly well to digital products: not more information, but more relevant information.
Conversation & collaboration
Experience matters when it makes a difference.
In consulting and board roles, just as in developing original digital solutions today, GroundLook considers experience valuable when it improves decisions and enables effective implementation.