About Sebastijan
As a Strategic Plant Director with over 15 years in the automotive industry, I transform complex, underperforming operations into highly profitable, lean, and digitalized business units. My core value lies in connecting operational excellence directly with corporate financial strategy, consistently driving an average of 10% annual COGS reduction through automation, systemic restructuring, and sustainable cost optimization.
What Makes Me Stand Out:
- Crisis Management & Turnaround Leadership: Throughout my career, I have excelled in crisis management, stepping in to stabilize production areas when KPIs severely deviated from targets. By deploying rapid task teams, I restore operational stability and efficiency under high-pressure conditions.
- Multi-Disciplinary Expertise: I bridge business, technology, and law. Combining an MBA, a Master of Laws (LLM), and an IT background, I successfully navigate complex legal frameworks, conduct M&A feasibility studies, and manage corporate risk.
- From the Shop Floor to the Boardroom: Starting with industrial robot programming gives me deep technical credibility when leading engineering, R&D, and production teams. As a Black Belt and Shingo model advocate, I build high-EQ leadership frameworks to drive engagement.
Projects & Deliverables I Handle:
- Continuous Improvement Infrastructure: Establishing dedicated Continuous Improvement departments and implementing Tier and Shop Floor Management systems to build a long-term culture of excellence.
- High-Impact Kaizen & Six Sigma Projects: Leadership of numerous cost-reduction projects across my career. This includes managing multiple Kaizen initiatives yielding €50k to €350k in savings per project, winning the Bourns Kaizen Award for Best Process Improvement , and contributing to top-tier Six Sigma projects.
- Digitalization & CAPEX: End-to-end factory digitalization , SAP S/4HANA upgrades , and multi-million Euro facility expansions.
Slovenian
Native or bilingual
English
Fluent
German
Basic
Bosnian
Conversational
Can work on-site
Ljubljana (up to 50km), Maribor (up to 50km), Celje (up to 50km)
Experience
- Bourns d.o.o.,Plant Manager & ProcuristJanuary 2023 - April 2026 (3 years and 3 months)Žužemberk, Slovenia
- Leading and representing a company of 200 employees, with comprehensive management of all key departments, including HR, Finance, Quality, Supply Chain, R&D, Engineering, Production, and Continuous Improvement.
- Defining and executing plant strategy while ensuring strict alignment with corporate goals and group directives.
- Participating in acquisitions and market analysis, including the development of economic feasibility models to evaluate strategic alternatives and monitoring international economic trends.
- Budgeting and CAPEX planning focused on long-term technological development and cost optimization.
- Collaborating with external partners for the development and manufacturing of specialized equipment and the execution of complex infrastructure projects.
- Managing supplier and customer relationships, involving strategic supply chain coordination and meeting market demands.
- Enhancing information flow and establishing effective delegation frameworks across the entire organization.
- Cost optimization and gross margin improvement with a focus on automation, digitalization (e.g., SAP S/4HANA), and carbon footprint reduction.
- Implementing the Shingo Model and "Employee organizational culture and achieve operational excellence. Involvement" concepts to continuously elevate organizational culture and achieve operational excellence.
- Bourns d.o.o.,Technical DirectorJuly 2022 - January 2023 (6 months)Žužemberk, Slovenia
- Coordinating departments totaling 140 employees, encompassing Production, Engineering, R&D, Maintenance, and Facility Management.
- Mapping technological development in alignment with product lifecycles and strategically upgrading the machinery park to enhance profit margins.
- Restructuring the R&D and Engineering department to ensure greater responsiveness and improved support for production processes.
- Implementing Lean methodology and establishing a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating process deviations.
- Establishing robust frameworks for information flow through Tier meetings and implementing effective delegation methods.
- Optimizing cross-departmental dynamics by redefining roles and systematizing specific areas of operation.
- Implementing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across all managed areas, directly contributing to increased productivity.
- Elvez d.o.o.,Director of operationsJuly 2021 - July 2022 (1 year)Visnja Gora, Slovenia
- Leading and coordinating up to 130 employees across Production, Maintenance, Facility Management, Logistics (Warehousing and Planning), and Manufacturing Engineering.
- Optimizing warehouse space to improve material flow and increase available storage capacity.
- Implementing Lean and Six Sigma concepts to optimize work processes and enhance overall efficiency.
- Collaborating on cost estimation restructuring and upgrading calculation models to reflect the Total Cost of operations.
- Designing models to determine cost (in)efficiency for specific products and production lines.
- Establishing key communication pillars through Shop Floor Management (SFM) meetings.
- Introducing effective root cause analysis methods using PSCS tools and A3 reporting.
- Improving planning efficiency
- Leading continuous improvement initiatives and actively seeking solutions to increase overall plant efficiency in collaboration with support services.
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Education
- Associate Degree in Computer Science and Information TechnologiesICES – Education Centre of the Energy System (ICES, Izobraževalni center energetskega sistema)2012Associate Degree in Computer Science and Information Technologies
- Bachelor of Organization and ManagementUniversity of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences2014Bachelor of Organization and Management