Willem Van Der Merwe

As an impassioned co-owner of The Alternative Board Logan, I am dedicated to empowering business owners by providing them with the clarity, understanding, and direction they need to thrive both personally and professionally. Through my consulting business, I leverage the tools and skillset offered by The Alternative Board to deliver exceptional value to my clients. My expertise lies in guiding business owners toward their individual goals within a peer board environment that fosters idea-sharing, knowledge exchange, and transformative experiences.

Key Areas of Expertise:
• Identifying and Addressing Current Business Challenges and Opportunities
• Developing Personal and Business Visions and Establishing Distinctions between the Two
• Conducting Business Diagnostics and Formulating Roadmaps to Address Gaps
• Implementing Cash Flow Planning & Management Strategies
• Evaluating Strategic Differentiation and Exploring Scenarios
• Performing SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
• Facilitating Values & Culture Workshops and Creating Accountability Charts
• Identifying and Formalizing Critical Success Factors & Goals
• Establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Developing Action Plans
• Creating Comprehensive Financial Plans
• Conducting Annual Business Reviews and Planning Sessions
• Aligning Personal Long-Term Vision with Business Goals
• Implementing Cash Flow & Financial Management Strategies and Processes
• Developing Strategic Leadership Skills
• Implementing Productive Time Management Strategies
• Addressing Sales Performance and Implementing Sales Management Techniques
• Fostering Inspirational Leadership and Nurturing Team Members to Improve Business Performance Culture
• Promoting Results-Driven Communication within Teams and Management

Through my coaching and consulting activities, I have consistently helped businesses overcome challenges, capitalize on opportunities, and achieve sustained growth. My dedication to positively impacting the lives of my clients remains unwavering, and I am eager to continue assisting businesses in reaching their full potential.

• With my expert guidance, a manufacturing client achieved remarkable growth, increasing their monthly turnover to double the amount they paid for the business four years ago.
• Through my strategic intervention, I played a pivotal role in transforming an electrical business from experiencing annual losses to reaching an impressive annual profit of $400,000. By identifying and addressing non-productive activities, we streamlined their operations and optimised resource allocation, ensuring that every effort contributed to their growth and success. One of the key drivers behind this transformation was the establishment of strategic relationships with key clients. Recognizing the importance of nurturing existing relationships and forging new ones, we proactively engaged with clients, understanding their unique needs, and delivering solutions that exceeded expectations. This approach not only solidified the business's position in the market but also fostered loyalty and repeat business from satisfied clients.

Highly accomplished and results-driven Industrial Engineering Manager with a proven track record of optimizing business processes and leading cross-functional teams to achieve exceptional results. Possessing extensive expertise in capital project management, logistics value chain optimization, and specialist industrial engineering solutions. Seeking to leverage my skills and experience to drive continuous improvement and success in a dynamic organization.

In this role I

• Spearheaded the oversight, mentoring, training, and leadership of industrial engineering personnel, ensuring their professional growth and development.
• Optimized and streamlined the business processes and logistics value chain, resulting in increased efficiency and cost savings.
• Provided expert industrial engineering guidance to capital and asset performance improvement projects, delivering high-quality solutions on time and within budget.
• Developed comprehensive business cases for capital application, enabling informed decision-making at the executive level.
• Led a cross-site and production facility team with the focus on achieving production targets, SH&E goals, and Zero Harm principles.
• Successfully implemented an information management user interface, centralizing operational and administrative processes, procedures, and policies for enhanced efficiency.
• Introduced business processes to leverage an electronic job card system, improving productivity and accountability within the organization.
• Oversaw the establishment of a new medical facility, encompassing an emergency center, pharmacy, laboratory, medical screening facility, and audiology department. The allocated budget for this project was ZAR74 million, the end result was a fully functional facility that came in ZAR2.1 million under budget.
• Optimized the workflow within the Mechanical workshop by implementing an IT management information system and resolving bottlenecks in the production process. The result was a 11% reduction in turnaround time, 5% improvement in OTIF order processing
• Implemented a new cart retrieval process, resulting in improved process efficiency and the elimination of poor work habits.
• Proactively managed individual and team tasks, streamlining processes and driving continuous improvement initiatives.
• Cultivated positive and productive relationships with store and field leadership, fostering a collaborative work environment.
• Identified, developed, and promoted talented employees, building a strong and cohesive leadership team.
• Supervised engineers and engineers in training across five plants, ensuring adherence to high-quality operation standards.
• Collaborated with other district managers to devise and implement performance improvement strategies.
• Prepared and presented financial and operational reports to assist management in making informed business decisions.

In this role I was the team lead of a department that provided Scaffold building services to production plants in a Fuel & Chemical manufacturing plant through the help of five service providers with a 4700 labour force, in-house mobile high access equipment able to reach up to 110m high work areas and managing the service delivery of Industrial painting contractors doing sandblasting and chemical treatment of production equipment.

In this role I was able to:

• Provided exceptional leadership, mentoring, and training to personnel, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and exceptional service delivery.
• Cultivated strong and effective working relationships with managers, customers, peers, and stakeholders, facilitating seamless collaboration and communication.
• Implemented efficient systems and processes to enhance service delivery, boost productivity, and reduce unit costs, resulting in improved overall performance.
• Ensured unwavering commitment to health and safety regulations in a high-risk operational environment, prioritizing the well-being of employees and customers.
• Conducted thorough evaluations of performance reports, identifying areas for improvement, and successfully implementing targeted changes for enhanced outcomes.
• Transformed underperforming teams into productive and profitable units through effective mentorship, coaching, and performance management.
• Proactively resolved conflicts, fostering a positive work environment that positively impacted customer interactions and overall satisfaction.
• Led strategic workforce planning, customer retention initiatives, and customer service management for multiple locations, optimizing service efficiency and strengthening client relationships.
• Oversaw budget planning and strategy development, resulting in a 7% reduction in the Cost to Customer while improving response times for service requests.
• Provided supervision and direction to 7 location managers, ensuring compliance with contractual obligations and reporting requirements for all areas and assets.

Results-driven and safety-focused with extensive experience in managing service delivery in a Fuel & Chemical plant. Adept at building collaborative teams and implementing effective systems to improve productivity, reduce costs, and ensure exceptional service quality. This was a leadership role where I could leverage my expertise to drive operational excellence and foster a positive work environment.
In this role I was:
• Overseeing daily operations of road and rail dispatches of fuel and chemicals, loading on average 48ooo rail and 74 000 road tankers.
• Supervising, training and mentoring operations personnel
• Managing road staging area, weighbridges, road and rail loading gantries and rail control
• Developing and implementing effective programs, systems and processes to improve infrastructure integrity, scheduling and loading operations
• Evaluating and liaising with international suppliers
• Conducted training sessions to educate employees on best practices and procedures to increase profitability.
• Assessed reports to evaluate performance, develop targeted improvements, and implement changes.
• Transformed underperforming teams into productive, profitable teams.
• Resolved conflicts promptly to promote positive environment for customers.
• Brought in exceptional candidates to boost team productivity and operational efficiency.
• Oversaw budget planning, strategy development, community outreach for organization.
• Supervised 5 location managers and managed 6 Fuel & Chemical loading facilities, road and rail assets, maintaining contractual, compliance and reporting requirements for all areas and assets.
• Developed sales strategy based on research of consumer buying trends and market conditions.
• Improved process efficiency by implementing new cart retrieval process and correcting poor work habits.
• Worked diligently to resolve unique and recurring complaints, promoting loyalty, and enhancing operations.
• Worked collaboratively with loss prevention to decrease shrink and boost loss awareness.
Key Projects:
• Replacing five mainline locomotives, ensuring operational availability remains above 94%, project budget ZAR 60 million.
• Upgrading and expanded the 67km of private rail siding to accommodate future growth and ensure improved environmental protection, expanding shunting sidings and extending main lines. Project budger ZAR240 million.

In this role I was responsible for the delivery of a large number of projects, initiatives and improvement plans across the Secunda, Sasolburg and Lake Charles production facilities. During this time I honed my skills in the following areas:
• Skilled at working independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
• Self-motivated, with a strong sense of personal responsibility.
• Proven ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations.
• Worked well in a team setting, providing support and guidance.
• Managed time efficiently in order to complete all tasks within deadlines.
• Demonstrated respect, friendliness and willingness to help wherever needed.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Passionate about learning and committed to continual improvement.
• Organized and detail-oriented with a strong work ethic.
• Identified issues, analyzed information and provided solutions to problems.

• Responsible for all supply chain related projects and channel development
• Integrating and overseeing logistics activities
• Optimizing rail, road and pipeline infrastructure and supporting business processes
• Project management and coordination
• Project scoping
• Training and mentoring personnel

• Providing a high standard of specialized technical support on planning projects
• Establishing company-wide planning Key Performance Indicators
• Integrating planning Key Performance Indicators and structure into SAP
• Responsible for planning functions during various shutdowns
• Performed preventative maintenance to keep tools and equipment functional.
• Trained and mentored competent and flexible workforce to meet project needs and promote positive work environment.
• Read and interpreted blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, and computer-generated reports.
• Developed positive working relationships with stakeholders to effectively coordinate work activities.
• Provided input to team lead regarding areas for process and procedural improvement.
• Prepared action plans for problematic processes and assets.
• Wrote, reviewed and edited technical document in accordance with template requirements.
• Developed cost estimates and project specifications for proposals.

• Led a team of 27 Planners and Planning clerks,serving 15 Production plants in a chemical factory to identify, schedule, optimise and manage the execution of maintenance activities on a running plant.
• Established a safety culture in the team where each team member was authorised and expected to call out unsafe behavior.
• Built strategic relations with key role players and decision makers.

• Identifying improvements in the annual shutdown planning process and the tools used to predict the maintenance activities identified.
• Analised the effectivenes of a proposed LP model to predict the activities to be included in the maintenance cycle. The results led to the company avoiding development cost of $300k.
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