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Bernd Schreiber

Managing Partner

Board of directors

Global Practice Leader, Operations Management

Germany

Bernd combines broad, cross-sector industry experience with deep expertise in strategy and operations to help clients transform and achieve best-in-class performance.

Bernd Schreiber

Areas of Focus

Education

Cooperative State University of Baden Wuerttemberg
Business Administration

Bernd Schreiber

Bernd is Partner based in our Frankfurt office and leads Arthur D. Little’s global Operations Management practice. He also leads our global Industry 4.0 activities and is member of our Digital Transformation & Analytics think tank.

His main areas of expertise cover strategy definition, operating model and organizational design, operational excellence, supply chain management, performance improvement, and transformation programs in a wide variety of industries. With his projects, Bernd helps our clients to anticipate future trends in operations. He designs innovative solutions and helps to transform businesses towards performance excellence across the value chain. 

For example, he has helped leading companies in automotive, transportation, energy and other industries to apply Industry 4.0 and digital technologies in operations to achieve quantum-leap efficiency gains, and as well as assisting them in generating value out of data. Applying digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, bots, collaborative robots, augmented reality, blockchain and additive manufacturing allows for EBIT improvement from 30% to 50%. Bernd has also helped various clients in transforming their supply chains and procurement from transaction-oriented units to value-generating functions, which delivers strategic impact for the companies’ competiveness.

Bernd has published our viewpoints in operations such as the “Future of Operations in the Digital World”, “Procurement 4.0”, and “Radical Simplification”. He is responsible for our flagship operations benchmark in procurement, supply chain and manufacturing.

Prior to joining Arthur D. Little, Bernd worked for 7 years in manufacturing companies in finance, controlling and supply chain management. 

Bernd is married, has two beautiful kids and enjoys family life in a fantastic and traditional wine region in Germany. Being a former enthusiastic handball player, Bernd experienced and believes in the success of team and fair play.

The Industrial Metaverse
The Industrial Metaverse
Making the invisible visible to drive sustainable growth
Find out more
Building a sustainable and highly productive supply chain
Building a sustainable & highly productive supply chain
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander, Naoya Furuta
Supply chains are under unprecedented strain, impacting productivity and leading to shortages for consumers and manufacturers alike. At the same time, companies face growing pressure from society and regulators to become more sustainable, which opens up new opportunities with customers increasingly willing to pay a premium for more sustainable products. Meeting these conflicting objectives requires a comprehensive approach that future-proofs supply chains by delivering both greater sustainability and higher productivity.
Find out more
Embracing the telco productivity race
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Embracing the telco productivity race
Dr. Karim Taga, Bernd Schreiber, Lokesh Dadhich, Arvind Rajeswaran
Improving productivity is a critical element of the journey telcos must take to become ambidextrous — and improving productivity is about going way beyond cost-cutting. In this Viewpoint, we discuss a transformative approach that we call the “Productivity RACE” (Radical, Accelerated, Continuous, and Effective). This framework sets out to improve and sustain business productivity, while addressing commonly observed challenges and barriers to successful execution of productivity measures.
Find out more
Achieving resilience and sustainability for the EV battery supply chain
Energy, Utilities & Resources
Achieving resilience and sustainability for the EV battery supply chain
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Philipp Seidel, Alexander Krug, Rodrigo P. Navarro, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander, Shinichi Akayama
However, battery supply chains remain complex, global, and fragile, with many still evolving from scratch. Their resilience is impacted by a growing number of factors, from rising raw material costs to geopolitical disruption. Average battery pack prices have risen in 2022, the first increase since 2013. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns, greater regulation, and governments’ desire to localize battery production add to pressure on already-stretched global supply chains. All of these factors lead to potential bottlenecks that affect production.
Find out more
It’s time for a supply chain recalibration
Niklas Brundin, Bill Reeves, Bernd Schreiber
The recent economic turmoil surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have exposed the vulnerabilities of today’s complex supply chain networks, challenging many industries across the globe. Companies have learned the hard lessons of underestimating supply and demand volatility risks, raising questions around control, transparency, and regionalization. Supply chain resilience has risen to the top of the executive agenda, and it is now time to transfer lessons learned into action to prepare businesses for future disruptions.
Find out more
The sustainable and highly productive supply chain
Bernd Schreiber, Lokesh Dadhich, Naoya Furuta, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander
At the same time, national and international sustainability laws and initiatives require a fundamental shift within global supply chains. It is clear that organizations require a strategic framework that supports decision makers in creating supply chain value by synchronizing supply chain layers beyond short-term and reactive crisis management.
Find out more
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Extracting network operations efficiency in the post-COVID-19 era
Vincenzo Basile, Bernd Schreiber, Pedro Ugarte, Lokesh Dadhich
How telecom operators can overcome complexity and demand challenges
Find out more
Reimagining India’s supply chain
Reimagining India’s supply chain
Thomas Kuruvilla, Bernd Schreiber, Lokesh Dadhich
A bold vision for 2030
Find out more
Public procurement transformation in the GCC region – post-COVID-19 era
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Raymond Khoury, Lokesh Dadhich
Covid-19: A wake-up call for radical changes in public sector procurement in GCC
Find out more
Actions for post-crisis supply chain recovery
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Engin Beken, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander
Every day more countries alarm the world with new COVID-19 cases. As a result, many countries are closing their borders and imposing social-distancing measures on their people. Naturally, global and local companies are affected as their workforces and supply chains are cut off. The first weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak showed organizations’ ability to pull out well-prepared contingency plans to respond and adapt to the new reality quickly.
Find out more
The 5F War Room
Arnaud Jouron, Bernd Schreiber
Businesses worldwide are facing unprecedented challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The paramount need is to secure health and safety for the workforce, clients and our societies at large. Beyond that, impact on demand is brutal, with companies forced to juggle major downturns and upturns for products and services. In addition, companies need to be ready to stage recoveries once the crisis de-escalates (ideally within the next two to five months, depending on sectors that move at different speeds).
Find out more
Financial Services
Beyond cost efficiencies in shared service centers
Bernd Schreiber
Alternative focus to maximize shared service center value generation
Find out more
Energy, Utilities & Resources
Nuclear Lean
Michael Kruse, Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander
Nuclear power plant owners are hesitant to pursue life extension projects, and in some cases, are even shutting down their plants. As plants age and safety requirements inflate costs of life extension projects, nuclear plant owners often do not find these projects an attractive business case. This, combined with lack of political support, fear of national nuclear phaseouts, and competition from other (often renewable) energy sources, has forced the premature shutdown of several nuclear plants across the world. Arthur D.
Find out more
RPA: Robotic Process Automation
Volker Pfirsching, Bernd Schreiber, Marius Romanescu
Executive Briefing Series An 8-part series to be updated weekly from July to September 2019   RPA is changing the way processes are automated. In the following guide we will give insights what RPA is, what can be expected by RPA – now and in future - and how to enable a fast operationalization and scaling of process automation by RPA.
Find out more
Digital Lean Management
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Engin Beken
Unternehmen mit Spitzenleistungen stellten lange Zeit Lean Management in den Fokus ihrer Unternehmenstransformation. Viele Unternehmen haben das Potenzial der Digitalisierung erkannt und mit ihrer „Digital Journey“ begonnen. Wir beobachten zwei Arten von Effekten durch Digital Lean: Unternehmen, die eine radikale Leistungssteigerung von bis zu 50% realisieren und Unternehmen, deren digitale Initiativen in Silos verpuffen.
Find out more
Operations Management Periodical
Dr. Engin Beken, Bernd Schreiber
Mit dem Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) der Berner Gruppe haben wir ein Interview zur Zukunft der Logistik geführt. Die Berner Gruppe handelt B2B mit Verbrauchsmaterialien, Werkzeugen und Werkstattausstattung und bietet entsprechende Beratung und Serviceleistungen an. Die Gruppe ist europaweit in mehr als 25 Ländern aktiv. Eine der wesentlichen Erkenntnisse ist, dass die Digitalisierung die Logistik in den nächsten Jahren radikal verändern wird - nicht nur in den eigenen Abläufen, sondern auch in der einhergehenden Veränderung des Geschäftsmodells.
Find out more
Seven value drivers for the future of procurement
Bernd Schreiber
How can Arthur D.Little support ? Assess potential and develop concepts Understand industry trends and derive future implications Assess maturity level and identify opportunities Develop target picture and design pilot projects Develop transformation roadmap Transform the organization and implement pilots
Find out more
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Reimagining telco operations in a hyper-digital world
Lokesh Dadhich, Vincenzo Basile, Marius Romanescu, Bernd Schreiber
Organizations in today’s digital age are witnessing technology trends that are profoundly reshaping value chains across industries. Digitalization is an all-pervasive trend acting as the disruptor-in-chief of business and operating models across converging industries. The telecom industry, which is at the heart of the digitalization megatrend and a key digitalization enabler, is not immune to this disruption.
Find out more
Digital Lean Management
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Engin Beken
Unlock potential and achieve next performance levels
Find out more
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Beyond the best network operations!
Vincenzo Basile, Dr. Karim Taga, Lokesh Dadhich, Bernd Schreiber, Francesco Cotrone
Current international industry trends predict mid-term reductions of profitability margins for telecom operators, in particularfor mature markets. This is a result of huge investments (GSMA estimates that telecom operators will invest $1.7 trillionon capex during 2014-2020) that are required to build next-generation networks in order to satisfy the data- demandexplosion and revenue reduction caused by mobile price wars and competition from OTT.
Find out more
Procurement 4.0 in the digital world
Bernd Schreiber
The world is changing: decreasing levels of in-house value-add and increasing speed of market and technological changes require procurement to transform into an agile, linked innovation leader and real-time, integrated supply-chain manager.
Find out more

Bernd Schreiber

Bernd is Partner based in our Frankfurt office and leads Arthur D. Little’s global Operations Management practice. He also leads our global Industry 4.0 activities and is member of our Digital Transformation & Analytics think tank.

His main areas of expertise cover strategy definition, operating model and organizational design, operational excellence, supply chain management, performance improvement, and transformation programs in a wide variety of industries. With his projects, Bernd helps our clients to anticipate future trends in operations. He designs innovative solutions and helps to transform businesses towards performance excellence across the value chain. 

For example, he has helped leading companies in automotive, transportation, energy and other industries to apply Industry 4.0 and digital technologies in operations to achieve quantum-leap efficiency gains, and as well as assisting them in generating value out of data. Applying digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, bots, collaborative robots, augmented reality, blockchain and additive manufacturing allows for EBIT improvement from 30% to 50%. Bernd has also helped various clients in transforming their supply chains and procurement from transaction-oriented units to value-generating functions, which delivers strategic impact for the companies’ competiveness.

Bernd has published our viewpoints in operations such as the “Future of Operations in the Digital World”, “Procurement 4.0”, and “Radical Simplification”. He is responsible for our flagship operations benchmark in procurement, supply chain and manufacturing.

Prior to joining Arthur D. Little, Bernd worked for 7 years in manufacturing companies in finance, controlling and supply chain management. 

Bernd is married, has two beautiful kids and enjoys family life in a fantastic and traditional wine region in Germany. Being a former enthusiastic handball player, Bernd experienced and believes in the success of team and fair play.

The Industrial Metaverse
The Industrial Metaverse
Making the invisible visible to drive sustainable growth
Find out more
Building a sustainable and highly productive supply chain
Building a sustainable & highly productive supply chain
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander, Naoya Furuta
Supply chains are under unprecedented strain, impacting productivity and leading to shortages for consumers and manufacturers alike. At the same time, companies face growing pressure from society and regulators to become more sustainable, which opens up new opportunities with customers increasingly willing to pay a premium for more sustainable products. Meeting these conflicting objectives requires a comprehensive approach that future-proofs supply chains by delivering both greater sustainability and higher productivity.
Find out more
Embracing the telco productivity race
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Embracing the telco productivity race
Dr. Karim Taga, Bernd Schreiber, Lokesh Dadhich, Arvind Rajeswaran
Improving productivity is a critical element of the journey telcos must take to become ambidextrous — and improving productivity is about going way beyond cost-cutting. In this Viewpoint, we discuss a transformative approach that we call the “Productivity RACE” (Radical, Accelerated, Continuous, and Effective). This framework sets out to improve and sustain business productivity, while addressing commonly observed challenges and barriers to successful execution of productivity measures.
Find out more
Achieving resilience and sustainability for the EV battery supply chain
Energy, Utilities & Resources
Achieving resilience and sustainability for the EV battery supply chain
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Philipp Seidel, Alexander Krug, Rodrigo P. Navarro, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander, Shinichi Akayama
However, battery supply chains remain complex, global, and fragile, with many still evolving from scratch. Their resilience is impacted by a growing number of factors, from rising raw material costs to geopolitical disruption. Average battery pack prices have risen in 2022, the first increase since 2013. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns, greater regulation, and governments’ desire to localize battery production add to pressure on already-stretched global supply chains. All of these factors lead to potential bottlenecks that affect production.
Find out more
It’s time for a supply chain recalibration
Niklas Brundin, Bill Reeves, Bernd Schreiber
The recent economic turmoil surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have exposed the vulnerabilities of today’s complex supply chain networks, challenging many industries across the globe. Companies have learned the hard lessons of underestimating supply and demand volatility risks, raising questions around control, transparency, and regionalization. Supply chain resilience has risen to the top of the executive agenda, and it is now time to transfer lessons learned into action to prepare businesses for future disruptions.
Find out more
The sustainable and highly productive supply chain
Bernd Schreiber, Lokesh Dadhich, Naoya Furuta, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander
At the same time, national and international sustainability laws and initiatives require a fundamental shift within global supply chains. It is clear that organizations require a strategic framework that supports decision makers in creating supply chain value by synchronizing supply chain layers beyond short-term and reactive crisis management.
Find out more
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Extracting network operations efficiency in the post-COVID-19 era
Vincenzo Basile, Bernd Schreiber, Pedro Ugarte, Lokesh Dadhich
How telecom operators can overcome complexity and demand challenges
Find out more
Reimagining India’s supply chain
Reimagining India’s supply chain
Thomas Kuruvilla, Bernd Schreiber, Lokesh Dadhich
A bold vision for 2030
Find out more
Public procurement transformation in the GCC region – post-COVID-19 era
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Raymond Khoury, Lokesh Dadhich
Covid-19: A wake-up call for radical changes in public sector procurement in GCC
Find out more
Actions for post-crisis supply chain recovery
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Engin Beken, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander
Every day more countries alarm the world with new COVID-19 cases. As a result, many countries are closing their borders and imposing social-distancing measures on their people. Naturally, global and local companies are affected as their workforces and supply chains are cut off. The first weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak showed organizations’ ability to pull out well-prepared contingency plans to respond and adapt to the new reality quickly.
Find out more
The 5F War Room
Arnaud Jouron, Bernd Schreiber
Businesses worldwide are facing unprecedented challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The paramount need is to secure health and safety for the workforce, clients and our societies at large. Beyond that, impact on demand is brutal, with companies forced to juggle major downturns and upturns for products and services. In addition, companies need to be ready to stage recoveries once the crisis de-escalates (ideally within the next two to five months, depending on sectors that move at different speeds).
Find out more
Financial Services
Beyond cost efficiencies in shared service centers
Bernd Schreiber
Alternative focus to maximize shared service center value generation
Find out more
Energy, Utilities & Resources
Nuclear Lean
Michael Kruse, Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Kai-Oliver Zander
Nuclear power plant owners are hesitant to pursue life extension projects, and in some cases, are even shutting down their plants. As plants age and safety requirements inflate costs of life extension projects, nuclear plant owners often do not find these projects an attractive business case. This, combined with lack of political support, fear of national nuclear phaseouts, and competition from other (often renewable) energy sources, has forced the premature shutdown of several nuclear plants across the world. Arthur D.
Find out more
RPA: Robotic Process Automation
Volker Pfirsching, Bernd Schreiber, Marius Romanescu
Executive Briefing Series An 8-part series to be updated weekly from July to September 2019   RPA is changing the way processes are automated. In the following guide we will give insights what RPA is, what can be expected by RPA – now and in future - and how to enable a fast operationalization and scaling of process automation by RPA.
Find out more
Digital Lean Management
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Engin Beken
Unternehmen mit Spitzenleistungen stellten lange Zeit Lean Management in den Fokus ihrer Unternehmenstransformation. Viele Unternehmen haben das Potenzial der Digitalisierung erkannt und mit ihrer „Digital Journey“ begonnen. Wir beobachten zwei Arten von Effekten durch Digital Lean: Unternehmen, die eine radikale Leistungssteigerung von bis zu 50% realisieren und Unternehmen, deren digitale Initiativen in Silos verpuffen.
Find out more
Operations Management Periodical
Dr. Engin Beken, Bernd Schreiber
Mit dem Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) der Berner Gruppe haben wir ein Interview zur Zukunft der Logistik geführt. Die Berner Gruppe handelt B2B mit Verbrauchsmaterialien, Werkzeugen und Werkstattausstattung und bietet entsprechende Beratung und Serviceleistungen an. Die Gruppe ist europaweit in mehr als 25 Ländern aktiv. Eine der wesentlichen Erkenntnisse ist, dass die Digitalisierung die Logistik in den nächsten Jahren radikal verändern wird - nicht nur in den eigenen Abläufen, sondern auch in der einhergehenden Veränderung des Geschäftsmodells.
Find out more
Seven value drivers for the future of procurement
Bernd Schreiber
How can Arthur D.Little support ? Assess potential and develop concepts Understand industry trends and derive future implications Assess maturity level and identify opportunities Develop target picture and design pilot projects Develop transformation roadmap Transform the organization and implement pilots
Find out more
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Reimagining telco operations in a hyper-digital world
Lokesh Dadhich, Vincenzo Basile, Marius Romanescu, Bernd Schreiber
Organizations in today’s digital age are witnessing technology trends that are profoundly reshaping value chains across industries. Digitalization is an all-pervasive trend acting as the disruptor-in-chief of business and operating models across converging industries. The telecom industry, which is at the heart of the digitalization megatrend and a key digitalization enabler, is not immune to this disruption.
Find out more
Digital Lean Management
Bernd Schreiber, Dr. Engin Beken
Unlock potential and achieve next performance levels
Find out more
Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
Beyond the best network operations!
Vincenzo Basile, Dr. Karim Taga, Lokesh Dadhich, Bernd Schreiber, Francesco Cotrone
Current international industry trends predict mid-term reductions of profitability margins for telecom operators, in particularfor mature markets. This is a result of huge investments (GSMA estimates that telecom operators will invest $1.7 trillionon capex during 2014-2020) that are required to build next-generation networks in order to satisfy the data- demandexplosion and revenue reduction caused by mobile price wars and competition from OTT.
Find out more
Procurement 4.0 in the digital world
Bernd Schreiber
The world is changing: decreasing levels of in-house value-add and increasing speed of market and technological changes require procurement to transform into an agile, linked innovation leader and real-time, integrated supply-chain manager.
Find out more