Merve Yildiz

Industrialization & Factory Design Leader

Scaling complex engineering into reliable, high-performance manufacturing.

I design scalable production and logistics systems and industrialize them. 12+ years of international experience translating business strategy into investment decisions and manufacturing capabilities, combining program leadership across automation and digital manufacturing with hands‑on plant operations, in greenfield and brownfield environments.

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Available for senior leadership roles and project mandates, in Berlin and across Europe.

Selected figures

  • €100M+Capital investment and transformation portfolios led across plants and global production networks
  • €43MFive-year global brownfield program for a next-generation product platform
  • €26MAutomated greenfield factory, MES/WMS integratedWEF Lighthouse Factory
  • 480+People led in a high-volume plant, with operational P&L accountability

Where I create value

  1. 01 / INVESTMENT

    Investments that hold up

    Right-sized, right-technology decisions backed by feasibility studies, business cases and technical bid evaluation.

  2. 02 / SCALE

    Capacity that grows with demand

    Greenfield and brownfield plants sized on throughput and designed for expansion, so growth does not mean rebuilding.

  3. 03 / CONTINUITY

    Change without disrupting production

    New lines, relocations and modernization delivered while serial production continues.

  4. 04 / STABILITY

    Launches that reach stable output

    Ramp-up planned from the first design review, not after installation.

  5. 05 / PERFORMANCE

    Systems that perform in daily operations

    Productivity, quality and reliability designed in, informed by running a high-volume plant.

  6. 06 / ALIGNMENT

    One plan across disciplines

    Engineering, IT, suppliers and operations working to the same objectives.

Services

For senior positions and project mandates.

Design

  • Factory planning and modernization

    Capacity planning, future-proof layout design and material flow optimization, supported by feasibility studies, make-or-buy analysis and business cases. For greenfield facilities as well as brownfield sites, including expansions, relocations and equipment modernization.

  • Automation and intralogistics

    End-to-end delivery of automated material handling systems in manufacturing and fulfillment: from conceptual design, layout design, throughput sizing, specifications and supplier selection, through engineering, installation and commissioning to handover to operations.

  • Digital manufacturing and Industry 4.0

    Process analysis, requirements and workflow design for ERP, MES and WMS, across SAP modules, automation layer and stand-alone systems, from architecture and multi-vendor integration to rollout, connecting shop-floor processes, KPIs and planning systems within an Industry 4.0 roadmap.

Deliver

  • Industrialization, NPI and ramp-up

    Taking new products and manufacturing technologies from prototype to stable and scalable production: influencing product design with R&D through DFM/DFX principles, eBOM-to-mBOM transition under configuration control, BOP and routings, stage-gate readiness reviews, defining manufacturing standards and structured ramp‑up.

  • Line investments, installation and commissioning

    Full investment lifecycle for advanced manufacturing lines: from requirements definition and technical concept through specifications, supplier evaluation, installation, commissioning and ramp-up, including on-site modifications without interrupting ongoing operations.

  • Operational excellence

    Raising productivity, quality and equipment reliability in daily operations and through improvement projects: OEE and TPM, lean methods, line balancing, root-cause analysis and bottleneck elimination. The same methods are built into every new system and layout as design criteria.

Lead

  • Manufacturing transformation

    Translating manufacturing strategy into target-state blueprints, operating models and multi-year roadmaps across multi-site and global production networks: capacity and technology planning, make-or-buy and investment decisions, business cases, and the governance to execute them with executive sponsors.

  • Project and program leadership

    End-to-end delivery of capital projects and transformation programs, using waterfall, agile or hybrid methodologies as the project requires: scope, schedule, budget, suppliers, risks and dependencies across cross-functional teams, with stage-gate decisions at every critical point.

  • Change management and adoption

    A people-centered approach to change: involving frontline teams early through workshops, aligning stakeholders from executive sponsors to the shop floor, and supporting rollout with training and coaching, so that new processes and systems are adopted in daily operations.

Selected work

Company names withheld for confidentiality.

  1. €26M01 / GREENFIELD FACTORY

    Fully automated material handling and MES/WMS for a greenfield factory

    Led delivery from business case through conceptual design, engineering, installation and commissioning. Defined the future-state concept and sized the system on throughput models: layout alternatives, shuttle, stacker-crane and buffer configuration, specifications and supplier selection. Process owner for MES/WMS, including multi-vendor integration. The factory is recognized as a WEF Lighthouse Factory.

  2. €43M02 / BROWNFIELD FACTORY

    Five-year transformation of a global production network for a next-generation product platform

    Directed the program from long-term strategy to global launch, while serial production continued. Owned capacity, layout, material flow and make-or-buy planning, backed by feasibility studies and business cases. Led industrialization and NPI with R&D through DFM/DFX and production readiness, and set the Industry 4.0 and MES roadmap. Reported to global manufacturing leadership.

  3. €15M03 / BROWNFIELD FACTORY

    Advanced manufacturing technologies introduced into a brownfield plant

    Owned €15M of line investments within the program: a new cabinet line, laser-welded sheet-metal technology replacing mechanical clinching, and an 800-ton mechanical transfer press. Led the full investment lifecycle, from technical specifications, bidding and supplier selection through DFM alignment with R&D, layout validation, installation and commissioning to ramp-up, with on-site modifications made without interrupting serial production.

  4. 480+04 / PEOPLE, WITH P&L

    Operational leadership of a high-volume plant

    Led the assembly organization with operational P&L accountability and responsibility for OEE, productivity, quality, downtime, cost, safety and delivery. Turned performance gaps into structured improvement and capacity projects, and led the development of engineers, supervisors and frontline teams.

  5. DE · UK05 / E-COMMERCE

    Fulfillment center automation for an e‑commerce network

    Led industrial engineering and automation for fulfillment centers across Europe. Developed scalable automation concepts and a proof of concept for greenfield and brownfield sites, based on material flow, capacity and layout analysis. Defined business and operational requirements, evaluated hardware and software technologies, and balanced investment, operational priorities and risk across parallel initiatives.

  6. Global06 / CROSS-INDUSTRY

    Cross-industry digital manufacturing, from pilot to multi-site rollout

    Supported presales and managed delivery of MES projects, including SAP Digital Manufacturing, running projects in parallel. Took solutions from requirements and process analysis, including workshops that translated shop-floor processes into solution designs, through pilot applications to global rollout, as the senior link between executive sponsors, operations and implementation teams.

Profile

Portrait of Merve Yildiz

I design manufacturing systems to perform in daily operation and to scale with the business. I measure my work by the value they create every day.

Operability and scalability are my first design criteria. I build operational excellence principles into every concept, from layout and material flow to automation and system architecture, plan capacity and technology so they can expand in stages, and involve operations teams from the earliest design phases. Time on the shop floor, observing processes and listening to the people who run them, is part of my engineering method.

I have worked along the full manufacturing lifecycle: design for excellence with R&D, multi-year factory and footprint planning, line investments, commissioning and ramp-up. I later led high-volume production of a product platform I had helped industrialize. Having held both responsibilities, I plan every investment with its lifecycle cost and operating performance in view.

I treat the physical and the digital layer as one system, with material flow, automation and equipment integrated with MES, WMS and ERP. I lead the same way: aligning engineering, IT, suppliers and operations early, and connecting executive decisions with shop-floor reality.

  • Education B.Sc. Industrial Engineering, Middle East Technical University
  • Languages English (full professional proficiency), Turkish (native), German (B1)
  • Location Berlin, working across Europe

Discuss a role or a project.

merve@yildizmerve.com

Inquiries about senior positions and project mandates are welcome.

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