Birgit Breitschuh

Birgit has developed real expertise in both innovation and supply chain management in a career that spans two decades working for major FMCG companies, Unilever, Kraft and Wrigley (Mars). Birgit believes personal engagement at all levels of an

organisation is key to success.

As an Oliver Wight Associate, Birgit draws on an extensive background in change management to deliver optimal performance for an array of organisations. She emphasises the importance of high quality internal communications, ensuring each employee understands the company’s long-term strategy and their individual role in achieving it. Birgit is engaged with a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, FMCG, and tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers of major manufacturers and service providers. Combining her industry experience with multilingual skills, Birgit is able to initiate change management across a variety of international markets and businesses.

Birgit joined Oliver Wight from Wrigley. Here she led a major regional deployment of Oliver Wight’s Integrated Business Planning throughout the organisation’s supply network and 35 markets across Europe, incorporating a regional corporate process. She provided process, structure, coaching and guidance to all business units.

Before this she led the company’s strategic sourcing and operations teams for its European third-party manufacturing business with 17 production sites. Here she worked closely with key strategic suppliers to create win-win solutions; introducing new process structures and organisational changes and achieving continuous improvement at all levels. In her previous role as programme leader in research & development, Birgit developed and improved manufacturing and demand and supply planning processes. She led major new product introductions and also managed the regional master planning for best long-term utilisation of manufacturing sites in India, Russia and Africa.

Having worked across a large number of markets worldwide, Birgit helps companies’ transition and integrate across different national and cultural barriers. Birgit studied at the Technical University of Berlin and holds a Ph.D in Food Engineering from the Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland. Birgit speaks German (native), English, Dutch and Greek.

Birgit has developed real expertise in both innovation and supply chain management in a career that spans two decades working for major FMCG companies, Unilever, Kraft and Wrigley (Mars). Birgit believes personal engagement at all levels of an organisation is key to success. As an Oliver Wight Associate, Birgit draws on an extensive background in change management to deliver optimal performance for an array of organisations. She emphasises the importance of high quality internal communications, ensuring each employee understands the company’s long-term strategy and their individual role in achieving it. Birgit is engaged with a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, FMCG, and tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers of major manufacturers and service providers. Combining her industry experience with multilingual skills, Birgit is able to initiate change management across a variety of international markets and businesses.