Razvan Catalin Tabacaru

Returning to Germany out of private reasons (issue with our son’s health) I have picked up freelancing and interim-management opportunities in the SCM and operational / senior management areas. Optimization and turn-around projects, project launching and start-up support, as well as business consolidation and development are my focal fields of involvement so far. The portfolio includes for the time being verticals such as telecommunications, food and beverages, industrial, automotive, chemicals - inclusive of petrochemicals and oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, retail and services, enlargement to FMCG and healthcare to follow shortly (in the pipeline). The expertise is geographically covering the entire EMEA region.

Beginning of Mai 2014 I started my involvement with the worldwide operating food and hospitality service provider Bateel. Leading a team of over 300 direct reports in operations, logistics (warehousing - with emphasis on inventory management and accuracy, forwarding & transportation - import and export, customs clearance), procurement & planning, franchisees and facilities management, the responsibility range reached from operational effectiveness steering, quality driven audits and field visits, review of CAPEX and financial statements / productivity and goal achievement parameters, over establishment and implementation of divisional policies, procedures and objectives, developing brand values, up to reorganizing and streamlining strategies.
7, 200 SKUs (food and non-food) hosted in a total of 96, 000 m² of storage facilities, own (180 vehicles) and subcontracted transport assets, 110 Mio. USD procurement budget (food and non-food), as well as over 15, 000 m² managed building facilities (shops, restaurants, sales and production halls, offices) are the most eloquent data reflecting the size of the operation I was in charge for in UAE / GCC / worldwide.

Joining the Ghazanfar conglomerate I was assigned the overall operational and commercial responsibility for the purchasing, logistics and transport / forwarding activities of the Group in the MECA (Middle East & Central Asia) region, with present expansion to Africa and South East Asia. This includes optimization and re-modeling of existing activities, as well as further developments both on the logistics - storage / warehousing side (inventory management and storage accuracy) and the transport / forwarding / distribution side (own fleet and subcontractors), on national / domestic and regional / border crossing level, for governmental (DLA / DoD, MoD, NATO, ISAF) and commercial business:
 Oil & Gas - upstream, midstream (refinery) and
downstream,
 Retail - both hypermarket chains and small
outlets,
 Textiles, Footwear & Accessories,
 Food and Beverages,
 FMCG,
 Hospitality,
 Automotive,
 Aviation,
 Chemical and Lubricants,
 Construction,
 Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, 
 Telecommunications,
 Media,
 NGOs,
 Mining,
 Power Generation,
 Industrial.
Transport and forwarding were reaching from last mile delivery to project cargo (oversized, heavy lift, etc.), going over temperature controlled and special traffic (i.e. tipper) to tanker business, both in conventional and containerized haulage modes, using air, sea and land transport (road, rail), as well as multimodal. The logistics solutions offered for the areas of warehousing / storage were very comprehensive and covered the entire scale of the supply chain management - from advisory and consultancy services for client projects, up to turn key projects to include sourcing, investment in state of the art warehousing facilities, operational logistics management (storage under strict inventory management surveillance, customized VAS, picking and packing, customs services), movement of the goods over the entire logistics chain and support services - financial services (cash collection and debtor management), after sales services (technical support, returns management, reverse logistics), call center services, etc. Transparency and commodity or order / shipment surveillance were ensured by a permanent information flow over a most modern IT and communication environment, based on real time tracking & tracing platforms.

Moving to UAE / Dubai on a permanent base December 2009, my experience in the headquarter of the Supreme Group was defined by the global operational and commercial responsibility for the inbound logistics to extreme remote locations (theatres of operations), developing and operating customized supply chain and associated service solutions in demanding environments, thereby creating value for the customers This included the design and re-shaping of the intercontinental transport flows, implementation of new routing solutions (NDN), permanent analysis of the feasibility of alternative supply channels, ensuring of a non-disruptive logistics chain for our clients - all this together with the fronted team, based both in Dubai and locally. For this position I had to be upfront awarded the US Dept. of Defence (DoD) and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), respectively ISAF, KFOR and SFOR security clearance.
With the Supreme Group we delivered to our clients integrated logistics solutions - customized and scalable in some of the world’s most challenging locations, both owning and operating significant warehousing and transportation assets in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, but also implementing best practice in all activity fields (i.e. warehouse inventory management). The company was positioned with strong management, financial capacity, integration skills and a positive operational management drive. Combined with the infrastructure and integrated systems this allowed us the provision of tailored logistics solutions, which were responsive, reliable and cost effective.

We are supporting business development and providing management consultancy in the supply chain, logistics, forwarding and transportation / distribution industry in the Middle East, Central Asia (-STAN countries) and Central and Eastern Europe, being also involved into specific operations.

From November first 2005 I was assigned to the new created position of the Regional Manager South-East Europe at Rhenus Logistics in Germany - Dortmund / Holzwickede. The Company is part of the German Rethmann Group, one of the two European major players in the sector of recycling, water management and new energies. Rhenus belongs to the top 5 of the European logistics market.
The position was in line with my experience of the last years and was covering the overall responsibility - operational, commercial, financial, HR - for the existing own organizations in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and for Bulgaria, rest of the Balkan (states of former Yugoslavia, Albania), Greece, Turkey as zones to be developed.
One of the main points of emphasis during my engagement with Rhenus consisted out of supporting from regional perspective the Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) strategy and especially the “post - M&A” reorganisation and rehabilitation / turnaround of the companies under my responsibility, being added to the Group in the course of the CEE expansion.
The reporting link was directly into the Executive Board, whilst the Managing Directors of the country organisations were going into me.
Also here very intensive travelling activity for the signer.

The year 2004 brought a new challenge to my professional career; I have moved beginning of April to the British logistics Group Tibbett & Britten plc. (nowadays DHL Exel Supply Chain) as part of the European Board of Directors, in the position of the Regional Director for Central & Eastern Europe, being based in London and Vienna. The geographical area under my responsibility was including 6 own country organizations (Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania) and the cooperation with partly exclusive partners in other 15 countries (Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Serb Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania). The 6 Managing Directors of the own organizations were reporting to me, my superior was the Vice President EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), spokesman of the board. The business volume of the region, taken into consideration only the own organizations, laid at over 130 m. EUR, which was gained by the input of 2, 783 employees. The profile of this assignment was very similar to my previous engagement with P&O / Wincanton, whilst the focus on the region was here more intense at a multiplied scale of the involvement area, incumbing very intensive travelling from my side.
Since End of August 2004 Tibbett & Britten plc. became part of the Exel Group, the latest being taken over in April 2005 by DHL / German Post.

Starting November 1997 I became part of the British owned P&O Trans European Management GmbH (Continental Headquarters), first as Transportation, Forwarding and Transportation Manger Central and Eastern Europe, followed by the additional takeover of the responsibility for the Regional Logistics & Supply Chain Management and culminating with the position of the General Manager CEE between 2001 and 2004. This very exciting experience was consisting out of giving guidance, leadership and support to the P&O organizations in the mentioned region - 4 country organizations (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) with a total of more than 1, 300 employees, reaching a yearly turnover of 79 m. EUR and exploiting 175, 800 m² of most modern logistics facilities -, being also the major interface to the partners and subcontractors, with whom we were covering the activities in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). I represented the management connection link between UK based worldwide headquarter, German based Continental European headquarters and the CEE region.
The activity consisted not only out of operational support in the specific fields of supply chain management, logistics, forwarding and transportation / distribution but also in contract negotiations and conclusions, finance / controlling (local and corporate), implementation of state of the art IT solutions based on corporate strategy, marketing and sales, VIP key account management (blue chip multinationals), investments / corporate purchasing, quality management (divers certification processes - ISO 9001 / 9002, 14001, HACCP, SQAS - but also labour safety, health and environmental), staff couching and HR decisions, as well as a multitude of other issues, developing the organisations operational, organizational and commercial, assuring those being well embodied and positioned into the great corporate framework.
Full financial and staff responsibility, reporting to MD Europe. Very intensive travelling.

The third stage of my professional development started 1996 when I have joined the Finsterwalder International Forwarders in Germany - Kaufbeuren. Here I was offered the position of Eastern European Traffic Co-ordinator. My responsibilities, besides leading the operational teams in charge for the different countries of the region in the daily business, were key-accounting, the enlargement and deepening of the company service portfolio in Eastern Europe, increase of business volume, establishing of quality surveillance and management (ISO certification), purchasing of subcontractors services, as well as know-how and equipment transfer to the countries of the region
(extensive travelling).
Reporting to MD, who was the owner himself.

After finalizing studies in Worms 1994 I have started my employment with Meyer and Meyer International Forwarders in Germany - Osnabrück, where I have taken over the new created position of project leader / General Representative Romania & Moldavia inside the project management group.
Over one and a half years I have steered the project on site and acted there for the company setup, implementation of the Meyer & Meyer logistics, market penetration, establishment of new services - i.e. multimodal transport solutions, combined traffic road / rail, etc., - key-accounting and the development of the client base (business development), creation of a subcontractor network, supported by a three party leasing program (absolute new for the Romanian market at that time), as well as market analysis and competitors review.
During this time I was entrusted also with the workout of a feasibility study on the market presence of Meyer & Meyer in South - East Europe and the setup of a regional hanging garments and general cargo logistics centre in Romania, document presented to the shareholders. As a successful outcome I had to perform the analyse of several potential locations for the establishment of such logistics project, containing a complex warehouse ensemble and distribution centre.
This period contributed significantly to the consolidation of my experience in process oriented project management, target oriented planning, functional steering and cost control. Financial reporting to the German headquarter, the design of a specific marketing concept and of the respective strategy for its achieving, leadership and team motivation were elements I have dealt with as well for the structural setup of the - at that time youngest - Meyer and Meyer country organisation in its most important market - Romania.
Full staff and financial responsibility, reporting directly to the owner.

The link to the technical aspects is not given only by the membership in a family in fifth generation railroaders, but also by my first studies in Romania: mechanical engineering. After accomplishing the studies I have worked for one year as graduated engineer at the Romanian Railways in Bucharest.