A business is ready for its next chapter
The next phase needs a leader who owns the result and develops the team for lasting success.
CEO / Managing Director · Profitable Growth · Europe ↔ Asia
I turn industrial capability into a business that grows.
I build industrial businesses by connecting technology, customers and people. My experience reaches from materials testing to CEO and CFO responsibility across Europe and Asia. I approach new challenges with confidence and curiosity, bring different strengths together around a shared mission and carry decisions through. I am seeking a permanent leadership role to develop a business and its people for the long term.
- 25+
- years of executive impact
- €8.7m
- new business secured in 2020
- 2008
- continuous China engagement since 2008
Max Brandt
Global Industrial Executive · Author
Leadership focus
CEO / MD · Regional GM · CCO
Turnaround · growth · international expansion
CEO / Managing DirectorTurnaround & Profitable GrowthInternational ExpansionEurope ↔ AsiaCommercial ResetAI from Pilot to Operations
Where I add value
Build the next phase of the business.
I take long-term responsibility for the business: winning customers, strengthening margins, developing people and building an organisation that can grow.
A transformation has stalled
Decisions slip, workstreams drift and no one owns the whole result.
A business unit is underperforming
Revenue, margin, cash or customer confidence must be stabilised and rebuilt.
International expansion needs an owner
A market entry needs customers, partners, operations and governance — not just a strategy deck.
Europe and Asia are talking past each other
Local speed, regulation, customer expectations and headquarters logic need practical translation.
An AI pilot has to become real work
The use case is promising, but process, decision rights, data and accountability are still unclear.
How I work
Direction → Mobilise → Lead → Develop
- 01Responsibilityresult · authority · priorities
- 02Mobilisefacts · people · decision rhythm
- 03Leadchoices · milestones · accountability
- 04Developpeople · capability · lasting growth
AI in management
AI only matters when the work changes.
I connect AI and technology roadmaps with customer value, market priorities and the way an organisation works. Clear decision rights and human accountability turn promising technology into better decisions and reliable execution.
From pilot to practice
Better work
Process · decision · accountability
Machine intelligence
×
Human responsibility
Sense
Use AI-supported research and structured inputs to see relevant signals sooner — with sources and assumptions visible.
Decide
Turn scenarios into explicit choices. Define who decides, what evidence matters and where human judgement is non-negotiable.
Act
Build the use case into roles, workflows and review routines so that the organisation learns from real execution.
Work already done
Developed AI-supported management routines around earlier signals, shorter decision loops and explicit accountability.
Led C-level work that translated AI and technology roadmaps into market-entry, growth and operating-model choices.
Built cross-border advisory capability linking AI-enabled engineering and AD/ADAS data with regulation, market access and customer value.
The leadership task
“I do not measure AI progress by the number of pilots. I look for better decisions, changed workflows and accountable execution.”Concrete work, not AI theatre
Executive track record
What changed because I led it.
Selected, rounded figures from industrial leadership roles. Company names remain confidential here; the scale and outcomes do not.
€8.7mnew business secured in 2020
€3.6mqualified order volume built in 24 months
400k+ tmaterial sales and +4pp profitability
€180m+portfolio across 50+ global programmes
~€260mChina transaction and post-merger integration
€650msales volume stabilisation responsibility
From restructuring to profitable growth
- Challenge
- A restructured metal-processing business needed credible growth, stronger governance and new market relevance.
- Responsibility
- Managing Director / CEO & CFO with responsibility for strategy, cash, people, customers and execution.
- What I changed
- Repositioned the company as a technology-led supplier, opened new regions and sectors, tightened governance and advanced patented high-speed machining.
Volume and margin moved together
- Challenge
- A global materials business needed stronger commercial discipline without sacrificing innovation or customer reach.
- Responsibility
- Global responsibility for sales, marketing and R&D, including pricing, portfolio and two M&A projects.
- What I changed
- Introduced active pricing and portfolio steering, strengthened commercial routines and linked new alloys and coatings to market demand.
Cross-border integration became new business
- Challenge
- A major China transaction had to become a functioning joint operation across different management, customer and industrial systems.
- Responsibility
- On-site integration, technical business development, sales and strategy in Wuhan for 2.5 years.
- What I changed
- Connected European and Chinese stakeholders, translated customer requirements into industrial delivery and co-developed new material and manufacturing solutions.
Europe ↔ Asia
I did not learn China from presentations.
Continuous executive engagement with China since 2008, including 2.5 years of operational responsibility in Wuhan, shapes how I lead across regions. I connect local knowledge with international expectations and give different perspectives a voice in decisions about customers, technology and delivery.
-
01
Operate on site 2.5 years · Wuhan · integration
-
02
Build trust repeatedly Continuous engagement since 2008
-
03
Turn insight into business ~€240m portfolio & new-product business
Where the experience came from
Built in real operating roles.
The work started with materials testing and production. It grew through customer projects, China integration, global sales, turnarounds and CEO responsibility.
Materials & automotive manufacturing
Shopfloor, materials, production planning
Sino-European automotive joint venture
Wuhan integration and China operations
Automation · metals · automotive supply
Global projects, sales, pricing and growth
Advanced manufacturing · new mobility
CEO leadership, mobility and special situations
Engineering & transformation consulting
Strategy, engineering and technology commercialization
People behind performance
“I seek different strengths and welcome constructive challenge. A shared mission turns that tension into better decisions — and into something new.”
Leadership for what comes next
Different strengths. A shared mission.
I take on unfamiliar challenges with courage, curiosity and optimism about what we can build. I bring together people with different capabilities, experiences and perspectives, and encourage them to challenge me and one another. A shared mission gives that constructive tension a purpose: new ideas, better decisions and the confidence to act. I make clear commitments and follow through.
Art, design, craftsmanship and music keep me curious: recognising patterns, combining distinct elements and discovering what emerges between them.
Author & thought leader
China Speed — Schnelle neue Welt.
“China Speed is neither praise nor accusation. It is an attempt to understand a phenomenon that challenges our familiar speed of thinking.”
A practical and analytical perspective on infrastructure, digitalization, mobility, industrial scaling and the question of how Europe can respond with greater clarity, responsibility and speed.
Featured in leading business media and executive watch lists.
In conversation
Ideas become useful when they survive dialogue.
Two conversations about the future of industry: what Europe can learn from China, how leadership creates momentum, and what turns ideas into execution.
ATREUS · FUTURE AT ITS BEST · #22
Video short · 1:09 min · German subtitles
China Speed: What Europe needs to learn now
With Petra Becker · 50:10 min · German
How can Europe move faster while building on its own strengths? A conversation about experimentation, clear priorities and the leadership culture that makes change possible.
Open video short ↗Audio is loaded from Podigee only after activation.
INDUSTRY · MOBILITY · TRANSFORMATION
From technological potential to execution
With Sebastian Henßler · 1:15 min excerpt · German
Industrial transformation, mobility and the gap between what technology makes possible and what companies put into practice.
Open video excerpt ↗The next thesis
Die Langsamkeitsfalle — Blockierte Zukunftskraft.
“Europe does not have a knowledge problem. Europe has an execution problem.”
The manuscript connects productivity, capital, industrial scaling, mobility, regulation, leadership, talent and energy. Its conclusion is democratic speed: clear priorities, shorter learning loops and accountable execution — without authoritarian imitation.
Knowledge
→
Capability
→
Impact
New manuscript
Operating experience
I connect industrial depth with commercial responsibility.
My experience spans manufacturing, materials, automotive systems, automation, mobility, engineering services and international commercial leadership.
My advisory experience also includes work with executive and business-unit leaders in aerospace and logistics.
Automotive & Mobility
Robotics & Automation
Industrial Technology
Global / Asia-Pacific
Metals & Materials
Engineering Services
Technology Commercialization
Advanced Manufacturing
Supply Chain & Logistics
Growth & Transformation
AI-shaped Management
PE Portfolio Leadership
Start a conversation
Let us discuss the business you want to build.
hello@maxbrandt.net
Available from 1 October 2026 for permanent CEO, Managing Director, regional general management and commercial leadership roles. I seek full responsibility for the business and its people. Internationally mobile across Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America; relocation or a practical multi-hub arrangement is possible.