Meet eschbach Advisory Boards

North American Shiftconnector Advisory Board

The North American Advisory Board plays a crucial role in shaping Shiftconnector's development by providing strategic insights and industry expertise. It helps ensure that the platform evolves to meet the changing needs of manufacturers, incorporating best practices and technological advancements to enhance efficiency and safety.

Lucas Arrais

Global Digital Manufacturing Sr. Lead at Bayer

As the Global Digital Manufacturing Leader, Lucas Arrais is responsible for leading and implementing the digital transformation strategy for Bayer Crop Science. He is responsible for developing its smart manufacturing core capabilities and enabling process optimization aligned with IT/OT solutions with Industry 4.0 technologies. With more than 15 years of experience in digital manufacturing, Lucas has a passion for developing teams to apply innovative technologies and solutions to enable the right business value.
Nick Ergang

Director of Engineering at Ecolab

Nick Ergang is the Director of Engineering at Ecolab, based in Naperville, Illinois. Since November 2023, he has been leading the global deployment of OT technology platforms across Ecolab's plant network and is responsible for building governance processes, solution playbooks, and driving digital continuous improvement projects. He collaborates closely with IT leadership to maintain data security and integrity for all OT/IT integrations. His expertise and leadership are instrumental in advancing Ecolab's digital and sustainability initiatives.
Ken Froedge

Sr. Director Digital Technology and Innovation at Kaneka North America

Ken Froedge is the Sr. Director of Digital Technologies & Innovation at Kaneka Americas Holdings (KAH), a position he has held for five years. In this role, Ken is responsible for bringing digital solutions to all business areas within KAH which includes production, maintenance, supply chain, purchasing, accounting, and sales & marketing.
David Kaltwasser

Engineering Manager at ICL Specialty Products

David Kaltwasser is the engineering manager at ICL, a company based in Israel that plays a crucial role in the global food supply chain. He oversees operations at ICL's plant in the Carondelet neighborhood of St. Louis, which produces approximately 100 million pounds of phosphate salts annually. With more than 30 years of experience in engineering, acid-based chemistry and quality control, David's expertise is vital to the plant's continuous and batch production processes.
Bruce Raiff

Learning and Performance Leader at Olin

Bruce Raiff is the learning and performance leader for Olin. As part of Dow and now Olin, Bruce has more than 40 years leading teams of learning processionals that have enhanced the performance of more than 5,000 employees. Bruce excels in partnering with stakeholders to establish and implement strategic visions, ensuring effective communication across all organizational levels. He enjoys designing and delivering engaging learning experiences that lead to improved human performance. His mantra, "LEARN, APPLY, IMPROVE," drives his commitment to utilizing learning as a tool to boost safety, reliability, and productivity.

Scientific and Strategic Advisory Board

Our strategic and scientific advisory board is essential in guiding us towards innovation and excellence to support the chemical and pharmaceutical industries at our best. The members offer insights throughout their specific area of expertise whether in management support, driving innovations or delivering solutions that support our customers needs.

Thomas Bruggner, DBA

Strategic Advisor

Thomas Bruggner is a seasoned executive with a proven track record of leading and growing SaaS companies. He has more than 25 years of experience in management positions, both at start-up companies and at global corporations such as SAP and Oracle. Thomas Bruggner has a truly international background as he held various management positions in organizations in Asia, Europe/EMEA and the U.S. He holds a master’s degree in Economics, an MBA (U.S.) in International Marketing and a DBA in Cloud Computing.
Bela Gipp, Ph.D.

Scientific Advisor

Bela Gipp is full professor of Scientific Information Analytics at the University of Göttingen in Germany. Previously, he held professorships at the University of Konstanz, and the BUW. He completed his postdoctoral research at the University of California Berkeley, and at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Tokyo. The research focus of his lab lies at the intersection of Information Science and Data Science, with a primary focus on Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing.
Thomas Halfmann

Industry Advisor - Pharmaceutical

With a distinguished career exceeding 25 years, Thomas Halfmann stands as a renowned international expert in the digitalization of life sciences production. His academic foundation as an Engineer in Communications Technology from the Technical University in Cologne set the stage for his ascent from a software engineer to holding global leadership roles at major industry companies like NNIT and Novartis. In 2008, Thomas established HGP, an international life science management consulting firm, operating across Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Singapore, and Indonesia. The company was acquired by NNIT in 2019. His unwavering commitment to innovation has made him a pivotal figure in the field, regularly contributing as an author and speaker at various international conferences. Thomas Halfmann’s vision and expertise continue to shape the future of life sciences production.