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Dr. Christoph Schmitz

Senior PartnerFrankfurt

Leads global capital excellence work by helping clients optimize portfolios, design projects, and improve execution. He supports holistic business transformations across automotive, chemicals, agriculture, and industrial companies

Christoph leads McKinsey’s global capital excellence work as well as its Transformation Practice in Germany. In addition to helping clients optimize their capital-expenditure portfolio, project design, and execution, he supports automotive, chemicals, and industrial companies transform their businesses end to end by designing better operating, governance, and steering models, developing winning strategies, bolstering their operations, and efficiently managing mergers and acquisitions.

He has led our global manufacturing and supply chain work for seven years and is a core member of the global chemicals and agriculture leadership team. He serves as managing partner of McKinsey’s Frankfurt office.

Examples of Christoph’s recent project experience include the following:

  • redesigning capital and project organizations as well as their governance
  • conducting end-to-end capital expenditure portfolio and project optimization
  • enhancing project execution by improving planning effectiveness and productivity
  • leading integral business transformations: financial and operational restructuring, performance improvement, growth, and sustainability boost
  • designing and deploying global production systems across all types of technologies from network strategy via site diagnostics to shop-floor transformation and implementation
  • pursuing productivity-improvement opportunities supported by digital and advanced analytics as well as designing transformation journeys via advanced analytics, digital, and robotics
  • redesigning and implementing new cultural change, people systems, operating, and organizational models
  • supporting clients on acquisition and integration management from target screening to postmerger integration and synergy capture

Published work

Seize the decade: Maximizing value through pre-construction excellence,” McKinsey & Company, September 2023

Accelerating capital projects to secure advantages in the net-zero transition,” McKinsey & Company, November 2022

Doing good demands doing better: Delivering net-zero capital projects,” McKinsey & Company, October 2022

How to manage the coming wave of investment in capital projects,” McKinsey & Company, June 2022

Capital investment is about to surge: Are your operations ready?,” McKinsey & Company, April 2022

Here comes the 21st century’s first big investment wave. Is your capital strategy ready?,” McKinsey & Company, March 2022

Capturing value at scale in discrete manufacturing with Industry 4.0,” McKinsey & Company, September 2019

Brexit: The bigger picture—Rethinking supply chains in a time of uncertainty,” McKinsey & Company, May 2019

The great remake: Manufacturing for modern times,” McKinsey & Company, August 2017

What to do when a specialty-chemical business gets commoditized,” McKinsey & Company, May 2017

The dirty little secret about digitally transforming operations,” Harvard Business Review, May 2016

“Squaring the circle: Growth and value creation,” McKinsey on Chemicals, Spring 2012

“A capital-markets perspective on chemical-industry performance,” McKinsey on Chemicals, Winter 2011

“Conjuring jobs from hydrocarbons wealth,” McKinsey on Chemicals, Autumn 2009

Education

University of Bayreuth
PhD, chemistry