Yashodhan Kunte

Responsibilities:

• Vertical lead with team of 80 direct and indirect reporting engineers, responsible for overall vehicle development, vehicle layout, component & system packaging, digital mock-up (DMU), weight management, research topics for European and Chinese market.
• Develop, nurture and sustain business relationships with partners in Germany, China & USA, suppliers, cross-functional teams, peers, superiors & teams.
• Support organizational initiatives of product connect and leadership development.

Initial actions:

• Connected with direct reporting senior managers and employees to understand their challenges and explore possible actions.
• Connected with business partners in Germany and China to initiate the business dialogue.
• Reviewed performance results to target and take corrective measures to achieve company and employee development targets.
• Reflected on organization wide product connect drive to define next steps.

Responsibilities:

• Vertical lead with team of 60 direct and indirect reporting engineers, responsible for developing seats for global markets, vehicle solutions for Indian market and global PDM.
• Co-create and execute strategic direction for the department.
• Develop, nurture and sustain business relationships with partners in Germany, China & USA, suppliers, cross-functional teams, peers, superiors & teams.
• Deliver global projects from architecture phase to concept, series development, industrialization including the life cycle management.
• Support organizational topics ofTechnical Advisory Council, leadership development and various people relevant topics.

Key achievements:

• Shaping “End-to-end development of seats” in India along with local supplier partners & internal competence teams. 10 such projects delivered & 5 projects are on the way.
• Saved more than 10 Mil. EUR by insourcing & digitalization initiatives.
• Successful deployment of 2 ‘Online Learning Platforms' for Mercedes-Benz R&D India.
• Conceptualized the org-wide initiative of 'product connect'.
• Lead the inter-company task-force to resolve key product issues in Indian market and could solve TOP customer relevant issues.

Responsibilities:

• Rebuilding of team and re-adjustment of strategic framework
• Fostered teamwork and strove to maintain environment of collaboration, openness, trust and performance.

Key achievements:

• Developed very competent, coherent team with clear global workshare. Team size increase from 7 to 15.
• Successfully executed first local development of VAN center console and glove box development together with supplier.
• Co-created and delivered ‘Indian intercultural training program' together with HR team for close to 200 German business partners.

Responsibilities:

• Project & business partner coordination for interior and exterior development projects in between MB India and Germany.

Key achievements:

• Established solid business partner network via transparent communication and effective coordination.
• Based on trends in Chinese automotive market, created concept for future luxury seat for passenger VAN.

Responsibilities:

• Development of concepts, CAD, prototypes for VAN seats.
• Adhere to project timelines, delivery milestones, quality management process, cost targets, etc.
• Establish business partner relationship in Germany and India.

Key achievements:

• Key contribution in the foundational phase of Pune office.
• Established working model for international development projects.
• Conceptualized and executed prototyping of seat and center console for ‘Opera Show-Van' out of India.

Key achievements:

• Conceptualized innovative low cost seating concepts for famous Tata Nano.