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Mike joined SAP-America in 1996 after spending many years at Boeing Defense and Space Group’s Helicopter Division.
Although his background was in production planning, tooling and material control for the MRO (Maintenance Repair and Overhaul) of the U.S. Army’s aging Chinook helicopter fleet, he was slated to become a R/3 sales and distribution (SD) consultant because, as his new manager put it: “we
don’t have enough SD in this new-hire class”.
Seizing on SAP’s new Variant Configuration Functionality as a way to get back to the shop floor, Mike spent the next 9 years
supporting SAP-America’s VC projects around the globe.
He spent over 4.5 years at Apple Computers, doing worldwide rollouts and subsequent upgrades. As a specialist in the High Tech / Discrete Manufacturing arena, Mike was one of the few consultants working regularly with the New Assembly Order Processing functionality for configurable products.
During project lulls, at least twice a year, Mike would take the opportunity to work side-by-side with SAP Development.
He tested new R/3 releases prior to ramp-up and provided real world project experience as input for future functionality. He considered it an opportunity to shape the product and get hands-on experience that just wasn’t available outside of Walldorf Germany. Mike was the first SAP-America field consultant to work with the PME (standalone Product Modeling Environment) and Advance mode for complex solution configurations.
As a diversion, and for the challenge of working with 20 customers at a time, Mike often taught the Variant
Configuration and Classification courses for SAP-America.
In addition, he developed and delivered a custom 3-day Variant Configuration class for SAP’s CRM new-hire boot camp. He could also be found manning the VC booth at ASUG’s “Meet the expert” area.
Before leaving SAP-America in the second half of 2005, Mike did a stint as the CRM Program Manager for SAP’s 9000 person
global Consulting and Education practice. It took Mike a year of budgeting spreadsheets to realize he really belongs on the shop floor, with the KMATs.
Mike can be reached by clicking >HERE<
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