Safa Kutup Kurt

Dr. Safa Kutup Kurt is Executive Director and Head of Operations, Digital Solutions at Merck since November 2021. His organization is a key enabler to design and optimize products by using data analytics methodology in R&D, Quality, and supply chain while ensuring data protection in sensitive environments.

Kutup comes with experience in both, Chemical Engineering and Data Analytics. He has played an important part in developing and implementing the digitalization strategy toward Industry 4.0 at Merck. After gaining a bachelor´s degree in Chemical Engineering and Business Administration in Turkey, he studied a specialized master’s degree program for Industry 4.0 technologies in Germany, i.e., Process Systems Engineering at the TU Dortmund University in 2010. He also gained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the same university and developed smart manufacturing technologies for the continuous manufacturing of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

From August 2017 till May 2020, he worked as an expert engineer and a certified Lean & SixSigma Black Belt in data-driven projects in the process development department of Merck. Afterward, he established and led an impactful, global, and agile data science team in the same organization. He and his team led several data-driven process optimization projects world-wide for Electronics and Life Science business sectors. He has co-authored over 20 technical papers and patents, primarily focused on smart and continuous manufacturing technology, equipment design, and process intensification.