Fix it. Build it. Grow it. Together.

My goal is to enable your company to be ridiculously great for its customers by empowering people and leveraging technology.

€50M+

P&L grown & owned

200+

People led

€100M+

CAPEX delivered end to end

€1M+

OPEX savings

Sectors

Industrial & manufacturing
Automation
Logistics & supply chain
Retail & FMCG
IT & technology

About

Not a spectator.

Pieter De Vos

I'm an industrial engineer who has spent 12+ years inside logistics and manufacturing operations, 10+ of them leading departments — first building automation, business analyst and technical teams from zero, then owning the P&L as Head of Operations and Business Unit Director, with projects delivered across Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal.

Strategy, connecting people and growing talent to enable a company to grow sustainably gives me energy. I translate a strategy into a roadmap and a plan that people understand and can actually execute across departments.

It runs in the family.

Long before I ran sites and P&Ls, my family was already running businesses — from farmers and fishers to construction, a car dealership and a manufacturing company that builds machines that lift heavy equipment every day in manufacturing businesses.

Whatever the trade, the rules were the same: take ownership, know your people, and deliver the result.

That is the mindset I bring to every company I work with: giving trust and owning the outcome.

Based

Bruges, Belgium

Languages

Dutch · English · French · German

Leadership

10+ years · 200+ FTE · 7+ direct reports

Certified

Lean · BRCGS · IFS · HACCP · ISO 9001

Education

MSc Industrial Sciences, with honours (KU Leuven)Management Acceleration Programme (Vlerick)Strategic Leadership & Digital Transformation (AMS)

In progress

AI from Strategy to Implementation (KU Leuven)APICS CPIM

+How I lead

Freedom within a clear framework.

Lead from the floorAsk first, understand, then decide. I combine a helicopter view with boots-on-the-ground thinking — seeing the big picture without losing touch with the shop floor.

Earn trustI start by analysing, talking and understanding. Then we find the pain points within the organisation and with customers, and solve them together — from quick wins to long-term wins. That process builds trust.

Build autonomous teamsClear goals and boundaries, then room to own them. Teams that take ownership outlast any manager.

Grow people from withinIn several companies I brought structure and developed successors in their own field.

Results, safely and through peopleResults-oriented, but not at any cost. Experienced in building a safety culture with the QESH team and site managers — fewer accidents and near misses, reported to the safety committee — and in keeping 10+ sites BRCGS and IFS certified. Safety, quality, cost and delivery move when people do.

+Leadership profile

What the assessments say.

These assessments were taken during my executive programmes at Vlerick Business School and Antwerp Management School. Different methods, years apart — and they tell a consistent story: a rational, hands-on decision-maker who leads by coaching and connecting.

Interaction Style Indicator · Vlerick

Coaching & leading

Coaching88

Leading73

Demanding66

Following55

Supporting51

Strongest in motivating, encouraging and helping people grow — backed by organising, deciding and following up.

Myers-Briggs (MBTI)

ESTJ

Extraverted thinking with sensing: organised, decisive and grounded in facts. Likes plans that are clear and things that get done.

Insights Discovery

Reforming Director

Direct and goal-driven, with a structured, analytical mind and an accommodating side that adapts to the people in the room.

NeuroTrainingLab™

Directive meets people-centred

A good balance between setting direction and connecting with people. Rated close to maximum on trust and high on authenticity: assertive and results-oriented, but not at any cost.

Experience

01 — Lead

General Management & P&L

Owning the P&L of a multi-site business — operations and commercial combined — as a member of the Executive Committee. Setting the strategy around what customers need, turning it into an executable plan and turning around underperforming sites.

P&L ownershipExCoTurnaroundRestructuringTrade unions

01 — Lead

General Management & P&L

Proven

€50M+ P&L, 200+ FTE, 10+ sites, 7 direct reports, reporting to CEO and COO
Two underperforming sites turned around to sustainable profitability
Restructuring and trade-union negotiations, incl. the port-labour system
Annual budget, forecast and monthly business reviews with finance

02 — Run

Operations & Continuous Improvement

Running production, co-packing and warehouse operations day to day — capacity, labour standards, productivity, quality and safety — and making them measurably better, for the customer and the bottom line.

OEELeanKPIsCo-packingMulti-site

02 — Run

Operations & Continuous Improvement

Proven

Implementing KPI frameworks
€1M+ recurring cost reductions through process improvement, IT and insourcing
OEE 71% → 80%; 83% at a second operation after restructuring the team
Experience running multi-site operations across 10+ sites
Co-packing & light assembly across 3 sites — repacking, kitting, labelling, displays

03 — Protect

Quality, Safety & Compliance

Keeping people safe and sites audit-ready — building a safety culture, embedding quality systems and keeping certifications and customer audits on track across every site.

Safety cultureBRCGSIFSHACCPISO 9001

03 — Protect

Quality, Safety & Compliance

Proven

Safety culture built with the QESH team and site managers — fewer accidents and near misses, reported to the safety committee
10+ sites kept BRCGS and IFS certified
HACCP and ISO 9001 quality systems embedded in daily operations
Customer and certification audits prepared and followed up across the sites

04 — Build

Automation, Engineering & CAPEX

Taking automation projects end to end — business case, contracting, engineering, go-live and stabilisation after go-live — and building the maintenance organisation that keeps them running.

CAPEX deliveryBusiness caseStabilisationMaintenanceRobotics

04 — Build

Automation, Engineering & CAPEX

Proven

Two automated high-bays, €98M+ CAPEX combined — both awarded at the T&L Awards
Industrial robot cell for delayering & repalletising (€1.5M+)
Maintenance & automation department built from zero (13 FTE), €500K recurring savings
After-project management: took over delivered installations that weren't running stably and brought them to reliable, steady-state operation
Refurbishment of an end-of-life AGV/RGV and IT system (€1.2M+)
Start-up and ramp-up of new automated sites to full operation

05 — Rethink

Innovation & Digital Transformation

Working closely with your CIO on portfolios and roadmaps, identifying where IT, automation or AI can change the game. Also able to run the portfolio from business analysis to delivery.

IT portfolioERP / WMSAgileAI

05 — Rethink

Innovation & Digital Transformation

Proven

Budget owner automation & IT, 2 departments, 19 FTE; IT strategy partner to the CIO
ERP, WMS, TMS, WES, EMS and business portals — specified, built and rolled out
Currently deepening AI — from strategy to implementation

06 — Flow

Supply Chain & S&OP

Optimising your supply chain network, reducing inventory and matching customer demand.

S&OPWarehousingTransportAPICS CPIM

06 — Flow

Supply Chain & S&OP

Proven

Analysing your current distribution network, centre of gravity and inventory to optimise your supply chain
Shifted transport to electric trucks, and road transport to rail and inland waterways
Experience with multinational retailers in BE, FR and UK — service level ≥ 99.5%
Monthly S&OPs driving performance across 10+ sites
Procurement and supplier negotiations — automation suppliers and transport

07 — Grow

Commercial & Key Accounts

Growing the business, not just running it — winning tenders, building long-term customer relationships and negotiating the contracts and deals behind it.

TendersKey accountsNegotiation

07 — Grow

Commercial & Key Accounts

Proven

Multi-million new annual revenue won on multi-year contracts
Head of key account management: monthly & quarterly business reviews
Large-scale investment business case co-created with the CEO

Showcases & testimonials

Video

Automated operations: AGVs & SRMs

Automated guided vehicles and storage-and-retrieval machines in operation.

Watch on YouTube ↗

Interview · Logistics.TV

Climate-neutral high-bay, Roeselare

Interview about the EUTRACO climate-neutral automated high-bay.

Watch on YouTube ↗

"At a critical stage, Pieter set up an in-house department so 2XL could manage, operate and maintain the installations ourselves, saving us more than €500,000 and significantly increasing the reliability of our systems. He also took over the management of our spare parts storage — procurement, stock checks and the day-to-day inventory control. On top of that, he helped us develop both software and automation projects to offer new services to our customers, allowing 2XL to excel even further."

Jean Van den Poel, Owner

2XL

"Pieter took our company further than we could have gone on our own. Thanks to him, we are ready for the next phase."

CEO & Owner

EUTRACO

"One of the most capable people we've worked with — a strong leader and a sharp problem-solver who's always trustworthy, straightforward and fair. He runs things with a firm hand, and his respectful, honest approach builds trust wherever he goes."

Owner

Hoisting Equipment

EUTRACO climate-neutral automated high-bay in Roeselare, aerial view with loading docks

Automated guided vehicle in motion inside the Roeselare high-bay

Roeselare, BE

Climate-neutral manufacturing high-bay

47,000 pallets. €53M+ CAPEX. Delivered end to end.

End-to-end lead on the company's first fully automated multi-tenant warehouse for manufacturers — contracting, negotiation, design and delivery.

2nd place · Building of the Year, T&L Awards 2026

ECS automated high-bay warehouse in Zeebrugge, aerial view from outside

Automated pallet storage and retrieval with satellite vehicles, inside the Zeebrugge high-bay

Zeebrugge, BE

Automated high-bay & rail shift

80,000 pallets. 13,000 loads a year moved to rail.

Design and project lead for a new automated high-bay in a port-labour area. Cut UK/Ireland road transport by 30% and shifted 13,000 loads a year from road to rail.

2nd place · Project of the Year, T&L Awards 2025

Qubiqa Layer Picker robot palletising bottled water and crates in a manufacturing facility

Zeebrugge, BE

Automated manufacturing robot

100 picks/hour · €1.5M+ CAPEX

Palletising and delayering robot line for multinational retail customers — contracting, engineering and go-live.

Automated storage racking aisle with RGV shuttles

Signing the first refurbished RGV at the official inauguration

Zeebrugge, BE

RGV system refurbishment

€1.2M+ CAPEX

End-of-life automated RGV system refurbished with no loss of continuity. Officially inaugurated by Princess Astrid.

BE, FR, UK, DE, NL, PT

Software delivery

€1M+ CAPEX

ERP · TMS · WMS · Business portals · EMS · WES · WCS · PLC — specified, built and rolled out.