Business team collaborating around a table

Fix it. Build it. Grow it. Together.

My goal is to enable your company to be ridiculously great 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
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, 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
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.

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 — 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
03 — 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+)
04 — 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
04 — 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
05 — Flow

Supply Chain & S&OP

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

S&OPWarehousingTransportAPICS CPIM
05 — 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
06 — Grow

Commercial & Key Accounts

Growing the business, not just running it — winning tenders, leading key account management and negotiating the contracts and deals behind it.

TendersKey accountsNegotiation
06 — 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 RGV shuttle vehicle Automated storage racking aisle with RGV shuttles
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.

ERPTMSWMSPORTALSEMSWESWCSPLCSoftware
BE, FR, UK, DE, NL, PT

Software delivery

€1M+ CAPEX

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

Demo tools

Built for the floor.

A working tool I built for the floor — open it right here, no install. All figures are fictional example data.

🚚

Dock Booking Tool

A live inbound/outbound dock schedule — book a slot, avoid clashes, and manage the day from one calendar.

Open tool

Not a spectator.

Pieter De Vos
Pieter De Vos

I'm an industrial engineer who has spent 12 years inside logistics and manufacturing operations, 9 of them leading — first building automation 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, connection, helping people and companies grow give 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. Farmers and fishers who lived with weather, seasons and risk. Builders who put up what others only drew. A family garage that kept cars on the road, and a manufacturing company that builds machines that lift heavy equipment every day in manufacturing businesses.

Different trades, same thread: you carry the risk, you know your people by name, and you answer for the result. That is the mindset I bring to every company I work with.

Farmers
Fishers
Construction
Car garage
Manufacturing

Giving trust to a company and owning the outcome.

Based
Bruges, Belgium
Languages
Dutch · English · French · German
Leadership
9 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.
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 streak — and an accommodating side that adapts to the people in the room.

NeuroTrainingLab™
Directive meets empathetic

A good balance between directive and empathetic leadership. Rated close to maximum on trust and high on authenticity: assertive and results-oriented, but not at any cost.