Ghent Metropolitan Area
Honest, people oriented, inspiring, highly demanding, striving for continuous improvement and not accepting a status quo are some of my characteristics. As a people manager, I set myself and my team challenging goals. Thanks to many years of experience in the (petro)chemical sector, I’m used to performing in a highly demanding environment. Demanding on safety, environmental and quality issues as well as cost and project management issues. Throughout my career, I worked on many projects. I brought both technical and organizational projects to a successful end.
As managing director, I’m responsible for both the Belgium entity (85 headcount) and the USA based laboratory (5 FTE) with full P&L responsibility. This includes not only all operational activities (biodegradation, composting, ecotoxicity, disintegration, waste inspection and consultancy) but also all supporting departments (finance, HR, SHE, QA, facility mgt, procurement) and all marketing & sales activities. I’m leading the restructuring and professionalizing of the whole entity, including a complete change in mindset from customer pleasing to business mindset, this alongside a changing market environment. An action plan has been set-up and is meanwhile in the implementation phase. A LSS program was started, helping to define further optimizations and changing the focus to cost awareness and efficient operations.
As VP global operations for the division Intermediates within Envalior, I was fully responsible for the Lillo site (Cyclohexanon, Hydramin, Oleum, Caprolactam, Ammoniumsulphate and PA6) and Glass fiber production (Kallo). This included the role of site manager / managing director, being responsible for operations, maintenance, engineering, SCM, HSEQ, HR, finance, ... Total FTE: 760; turnover > 1.000 mio€. Active member of several groups like essenscia, chamber of commerce, working groups Port of Antwerp, … Direct leadership over polymerisation unit in Kaohsiung (Taiwan and indirect leadership over the PA6 production facilities (toller principle) in Emmen (The Netherlands), Uerdingen (Germany) and Jiangyin (China). Total FTE : ca 300
in preparation of the start-up of Envalior, the Lillo site and Glass fiber production at the Kallo site where carved out from the LANXESS legal entity. I took over the role of managing director and was involved in the preparations of the start of Envalior.
Managing Director and country representative of Lanxess Belgium (leading both sites in Kallo and Lillo) and head of Operations Intermediates. As managing director and country representative for LANXESS Belgium, I was leading a team of ca 920 people, located on two sites (Lillo and Kallo). This included the development of the production sites into a cost efficient factory, setting up a vision for the site with according targets and KPI’s, building a team across the divisions and starting up new digital technologies (Industry 4.0) to improve the operations and processes. Moreover, I was also head of the operations of the Intermediates for the BU High Performance Materials (HPM) and therefor leading the operational team (ca 650 FTE) for the production of Caprolactam & Polyamide and Glass fiber. This included all operational activities, projects, logistics, HSEQ management, ... for the BU HPM. Besides the full responsibility on the operational business, I was representing the company in different organizations like essenscia (interest group chemical industry), Port of Antwerp and Voka (chamber of commerce). Member of works council & CPBW, leading the CLA negotiation.
As Operations Manager/Production Director, I was in charge of a team of about 125 workers (Production, Blending, Storage and Logistics). Besides the classic responsibilities as OM, I was also involved in the preparation and steering of the 4year-Turnaround combined with the execution of several projects (+50 Mio€). From the start, I set up an organizational change (Vision 2020) to solve the many operational and organizational problems. Furthermore, in my function, I was focused on the steering of the 3 Business Teams, the facilitation of the optimal production environment and the elaboration of the vision and strategy of the site within the Gunvor Group. Moreover, I was member of the works council and the SHE-committee and was also involved in the consultations with the Unions and in the CLA-negotiations.