Thierry ROBERT

Customer Loyalty & Operational Excellence | Leading Global Transformation Initiatives

Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France

About

As a Manager and Expert in Customer Satisfaction and Operational Excellence, I support organizations in their pursuit of customer focus and industrial excellence. With over 25 years of experience in industry, after initially training as an engineer and then completing a postgraduate degree in strategy and management at ECSP-EAP, I now work as a performance, customer focus, and change manager for demanding international groups. My career, notably within the Hewlett Packard Group, International Paper, SCA/DS Smith, and Bobst, has allowed me to lead change management, industrial transformation, and marketing projects for cross-functional organizations and in multicultural environments. What I bring: a strategic field vision, an ability to structure and implement sustainable continuous improvement initiatives, and results-oriented collaborative leadership. My expertise adapts to the challenges: • Managing high-value cross-functional projects (from strategic vision to tactical deployment) • Strengthening the culture of operational excellence and Lean within teams • Supporting human and organizational change My assessments reveal a reliable, cooperative, persuasive, methodical profile, highly motivated by collective success, calm under pressure, curious, and pragmatic. My non-dominant, yet cooperative management style facilitates the integration of millennials, Generation X, and Generation Z into projects.

Experience

  • BOBST (Permanent · 14 yrs 2 mos)
    • Head of Operational Excellence
      Jan 2025 - Present · 1 yr 6 mos

      In 2024, after carefully listening to feedback from the field and the needs expressed by clients, I proposed integrating operational excellence consulting directly into our business unit's development strategy. This intuition resulted in several successful pilots... and since January 1st, the official launch of a dedicated activity, structured around a 2025 Business Case, for which I am both the designer and operational manager. My mission: to transform industrial complexity into visible and sustainable performance levers. Specifically, I work with industrial sites (international, demanding, often under pressure) using a four-step method: 1. Current state (diagnosis and mapping), 2. Future state (vision and prioritization), 3. Tactical plan, 4. Structured deployment in the field. I act according to three essential levers: • operational systems (flows, processes, indicators), • management infrastructure (routines, steering, alignment), • culture and behaviors (managerial stance, accountability, shared excellence). Moving from technical expertise to strategic impact is the path I've chosen.

    • Head of Customer Loyalty, BU Services
      Sep 2015 - Present · 10 yrs 10 mos

      Member of the BU service Management team, define and animate the Customer Loyat program. From 800 000 transactions per year I collect regular feedback, detect business opportunities, launch PDCA projects across factories and Services centers. Integration of a continuous improvement culture in the DNA of a Family of ~5000 employees.

    • Member of Bobst Group Sustainability committee
      Sep 2021 - Dec 2024 · 3 yrs 4 mos

      I actively support the Group’s sustainability strategy through high-impact initiatives and by connecting our organization to leading international ecosystems such as 4evergreen.org. From initial outreach to my election to the “Machines & Technologies” committee, I’ve built trusted relationships with suppliers, competitors, customers, brand owners, and end-users across diverse cultural and industrial contexts. My core mission internally is to deliver actionable market insights to R&D and product line teams, helping shape their 3-year strategic roadmaps. These inputs ensure alignment between technology development, customer expectations, and long-term environmental goals. Working at the intersection of customer experience, innovation, and operational strategy, I bring a cross-functional perspective that enhances both business value and impact. This mindset also fuels my consulting practice launched in 2025, where I help industrial companies improve performance, boost client satisfaction, and drive sustainable transformation.

  • SCA Packaging (Diegem-Brussels, Belgium)
    • CLC, Central Lean Champion
      Jan 2009 - May 2012 · 3 yrs 5 mos

      European Lean Deployement for different paper, folding & corrugated plants, based on 3 main axis : - Operating systems, - Management Infrastructure, - Mindsets & Behaviors. Successful transformations in France (Fegersheim, Nantes, Rochechouart), Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania & Sweden. Folding, corrugated and plastic technologies Audits and diagnose for recommandations in several other countries and organisations (production, HR, strategy ).

    • Strategic Business Development Mger Europe
      Sep 2008 - Jan 2009 · 5 mos

      Merge & Acquisitions - Define & deploy strategic projects, attached to the Vice President of SCA Packaging Europe (>150 packaging plants) - Confidential

  • Marketing Manager Europe at Emin Leydier
    Mar 2005 - Aug 2008 · 3 yrs 6 mos

    In charge of the Marketing strategy & deployment, from new market needs to communication campaigns. Focus on Voice of Customers, Profitability Management & market differentiators. Attached to a Board Member & Sales Director for the Paper Division.

  • Marketing & Innovation Manager at International Paper
    Mar 1999 - Mar 2005 · 6 yrs 1 mo

    Reporting to the Head of Sales & Marketing France, I developped the products innovation for France (see patents section) with a clear coordination : 5 R&D departments, regional, national & international sales team. Clear focus on profitability for national or international customers, innovative solutions with intensive market surveys & identification of new customers needs (audits of production sites in food, lavatorycare, cosmetic, beverages & other industries).

  • Strategic Buyer at Hewlett-Packard - Personal Computer Division - WW HQ
    Aug 1992 - Mar 1999 · 6 yrs 8 mos

    Attached to Purchasing of the Personal Computeur division, reponsible to buy a catalogue of spares parts (750 références) for Corporate PC, mobiles computers, serveurs & develop a supplier network for 3 continents: suppliers qualification but also homologations for innovations (example: ESD standards, Electrostratic Discharge) linked to civil or military applications : High standards of safety & quality. Application of HP Group purchasing processes, HP methods TQRDCE-B (Technology, Quality, Responsivness, Delivery, Cost, Environment & Business), with high ethics values