Rob knows no boundaries or limitations
Rob, Continuous Improvement Project Manager
This 20-year company veteran is a leader in innovation and inspiration for his fellow DB SCHENKER employees.
As a 2019 DB SCHENKER Innovation Champion who helped develop the company’s virtual reality (VR) forklift training, Rob doesn’t let anything hold him back. In fact, when he hits a limit, he prefers to push it away rather than letting it stop him.
"Goals are like magnets. They will attract the things that make them come true. But it’s not the goal or the reward that counts, it’s what it takes to get there."
“Our team question the way things are, and look for better, more efficient, and innovative solutions beyond our immediate context, says Rob. "By connecting and by pushing limits we can be frontrunners!” This extremely positive approach to work and life has propelled Rob across his 20-year history with DB SCHENKER. And to think it all started with a trip around the world and a visit to an employment agency.
“My choices were either handling cauliflower inside of a huge freezer, or taking an administrative position with DB SCHENKER,” says Rob. He picked door #2 and has been working for the global logistics provider ever since. He learned to make decisions and says that “as long as you are open to change and giving all you can, the doors will open.”
Facing the Unknown
Rob has been taking on new challenges and opportunities with his employer. For example, while working on a 3-person team in Denmark, Rob proved his ability to help avert crisis in the presence of a senior executive. “I offered him a solution and worked over the weekend to ensure that it was completed by Monday morning,” he recalls.
A few weeks later, that executive offered Rob a position on DB SCHENKER's Global Engineering Team. In that role, he worked in the U.S., Spain, Poland, France, and other countries. In 2018, Rob moved into his current role as Continuous Improvement Project Manager for DB SCHENKER's Operational Excellence Team, Benelux. In that role, he supports the company’s Benelux contract logistics sites with training, coaching, support, and continuous improvement projects.
A proud family man who recently finished and published his first novel, which he worked on in the early morning hours before work, Rob says his recent value ambassador award was not a prize given by a jury of a few, but by a jury of the many. “It says something about your inner self and not just your outer self,” Rob explains. “It says your inner is good, and that your inner represents DB SCHENKER's inner core values and strengths.”
Always Helping Others
In his current role, Rob and his Benelux colleagues enjoy helping one another achieve their goals. He also likes impacting changes that lead to positive effects for the company as a whole. That’s probably why he’s so great in his role as a continuous improvement manager.
“I focus a lot on process improvements,” he points out, “but touching someone’s mind, diving into emotions, improving skills, and cultural change — you name it — there’s a lot to ‘win’ in these fields in my current job.
One SCHENKER and One Goal
With integrity and honesty as his two guiding principles, Rob says DB SCHENKER’s overarching mission of connecting worlds, countries, departments, employees, and customers aligns well with his own personal values. “Helping others by connecting gives me the ultimate joy,” says Rob, who from time to time has also helped colleagues address their own personal issues outside of work. “Work does not end for me at 5PM or as I leave our facility’s gates at the end of the day,” says Rob. “Connection goes further and deeper. We live by the ‘One Team, One Goal’ motto, and the ‘why’ of DB SCHENKER blends well with my personal why.”