SAQ & Xelyo: Shaping the Future of Quality: A 100-Year Celebraton - Agile Supply Chains (ENGLISH)
Looking back on 100 years of quality, Xelyo Belgium (40 years) and the Swiss Quality Association (60 years) will join ranks to focus on the future. Three meetings will be held with members of both networks discussing three trends that are likely to define the road ahead for Quality.
- AI and its opportunities to exponentially improve the quality of your business.
- The EU Green Deal and how it can reinforce the link between quality and sustainability.
- Agile Supply Chains and the reassurance of business continuity and resilience in an ever-changing world.
During this meeting we will discuss how we can work pro-actively and with agility in mind when it comes to outside influences. How do you keep your Supply Chains up and running in a qualitative way? What can you do to strengthen the resilience of your organisation? Experts from different industries will share their insights and good practices with you. You'll always be able to discuss your own challenges on the topic and question the speakers.
Speakers:
Jean-Charles Gander
Jean-Charles Gander is a Swiss expert in food safety, quality management, and regulatory affairs, with over 20 years of experience in both the retail and food production sectors. He has held senior leadership roles, including Director of Quality at Migros, Switzerland’s largest retailer, where he managed a team of over 300 professionals and oversaw a multimillion-franc budget.
As a Board Member of IFS (International Featured Standards), he plaid an active role in shaping the future of global food safety standards and harmonization efforts. His dual background in retail and industry, combined with his hands-on expertise in crisis management, strategic planning, and supply chain risk assessment, gives him a unique 360-degree perspective on the challenges and opportunities within the food sector.
Jean-Charles has led international projects across Europe, the US, and Asia, and is fluent in English, French, and German. He is known for his pragmatic leadership style, cross-functional collaboration skills, and commitment to driving meaningful, sustainable improvements in food safety systems.
Thibault Heck
Thibault Heck helps leaders and organizations navigate their journey from Resilience to Emergence — guided by Heart, Head, Habit, and Hightech. As Co-Founderand Managing Partner of Avance, he has led ovemultiple Lean, Agile, and digital transformations across 12 countries, supporting companies like Intershop, Südzucker, RT, Groupe E, Fenaco, and Cremo in turning volatility and distressed situations into competitive advantage.
Thibault blends Lean culture with sharp decision architecture, ensuring that speed and quality reinforce each other rather than collide. An active start-up investor, he stays close to the latest innovations shaping modern supply chains and operations - including AI-based early warning systems he helped implement for clients like Migros, enabling faster risk detection and response.
He believes that in complex supply chains, culture and human judgment are the real engines of agility — and that’s why organizations must evolve toward polydextrial thinking, combining multiple capabilities to adapt under pressure.
Pieter Soete
Pieter Soete is Global Quality Director at Rousselot, where he drives a culture of excellence and continuous improvement. With his roots as a Quality and Operational Manager, he brings a vast expertise to the international quality management of his organisation.
He is the driving force behind Rousselot’s Quality Mindset Program, launched in 2019, which embeds the belief that quality is everyone’s responsibility. Pieter unites teams worldwide, shares best practices, and motivates colleagues to deliver safer products, better processes, and stronger customer value.
Pieter views an agile supply chain as essential in a world of shifting consumer trends, regulatory barriers, sustainability pressures, and geopolitical uncertainty. He emphasizes flexibility, factory interchangeability, and the ability to adapt quickly to local disruptions. For Pieter, agility is not only about supply security, but also about ensuring global consistency in quality while enabling local responsiveness
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