CROSS-BORDER INDUSTRIAL PARTNERSHIPS
Complex industrial projects, across borders. Delivered.
I bring contractors and subcontractors together to deliver complex technical industrial projects, across Europe and beyond.
30+ years · 15 countries · six languages · €500K to €5M projects · on site with Lesico Process Piping and Incasometal right now
I'm a strategic consultant, and every project I work on has two sides. A contractor in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany or France who needs capability they can't find at home. And a subcontractor in Portugal, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Hungary or Romania who has that capability, and wants the work.
I build the partnership between them, so the project gets delivered, and I've done it for three decades. I speak six languages, and I know how both the contractor and the subcontractor think. I've visited the workshops, I know the people, and when something goes wrong on site, I'm the one who gets on a plane.
Sectors I work in: process piping, machining, mechanical fabrication, E&I, industrial equipment, semiconductor, nuclear, oil and gas, new energy, food and pharma.
FOR CONTRACTORS AND OPERATING COMPANIES
You need people you can trust on site, not a name on a list.
Sound familiar?
- The subcontractor said yes on the phone. Three weeks into the job, half the crew doesn't have the certificates the site asks for.
- You need forty welders in Germany by March, and every call you make comes back with the same short list.
- The A1 documents still aren't sorted the week the crew is meant to fly.
- Something breaks on site at seven in the morning, and the partner who could fix it doesn't speak the same language as your site manager.
What I do for you:
Find and vet the partner.
I go to the workshop, I look at what they're doing right now, I call their current customers, and I check that their certificates match your job, not just any job. You meet people I've already checked.
Bring the workforce.
Welders, pipefitters, mechanical and E&I technicians from across Southern and Central Europe, for one project or for the long run.
Get the paperwork right before the crew moves.
A1 documentation, quality systems, the compliance your site and your client expect.
Stay on it when it gets hard.
Hands-on project support and problem-solving on the ground. When something breaks, I fly in.
Speak the language, and read the culture.
Six languages, and the cultural read that goes with them. A no in Rotterdam and a no in Lisbon don't sound the same.
FOR SUBCONTRACTORS
You have the skill. Let's turn it into international contracts.
Sound familiar?
- You have the welders, the certificates and the quality, and the buyer up north still treats you as the cheap option before you open your mouth.
- A tender asks for documents you've never heard of, and the buyer goes quiet.
- You won the job by dropping your price. You kept the job and lost the margin.
- You're the whole commercial department, and there's nobody to ask before the big meeting.
What I do for you:
Get you project-ready.
Quality systems, A1 documentation, and the documents Northern European buyers ask for before they'll talk price.
Win on quality, not price.
How to present your people, your work and your track record so you're read as a peer, and priced like one.
Open the right doors.
Warm introductions to main contractors I already work with, when there's a real fit.
Walk the first deals with you.
From the tender to the negotiation to the contract, and to the part that matters most, getting paid.
How I work
Four steps, every time. The order matters.
- 1
Listen first.
What's the project, who's involved, where's the risk, and what does a good outcome look like for you. I want the real picture before I suggest anything.
- 2
Verify before anyone trusts.
I visit, I check, I call the customers. I learned this one the expensive way. Years ago I trusted a subcontractor's yes on electrical work outside my own expertise, and it cost a €1.5 million contract and every future project with that customer. I've checked everything since.
- 3
Make it clear before anyone signs.
Every expectation on the table at the start, so nothing grows into a problem later. Where it helps, the client tests the crew in the workshop before the contract.
- 4
Stay on it.
I don't hand over and disappear. When a project hits trouble, you call me, and I come.
From a live project
A contractor in France needed ten welders to start, scaling to eighty, on a large rail and energy project. Before anyone signed, the customer flew to the workshop in Portugal and did all the testing there. They saw the people, the certifications, the work itself. Everything was clear before the contract, and that's why it holds.
Reliable partners. Delivered projects. Protected margins.
Ways we can work together
Every project is different, so there's no price list here. These are the usual shapes, and we pick the one that fits on the first call.
Ongoing.
A standing arrangement for partner and workforce sourcing, or business development on the subcontractor side, month by month.
One project.
I source, vet and set up the partners for a specific job, and stay with it through delivery.
A day on site, or in the room.
Advisory when you need it, including cross-cultural negotiation sessions for your team.
Getting project-ready.
A focused piece of work for subcontractors preparing for their first, or their next, international project.
Why me
I've spent 30+ years in cross-border industrial business development, across 15 countries. I'm an Industrial Engineer by training, and I run these projects today, currently with Lesico Process Piping and Incasometal, among others.
I also teach what I do, to junior sales engineers through my Sales Engineering Academy. Teaching keeps me honest, because you can't explain something you only half do.
But none of that is why people work with me. They work with me because I'm curious about them, and the trust comes first. People do business with people, and that's the only reason.
Industrial Engineer, Katholieke Industriële Hogeschool · Post-Grad Marketing Management, Hogeschool Antwerpen · EN, NL, FR, DE, PT, ES, plus working IT and RU · JCI Senator #66894
Questions people ask me
Got a project that needs the right partners or people?
Tell me what you're working on. Thirty minutes is usually enough for me to tell you whether I can help, and how.
partnerships@ronaldgoovaerts.com