Our company is growing rapidly. And it is showing no signs of slowing down. We’re making great strides in automation and robotics and we want to keep facilitating the course we are charting. Chief Operations Officer Jeroen van Herpen explains.
“Over the years, we’ve grown from a relatively small organization into a company directly employing more than 250 people. That growth and acceleration have created an interesting environment in which experienced employees, many of whom joined us on day one, and new colleagues work side by side. Together, they make for an exciting mix of experience, new talent and fresh-eyed ideas. It’s incredibly valuable!”
Continued development
Manpower is an essential ingredient in keeping up with the growing company, which is why Jeroen hopes to hire several dozens of operators in the next three to five years. “We’d be looking to bring in people from the outside”, he explains “Because we simply don’t have enough people ourselves.”
The operators we have now are worth their weight in gold, Jeroen stresses: “The vast majority of our current operators once started as production workers and have progressed through the ranks. That’s very important, since they’re perfect carriers of knowledge and culture and are used to working with new techniques. We’d never have reached our current level of success without our people.”
Freedom
The trainee program we launched two years ago, and the nine trainees currently enrolled in the program, will certainly help us achieve our future plans. “We’re the perfect company for anyone looking to explore their strengths and interests”, Jeroen explains.
“That’s because we don’t have a strict regime with four six-month assignments, but take a slightly different approach: trainees preferably spend the first year in production and the second year on projects. Of course we look over their shoulder while they’re at it, but we’ve always found that freedom and responsibility are the best teachers.”
People and technology
And then there’s innovation, which, for Jeroen, will always depend on both people and technology. “We tend to look for innovation in large-scale projects, hailing a new EUR 5 million line as a shining example of innovative prowess, for example. Just as often, however, innovation can be found in the small things. Operators who manage to squeeze one percent more output from a machine – how is that not innovation?”
“Naturally, we’re also keeping abreast of developments in AI, but it’s difficult to predict the future: no one knows what will happen ten years from now. Besides, it will still be our people who come up with the plans and ideas. That philosophy, the drive to be slightly better than yesterday, is what fuels our innovative success.”
