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TH E CO N N ECTI O N B ETWE E N TEC H N O LO GY, MAR KET AN D MAN

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SPECIAL SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS April 2018 | volume 20 | issue 2

THEME AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH CEO WILLEM VAN DER LEEGTE, VDL GROEP: CONCERNS OVER TIGHT JOB MARKET, BUT PROUD OF THE REGION

EXECUTIVE ROUND TABLE INDUSTRY: ‘WHEN SUPPLIERS TAKE ON MORE RISKS, MARGINS GET BIGGER ACCORDINGLY’

THOMAS PAULEN VANBERLO

‘OUR DUTCH MENTALITY IS USED TO CONNECT THESE SILOS’

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THOMAS AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH

CONTENTS 4 THEME AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH

20 22

25 31 33 36 39 43

• (Southern) Dutch polder mentality brings design agency VanBerlo worldwide success • Executive Round Table Industry on the strength of the Eindhoven ecosystem • Bob Chylak, K&S: ‘We made acquisitions in Eindhoven partly in order to have a footprint there’ • CEO of fast-growing VDL Groep: concerns over tight job market, but proud of the region • OEMs and suppliers in dialogue about new technologies and trends in society ECOSYSTEMS Spitzencluster it’s OWL and Brainport Industries build on strong networks EDUCATION Jheronimus Academy of Data Science: data gold miner for Philips en start-ups INNOVATION Round table: taking the next step in open innovation STRATEGY Integration of Biesheuvel Techniek and Brammer well under way INNOVATION First blockchain field lab of the Netherlands operates out of Heerlen PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AME offers complete internet-of-things solutions PROCESS INNOVATION Equipment manufacturer Meyer Burger prepared for breakthrough SHORTCUTS • Eltrex wants to understand the question underlying the customer's request • Additive Industries expands to UK • Vanderlande and Rotterdam The Hague Airport sign letter of intent for FLEET • Faes: Convincing management of optimal packaging • TMC E3 event: inspiring meeting place for technical professionals • Philips-led big data consortium receives EU funding to improve healthcare outcomes • Nedschroef expands its headquarters • Eindhoven Engine: shortening time-tomarket, binding talent • VHE: partnership in the chain COLUMN Rob Geilleit, IPL: Smart connections starting to emerge

Making products pretty much entirely on your own used to be possible. The blacksmith did so, as did the carpenter and the cobbler. They made their horseshoes, furniture and shoes completely independently. However, they too were already dependent on suppliers for their raw materials - the iron, wood and leather. Since those times specialization has become increasingly entrenched. I’m not familiar with how things are in the horseshoe chain these days, but it’s currently the case that shoes and furniture are largely composed of a range of materials and semi-finished products supplied as a standard or customer-specific product. All the more so for the On invitation of LINK Magazine unique, exceedingly complex high-tech products – machinery and equipment – developed and built here in Eindhoven’s Brainport. Thomas Paulen is the guest Hundreds of key, 2nd-tier and 3rd-tier suppliers are involved in the editor-in-chief of this special development and supply processes. For the most part these are local edition. Paulen is CEO of suppliers. Companies with which cooperation is easy because they Eindhoven-based design possess that typically Dutch direct, open mentality and are willing to agency VanBerlo. take a degree of risk if this reduces the time-to-market. An especially strong aspect in that entire chain process is the fact that attention is given not only to this complex technology but also to the customer and end customer at whom all our efforts are aimed. We’ve learned a great deal in this regard from high-quality technical products that didn’t go on to become a success because the engineers were too busy to ask the customer (or end customer) about their needs. Nowadays designers, such as ourselves, are involved from an early stage of the development. To introduce that market perspective. This goes not only for high-tech 3D metal printers or complex medical equipment but also for something ostensibly simple like a plastic bottle for washing-up liquid. After all, such a product will only be successful if it can be filled to above the filling line without any faults. If the screw cap can be put on with a degree of force, despite containing a minimal amount of expensive plastic. If it can be packaged in boxes that can be stacked six-high. If the customer in the shop or webshop grabs that specific bottle in that split second he makes his choice. If the entire customer journey is kept in mind... Combining the interests of all stakeholders is precisely what will make this region ever stronger. This quality, coupled with world-class, high-tech knowledge, is what makes Eindhoven Brainport an ecosystem with innovative strength that is unrivalled across the globe. With due attention to where there’s room for improvement, this special will shed light on that distinctive strength from all angles. I would like to invite any readers as yet unfamiliar with this region – either as a client or an employee – to come and take a look.

THOMAS PAULEN, CEO VANBERLO, GUEST EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

PUBLICATION INFORMATION Magazine COLOFON

This special issue is a supplement to the April 2018 issue of Link Magazine. Link Magazine is a management journal that discusses contemporary forms of co-operation between companies themselves and between companies and (semi)government bodies, universities and colleges of higher education. Link Magazine is published six times a year.

APRIL 2018 PUBLISHED BY H&J Uitgevers Mireille van Ginkel Bosscheweg 76, 5151 BE Drunen The Netherlands +31 10 451 55 10 +31 6 51 78 41 97 www.linkmagazine.nl

ADVISORY COUNCIL ing. P.A.M. van Abeelen (ISAH), J. Beernink MSc (Golden Egg Check), ing. D.M. van Beers (Festo BV), J.C.A. Buis MBA (RR Mechatronics), ing. B. Draaijer (V en M Regeltechniek), F.M. Eisma (Trumpf Nederland), ir. J.F.M.E. Geelen (Océ), ir. R. van Giessel (voormalig ceo Philips CFT), ing. A.L. Goudriaan MBA (Blok Group), ir. M.H. Hendrikse (NTS-Group, HTSM-boegbeeld), ing. J.B.P. Hol (Legrand Group), ir. T.J.J. van der Horst (TNO), ir. M.W.C.M. van den Oetelaar (Bosch Rexroth), dr. ir. M. Peters (president & ceo Moba Group), dr. ir. D.A. Schipper (Demcon), E. Severijn (Siemens PLM Software Benelux), J.A.J. Slobbe (ITM Group), H.G.H. Smid (Variass Group), ir. W.W.M. Smit MMC (DBSC Consulting), ing. N.J.F. van Soerland MBA (Philips Healthcare), ir. H.H. Tappel (Bronkhorst High-Tech), W.B.M. van Wanrooij (IBN Productie), ir. S.J. Wittermans (ASML)

EDITOR IN CHIEF Martin A.M. van Zaalen FINAL EDITING Pim Campman, Lucy Holl, Wilma Schreiber; redactie@linkmagazine.nl THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ISSUE Jos Cortenraad, Hans van Eerden, Rob Geilleit, Thomas Paulen, André Ritsema TRANSLATION Powerling Nederland, Bunnik GRAPHIC DESIGN Primo!Studio, Delft PRINTED BY Veldhuis Media, Raalte SUBSCRIPTION € 68,50 per annum ADVERTISING OPERATIONS John van Ginkel john.vanginkel@linkmagazine.nl +31 010 451 55 10 +31 6 53 93 75 89

ISSN 1568 - 1378 No part of Link Magazine may be copied or reproduced without the publisher’s permission. This publication has been compiled with the utmost care. Nevertheless, the publisher cannot be held liable for any inaccuracies. No rights may be derived from this publication.

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

THEME (SOUTHERN) DUTCH POLDER MENTALITY BRINGS DESIGN AGENCY VANBERLO WORLDWIDE SUCCESS

‘ASIANS ENGAGE US BECAUSE WE AREN’T AFRAID TO CHALLENGE THE CUSTOMER’

AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH The Eindhoven Brainport region is one of the ‘smartest’ regions worldwide. Not surprisingly, it is home to high-tech companies such as ASML and Philips that are among the best in the world. How has that position been achieved? And what could be improved?

The likelihood of success in the market is greatest when you consider a product from as many perspectives as possible in the design phase. This is exactly where the success of the Eindhoven-based design agency VanBerlo lies. Enjoying success abroad as well, using the (southern) Dutch polder mentality to engage stakeholders in dialogue with each other. And, as it happens, about a collection of polystyrene forms. A conversation with CEO – and guest editor-in-chief of this special edition – Thomas Paulen and one of VanBerlo’s innovation strategists, Ivo Lamers. BY MARTIN VAN ZAALEN

‘W

hen I visit a company for the first time, I always take in my surroundings. When I engage in conversation with the customer’s team, I

look at its composition. Who is in the team, what competencies, interests they have. Which one of my employees, with what traits, should I bring in with me and which team member should I pair them with? And what if that technological solution does not transpire, or if

that market participant pulls out? Trying to quickly take in a new playing field, i.e. who the actors are, what interests they have and running through the different scenarios in my mind is second nature to me. I am always thinking about tomorrow and what I am going to do.’

CAPACITY FOR EMPATHY This single-minded focus on his surroundings, this capacity for empathy is essential to Thomas Paulen. And to his nearly 100 employees. Because VanBerlo is by no means a design agency looking to just ‘design something nice’. What he and his people add to the high-tech industry is, in fact, a broad view.

‘PRECISELY THAT MIX OF DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY IS ABLE TO BRING THE FUTURE CLOSER’ ‘It can be pretty tough to bring the worlds of hightech and industrial design together. Technological SMEs in particular often fail to recognise the power that designers can add to their technology by putting the user first’, says Martijn Paulen, director of the Dutch Design Foundation and organiser of the Dutch Design Week (DDW). The purpose of the event is to draw as many sophisticated visitors – clients, development partners and journalists – to Eindhoven and to introduce them to the industrial designers and their work. Given the growth in visitor numbers from 200,000 in 2012 to 335,000 in 2017, 20 percent of which goal-oriented professionals from abroad, the event appears to become increasingly successful in achieving this purpose. Only design and technology are able to achieve that human-centred innovation market is asking for. And the DDW is bridging the gap between those two worlds’, says Paulen. ‘I see quite a few SME owners who consider the week an ‘enjoyable outing’, only to discover upon arrival that there are designers showing off their designs, which means potential business for them. Our chief sponsor ABN Amro also made that switch. The bank started its sponsorship from the same cultural angle they chose to back theatre financially. These days, however, the bank is inviting many B2B customers from sectors such as high-tech, food and health care.

It is no coincidence that the DDW, in its capacity as intermediary between design and technology, originated precisely in a region where both high-tech R&D and industrial design have a strong presence, Paulen believes. Neither is it a coincidence that the event has a signature of its own that puts ‘design for the future’ at centre stage. ‘The DDW is not an event such as that in Milan, where – primarily – Foto: DDW designs are presented that are finished and for sale. One of the objects is to show prototypes that may take another three years in order for them to become marketable. We also like to show the choices made to arrive at those prototypes, including all the experiments that failed. Precisely because you can learn a lot from that as a visitor. The DDW does in fact show the R&D of industrial design. Thanks to the Philips roots, this is a high-tech fiddling and tinkering region. At the same time, it is a region that boasts considerable creative strength. Precisely that mix is well able to bring the future closer’, says Martijn Paulen, who is the brother of Thomas. The fact

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

that both have ended up in the world of industrial design is no coincidence either: ‘Thomas is older and went for Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology, which I found mighty interesting. Although I didn’t finish that course myself, I eventually ended up in this world as well.’ This year’s edition of the Dutch Design Week is held 20-28 October. www.dutchdesignfoundation.com www.ddw.nl

During the photo shoots Thomas Paulen (left) insisted that he didn’t want to take centre stage in the picture. After all, close collaboration between various parties and people from outside ánd within the organisation is crucial to the design work of VanBerlo: ‘The people here,’ he states, ‘are all very different; it is the one character trait they all have in common. They involve others in their work and feel involved in the work of others.’ In the middle of the picture Ivo Lamers. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

Not only of that technological development for that new product - the traditional comfort zone of the average techie - but also of the supply chain, the parties involved in the development and production of that product and - of course - of the customer, the enduser and the business side. ‘The people here’, he continues, ‘are all very different; it is the one character trait they all have in common. They involve others in their work and feel involved in the work of others. If at the end of the day someone is struggling with a deadline, he is not left to his fate.’

BIAS REARS ITS HEAD In that 360-degree perspective lies a large part of the success of VanBerlo, which has built a reputation that extends far beyond Europe. Because that perspective is often lacking within the customer’s company. ‘B2B often involves technologically complex matters. All your energy is invested there. That is why we always ask: ‘Why would this be a success in the market?’ By their very nature, larger companies usually consist of silos erected around the ivory towers they occasionally inhabit, adds his colleague and senior innovation strategist, Ivo Lamers. And that is when bias rears its head. ‘There may be times when a technological innovation is based on a customer complaint that has made its way through six echelons to the CEO, for example, but if you ask other customers about it, they don’t recognise it. So, we always look into what the actual relevance is for the end-user,

for that operator in China.’ Paulen jumps up and pulls two pairs of hydraulic shears - firefighting tools for cutting open crashed cars, among other things - out of a cabinet. ‘When we were doing market research on this, we talked to firefighters. Not about the technical specifications. Or about how much pressure you can place on the jaws; neither of those things seemed to be important to them. They

‘In this region, it’s usually about the arguments, not about who raises them’

were more interested in knowing whether they could hang it over their shoulder so they could have their hands free. Or whether they could use it with one hand. That is why this tool has become a success on the market’, he says, pointing to the small pair of shears, which also happen to be a lot lighter.

IN THE B2B AND THE B2C ‘VHS and later Blu Ray’, Lamers continues, ‘drove Betamax/Video2000 and HD DVD out of the market, thanks to manufacturer’s solid understanding of its surroundings. Understood that you had to work with film and

game producers to keep a sufficient amount of content readily available to consumers.’ And revamped its earning model (e.g. selling PlayStations below cost price in order to create an install base for Blu Ray). It seems so obvious, but Paulen and Lamers don’t see anything strange about the industry’s lack of attention to all those different perspectives, to that of the competitors, the operators, the service people, and so on. And they see this complacency in both the B2B and B2C markets. Because whether it is ASML’s EUV machine or Reckitt Benckiser’s plastic Lysol bottle, the interests of all stakeholders form a complex whole. ‘That bottle looks like a simple product. But before we started working on it as designers, we had to comply with numerous conditions, such as learning the exact way in which the existing fillers work in order to ensure that the new bottles can pass over it without causing malfunctions. Or that the screw cap must be tightened on the bottle with forceful torque....’

POLYSTYRENE To analyse the product from all these different perspectives at as early a stage as possible, Paulen et al. involve as many of the internal and external stakeholders as possible. ‘Of course, we have the advantage of visualisation on our side. Sometimes using a sketch, a digital image or a virtual reality solution, and other times coming up with a collection of TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

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HOW AND WITH WHOM TO CREATE?

WHAT TO CREATE?

FOR WHOM TO CREATE?

‘That suppliers have to be brought on board early on is something they understand well at ASML, for example, where they pull in suppliers at an early stage. Sometimes literally’, says Thomas Paulen. Illustration: Ten Types of Innovation, Doblin.

polystyrene forms, each representing a particular module. Everyone laughs about it at first, but within three minutes they’re all there - the electrical, mechanical and mechatronic engineers of the customer, suppliers, service people... - working hard together. ‘Can this module be installed here, or will it affect the heat regulation?’ ‘If you place that module there, it will be difficult for the service people to reach.’

communication where hierarchy plays a relatively minor role. Companies in Asia engage us because we aren’t afraid to challenge the customer. It does not always go well, however’, says Paulen. ‘I remember a project where we disagreed with the R&D manager, and we took the disagreement to the CEO, who agreed with us. The product became a success, but we never heard back from that company ever again. Probably because that R&D manager doesn’t want to have anything to do with us...’

POLDERING

CONNECTING SILOS

It is therefore an added bonus if the participants have mastered the art of ‘poldering’. That quality, Paulen and Lamers note - while thinking about their portfolio of international customers - is well-developed in the Netherlands, certainly in the direct vicinity of their southern Dutch base. ‘In this region, it’s usually about the arguments, not about who raises them. We have an open culture of direct

But those are exceptions. Van-Berlo’s approach is generally effective, however. The Eindhoven-based company rakes in a lot of revenue in countries such as Germany and Great Britain. ‘You have to accept that you usually have to start small’, says Paulen. ‘At first, you can only ‘make nice things’. But step by step, our Dutch mentality is used to connect these silos in order to ensure that the

CONTINUATION OF PAGE 5

LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE, GROUNDBREAKING INNOVATIONS The small job market is on everyone’s lips in the southern Dutch high-tech industry. But not at VanBerlo. ‘Of course, trying to find, say, a specialised software engineer is not going to be a walk in the park for us either. But we can usually find the people we need without a problem. We have maintained close contact with the universities and universities of applied sciences for many years and there are always some ten interns and graduates - we have selected - walking around here somewhere. And we have built a good name for ourselves in the market, which was underscored last November when the Erasmus University Rotterdam named us the most innovative company in the Netherlands. Designers are keen to work here.’ Still, the small job market concerns Thomas Paulen

and Ivo Lamers for another reason. ‘The majority of the new houses on Strijp R in Eindhoven have been sold to expats. The enormous amount of talent needed here comes increasingly from outside the Netherlands. At the same time, more and more companies - FEI, Assembléon, NXP - are falling into foreign hands. This region has grown big because of Philips, where like-minded people have created truly groundbreaking innovations. Innovations on which this region is still expanding. The strength at that time lay in that integrated cooperation. The strength of this region still lies in that ecosystem of like-minded people who work together and know and understand each other through and through. Together, we must ensure that it stays that way.’

additional costs R&D incurs for marketing also become marketing’s problem. It is no coincidence that we are the only non-British design firm for a company like Reckitt Benckiser.’ ‘In all these years’, continues Lamers, ‘we have obviously looked into many a different kitchen, which has allowed us to quickly understand what is going on, who should be involved. Which suppliers should be engaged.’

STRONG CEO Poldering is not only a typically Dutch quality, small young companies are generally much better at it than large corporations. This is due to the lack of standing bureaucratic patterns at those start-ups and the greater dependence on suppliers. But sometimes it also has a lot to do with the entrepreneur himself, which is what Paulen firmly believes. ‘We helped design Additive Industries’ 3D metal printer, but played a rather small role in the entire project. It was the entrepreneurs Daan Kersten and Jonas Wintermans, who, with their vision for the market and knowledge of the market and supply base, played a binding role in bringing all parties on board, not as jobbers, but as fully-fledged participants. If a company in the US is successful with its innovations, it has nothing to do with its poldering ability, but with a strong CEO that is the binding factor. Musk plays that role at Tesla and Jobs played it at Apple.’

HITTING THE COFFEE MACHINE In his own way, Thomas Paulen tries to play that binding role not only for the customer, but also as manager within Van Berlo. ‘I approach the management of this company as a design project. I want to know where the areas of tension within the company are, balance the interests. When I see someone coming in in the morning and I have a feeling that something is troubling them, I make sure that we hit the coffee machine at the same time.’

www.vanberlo.nl

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

THEME AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH EXECUTIVE ROUND-TABLE INDUSTRY ON THE STRENGTH OF THE EINDHOVEN ECOSYSTEM

‘WHEN SUPPLIERS TAKE ON MORE RISKS, MARGINS GET BIGGER ACCORDINGLY’ Put a bunch of CEOs and managers from Eindhoven’s manufacturing industry (plus two people from banking) together for a whole evening at a table in an old Philips reservoir and they’re likely to see eye to eye – or sometimes not – on a variety of topics: the importance of an even stronger ecosystem in and around Eindhoven. Of many, many joint actions

to make young people enthousiastic about technology. And of fist-tier suppliers co-developing on a higher level than ever with OEMs. This is what came up during the Executive Round-Table Industry of ING and Link Magazine. ‘German suppliers take on more risks, but their margins get bigger accordingly. More risks means more earnings.’

BY LUCY HOLL

he venue for the first Executive RoundTable Industry at the end of March is the building of Settels Savenije Group, a total solution provider for the hightech industry that moved into TAQ, the pump building at Strijp-T, a year ago. It is one of the many industrial sites in Eindhoven where Philips used to manage everything by itself. Now, renovated and new premises house companies of a completely different kind. ‘Some of our young employees find it incredible to work in an environment like this,’ says CEO John Settles. A common thread in the discussion is the question: ‘How do we make the ecosystem even more competitive and stronger to take on global competition?’ The industrial gentlemen (‘yes, it’s a shame, but in our sector there’s still only fourteen percent female employees’) base their discussion on four statements. An evening in four parts.

STATEMENT 1 Companies in the Eindhoven ecosystem – under pressure from the (labour) market – take too many risks: they invest too much in capital goods and build up a too expensive salary structure. It’s hard to sell a statement like this, according to Frits van Hout, executive board member of the OEM ASML. ‘The region emerged from a disastrous situation in which major manufacturers collapsed in the eighties. Building the smart region in which we are today, was a joint and highly driven effort. Maybe wrong investments were made here and there, but where did that not happen. As for the salaries: attracting and keeping good people is vital. Our competitors are not in Maastricht or Twente, but in San Francisco, Copenhagen and Stuttgart.’ Hence the need for good jobs, good salaries, and a pleasant living environment. Couldn’t agree more, says John van Soerland, Vice President Operations at Philips Healthcare, which could use another hundred good experts today. ‘The growing number of vacancies in high-tech is a serious threat: before you know it, we’ll no longer be able to remain the smartest region in the world.’ Salaries are undeniably rising: tertiary graduates are getting EUR 800 net more at an OEM in the region than at a supplier. Van Soerland: ‘That is difficult: If suppliers like KMWE and Frencken have to compete with that and therefore get into trouble, we as OEMs will get into trouble too.’ Moderator Martin van Zaalen: ‘Everyone is fishing in

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

the same pond. Those with the biggest bate will haul people in, whereas the aim should be to optimise the whole supply chain.’ A split has become noticeable: recruiting higher educated people in and outside the country for innovation and design is one thing. But, listening to talk around the table, it’s on the technical graduates’ side that there’s more pressure and cause for concern. In their experience, the participants say, there is still too little awareness in the Netherlands of how important the manufacturing industry is. The service economy has traditionally been dominant in the Netherlands: careers are made in offices or banks, some say.

KEEP INVESTING Recruiting professionals remains complicated. ‘Was it that much different twenty, thirty years ago?’ Kusters Precision Parts CEO Jan Kusters wonders. Eric Driessen, CEO of the system supplier Hittech: ‘We recognise the problem of a shortage of professionals, but with finding higher educated people we have fewer problems in the region of The Hague and surroundings.’ ‘It’s tense in technology, but it’s really not too late yet,’ says CEO Frank Mulders of the machine manufacturer AAE in Helmond. ‘Keep investing to make technology sexier. Go to the schools, draw the kids to your industry, go and stand on that sports field and inspire them. It’s not easy, we need a lot of people, but AAE still knows how to find manpower.’ ‘You don’t have any problems, because like us, you continue to invest in training’, Edward Voncken from KMWE, expert in High Mix, Low Volume and High Complexity machining, reminds his CEO colleague. ‘The companies that complain the hardest, crying ‘Where are the people, I can’t find any’, are those that don’t invest time and money to reach out to the younger generation.’ ‘I don’t have any proof, but that might be so’, Mulders comments drily. ‘A lot is happening already; look at the Dutch Technology Week and Tech-

AROUND THE TABLE IN THE OLD RESERVOIR (CLOCKWISE) John van Soerland, Vice President Operations, Philips Healthcare Fokko Leutscher, Managing Director, Frencken Europe Eric Driessen, COO of Hittech Frank Jongeneel, Managing Director Credit Riskmanagement, ING Nederland Bas Kuper, Head of Benelux Siemens Industry Software Martin Dibbets, Head of VIRO Netherlands Renco Kraak, Head of Industry, ING Mid Corporates, South-East region

niekpact (aimed at improving the connection of engineering education to the labour market, ed.), for example. But let’s promise each other that we’ll join forces even more regularly to get more people interested in technology. And women in particular, because their share is looking dismal compared to other countries’, Frits van Hout adds. Fokko Leutscher, Managing Director of Frencken Europe: ‘And especially, don’t forget to invest in your current people to make them more flexible.’ ‘What works wonders for our appeal as an employer is new premises like these’, says host John Settels van Settels Savenije. ‘We offer an attractive environment, freedom, good projects… That attracts people.’ Salaries help, but what young people really want, is a job that matters, a job with impact, Frank Mulders finds.

SENSITIVE TO ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS Moderator Van Zaalen wants to know more from Frank Jongeneel, Managing Director Credit Riskmanagement at ING Nederland,

Edward Voncken, CEO of KMWE Jan Kusters, CEO of Kusters Precision Parts John Settels, CEO of Settels Savenije Frits van Hout, executive board member of ASML Frank Mulders, CEO of AAE Martin van Zaalen, Editor in Chief of Link Magazine, moderator

STATEMENT 2 Large OEMs must give their (co-)development key suppliers IP rights to make it easier for them to recoup their development investments, also in other sectors.

Photos: Bart van Overbeeke

Must, must, must. There are no ‘musts’ for OEMs. ‘Say rather that suppliers must earn those rights’, Fokko Leutscher retorts. ‘Key suppliers must make an effort to develop their core skills further, to slot in with those of OEMs. Where is the OEM going, where are we going? It takes two to tango.’ OEMs will define their core business more clearly, and first-tier suppliers will therefore be able to ask themselves what more they can offer. Leutscher: ‘Then suddenly you’ll hear an entirely different discourse. We sat with a customer who sorely needed their own engineers for their own work. Until recently they were used to just paying us as supplier for our hours and materials. Now it was about what it was worth to them if we developed the know-how ourselves.’ That’s how you build a long-term relationship. The OEM has more space, the supplier gives key support: ‘Our margins are rising slightly, and we can apply the developed know-how and technology to other markets as well.’ No-one has mentioned the word IP yet. Edward Voncken from KMWE distinguishes

about that first part of the statement, namely physical investments. How does he see it? Jongeneel: ‘We’re emerging from a long period of crisis. Getting investments started up again is not that easy for some suppliers. I see companies not taking too many risks, I do feel they shouldn’t just ask help from the banks, but that they should look further to other forms of financing and be prepared to take other risks.’ And yes, the banks also learnt something from the crisis: ‘We saw investment write-downs in companies that we never expected would disappear.’ Is the region sensitive to economic fluctuations, can it absorb future setbacks? Eindhoven and environs have become less sensitive, those present feel, even the semiconductor sector where forty percent down or up was quite usual in the past. Chips are everywhere, there are fewer fluctuations in the equipment industry than ever. Frits van Hout: ‘And remember, the last crisis was especially a financial one, rather than an economic trough.’

TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

mapp View. WEB MEETS AUTOMATION. www.br-automation.com/mappView

THEMA AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH

CONTINUATION OF PAGE 9

two types of IP: product IP and manufacturing IP. ‘The second is about smart manufacturing. That’s what we do. It’s the know-how that we have and the development of manufacturing, which is hard to establish, it’s not so much tangible know-how.’ The whole IP issue may well be played out between specific product competitors. Everyone agrees that it does not play a large part in the manufacturing chain. Suppliers are not there to build up IP. ‘Look at the possibilities, don’t focus on protection,’ says Frits van Hout. ‘At the start, ASML was a poor offspring of Philips. We just had to outcource the production of parts. Now we’re making really complex machines and we want to be able to entirely outsource the development of certain modules. It’s up to the suppliers to come up with new ideas.’ He realises that it’s difficult for companies who have always been on the manufacturing side. AMSL wants to help companies who can and want to do it. Van Hout: ‘In the long run, it’s in both parties’ interest. I’m thinking of it as a kind of marriage, with just one partner. A second partner won’t fit in. And mutual threats won’t work in a marriage either. You must leave room for each other.’ Duty comes before rights. Anyone who’s manufacturing something, usually has to wait for his money. Those who manufacture and develop, have to be even more patient. The head of ASML has a model in mind where suppliers will co-develop and certainly use the know-how for other

EXECUTIVE ROUND-TABLES This is the first in a series of four regional Executive Round-Tables Industry that ING organises with Link Magazine at various locations in the Netherlands. Renco Kraak, Head of Industry at ING Mid Corporates, South-East Region: ‘ING and Link also want to emphasise the importance of the manufacturing industry for the Netherlands and to draw attention to this. In addition to chain cooperation, themes include robotisation and servitization.’

customers too. Who’s talking of IP? IP seldom has a positive ring to it, and heats matters up unnecessarily in the customer-supplier relationship. Settels notes that, with his R&D team, he actually is successfully engaging in a dialogue with customers to develop IP together and then create space to deploy the developed IP in markets where his customer is not active. Such cooperation is beneficial for both parties, because Settels can quickly build up know-how that is also interesting to the customer, and the customer shares in the benefits from business outside his normal market.

STATEMENT 3 Key-suppliers are still not doing enough to show that they are taking their bigger responsibility seriously. They must also invest in research and customer knowledge. ‘Yes, I agree,’ Fokko Leutscher readily admits. ‘If we want to play a bigger part, we must invest a lot more. At Frencken we’re getting there: till recently our engineering was a pure profit centre. As if we were just selling engineering hours. But that’s not good enough, we thought, we’re turning it into a cost centre. Development doesn’t always have to be 100% profit-making, it may also cost money to raise your own organisation to higher level.’ Frits van Hout of ASML sees a big difference between the Netherlands and Germany: ‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s an observation, not a value judgement. The Netherlands without any doubt has competent suppliers and great knowledge institutions. ASML can do a lot with that. But Germany has got a lot of bigger – as well as smaller – business, often familyowned, with a long-term vision, which offer the full package of development and manufacturing. It would be good for the Dutch manufacturing industry if we more and more could have the same model. Suppliers carry more risks, but margins increase accordingly.

More risk means more profit. No customer will be happier than ASML if you want to take the burden from us. So go for it, we’re waiting.’ Of course, the transition to more responsibility and co-development is difficult, for the supplier and for the OEM. Letting go is just as hard as taking over. Ask John van Soerland of Philips. ‘Compared to ASML, Philips comes from quite the opposite sourcing model, where we do everything in-house from beginning to end. We’re still finding it hard to draw the line of what we want or don’t want to outsource. Apart from that, two issues seem important to him: suppliers must shoulder the burden and must be able to service Philips worldwide. ‘We try to limit the number of different suppliers and to avoid smaller suppliers. They are great people and they offer good products, but they are the ones who supply our suppliers.’ Plus you can’t expect smaller second-tier companies to co-develop and put money into it. For first-tier suppliers it’s a must. That’s the way that suppliers in the region should go if they want to take on global competition. With regard to following and serving OEMs worldwide, engineering firm VIRO is a good example. Martin Dibbets, Head of VIRO Netherlands: ‘We now work for ASML in the Netherlands from all of our five branches and in Germany from one branch. We also work for many of their first-tier suppliers, including large German partners of ASML. '

STATEMENT 4 The ecosystem should agree on the use of one design model and one set of rules, and on how to communicate digitally within the chain.

That would bring huge advantages, according to the gentlemen around the table. They mention terrible examples of what can go TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

MATLAB SPEAKS

DEEP LEARNING mathworks.nl/deeplearning

With just a few lines of MATLAB® code, you can use CNNs and training datasets to create models, visualise layers, train on GPUs, and deploy to production systems.

THEMA AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH

CONTINUATION OF PAGE 11

3D, a quality official comes by to check and control it, and says: ‘Give me a 2D printout of the drawing otherwise I can’t put a stamp on it.’ That sets your teeth on edge.’ John van Soerland sighs when he thinks of the Food and Drug Administration with their own stack of little rules and regulations to validate for instance medical devices. Of course, this is all intended to guarantee the safety and health of patients and medical staff optimally. ‘If it is not documented, it is not done’, is a famous FDA statement.’ But to get back to the region: are OEMs like Philips and ASML for instance on the same line when it comes to design models and rules, or is it a hopeless case, is the question of Van Zaalen. ‘That thing about uniform models between OEMs is not on the agenda

wrong when parties receive orders and realise that products or components don’t fit exactly, or not at all, due to (digital) communication errors. ‘We can save about thirty percent on costs with better coordination’, Benelux manager Bas Kuper from Siemens Industry Software claims. ‘Always agree beforehand on the CAD/CAM and PLM package of the OEM you’re working for.’ At the same time: technology is progressing, there’s more open software, things are getting easier to organise, systems can share information and communicate more efficiently. But a lot still needs to be optimised. Edward Voncken from KMWE: ‘And when you’ve coordinated everything perfectly in

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for me’, says Frits van Hout from ASML. ‘Maybe it’s not good.’ Previously, Philips had a notorious ‘blue map’ full of standards. ‘If we made a modern version of it, it could save a lot’, Van Soerland thinks. ‘But then within long-term partner relationships, to use that comparison again. If a frequent change partners occurs, it will not work.’ What are you aiming for, Martin Dibbets from VIRO wants to know. ‘It would be a good thing for dominant parties to set standards, but do not let them limit the creativity which is much needed for innovation. With more freedom, you can sometimes actually get better products.’

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

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THEME AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH BOB CHYLAK, KULICKE & SOFFA:

‘WE MADE ACQUISITIONS IN EINDHOVEN PARTLY IN ORDER TO HAVE A FOOTPRINT THERE’ Kulicke & Soffa Netherlands in Eindhoven is doing well. Since the acquisition of the former Assemblèon, a lot of progress has been made, relates Bob Chylak. He was closely involved in the takeover as head of the technical team that analysed Assemblèon ahead of the deal on issues such as technology, capacity and competitiveness. BEST INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMER

Mayor John Jorritsma (left), City of Eindhoven, with Bob Chylak at the Opening Ceremony of the new process lab, April last year: ‘We are very pleased with the presence of K&S in Brainport Eindhoven. The company contributes a lot to our added value chain, by creating new knowledge and employment.’ Photo: K&S

All in all, it was a major outlay for K&S, but not one that needs to be earned back straightaway: ‘This is an investment for the longer term’, emphasises Chylak. Last year, Kulicke & Soffa Netherlands won the Best Industrial Customer Award 2017 (one of the Dutch Industrial Suppliers Awards, an initiative by Link Magazine, ING bank and Isah Business Software). It is a prestigious prize – among other things because companies cannot nominate themselves but can only be nominated by satisfied suppliers. For Chylak, that, too, underlines that investing in the Eindhoven-based firm was a smart move.

FOOTPRINT IN EINDHOVEN BY MARTIN VAN ZAALEN

he acquisition for 98 million dollars in late 2014 restored the former Philips company to financial stability. There has since been a growth in sales in Eindhoven, says Chylak. For example, the firm recently won a large order from a US consumer products multinational. ‘This has everything to do with the high quality and accuracy of the advanced packaging machines we develop and build in Eindhoven – machines that can be custom-built to very specific customer requirements, which is important because that is what customers want these days’, says Chylak, who is Vice President Global Process Engineering of this Singaporean manufacturer of systems for packaging semiconductors and assembling electronics.

STATE-OF-THE-ART This is the background against which the mid-2017 investment by K&S in the Process &

‘A lab like that, where we can test the new machine together with the customer, is very important’ Applications lab in Eindhoven, a facility with an area of 180 square metres, should be viewed. Since being spun off from Philips, Assemblèon no longer had its own research and testing facility. ‘And that was a loss. A lab like that, where we can test the new machine together with the customer, is very important. Working with companies like Indium Corporation and MPM Speed Line, suppliers to the semicon and electronics industry, we have been able to fit the facility with state-ofthe-art equipment. These partners now benefit from having a showroom where they can demonstrate their products to their customers.’

K&S never considered moving Assemblèon’s activities to Asia, where a large proportion of the market is located. ‘Our R&D is distributed all over the world. Moving production activities to Singapore would not have made sense. After all, in Eindhoven we only manufacture a few of the types of packaging machines we build every quarter. On the other hand, we were keen to have a footprint in Eindhoven. It is a city and a region with lots of highly trained, talented people and a great place to live and work’, he notes.

FAVOURABLE ECOSYSTEM Several months previously, Kulicke & Soffa also acquired the young business Liteq, which markets lithography solutions for packaging chips. K&S will also be continuing these activities in Eindhoven. The company confirms that the favourable ecosystem of the Brainport contributed to the acquisition. www.kns.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

THEMA AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH CEO OF FAST-GROWING VDL GROEP: CONCERNS OVER TIGHT JOB MARKET, BUT PROUD OF THE REGION

‘PEOPLE HERE ARE OPEN AND DIRECT AND WILLING TO COLLABORATE’ Willem van der Leegte is proud of his company and the people who work there, but equally proud of the region from which VDL Groep has originated and in which it is deeply rooted. The company is becoming ever more international, but its core activities continue to centre on the high-tech region in the south of the Netherlands. However, he does worry about the increasingly tight job market. While VDL invests in recruiting and training its people, its CEO calls for action and funding from the Dutch government, in order to attract talented people to the region and also retain them. ‘This region is essential to the Dutch economy as a whole, and that justifies additional funding.’ BY MARTIN VAN ZAALEN

COMMON GROUND

surprising sight upon arriving at the executive floor of the head office in Eindhoven: a little girl is sitting next to Willem van der Leegte at a table covered in children’s books. ‘The teacher was ill and my wife had to go to a first-aid course’, Van der Leegte says with a smile, explaining the presence of his five-year old daughter Victoria, as we move to another room. At the age of 36, he is not much older than the youngest generations now entering the job market, who consider it quite normal to choose to work only four days a week, so that they can set aside a care day for their children (see the section in our April issue). But that is not how this gesture to his family should be interpreted. When it comes to his own schedule, it is more like a six-day work week.

Explaining the activities of VDL Groep is something Van der Leegte regularly does when meeting potential clients worldwide. ‘Obviously, we don’t yet have the same name recognition abroad as here in the Netherlands. But since we are active in a very wide range of markets, often you quickly find common ground with the business of your discussion partners. I can then explain that we are the leading experts in installing car doors, for example. Or that we are very innovative in a field like mobility as a service. I am a huge advocate of the circular economy. We can completely relieve our clients, bus companies, of all the hassle involved with buying electric buses. We can take care of the financing and maintenance, we can put in place an infrastructure for recharging the batteries, and we can even provide the electricity. No, we don’t have our own power plant, but we do have a

container in which we store electricity in batteries in their second life cycle, which we sell or use ourselves. And I can then also mention that we produce complete cars for BMW, develop modules for ASML and produce high-precision parts for CERN. If you can do all that, it doesn’t require a lot of explaining to make clear that we can deliver a high standard of quality and precision.’

DEEPLY ROOTED IN THE EINDHOVEN REGION VDL Groep can deliver those high standards thanks to the Eindhoven region that is its ecosystem, and in which it is deeply rooted. ‘We increasingly operate internationally, and we are now active in twenty countries, including Singapore and China. But at the same time, 85 percent of our workforce is employed in the Netherlands, which is the highest this rate has been since the 1990s. In fact, the investments we are making abroad, in the US for example, are boosting the number of jobs here. By reinforcing the commercial and engineering activities of our system developer VDL ETG in the US, more production jobs are being created here. The same holds true for VDL USA, our packaging machines production business, and the sales office we opened in Spain for VDL Bus & Coach. Our investments are also generating more engineering and production work in the Netherlands. In addition, European clients ask us to assist them in building up a supply base elsewhere in the world. By doing so, we

LAUNCHED OWN RECRUITMENT Given the high workload and tight job market, a shorter work week is a bad fit. The regional high-tech industry will need ten of thousands of new people in the coming years. VDL alone now has 700 vacancies. ‘We manage to find new people fairy easily; we have noticed that we are an attractive employer. March last year, we launched our own recruitment department. The idea behind that is to clearly highlight the culture of this company. We are a family business, which focuses on the long term, which is important for the continuity of the business. We now generate a turnover of 5 billion euros, which makes us a large company with potential for further growth, where people are quickly given more responsibility. And we also want to explain what we do, and what a huge range of challenging tasks there are at VDL Groep, which includes 95 group companies.’

‘OF COURSE WE DO DISCUSS THE MARGINS WITH ASML’ AMSL is a company that is praised, but also criticised. The successful manufacturer of chip production machines demands that its key suppliers deliver to a high standard – build to spec – and assume complete responsibility for the development of modules, including all associated risks. But ASML is unwilling to pay fair prices for the development work it outsources, and on top of that it snatches from the job market all the talented people needed by its suppliers for that very work, critics in the Eindhoven high-tech industry say. Van der Leegte analyzes: ‘We are proud to be a supplier of ASML and we have a long-term business relation-ship with them. Of course we do discuss the margins with ASML and we clearly

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

explain our position. If you take complete responsibility for the development work, anyone can see that it’s unfair if you have to shoulder the costs when things go wrong, but don’t get to share in the additional revenues when the development is a success. Because that way, you will soon be out of business as a supplier. If you explain that clearly, they do understand. Do we feel AMSL’s margin is too low…? If that were so, we would have to change our line of business’, says Van der Leegte. He continues: ‘Having clients like ASML and BMW is great for the profile of our company. They are also clients we learn a lot from. And they also learn a lot from us.’

‘If you can say that you work for BMW, ASML and CERN, it doesn’t require a lot of explaining to make clear that we can deliver a high standard of quality and precision.’ His company is able to deliver those high standards in part thanks to the Eindhoven region that is its ecosystem, says Willem van der Leegte. Photo: Bram Saeys

reinforce our position with these clients here in the Netherlands.’

PROUD OF EINDHOVEN HIGH-TECH REGION The fact that his company continues to have a Dutch name (‘Groep’ rather than ‘Group’), and that its logo features the colours of the Dutch flag, show how proud VDL Groep is of the region from which it hails, the CEO stresses. ‘Yes, I do mention ASML to clients sometimes. Because the fact that such a company is based here speaks volumes about the quality of the high-tech industry in our region. Indeed, our region is recognised to be among the smartest regions worldwide (Macquarie Research, 2017, eds.). But the mindset we have here is also a key asset. People here are open and they speak their minds. They are willing to work together and shoulder risks together.’

COLLABORATE WITH EDUCATION SECTOR At the same time, the tight job market is a real problem. That explains the company’s decision to launch its own recruitment department. And why they are working closely together with the education sector at all levels. ‘Fifty percent of our companies offer accredited apprenticeships to young people studying towards an intermediate vocational (MBO) degree. But we also offer opportunities to students at university level. Clients like ASML ask us to create products at an ever high standard – build to spec – and to assume complete responsibility for the development of modules, such as the wafer handler. This module places the wafer into and removes it from the chip production machine with the

highest possible precision per lithographic cycle. So we fund applied research conduced by graduate students at the Eindhoven University of Technology. We obviously provide this funding because we can then use the findings, but also to ensure there are enough challenging research opportunities in our region. Because that increases the attractiveness of the region for talented people from outside the Netherlands.’

RETAINING TALENTED PEOPLE Once talented people have been found to fill the vacancies in the high-tech industry around Eindhoven, the next challenge is to retain them. The Dutch government also has a role to play here, Van der Leegte feels; a view that is shared by his high-tech colleagues in the region. Therefore, the ‘Regional Envelope for Brainport Eindhoven’ was presented to the country’s politicians in The Hague earlier this year. This petition calls for 170 million euros in additional funding to boost the attractiveness of the region as a business location and as a place to live. ‘This region is essential to the Dutch economy as a whole, and that justifies additional funding. Particularly when you consider that the city of Amsterdam receives 195 euros per resident from the Municipalities Fund, whereas the city of Eindhoven only gets 1.53 euros per resident. So our appeal deserves to be heeded, and I am confident that it will.’ Van der Leegte is full of confidence, pointing to the decision of the government to designate the Eindhoven ‘brainport’ as the third ‘mainport’ in the Netherlands, alongside Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and the Rotterdam seaport.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION In addition, he emphasises, the government should put more funding into technical education. ‘Businesses are in dire need of skilled technical professionals. Fortunately, the number of young people enrolling in technical education is increasing. But we cannot afford to have a situation where schools have to freeze admissions because they can’t cope with the increase in enrolments. That would obviously be unacceptable, particularly if this region continues to experience further growth. So funding levels for technical education need to be increased.’ A week after the interview, the Dutch government announced that it will invest 130 million euros from the Regional Envelope to improve the attractiveness of Brainport Eindhoven as a business location.

www.vdlgroep.com

KEY FIGURES Particularly thanks to the addition of VDL Nedcar, both the turnover and workforce of VDL Groep have increased significantly in recent years. For this year, VDL Groep expects to achieve a turnover of 6 billion euros. Its total number of employees now stands at 16,000 people. The company has a solid financial position and a solvency ratio of 56%. VDL Groep currently consists of 95 companies operating in twenty countries.

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

THEME AN ECOSYSTEM WITH INNOVATIVE STRENGTH OEMS AND SUPPLIERS IN DIALOGUE ABOUT NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND TRENDS IN SOCIETY

INNOVATING IN THE CHAIN, FROM PATIENT TO SUPPLIER The Dutch manufacturing industry is known for its collaborative culture, which has its origins in the history of the large Philips corporation. This is no longer limited to the production that the large OEMs – Philips, which focuses on health technology nowadays, and colleagues such ASML, DAF and Océ – contract out to suppliers. For their innovation, they are also looking for collaboration, not only in new technologies and production techniques but also in trends in society. BY HANS VAN EERDEN

hilips has two large sites in the Netherlands: in Best (near Eindhoven) for the medical imaging systems, such as its showpiece Azurion, and in Drachten (in the north of the Netherlands) for the mass production of personal-health products, such as shavers. ‘In Best we concentrate on research, development and assembly of complex system solutions that we supply to hospitals for example’, says Hans de Jong, president of Philips Nederland (approx. 12,000 employees). ‘The design of a system is composed of building blocks, modules, and for each block we decide whether we handle it in-house or have a partner take care of it. We once started by contracting out production, now we’re increasingly working with development partners such as Frencken, KMWE, Prodrive and VDL. We enter into a dialogue with them about what we can entrust to them and what we’ll do in-house. Our products are developing continuously: new technologies and other manufacturing methods arise and we’re going to make a giant step in digitisation. For each module we’ll go for the best fit. Step by step, suppliers are given more responsibility.’

CO-ENGINEERING Specialising in high-mix, low-volume, highcomplexity machining, mechatronic assembly, and development & engineering, KMWE (500+ employees) is a leading supplier in Eindhoven. CEO Edward Voncken sees that the trend of co-engineering – clients involving suppliers in product development at an early stage – is continuing. ‘Our engineering department has grown substantially, to about forty employees now. We’re active in engineering all around the globe. We have a dedicated site in India, we will expand our production and engineering capacity in Malaysia, and we are already collaborating with engineering firms in the US, where we intend to set up in-house production, possibly through a takeover. Collaboration with speci-

Industry Field Labs, dedicated to themes such as additive manufacturing and standardisation of the digital chain communication. In the southern Netherlands, Philips is chiefly involved in these developments through its suppliers, says Hans de Jong. ‘We’re discussing new manufacturing technologies with them, such as additive manufacturing, to see whether we can find smarter ways of manufacturing certain components.’ Philips’ focus on smart industry is in Drachten, where highly automated high-volume production takes place. ‘In Best the high-tech is found more in the imaging technology in our systems and the underlying powerful image processing software. Of course we’re working there on such things as big data, analytics and artificial intelligence. These will play an increasingly more important role in our products, but possibly also in our production in the future.’

EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING Education and training is one of the areas in which chain partners are collaborating increasingly Hans de Jong, president of Philips Nederland: ‘Suppliers do not have to go so far as to intensively, because the enter into a dialogue with end users and patients themselves, but they do need to shortage of technically understand what world Philips operates in.’ Photo: Philips trained staff is a common problem. Various educational institutes are setting up shop at the alised firms, also here in the Netherlands, enables us to offer our customers a complete BIC, a move that De Jong applauds. Although engineering and manufacturing package.’ Philips is very popular as an employer – and due to the focus on health technology, it has only become SMART INDUSTRY more so because the young generation values KMWE is putting at least as much energy in socially relevant work – the company is facing process innovation or ‘smart industry’. As such, the firm is a pioneer and will be the first increasing difficulty attracting enough occupant of the Brainport Industries Campus technically trained people. ‘Due to all kinds of (BIC) in Eindhoven this summer. ‘As many as campaigns, the number of first-year students 100 firms from all segments of the chain will has risen in higher education, but the number be collaborating there on all sorts of projects, in intermediate vocational education is still on technical, social and business innovation.’ too low, which is giving us cause for concern.’ Voncken refers especially to various Smart Philips is therefore taking many initiatives to

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

boost interest in technical studies. ‘These are not specifically targeted at Philips but more broadly at the region, where there is chain dependence as well.’ The shortage of people can partly be compensated for by making more efficient use of the available knowledge. A recent initiative taken by ASML is the Knowledge Sharing Centre (KSC), in which KMWE participates as well, says Edward Voncken. ‘The aim is to share the know-how of the engineers of ASML and other OEMs at the KSC – in the area of design rules for instance – with the educational institutes and the suppliers’ engineers at the campus, promoting its dissemination throughout the campus.’ The same applies to the model-based way of working. When all parties are working on one and the same 3D model of a product, they must all follow the same design rules and be able to communicate digitally in the same, standardised manner.’ ‘This applies to the entire chain.’

ORIGINAL DESIGN MANUFACTURER Fellow supplier Frencken Europe (450 employees in the Netherlands and the US, over 1,000 employees in the rest of the division in Asia) is looking for a position higher up in the chain. The specialist in machining and mechatronics is part of the Singapore-listed Frencken Group, a global high-tech capital and consumer equipment service provider. ‘A number of parties know us as a contract manufacturer’, explains Theo Kok, global director of technology. ‘But we wish to offer more added value by helping them in the development and optimisation of their products. We can do so by submitting proposals for improvement or by assuming complete responsibility for the modules that are not part of the customer’s core business but that are key to their success in the market.’ Managing director Fokko Leutscher describes this latter role as original design manufacturer: making a design and taking care of production based on the customer’s functional specifications and our own technology road map. Kok says, ‘That road map must of course be aligned with what our customers want. We have therefore decided which technologies we will invest in to be able to make the difference for our customers in a number of years. These include motion control and vacuum technology.’

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY This method of collaboration is deeply rooted in Eindhoven, but in Kok’s and Leutscher’s experience, foreign customers are also receptive to it. ‘In Germany, for example, a relationship often starts on a build-to-print basis (production according to a drawing supplied by the customer, ed.). If that is successful and the customers start to grow, they begin to think more about their core business is and what they’d better contract out. This is a delicate, yet inevitable discussion.’ One of

the topics is intellectual property (IP). ‘We constantly need to define what is core business for the customer, what sets them apart from the competition and hence what remains their IP, and what is key but not unique to them, what we as Frencken can develop IP for and use for other customers as well. Obviously, we exercise great caution in that regard.’ Frencken holds these discussions particularly with existing customers. ‘With new customers, whose growth and learning curve tends to be steep, it is often easier to show our added value as a technology partner.’

GLOBAL PRESENCE

SOCIAL CONTEXT To increase their share in innovation, suppliers must not only broaden and deepen in a technological sense, Hans de Jong concludes. ‘The broader context becomes increasingly important at Philips. It is about new technologies and about the trends in care, which is shifting from curative to chronic. If we wish to continue to support patients after treatment, what does this mean for our products? The challenge we and our suppliers are up against is to match the range of fundamentally new, disruptive technologies – such as digitisation, artificial intelligence and 3D printing – with demand. By focusing much more on the question of how we can support the patient as a human being, we are bringing innovations that will transform the care landscape and add value for the patient. Suppliers do not have to

An important ‘asset’ in the talks is the Frencken Group’s global presence – like that of the KMWE Group – in Europe, Asia and the US, Fokko Leutscher continues. ‘Our customers have a global footprint and would like us to handle their production ‘round the corner’, with a view to costs and communicating in the same language and time zone. It’s becoming increasingly local for local.’ Philips does not insist on suppliers following their customer, De Jong responds. ‘It is of course convenient if parties we know and trust well are nearby. However, we don’t have a chain exclusively for Philips and actually encourage suppliers to work for multiple clients, so they gain knowledge that is interesting for other parties. For large components that do not add a great deal of value, such as panels, we seek out local supFokko Leutscher, managing director of Frencken Europe, ‘With new customers, whose growth and learning curve tends to be steep, it is often easy to show our added value as pliers and are sometimes even forced to do a technology partner.’ Photo: Bart van Overbeeke so by governments. However, our suppliers here can ship highgo so far as to enter into a dialogue with end tech assemblies to one of our sites elsewhere.’ users and patients themselves, but they do So, as far as De Jong is concerned, there is a need to understand what world and what future for production in the Netherlands, a care sector Philips operates in and what ‘country with a fantastic business climate’. implications this has for our system solutions. ‘Everything has become better and more Collaboration is in Philips’ DNA and we’re customer-specific; this requires that produclooking for the same in that of our tion is close to the knowledge. Moreover, lead suppliers.’ times are increasingly under pressure. That is where the opportunities lie for the manufacturing industry in the Netherlands, proviwww.philips.com ded that it continues to invest in such things www.kmwe.com as training, digitisation and smart industry, www.frencken.nl and people continue to hone their skills.’ www.frenckengroup.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

ECOSYSTEMS SPITZENCLUSTER IT’S OWL AND BRAINPORT INDUSTRIES BUILD ON STRONG NETWORKS

THE WIND OF COOPERATION ON INDUSTRY 4.0 IS SWEEPING ACROSS THE INDUSTRY The Netherlands excels in co-creation: the high-tech ecosystem Brainport Industries is a good example of this. But the wind of cooperation on the implementation of Industry 4.0 technology is sweeping across the industry. Spitzencluster it's OWL (Intelligente Technische Systeme OstWestfalenLippe) is causing a furor in Germany. The networks in the neighbouring countries are doing it their own way. They are achieving special results in both cases. BY LUCY HOLL

echnologienetzwerk it’s OWL has an enormous, joint booth at the Hannover Messe every year. Recruiting companies to participate in the fair is becoming increasingly easier. ‘They sign on spontaneously’, says Günter Korder, Operations Director of it’s OWL Clustermanagement GmbH. ‘Companies and knowledge institutes know that we enjoy tremendous name recognition and visibility. Last year, nine Chinese delegations visited our booth on the first day of the Hannover Messe to learn about what we do.’ Spitzencluster it’s OWL unites over 180 partners: companies, universities and knowledge institutes. Together, they want to make the leap to intelligent systems, to Industry 4.0. This network collaborates on innovative products and services for the market of tomorrow. From automation and drive solutions, machines, vehicles and household appliances to connected production lines and smart grids. Global market leaders and ‘Hidden Champions’.

COMPETITION It all began about six years ago when the region took part in a Spitzencluster competition organised by the German Ministry of Education and Research. To everyone’s surprise, it's OWL was chosen as one of the fifteen high-tech top clusters. The relatively small, somewhat unknown, region – compared to the industrial areas around Stuttgart, Hannover and Munich, for example – received no less than 40 million euros for cooperation and development. The core of it’s OWL consists of family businesses. Four hundred companies operating in the machine building, electrical engineering and automotive supply industries provide 80,000 jobs. Well-known names include Benteler, Claas, Hella, Miele and – from industrial electronics – Beckhoff, Harting and Lenze. ‘The region is some-what atypical’, says Prof.

Fred van Houten of the University of Twente, member of the Advisory Board of it's OWL. ‘Family businesses have a different dynamic than companies where shareholder value and quarterly figures play a dominant role. They foster a cooperation mentality.’ According to a study by the Stockholm School of Economics, OstWestfalenLippe (OWL) is one of the Spitzencluster it's OWL unites to collaborate on innovative products and services for eleven strongest production the market of tomorrow, says Günter Korder. Photo: OstWestfalenLippe. regions in Europe, with a Precision and Bosch Rexroth The Drive & high innovation performance and export Control Company. Edward Voncken, CEO of ratio. Günter Korder: ‘Not that cooperation is KMWE, is the chairman. KMWE specialises always easy, but what happens here within in high mix low volume high complexity it’s OWL is very valuable. Within Germany, machining and assembly as well as in it’s OWL is one of the largest initiatives in the development and engineering for aerospace area of Industry 4.0, contributing significantly and high-tech machine building. to the maintenance of the manufacturing industry in Germany.’

‘TECHNICAL SHOPPING MALL’ TECHNICAL SHOPPING MALL A while back, seven years ago to be exact, the Coöperatie Brainport Industries was founded in Eindhoven. It is a supply network of over hundred Dutch high-tech companies. It wants to create a linkage between first, second and third tier high-tech companies, further enhance the chain’s professionalism, and increase innovation and competitive power. OEMs in the high mix, low volume and high complexity machine building industry place increasingly more demands on their suppliers. In addition to manufacturing components and (sub)modules, they want their strategic suppliers to also undertake the development and engineering aspects. They must be able to shoulder all of the responsibility for this. Brainport Industries has members from all over the Netherlands, including AAE The Art of Mechatronics, equipment service provider Frencken, added-value supplier Contour, system supplier NTS-Group, VDL GL

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

What makes this venture unique is the industrious construction of the physical variant of ultimate cooperation in the manufacturing industry: Brainport Industries Campus (BIC). ‘A large, covered technical shopping mall’, as Edward Voncken calls it. The campus (ultimately 200 hectares or the equivalent of 400 football fields) is located off the A2 motorway, close to Eindhoven Airport. The initiator of the campus is Brainport Industries in close cooperation with the project developer SDK, the province of Noord-Brabant, the city of Eindhoven and the Brabantse OntwikkelingsMaatschappij. Impressively designed, innovative buildings will literally be in the middle of the green landscape. The heart will be the glass Atrium with catering facilities, technology showrooms, flexible production areas and pavilions for innovation, education and development. High-tech companies in the supply and

manufacturing industry will share facilities for their production, storage, logistics, research and innovation needs in the ‘Factory of the Future’, which will be in use 24/7. Companies will obviously have their own sections. KMWE (with about 500 employees and 85 million euros in turnover) moves its Dutch branches to the Brainport Industries Campus. The first new building can be occupied as of May. ‘We want to offer our employees an attractive working environment, which also attracts young people.’

metal printing technology. Edward Voncken - a graduate of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen - saw a lot of interest from abroad. Japanese robot suppliers, for example, want to establish their European base here. German companies, which do business in the Netherlands, but don’t want a static showroom, can show their machines and software in full production to large customers. Voncken: ‘KMWE supplies a great deal to German OEMs. They will find an entire network under one roof here.’

ENTIRE CHAIN UNDER ONE ROOF Some 1600 students from the vocational training courses of Summa Techniek will be taught on campus as of August 2018: The next generation of the high-tech manufacturing industry will be educated at a state-of-the-art work and learning environment. ‘It’s exciting: this new concept of an entire supply chain under one roof still needs to be understood. Fellow companies are sometimes cautious and first want to see if it will work. Other entrepreneurs believe in it and are taking the step to move to the campus.’ KMWE was the first to sign up for it, followed by BT Brammer, Fujitsu Glovia, Anteryon, HTSC, Procurion and Yaskawa Benelux, to name a few. AddLab is also going into production: it is the first Dutch 3D printing factory, founded by eight suppliers who have jointly developed 3D

ENGINE Both at Technologienetzwerk it's OWL and at Brainport Industries, there are joint projects aimed at the implementation of Industry 4.0 (known as Smart Industry in the Netherlands), the main engine. The new innovation programme, ‘Factory of the Future’, was kicked off in Eindhoven in January. The aim is to jointly develop smart innovation and production facilities and to make them accessible to the entire sector. The programme comprises seven projects. Some 75 companies and 6 educational and knowledge institutes are involved. The Brainport Industries Campus also has two field labs that are part of the Dutch Smart Industry Action Agenda. Field lab Flexible Manufacturing is focused on using robots to

make production processes more flexible. Another field lab, Smart Connected Supplier Network, concentrates on an efficient exchange of information between chain partners by standardising the interfaces of the different systems.

INDUSTRY-DRIVEN At it's OWL, there have been 46 innovation projects implemented with a value of 100 million euros in recent years. Günter Korder: ‘They are industry-driven innovation projects. A company puts a challenge on the table and we look for people from the knowledge institutes and other companies from the entire production chain. Where there may have been bilateral contacts in the past, many of the parties currently work together in an open way.’ In addition, small companies get the opport-unity to gain knowledge free of charge at larger companies and knowledge institutes in order to strengthen the entire ecosystem. ‘There are 171 tailor-made projects of no more than half a year. Away from all paper formalities, so that the partners could really concentrate on the content.’ www.its-owl.de www.brainportindustries.nl www.kmwe.com www.brainportindustriescampus.com

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

EDUCATION JHERONIMUS ACADEMY OF DATA SCIENCE: HALF OF THE STUDENTS FROM ABROAD

UNIVERSITY IS DATA GOLD MINER FOR PHILIPS EN START-UPS As has been said many times before, data is the new corporate grail. Possessing the right data is worth gold, gold which can, however, only be mined by specialists, such as the experts from the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS) in Den Bosch. How is this – still fairly new – university doing eighteen months from the start? BY ANDRÉ RITSEMA

irst some context. The business community and government authorities collect data in many different ways: through websites, traffic cameras, debit cards and smartphones, but also through (industrial) sensors, to give just a few examples. This yields an incredible mountain of data. What did that consumer buy in the web shop? How much energy does that specific sensor consume? However, that data in itself is useless; you need specialists who are able to extract useful information from all that data. What else did that consumer buy? What could they potentially want to buy now? These specialists are data miners and data scientists, who are able to establish relationships, recognise patterns and make calculated forecasts. And given that the data mountain continues to grow, so does the demand for these specialists, which, a year and half ago, was exactly the reason for establishing the JADS: a joint venture of the universities of Tilburg and Eindhoven, the municipality of Den Bosch and the province of Noord-Brabant, says academic director Arjan van den Born. ‘The amount of data is growing like never before. In five years from now, we will have five times as much data and in ten fifty times as much. It is of utmost importance that the business community and government have enough people to convert this data into practical and useful information. These people are trained here.’

ONLY UNIVERSITY COURSE IN THE WORLD The JADS is in its second academic year now. And, according to Van den Born, it is doing beyond expectation. We have 600 students this academic year, which exceeds our expectations. Half of them come from abroad, and half of those from abroad are from outside Europe. We are expected to grow to about

2,000 students in 2020’, says Van den Born. In this academic year, the JADS offers ten courses, including the master’s programmes in Data Entrepreneurship, Data Science Engineering and Data Science Business & Society. The academy is clearly doing well. The relationship with the business community is simply excellent as well, accordAcademic director Arjan van den Born: In five years from now, we will have five times as much data ing to Van and in ten fifty times as much. It is of utmost importance that the business community has enough den Born. people to convert this data into useful information. These people are trained here.’ Photo: JADS ‘Companies are showing This yields considerable synergy and gives us overwhelming interest. Both small and large the opportunity to accelerate the transfer of companies know where to find us. There are our knowledge to the business community’, companies who would like us to provide them says Van den Born. with hundreds of students a year. But that The university offers collaboration schemes isn’t yet possible of course. Fortunately, they for different types of businesses. ‘Each understand that’, says Van Born. business is working on digitisation, on data Demand from the business community is processing, but some businesses have proenormous and there is close collaboration. gressed further than others. We focus on Van den Born thinks that the JADS is the only start-ups, on the traditional SME sector, university in the world that literally shares its working with large companies such as Philips premises with businesses. ‘We have one shared and ASML, as well as with digital leaders such campus and one shared cafeteria. Communias booking.com and Coolblue. cation lines are short and we know each other.

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

MATCHING NOT EASY P Van den Born sees that it is not always easy to match academic supply and corporate demand. ‘Both the university and the business community face the same issue, such as: how do you deal with the scalability of algorithms and how do you deal with ethical issues? However, where we look ahead in attempts to gain new insights and find new solutions, most companies would rather have an instant solution. That presents somewhat of a challenge indeed. Each and every time, you

bottom of the pizza, while the applications are the toppings. ‘Companies want us to focus on the toppings, to come up with concrete applications. And we are even good at that in the Netherlands. But what use is a pizza without a bottom? Fundamental research is essential to us as a university. Professors are also interested in fundamental research. It ultimately leads to all manner of fantastic new and concrete solutions, I’m convinced of that. Bluetooth, the internet – these are just two things that came about thanks to fundamental

‘Where we look ahead in attempts to gain new insights, most companies would rather have an instant solution’

have to explain what you expect from one another and what you have to offer.’ According to Van den Born, applied research and fundamental research still tend to clash. The business community is of course concerned with the former, while academia, on the other hand, seeks to allow time and room for the latter. The academic director mentions the pizza model: fundamental research is the

research. If the bottom is fine, the toppings will be fine. Allow the education sector that much room, I would say’, says Van den Born.

SUMMER SCHOOLS Knowledge is also transferred to the business community by way of frequently organised workshops, summer schools and theme gatherings about topics such as ‘data and

crime’ and ‘data and smart industry’. ‘Within these domain applications, we look at how education can best be geared to the wishes of the business community. I would like to invest more in that, with online programmes, for example, and with more partners. Our SME lab supports and advises businesses. This may well be stepped up, because it’s going to be a major undertaking to further digitise the Dutch business community.’

IS THE NETHERLANDS IN THE LEAD? Where does the Netherlands stand in terms of data science? Opinion on this is divided. Some say that the Netherlands is two years behind internationally, whereas others believe that the Netherlands is ahead. Putting it into perspective, Van den Born says, ‘In general, it is fair to say that the Netherlands – together with Switzerland and the UK – leads the way in Europe. Worldwide, however, the United States is at the forefront. Obviously, they started much earlier. Plus: We have a hard time raising the necessary finances: four hundred thousand euros here, one million there. There are universities the US that receive 250-million dollar grants annually from businesses. That makes your life a little easier, I would say. It sometimes makes me jealous.’ www.jads.nl

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

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INNOVATION ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION ABOUT THE FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER AND ‘CO-LOCATION’

TAKING THE NEXT STEP IN OPEN INNOVATION How does an industrial, hardware-oriented region – that has the research-driven electronics corporation Philips to thank for its growth – continue to be relevant in an area of open innovation and digitisation? This question took centre stage in the round-table discussion that Link Magazine organised with design and innovation firm VanBerlo in Eindhoven at the end of last month. ‘Co-location’ proves to be one of the keywords: scientists, designers and engineers working together on innovation – as in the Innovation Powerhouse, where the round-table discussion was held, or in the Eindhoven Engine. This new initiative wants to have knowledge institutes and industry work out solutions to major (social) challenges together.

BY HANS VAN EERDEN

he Eindhoven Brainport region has Philips to thank for its rise as an industrial hot spot in the Netherlands. The electronics corporation covered a wide range of sectors, driven by the Philips Natlab. Lots of spin-offs, with lithography machine builder ASML being the largest, continued to build on that. Divisions such as Semiconductors and Lighting have been spun off and Philips now profiles itself as a health technology company; its research has been ‘narrowed’ accordingly. Panel chairman Ad van Berlo expresses his concerns about that: ‘What does that mean for the region? Many start-ups have gained their initial experience at Philips. How do we foster that research?’

EINDHOVEN ENGINE Maarten Steinbuch, professor of control technology at TU/e and entrepreneur with Eindhoven Medical Impressions of the round-table discussion at the Innovation Powerhouse in Eindhoven. Seated at the table, from left to right: Ivo Lamers, innovation strategist at VanBerlo; Valer Pop, CEO at LifeSense Group; Kees Gehrels, senior director of new business at NXP Automotive; Ad van Berlo (panel chairperson), founder of VanBerlo; Maarten Steinbuch, profession of control technology at Eindhoven University of Technology;

TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Ad Vermeer, CTO at Cerescon. Photos: Bart van Overbeeke

INNOVATION POWERHOUSE The round-table discussion was hosted by Ad van Berlo, founder of design and innovation firm VanBerlo, which moved into the Innovation Powerhouse in Eindhoven. This building is part of the heritage of the Philips corporation and was erected on the Strijp-T industrial estate in 1953 as a power plant for the Philips factories. On VanBerlo’s initiative, the property – building TR – was recently transformed into a high-profile business centre for innovative enterprises. The ambition is to create an ecosystem for innovation, with Van Berlo guarding the formula, which he describes as follows: ‘A living lab for design,

architecture, high-tech hardware and software, finance, big data, patents – these kinds of disciplines.’ The Innovation Powerhouse and the area around it on Strijp-T is home to start-ups, innovative companies such as Additive Industries, the builder of industrial 3D metal printers, and educational institutes such as Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). The building does not accommodate ‘traditional’ companies such as the large consultancies that are keen to set up shop in the area on account of its ‘hip’ look and feel. The commercial operation of the property requires a different, more long-term-oriented approach than the

traditional ‘quick win’ approach. ‘A family that has operated in the property sector for sixty years bought this building four years ago after I had won them over to this new way of thinking. I really respect the way they opened their minds to this.’ Innovative is also the way in which the municipality of Eindhoven collaborates with the initiators and entrepreneurs on redeveloping the area. ‘The municipality is expected to fulfil mainly a facilitating role and allow the entrepreneurs to take part in the decision-making process. This is not an easy switch for the municipality to make, but the way they participate is commendable.’

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

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Robotics, shares his concerns. ‘Universities play a role in that as the ‘long-term conscience’ for innovation.’ This prompted him to launch the Eindhoven Engine initiative: a new ‘Natlab’ where academic researchers and industrial engineers work together – on a co-location basis – on innovative projects en start-ups. TU/e is now elaborating the concept; the intention is that other knowledge institutes and major companies participate in it and that 500 people will work there in projects eventually. Steinbuch draws inspiration from the student teams that develop and build

innovative systems – such as a solar car or electric motor, often for taking part in an international competition – with a great deal of enthusiasm and in a short period of time. ‘Why would this be impossible with teams of ‘seniors’? The Knowledge Workers Granting Scheme (Kenniswerkersregeling, ed.) has shown what the result can be.’ He refers to a scheme that the government introduced in 2009: knowledge workers employed by companies that were in dire straits at the time of the crisis could be temporarily stationed at a university or other knowledge institute, paid by the government. ‘In this spirit we now wish to bring young university graduates and people from industry together in the Eindhoven Engine to work on projects that are – preferably – linked to social themes.’ Steinbuch refers to the major challenges that the EU has formulated for the 2020 Horizon research programme. ‘There, I opt for the task of combining industrial technology with digitisation and artificial intelligence (AI). The key question for a hardware-oriented region such as ours is how we can cope with the acceleration induced by digitisation and AI. We are now pooling project ideas.’ This challenge not only faces hardware companies but Van Berlo as well, according to innovation strategist Ivo Lamers. ‘As a design firm, we must join the global digitisation. We’re also occupying ourselves with the rise in robotics and have hired the first people for AI.’ Of course, the region is already active in the

area of open innovation, also on a co-location basis, Steinbuch knows. He mentions the collaboration between the Máxima Medical Center in Veldhoven and Philips on healthcare innovation and the Holst Centre in Eindhoven, the open-innovation R&D centre of TNO and the Belgian imec. However, as the next big step, the Eindhoven Engine is supposed to scale up open innovation.

start-ups. Our ambition is to become the new Philips, but in a different way.’ The prospects are good, because the patented innovation has won many prizes and has been successfully introduced in various countries. And Pop has managed to attract the necessary substantial investments for scaling up. A key success factor was finding one hundred women with incontinence problems who started testing the product.

USER IN THE PICTURE The transformation that the region is undergoing from closed innovation, as in the Philips Natlab in the old days, to open innovation, for example at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven and soon in the Eindhoven Engine, must gain momentum. A great deal is expected of the spin-offs and start-ups. Ad van Berlo wants to know what their success factors are. Focus and passion, says Valer Pop, CEO of LifeSense Group (25 employees). In 2015, after having worked at the Holst Centre for ten years, he started his own company, which is now developing a training solution for women with incontinence problems. Smart underwear is fitted with sensors that detect activity and loss of urine, and based on the combined information, an app can advise the women about their training and encourage them by showing progress. ‘We can lose a customer within eight weeks, as seventy percent of the users will have been relieved of the problem by then. But there are as many as 200 million prospective customers worldwide.’ In other words, it is a promising technology and business case. Focus is an important element in developing it, according to Pop. ‘Given that possibilities abound, especially in the technological field, you have to make the right choices. A start-up relies on technology, design, business model and capital, but I often miss that combination at

MIXED FEELINGS Ad Vermeer can relate to Pop’s story. He is the inventor of the world’s first selective asparagus harvester, which automates the uncomfortable manual work of cutting asparagus and increases the yield. Cerescon, the company that is marketing the machine, is not the first start-up he has been involved in. Last month, after years of development, Cerescon (25 employees) delivered its first machine to a paying customer. ‘We have already had a user group, including asparagus growers, involved in the development for three years. It is surprising how they sometimes come up with other solutions than we can think of.’ Vermeer is now also seeing opportunities for selective harvesters for other crops, for which collaborative research needs to plant the seed. He has already received subsidy from Horizon 2020. Talking to customers, and to their customers, is something Kees Gehrels does constantly as well. As senior director of new business at NXP Semiconductors, a Philips spin-out, he is developing the automotive market, where NXP is global market leader with its chips. ‘My focus is ADAS, advanced driving assistance systems, for which we expect enormous growth in the coming years.’ NXP serves Tier 1’s, the major system suppliers in the automotive industry, but it is ultimately about

what their customers – car manufacturers – expect. ‘That is why we talk a lot to the customer’s customer. Our direct customers sometimes have mixed feelings about our close contact with their customers, but we TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

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need to understand what those end customers exactly want. We do this as far away as China, where we also talk to OEMs, as they are growing very fast.’

PHILIPS HERITAGE With its innovations, the Brainport region is in a position to contribute to global growth, but there are some challenges to overcome. For example, international marketing is needed in order to attract real top talent to the region and the now somewhat modest presentation of the region may also be slightly ‘bol-

der’. It already begins with the start-ups that have to work on their pitching skills; that just does not come natural to technologists. There is a bottleneck for the region, according to Van Berlo. ‘Innovation will not become a success until the business is involved.’ He therefore raises the question of whether the policy for start-ups could do with a few changes. ‘The term ‘start-up’ is strongly associated with young people and technical ideas. There are two problems there’, Ad Vermeer explains. ‘First of all, it is not about the technology, it is about the customer’s problem. Secondly, young starters sometimes fail because of their lack of experience. You need a combination of young and older people.’ Van Berlo refers to a study that demonstrates that the best start-up entrepreneurs are aged 40 and over. You need a mix of the Philips DNA and young people, says Kees Gehrels from NXP. ‘That’s why the Eindhoven Engine is such a cool initiative. It should become somewhat more concrete though, with more focus, on a sector such as the automotive industry, for example.’ Maarten Steinbuch acknowledges this and points to the opportunities that the Philips heritage offers. ‘Everything in the region has ties with that heritage. We need to utilise that experience in conjunction with the input from young people, who have a feel for design and have mastered an agile way of working.’ Ad Vermeer: ‘We need to combine the strengths of Philips with enterprise, which the company lacked too much. By making the

cross-over from high-tech to agricultural, we have seized one global challenge (global food supply, ed.).’

PRODUCTION IN THE NETHERLANDS For the policy concerning start-ups, Valer Pop once again points to the well-known success formula of ‘knowledge + skill + cash’. ‘There is plenty of knowledge and skill here in the region, but ‘cash’ is a problem. There are few venture capitalists (VCs) here; more venture capital from private investors is needed.’ There proves to be little interest among the roundtable participants to do business with VCs, because most of them are used to investing in software startups, who are able to launch their first product quickly and then scale up rapidly, so that the investor can be given a nice exit within a few years. Ad Vermeer says, ‘A hardware-related start-up calls for a different type of investor, one with more patience. Hardware has a development cycle of three years, which often forms too high a threshold to go on board. However, once you have achieved success, that disadvantage becomes an advantage: that threshold also applies to competitors that want to follow in your wake.’ Where many of software start-ups dream of an exit, the round-table participants are barely interested. Maarten Steinbuch says, ‘I don’t believe in an exit. For Eindhoven Medical Robotics we contacted private investors. We want to grow to a 1,000 strong workforce in ten years from now and we want to have our robots manufactured in the Netherlands.’ The latter is also what Valer Pop aims for, but he advocates a global marketing approach. ‘That international approach has helped us a lot.’ At the same time, Eindhoven is also internationalising, says Kees Gehrels: ‘We have a 35 strong team for Automotive Radar here, with twenty different nationalities. That works wonders.’ According to Ivo Lamers, not only the highly educated talent that the region needs merits attention. He says, ‘We must not forget all the people working in the factories when everything is being robotised. They must be involved in the developments.’ www.cerescon.com www.lifesense-group.com www.nxp.com www.tue.nl/cst twitter.com/EMRobotics www.vanberlo.nl

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STRATEGY INTEGRATION OF BIESHEUVEL TECHNIEK AND BRAMMER WELL UNDER WAY

STRONGER TOGETHER In September of last year, Biesheuvel Techniek’s parent company IHP Group got a new owner, Advent International. Advent then delisted the UK technical wholesaler Brammer, clearing the way for a merger with Biesheuvel Techniek. With the integration of the two companies well under way, the new name has also already been decided on: BT Brammer BY JOS CORTENRAAD

hat can’t be a simple operation, merging two companies with annual turnovers of about one billion euros each. ‘That’s right’, acknowledges Meino Noordenbos, director Benelux of Biesheuvel Techniek Brammer and responsible for the integration in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. ‘One day you wake up and your turnover has increased by 40% to EUR 270 million, you have 900 people on the payroll instead of 550, and the number of business locations has grown from 45 to 70. It’s not that we haven’t had our share of developments in recent years, and growth from takeovers is part and parcel of our corporate strategy, but this was and still is quite a challenge. There are two business locations in various cities as well as overlapping positions. The ICT systems differ, Brammer still had some branches with minority shareholders and there are many accounting issues as well. And in addition it’s still business as usual every day.’

PRODUCT RANGE And then we’re not even talking about the product range, which all of a sudden is extended by some 170,000 products. It may take a while before these have all been entered into the systems. Meino Noordenbos: ‘True, but that’s what it was all about in the first place. Biesheuvel Techniek did not have a very strong drive technology portfolio. The merger with Brammer enables us to cover a larger part of the industrial market, with both products and knowledge. Like us, Brammer has invested heavily in professionals and training. I am impressed by their expertise and enthusiasm. They know all about drives and the market and monitor developments. And they have to, because OEMs demand

added value from their suppliers. It’s no longer enough just to supply materials, parts, components and equipment. Service, installation and training are all part of the package. Brammer recognised the importance of this. We’re a very good match.’ The integration is due to be completed by the end of 2018. That has to and will work,

STRUCTURE

reports Meino Noordenbos, director Benelux of Biesheuvel Techniek Brammer

(BT Brammer). Photo: Bart van Overbeeke The integration is due to be completed by the know-how remain paramount. We will not end of 2018. That has to and will work, says compromise on that.’ Meino Noordenbos. ‘We started off a bit too fast initially, putting too much emphasis on a new structure. That created unrest. So after PARTNERSHIPS Christmas we decided to allow the process The acquisition of Brammer is, for now, the more time. The people are keen to work last in a series of take-overs. ‘We want to offer together, but we shouldn’t want to force the as broad a package as possible. With the added issue. We are looking carefully at where products from Brammer, we now have a range business locations can be combined and how of almost one million different products, positions can be allocated. I’m not expecting including tools, lubricants, bearings, hydrauany lay-offs. We will continue to grow, also lics, pneumatics, personal protective equipbecause we now have more to offer our ment en measurement equipment. But buyers. This cooperation paves the way partnerships are essential as well. We have towards more sectors in the manufacturing concluded special contracts with OEMs in the industry.’ manufacturing industry, such as Canon Océ, ITM, KMWE and Zehnder. We manage the warehouses of some 300 large and small CUSTOMERS companies. We have climbed up in the chain, For the integration, Meino Noordenbos uses sit around the table with R&D departments the outcome of a survey among 300 key customers. ‘Reactions are positive. Our and provide input for innovations and customers consider it important that their logistics. This is where the investments in contact will remain the same and that logistics product knowledge and training pay off. won’t change. They also expect competitive Brammer’s expertise has made us even prices, especially because our increased size stronger.’ enables us to demand better conditions from our suppliers. However, service and technical www.biesheuveltechniek.nl

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

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INNOVATION FIRST BLOCKCHAIN FIELD LAB OF THE NETHERLANDS OPERATES OUT OF HEERLEN

TECHRUPTION: DISRUPTION IN PRACTICE The starting shot for Techruption, the first blockchain field lab in the Netherlands, was fired a year ago. Affiliated with the Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen. A community in which established companies, start-ups, knowledge institutes and governments study and apply blockchain technology and artificial intelligence solutions. BY JOS CORTENRAAD

inding a gap in the busy schedule of Vince Meens, blockchain guru of the Heerlen campus and a staunch preacher of a totally new future, is not that easy. He firmly believes that the usual business models are disappearing, and not so slowly either. People are going to build their own cars and machines, become co-owners of buildings and power plants. Payments and other agreements will be stored in a completely new, transparent system, eliminating the role of banks, notaries, accountants and all types of brokers and intermediaries altogether. Thus, on to the blockchain technology.

DISRUPTION A revolution in itself, combined with the rapid advance of artificial intelligence and the application of algorithms based on billions of data, and the disruption is complete. Vince Meens is able to tell the story clearly and convincingly, and does so as he travels around the world. On the one hand, by invitation, on the other, by promoting the campus in Heerlen, particularly the Techruption platform. His time is therefore limited, but no one ever appeals to him in vain. ‘Because we have to become aware of the big changes that are going to turn our lives upside down. The idea is that we are exaggerating, that it will not happen that quickly’, he says in the campus building at the southern entrance of Heerlen, where a large department of pension insurer APG used to be located. ‘But it sure is. The developments are taking place at a breathtakingly rapid pace. If the Internet was a revolution, it is child’s play compared to blockchain technology and the ability to equip robots with artificial intelligence. A ripple, nothing more.’

HEERLEN He shares that story over and over again as he travels across the world, but not to preach or to convert. ‘We are building something unique here on the Brightlands campus in Heerlen. We have hundreds of specialists working

on the blockchain, on the underlying technology that forms the basis for a new foundation for society. They research applications, analyse data, build new algorithms and work on new systems. And these are not just some unknown compaVince Meens, blockchain guru of the Heerlen campus and a staunch preacher of a totally nies that have made new future: ‘The cars become public property, you pay for use. Not with euros, but with a virtual currency.’ Photo: Johannes Timmermans the campus their home. Rather, they are IBM, Accenture, De Volksbank, APG, MOBOTIQ TNO, PGGM, Rabobank and CBS, to name a Science fiction? ‘Not at all. The Mobotiq few. They want to know what is going on, how project with the cars is already underway. We the changes will impact them and how they are going to use electric vehicles here on can lead the way.’ campus. The project will ultimately run itself. If there is a need for more vehicles, an order is automatically placed in the marketplace. I get ‘WE ARE GOING TO SHARE’ that it’s difficult to imagine, but autonomous Vince Meens illustrates a future that is unsystems will be created to serve people, but imaginable for most people. ‘Forget about they will function independently.’ the car factories. Mobility is going to change That is the future in a nutshell. What exactly is radically. People will no longer need a happening on the Brightlands Smart Services personal car. They will build a car together Campus in Heerlen, one of the four Brightand share it. Simply a matter of snapping lands Campuses in Limburg, in addition to together modules you’ve bought online or those in Geleen, Maastricht and Venlo? ‘In printed on 3D printers. The cars become public property, you pay for use. Not with Heerlen, the emphasis is on ICT, data analysis euros, but with a virtual currency. The car and artificial intelligence’, Vince Meens goes itself pays for maintenance, new tyres or back to basics. ‘We support the other three repairs. Human intervention is taken out of campuses, but not only that. Here, we deal the equation, because sensors measure and with questions from large and small send a signal to a platform when something companies and organisations about such needs to be repaired. This will also be the case things as the blockchain, data analysis, with buildings, schools, factories, and so on. artificial intelligence, robotisation, and so on. Property as we now know it will disappear. The focus is on materials, sustainability and We are going to share. I see local communities life sciences. We organise seminars and workpopping up everywhere; cities and neighbourshops, and share knowledge. Initially available hoods that keep all the facilities up and runfor the organisations located here. After all, ning. They arrange green maintenance, road they pay the rent and keep the campus up maintenance, and so on. Without a municiand running. New participants are always pality, notary, broker or any other party welcome, of course. Barely a year and a half whatsoever. Every transaction is validated after the opening, we see a lot of curiosity. by everyone involved and stored in the A company is added every month.’ blockchain. No more opportunities to swindle each other.’ TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 35

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

TURNING PARTNERSHIP INTO SUCCESS Why has High Tech Campus Eindhoven turned so many brilliant ideas into world-class businesses? The answer is an open secret. The success lies in the dynamic, productive ecosystem created when over 150 high-growth companies choose to build their future at a single location.

HERE AT THE FOCAL POINT OF ADVANCED KNOWLEDGE AND HEIGHTENED SKILLS, THINKING AND CREATING KNOW NO LIMITS. TECHNOLOGY BECOMES BUSINESS,

Repeatedly recognized as the “smartest square kilometre in Europe”, people here are working on technologies that will affect the lives of billions of people. They are focussed on finding answers to the big global questions in Health, Energy and Smart Environments. We invite you to discover more about the secrets of our success. Find out how your company can benefit!

WITH COMPLETE FACILITY SUPPORT IN A CULTURE OF CREATIVITY. HIGH TECH CAMPUS EINDHOVEN IS THE CATALYST THAT INITIATES AND ENCOURAGES THIS VIBRANT CULTURE. THIS IS A PLACE WHERE PATHS CROSS, IDEAS MEET ACTIONS, AND INNOVATION ACCELERATES.IT IS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST TO REACH NEW HEIGHTS. HERE, THE UNCONSCIOUS SEARCH REVEALS A CONSCIOUS DISCOVERY, WITH AN OPEN MIND TO THE WORLD AROUND AND THE ROAD AHEAD.

TU R N I NG TECH NOLOGY I NTO BUSI N ESS

w w w.hightec hc ampus.com /cont ac t 34

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CONTINUATION OF PAGE 33

START-UPS The building is filling up slowly but surely. Some 500 people already work here, in the service of the approximately 60 participating companies and organisations. The supporting campus organisation that organises the events and brings the companies together is modest. ‘The focus is also strongly on start-ups. Young companies can bring their ideas to the campus. They participate in hackathons during which we set up a business model within a few weeks. Very intensive, purely focused on realising a plan. If this is viable, we will go on to look for investors and partners. We coached ten starters last year, soon we will start with a second instalment of ten starters. They come from all corners of the world. Canada, America, Russia, South Africa, India, Spain. Why? Because here, the government, knowledge institutes and entrepreneurs work together. This is an ecosystem with all the trimmings, you will not find that anywhere else.’

TRANSLATION It all sounds nice, but are there any visible examples? ‘There are so many projects and studies in progress here. What do you think about the fully automatic robot with passport that can get on an airplane by itself? It exists.

An app developed from datasets allows investors to see how sustainable their portfolio is. There are apps developed for healthcare, for the manufacturing industry. Very close is the blockchain application that accurately visualises the production cycle of steel. Without thick stacks of paper with protocols and certification. We expect to have concrete applications in the very near future. Also for the manufacturing industry.’

JOBS The ambitions of the Brightlands Smart Services Campus and Techruption are

anything but modest. Over the next seven years, the organisation expects to attract 100 new companies, 1600 students and to create a total of 2000 new jobs. On the other hand, Vince Meens expects that blockchain will lead to job losses. ‘Eventually, yes. We are moving towards a more sustainable sharing economy, where fewer new items are required. But with the growth of world population that will not be a problem.’ www.brightlands.com/ brightlands-smart-services-campus www.techruption.org

START-UP CHIPMUNK The Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen is home to sixty organisations and start-ups. Chipmunk Health belongs to the last category. ‘We have developed a platform to monitor and support people at home, together with healthcare professionals. The platform can be used by people with diabetes or other chronic conditions, or by people in good health who simply want to monitor themselves’, says CEO Erik Duijsens. ‘People measure their blood pressure, weight and glucose at home and enter the data in their phone or tablet. The GP accesses the data and takes action when the values are abnormal. This way, you can monitor

people’s health in a very focused way without unnecessary surgeries and you are never late should something go wrong. GPs were sceptical at first, but are wildly enthusiastic now. Patients too, because they are in control.’ Chipmunk chose Heerlen because of the available knowledge and other start-ups. ‘There is an atmosphere of innovation, of enthusiasm here. The underlying technology is also important, of course. This is a good base for further expansion and growth.’ www.chipmunkhealth.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AME OFFERS COMPLETE INTERNET-OF-THINGS SOLUTIONS

THE IOT MUST ADD MORE VALUE The Internet of things (IoT) is a crucial ingredient of the smart industry, but it is also booming in consumer electronics. Any half-decent device is connected to the cloud and can be operated using a smartphone or tablet. The Eindhoven-based AME develops IoT solutions for industrial and consumer applications: electronics with integrated connectivity, a cloud service for access, apps and dashboards for control. Using self-learning algorithms, the data is rendered fit for use by the customer. In addition, big data is collected, enabling customers to add increasingly more value to their product. ‘AME offers its clients the total solution including the IoT.’

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is crucial for the quality of the wireless IoT solutions that AME develops. From left to right, Erik van den Ackerveken, Bram van Nunen and Roel van Wijlen in the room where AME tests all RF products for EMC. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

BY HANS VAN EERDEN

ME (Applied Micro Electronics) is an independent developer and producer of high-quality electronic modules and products. The Eindhoven-based firm has 240 staff, most of whom work in product and process development. The focus is on three core technologies: power conversion, the internet of things and sensing and actuating, with the corresponding highly automated production facilities. AME has been developing IoT solutions for over a decade, ever since the day it was still called

A 36

telemetry (sending data over telephone lines) or machine-to-machine communication. Electronics with RF technology (radiofrequency) handle the communication, mostly wireless using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. This is used to collect data from, for example, sensors for the purpose of production control and monitoring in plants, but also for climate control at home. The big data is analysed and clarified on servers (cloud) that are stationed at AME but which may also be installed and maintained on a client’s site. AME is concerned with the success of the product and therefore the firm also supplies the associated

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

apps and web applications for a wide range of IoT applications.

FINAL RESPONSIBILITY ‘AME offers customers a total solution including the IoT’, says director Roel van Wijlen. ‘Our business model is based on the development and supply of products. The success of a product depends on the integration of all elements surrounding the IoT solution. That’s why we want to take total responsibility, including for hardware, software and aspects such as the cloud and app. The customer is happy with one point of contact.’ This gives the least cause for discussion, explains Erick van den Ackerveken, software architect at AME-RD&D. ‘If other parties, or the customer themselves, shoulder part of the responsibility, you need someone to manage the interface between the various ‘worlds’. Moreover, customers often ask for a speedy delivery, for a trade fair presentation or product introduction, for example. We have ready-to-use partial solutions available, enabling us to accurately assess and control the risks.’ But even if the customer retains final responsibility, AME will conduct the integration test with all components. Bram van Nunen, AME-RD&D manager, says, ‘There are few companies like us that do both development and reproduction in-house. That’s why AME finds it so important that a solution works well as a whole. In addition, we ensure that a customer is not stuck with a certain IoT cloud platform; they can use the AME cloud or one offered by third parties.’

AT HOME AND IN THE FACTORY The list of IoT applications has become endless. Van Nunen mentions the waste compactor, which AME long ago fitted with a telemetry system that produced a warning if the container needed emptying; this saved the waste processor many unnecessary rides. Or the industrial oven fitted with temperature

sensors for the best baking result. However, a current trend is that many consumer products in particular are fitted with an IoT solution, from e-bikes to coffee machines. ‘These devices used to be operated using buttons and a display; the app is now used for this, which requires IoT connectivity. Van Wijlen adds that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are now becoming affordable. ‘Fifteen years ago, subscriptions for, say, mobile telephones were expensive. So people only bought them if they provided sufficient added value. Integrating this technology now only costs a few euros. As Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are available on every smartphone, these have become the standard. As a consequence, the number of applications for the consumer market is increasing rapidly. A concurrent trend is the increase in the industrial use of the IoT, under the denominator of ‘Factory 4.0’. This does not by definition only involve wireless solutions, but especially the collection and analysis of data by means of self-learning algorithms and rules.’ Domotics is a popular IoT consumer application: home automation for lighting, heating, curtains, etcetera. Van den Ackerveken gives a practical example: ‘Closing the curtains and switching on the lights at the same time. ‘Major companies now offer their own Smart Home platforms, such as Google Home, Apple’s HomeKit and Amazon’s Alexa.

These are open platforms, but you need to be MFi-certified (‘Made For iPod/iPhone/iPad’, Ed.) to manufacture a device that is able to communicate with HomeKit. AME is one of the few MFi-certified manufacturing companies in the Netherlands.’

‘There are few companies like us that do both development and reproduction in-house’

HOW AND WHAT AME already has over 100,000 connected devices and Van Wijlen expects that number to grow exponentially in the coming years. Besides the further standardisation of the various hardware and software components – designed to allow quick configuration of application-specific IoT solutions – there are plenty of other challenges left, such as the following questions: What can you do with all that data? What conclusions do you draw?

And which actions do you subsequently run? The algorithms used for this purpose are already self-learning: they adjust themselves based on the data processed. However, the ideal picture of big data – analysing it using artificial intelligence and running actions on the basis thereof – is still rarely seen in practice, says Van Wijlen. ‘That is first and foremost a limitation from the market, which is only just beginning with it. There is also still a lot of work to be done on data analysis itself. The added value of IoT can be raised significantly. The detection of anomalies, for example, can help predict whether a device is about to break down; indications include energy consumption or temperature that is significantly higher than the average in the installed base. AME has dedicated data scientists for this, but an important role is cut out for the customer, who brings in their domain knowledge and ultimately wants to be able to program those smart algorithms themselves. As the recently deceased founder of AME Marc van Sloun said in Link last year: ‘AME puts the customer with their product in the foreground and uses its technology and advanced factories in the background to lay the basis for their success.’

www.ame.nu

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

Affordable interferometers by applying integrated photonics

Figure 1. Chiroptera Layout. A PIC-based dual wavelength three phase interferometer integrated with a Reference (A) and Target/ Probe (B) laser. The system has a FOS head and can be inserted in various applications.

Typically, photonic integrated circuits (PIC) for sensing applications are still considered a topic of limited to basic research, illustrated by the numerous academic papers published every year. The growing number shows that the topic is gaining interest, however the number of industrial available products is still rather modest. Compared to its “older brother” integrated electronics, integrated photonic technology is not yet at the same level of maturity, however its commercially availability is catching up quickly.

Figure 2. Results (blue) of a PIEZO step (black) modulation of 1 nm.

In the past few years Technobis has introduced its Gator

three-phase interferometric signal: the optical eﬃciency,

product range: a plug&play desktop Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)

thermal management and low-noise electronics of the

interrogator, a spectrometry-based product that are OTS

photonic package, and both Reference/Probe and Target

commercially available. Technobis is also introducing another

laser quality. The performance of a PIC-based interferometer

state-of-the-art ASPIC-based product line: the Chiroptera,

requires optimization of all these parameters together in

an ASPIC based ﬁber-optic interferometer. The Chiroptera

order to achieve λ/10000 interpolation, i.e. sub-nanometer

a solution for extreme sensitive, accurate and high-speed

displacement resolution.

measurements of target displacement without the need to physically connect a sensor to the object of interest.

Displacement measurement By eliminating the displacement noise originating from the

Figure 3. Result (purple) of manual steps of

Chiroptera: a compact interferometer

ﬁber, the resolution limit is dominated by the laser phase

roughly 50 μm. The result is the measured “target”

In contrast to linear-encoders and ‘classical’ geometrical

noise and electronic noise (optical power level). The following

corrected by the “reference” measurement

optical interferometers, a PIC-based interferometer consists

plots demonstrate the sensitivity and dynamic range of

of a small-formfactor package and a ﬁber-optic sensor to be

the Chiroptera with the target displacement measured

aligned to a target (Fig 1).

in two diﬀerent applications: manual micrometer-screw displacement (Fig 3) and piezo step modulation (Fig 2).

Summary / conclusion We demonstrate the use of commercially available interferometers that utilize

To overcome the fiber lead sensitivity, which is inherent to the three-phase configuration (principle first demonstrated

Our results (Fig 2) show that sub-nanometer displacement

integrated photonics for accurate remote

in 1981 by S. K. Sheem et al, JAP 52, 3865), multiple

resolution is feasible using integrated photonics. The

sensing. The Chiroptera includes the

wavelengths can be applied. Each wavelength will be

resolution limit in these setups is understood, well under

state-of-the-art integrated photonics

aligned to its own target, being able to reject common-

control and has room for improvement.

packaging solution that enables small

mode behavior (like ﬁber temperature- and vibration noise).

volume, and low-cost devices for a broad

Within integrated photonics a combination of three-phase

Depending on the application diﬀerent choices can be

range of new applications that suﬀer from

interference principle and a dense wavelength division (de)

made to accommodate the Chiroptera to the requirements

the limitations of conventional systems.

multiplexing becomes feasible.

of the targeted measurements, e.g. a high- or low-end

Further developments are ongoing

lasers, high-speed or low-speed electronics, few or multiple

in collaborative projects with leading

In addition to the speciﬁc design of the Photonic circuit, the

measurement points, etc., if cost-performance balance needs

companies such as Lionix and Settels.

following key aspects need to be considered to optimize the

to be optimized.

Please contact us for more information:

Pyrietstraat 2

info@technobis.com

1812 SC Alkmaar, The Netherlands

www.technobis.com

Tel: +31 72 30 200 40

PROCESS INNOVATION EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER MEYER BURGER NETHERLANDS PREPARED FOR BREAKTHROUGH

FERTILE GROUND FOR FUNCTIONAL INKJET PRINTING Inkjet printing is well-known from the graphics industry, but it also lends itself to industrial applications, from solar to semicon to display. Thanks to Dutch expertise in high-tech integration and the presence of a complete supply chain, Meyer Burger Netherlands has grown into a leading equipment manufacturer for so-called functional inkjet printing. With a portfolio that includes R&D, pilot and production printers, the company is now ready for the industrial breakthrough of this production technology. ‘I’m still amazed by the big names that want to work with us.’ BY HANS VAN EERDEN

t started with the Eindhoven-based OTB (‘Only The Best’), which built machines for solar cell production using PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition). OTB also developed machines for other material deposition technologies, including inkjet printing. Although this technology is also suitable for producing solar cells, it has a much broader application range. This placed the company - a member of the Roth & Rau Group at that time - squarely on the radar of the Swiss Meyer Burger, which had made it big in the volatile solar industry and was looking for opportunities to expand and diversify its market footprint. With around eighty employees, the Eindhoven branch of Meyer Burger (over 1200 employees) is an independent unit that develops and builds PECVD machines and inkjet printers. About fifteen years ago, it introduced a system for R&D applications that would enable customers to develop their own applications. A pilot printer for process development and pilot production was later added to the range and in 2013 Meyer Burger introduced the JETx platform for reliable and cost-effective volume production. All printers are marketed under the brand name PiXDRO.

BROAD Meyer Burger’s broad portfolio, from R&D to production machine, and the broad range of

With the JETx platform, Meyer Burger brings inkjet printing to an industrial scale. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

applications that the printers that can accommodate are what set Meyer Burger apart from its peers, according to Marketing & Business Development Manager Erik Corduwener. In addition to solar (deposition of plating mask or conductive layer), inkjet printing also offers interesting options for the semiconductor industry, such as the direct application of masks, functional materials or protective layers, or the packaging of components. Inkjet printing is also gaining ground in the electronics industry, for example for the application of solder masks on printed circuit boards (PCBs). For the display market, pixel printing is used for large OLED TV screens. Meyer Burger’s key competition is not so much fellow printer manufacturers as alternative production technologies, such as photolithography, dispensing, spray coating and screen printing. ‘Inkjet printing is a disruptive technology for such established processes. Using direct inkjet patterning rather than the conventional patterning process (where a resist layer is deposited, exposed and developed to form a pattern), for example, offers cost and flexibility benefits.’

The PiXDRO machines can print a broad range of materials, from chemical etching masks to a variety of electrically-conductive inks or insulating polymers. They can do this on various substrates: wafers, lead frames, PCBs, glass and even roll-to-roll plastics. Meyer Burger also serves a very diverse customer base: automotive, aerospace, electronics assembly companies, manufacturers of consumer electronics and display makers. ‘The focus in America and Europe is on engineering, while in Asia it’s more on mass production. What is greatly rewarding for us is when customers in America or Europe develop their applications on our R&D or pilot machines and then transfer the volume production to Asia. It doesn’t necessarily have to be on our production machines, although it obviously facilitates the scale-up.’ Wouter Brok, Innovations Manager: ‘I’m still amazed by the big names that want to work with us. These big companies have been showing interest in inkjet printing for four or five years now. It usually involves a long upfront TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 41

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

Brainport industries is a supplier network of more than 100 high-tech companies active in high-mix, low-volume, high-complexity in the Netherlands. Brainport Industries provides a fertile ground and a solid structure for collaborative projects whether they are related to technology, market or people and represents the interests of its members on political level.

YOUR HIGH TECH OPEN SUPPLY NETWORK

www.brainportindustries.com YOUR HIGH TECH OPEN SUPPLY NETWORK

CONTINUATION OF PAGE 39 s

process, where we help customers to qualify their printed products; entry into the automotive or medical market, for example, is a lengthy process.’

MOMENTUM The smallest droplets produced by a printer have the volume of a picolitre (one millionth of a millionth of a litre); that corresponds to a droplet diameter of two-hundredth of a millimetre. If smaller than that, they have - in physics terms - insufficient momentum; they just blow away. Commercially, inkjet printing has gained ample momentum, according to Corduwener: ‘We now see a transition from R&D to production.’ For which Meyer Burger offers its flexible, modular JETx platform. This machine is easy to configure for customer applications and desired level of automation (e.g. handling with a specific substrate holder in an inline or batch process). It is also important that large material manufacturers, such as SunChemical, DowDuPont, Evonik and Agfa, develop special formulations for inkjet, says Brok. ‘Together with our customers, we can push material suppliers to do so.’ But, obviously, printheads are also required. ‘We don’t make it ourselves; that is an expertise in itself. The manufacturers for the

graphics world, such as Fujifilm Dimatix, Xaar and Konica Minolta, already make printheads for industrial applications. In the case of corrosive inks, for example, they apply - in consultation with us - an extra coating on the interior of their heads. These heads are an important component of our machines, but they are not at the core of the printing process. To make a functional structure, you need to do much so more than just push ink out of the head. It also has to do with how the ink droplets interact with the substrate; the way in which you allow layers to build up, spread and dry, and the timing and accuracy with which all of this happens. We have the knowledge for this and it is incorporated in the printing strategies and algorithms that control our machines. There were companies that thought they only needed to buy a printhead and an xyz stage (for aligning the printhead with the substrate) and connect them together; but they had to seek us out again later; things hadn’t turned out to be quite as simple as they’d thought.’ Meyer Burger also purchases many components and modules for its machines, says Corduwener. ‘Thanks to the history of the Philips group, which lives on in Philips Healthcare, ASML and FEI, among others, the Eindhoven region offers a great infrastructure for outsourcing.’ Brok: ‘Our expertise lies in integrating all of that: process and material knowledge, printhead, stage,

automation and also the software - controlling the printheads requires continuous delivery of a significant amount of data.’

SCALABLE Meyer Burger participates in applicationoriented research projects at institutes all over the world. A development driver for printheads is not only the reduction of droplets (and thus improvement of the print resolution), but also the increase in the number of nozzles per printhead and the printing frequency (more droplets per second). All this serves to increase the productivity for industrial applications. Brok: ‘An important advantage of inkjet printing is scalability: you can easily install several heads in a machine. If they all print the same material, you increase productivity, but if the materials are different, you will gain more flexibility.’ All of this contributes to the fact that inkjet printing is now on the verge of an industrial break-through, says Corduwener. ‘Thanks to our outsourcing model and a flexible supply chain, Meyer Burger is prepared for this.’ Speaking of scalability.

www.meyerburger.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

SHORTCUTS

MRO Supplies Multi-Specialist European Leader

Investing Industrial Supplier

ELTREX WANTS TO UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION UNDERLYING THE CUSTOMER’S REQUEST Eltrex Motion seeks to provide the customer with more added value. Using its knowledge of drive technology, the company nowadays invests a great deal of time in answering the question underlying the customer’s request: What larger whole is the requested technology going to be part of and what is the best choice in that case? Eltrex recently added Alwin Wierks to its workforce to be able to offer that extra added value in a sound manner. He will be taking over the southern Netherlands (provinces of Limburg, Noord-Brabant and Zeeland) account management from David Verkooijen, who can now focus on his role as senior product manager mechatronics systems. Verkooijen explains, ‘Our knowledge of the product range of a large number of drive technology manufacturers allows us to take a helicopter view of the customer’s request and to assess whether what they ask for is the best solution to their problem. The customer often asks for something they already know – which is only human. For example, they don’t want a stepper motor because of their previous, less than satisfactory experiences with it. However, this type of motor has been improved significantly in recent years and can sometimes be an excellent solution. Customers frequently ask for a specific motor/controller combination. Given our extensive knowledge of the range of motors and controllers manufacturers have on offer and the fact that we are generally very up to date on their new product launches, we're in an excellent position to advise customers on which state-of-the-art combination is best for their particular application. Eltrex carries makes

such as Moons’, MPC, Siboni, Buhler, Engel and Thomson Linear Motion. Eltrex takes a step-by-step approach to gaining insight in the customer’s request and advising them on a solution. ‘The first meeting with our account manager is followed by a second visit, which one of our three fellow product managers will join. Our product managers specialise in mechanical, motors and drives & controllers. They are supported by our team of engineers, who can go all out in terms of both hardware and software. The best fitting solution soon becomes clear in this way. And that solution is often better and sometimes even less expensive.’ The new man Alwin Wierks came well prepared for this role as account manager: ‘Before this I worked for a project organisation. As such, looking at the question underling the request has become second nature to me. To keep asking questions and go to the bottom of what the customer really needs. I then call in the right people, from Eltrex or, if necessary, one of our manufacturers.’ Eltrex Motion originated in early 2014 from a merger between Eltromat and Telerex Motion Solutions. This merger combined the extensive engineering expertise and experience of Eltromat with the strong market position and advanced services and processes of Telerex. Eltrex is part of the Eight Lakes Group, a company with offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Taiwan with an annual turnover of approx. 80 million euros and over 220 employees. The group’s head office is in Breda. www.eltrex-motion.com

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

SHORTCUTS ADDITIVE INDUSTRIES EXPANDS TO UK WITH LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE Additive Industries is expanding its operations for industrial 3D metal printing equipment and software development, sales and service to the United Kingdom and Ireland. After a successful implementation of its systems in Europe at companies like Airbus, Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 team and GKN and setting up a similar foothold in the US, Additive Industries is now expanding into the UK. In order to work closely on mature applications in aerospace, high performance motorsports, medical implants and high-tech equipment, Additive Industries will expand its Process & Application Development network with a centre in the UK. The new centre will be run by Mark Beard, who has over 14 years of experience in the additive manufacturing (AM) industry and was previously the Technical

Director at 3TRPD, a leading UK provider of metal additive manufacturing and 3D printing. ‘Over several decades, the UK has established itself as one of the global leaders in knowledge and successful application of additive manufacturing in series production and end use components’, explained Beard. ‘Strong academic research and established AM users in medical, aerospace, industrial and motorsport sectors have developed a mature, standardised and qualified supply chain for these markets. The MetalFAB1 is the next logical step for these users as it is the first AM machine capable of true series production.’ The MetalFAB1 is the only metal 3D printing system on the market that integrates multi-laser powder bed fusion with post processing stages to enable consistent quality and unattended operation.

Mark Beard. Photo: AI

The UK facility will house MetalFAB1 demonstration systems and support process and application development for the UK and Ireland. A team of talented 3D printing professionals will be

hired to provide support for the full manufacturing process chain and enable companies to realise series production for AM components. www.additiveindustries.com

NEW HEADQUARTER Brilliance in engineering

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

Additive Industries has moved the Eindhoven headquarters to a brand new factory. The new site consolidated Headquarters, Development and F System Assembly as well as Test Operations. This move will enable the fast growing team to further expand as the total floor space is roughly seven times more. The new factory is located in a

renovated former Philips Electronics building, first built in the 1950s. It is equipped with the typical bright ‘Northern lights’ roof structure and lots of glass walls as an expression of Additive Industries commitment to sustainability and transparency. As of April 2nd 2018 the new address is: Achtseweg Zuid 155, 5691 GW Eindhoven

Govers Govers Accountants/Consultants Accountants/Adviseurs Our rankbehoren among the industry Onzeclients klanten tottop de in toptheir in hun or we support development sector, of wij their ondersteunen huntowards ontwikkeling reaching their potential. This is achieved daar naar toe.fullest Dat doen we door een hoge through our de in-depth knowledge of the value kennis van waardeketens, door focus chains, a focus on performance en improvement op performanceverbetering, door actieve and active orientation towards thevan development oriëntatie op de ontwikkeling nieuwe of new business models attractive earnings businessmodellen metwith aantrekkelijke models. verdienmodellen. Beemdstraat 25 Beemdstraat 25

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GEILLEIT SMART CONNECTIONS STARTING TO EMERGE

Rob Geilleit Partner at IPL Advies

www.ipl.nl

Supply chain integration is a hot topic in the manufacturing industry. Businesses are working together ever more closely and responsibilities – not only regarding the actual supply but also regarding development and planning – are shifting from OEMs to their suppliers. Consequently, there is ever closer information sharing between the parties in the supply chain, but real (digital) integration in this area is often still lacking. We often notice this in our advisory practice when we implement projects aimed at process improvement or selecting an ERP software package. We are usually the ones raising this topic. In some cases, our client discussed this with their partners at some point, but got little response to this. Big parties often have an IT department, which is not always willing to invest energy in it, while small parties lack the knowledge to handle the technology aspect. Partners in the supply chain are sharing information at an increasingly high level: not only orders, order confirmations and invoices, but also product designs, forecasts, on-call schedules, etcetera. However, they often to do so in an ‘oldfashioned’ way. No, not by fax any more. But PDFs are created based on the information (digital printouts) and those are emailed, whereupon the recipient has to type in the information again, which is time-consuming and error-prone. The amount of paper has been reduced, but there is no real digitisation of communications yet. Transferring information directly from the information system of one supply chain partner to another partner through a standard message is

standard practice in the financial sector, but still rarely seen in the manufacturing industry. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a fairly demanding technology, meaning that a tailored approach is required at both sides, so both at the sender and the recipient. That is why the Dutch initiative of the Smart Connected Supplier Network is so interesting. In this Smart Industry field lab, standard messages are developed for the interchange between information systems such as ERP and PLM, for transaction and product information respectively. Once those standards have been incorporated into the various ERP and PLM software packages, it is much easier to connect digitally. A great many actions in ERP systems are still run through a print button. In the past, this button was used to print out paper lists; today they are used to ‘print’ to PDF or Excel. But what you really want is a ‘publish’ or ‘communicate’ button to make information available to third parties digitally. It is high time that the potential of Electronic Data Interchange is recognised: it can increase the speed of the supply chain and reduce errors. This is all the more important with the emergence of modelbased working. With model-based design, for instance, a 3D model functions as a ‘single source of truth’ to which all parties involved make their own contribution of from which they gather the necessary information. No one types over the necessary information any more; everyone is directly connected to the source. Supply chain integration is then truly digital.

VANDERLANDE AND ROTTERDAM THE HAGUE AIRPORT SIGN LETTER OF INTENT FOR FLEET Vanderlande has signed a landmark agreement with Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTHA) at the Passenger Terminal EXPO 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. It will have the first live baggage handling operation carried out by FLEET – Vanderlande’s future-proof baggage logistics solution – and confirms both organisations’ commitment to innovative solutions. Vanderlande and RTHA (part of the Royal Schiphol Group) have agreed to commence a joint innovation project, which is aimed at improving the baggage handling process at Rotterdam with regards to flexibility, efficiency, quality and ergonomics. This will be achieved by FLEET, the first baggage handling system (BHS) in the world that is based on autonomous vehicle technology and supplied in line with Vanderlande’s new ‘as a service’ business model. Expected to go live in September 2018, FLEET is a flexible and

sustainable solution that utilises autonomous vehicle technology, replacing the need for fixed sorting systems. It also consumes up to 50% less energy compared to traditional baggage handling systems. Each individual vehicle carries a single bag and determines the most optimal route through an airport. FLEET has been designed to seamlessly grow alongside an airport, match its operations, and allow it to adapt to changing security and screening regulations. The agreement will help RTHA to expand and improve its baggage sorting systems; handle a larger number of flights and passengers; improve ergonomic working conditions for ground staff; and future-proof the BHS. Vanderlande will benefit by acquiring experience of FLEET in a live airport environment through which it can test the total technical solution, as well as gain experience with its new business

model. ‘Following the successful launch at inter airport 2017, we have full confidence in FLEET’s readiness for the market’, says Andrew Manship, Vanderlande’s Executive Vice President Koen Evers (left, general manager FLEET of Vanderlande) and Ron Louwerse (managing director of Rotterdam The Hague Airport). Airports and Photo: Vanderlande Member of the Board. ‘By re-proof and scalable, will make a signing this agreement, we are pleased to have the opportunity to positive impact on our sorting efficiency and improve the ergotest and optimise this innovative nomics for our baggage handling concept in a live environment, as well as contribute towards RTHA’s team. We’re pleased to have signed the agreement, because we believe strategic objectives.’ that FLEET will become a key part ‘FLEET aligns perfectly with our of our operations and the best way overall vision of becoming an to help us to connect with our innovation hub’, adds Managing future strategy.’ Director of Rotterdam The Hague www.vanderlande.com Airport Ron Louwerse. ‘It is futu-

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

SHORTCUTS CONVINCING MANAGEMENT OF OPTIMAL PACKAGING Every true entrepreneur will recognise the phenomenon: you know you have the perfect solution for your customers, but they just don't want to see it. Johan Faes regularly faces this phenomenon in the area of industrial packaging. His PackAssist makes managing the packaging process and packaging products more efficient and cost-effective. ‘Our main challenge right now is to convince the people at management level’, explains Faes. The Faes Group in the Brabant village of Reusel is a company in (specialised) packaging that also analyses the supply chain and customers' packaging policy and provides advice on these. CEO and founder Johan Faes noticed how companies were struggling with large quantities of different kinds of packaging for even larger numbers of products. Take that car manufacturer in the UK, for instance, with a total of 1,650

packaging products for 80,000 different parts. ‘Every day, they had to go through the same thing: what goes in what box? Do we have that box in stock?’ ‘That was why we developed Pack-Assist, a web-based application that companies can use to manage and control their packaging policy. The software program helps Philips Healthcare, for instance, to optimise its packaging process by linking the best suitable packaging to each product, often destination-related. Once the link has been established, that specific packaging is prescribed for all users, worldwide, throughout the chain. That makes standardisation selfevident and results in a considerable reduction in the number of different packaging products.’ However, as Faes noticed, selling a product like PackAssist is not as easy as it may seem. ‘Unlike the consumer market, the industrial

market does not recognise the importance of packaging yet. There appears to be a barrier between the shop floor and higher management. Targets for cost reduction and quality improvement are common practice, but the fact that enormous advantages can be gained by properly managing your packaging processes has not found uniJohan Faes. Photo: Faes versal acceptance yet. Which is a pity. It's something for the long haul, For that car manufacturer, for but we are on the right track. instance, we have been able to Fortunately, more and more reduce the number of packaging customers are giving packaging products to about fifty, which the attention it deserves.’ has yielded a lot of money. www.faesgroup.com Continuously encouraging all www.packassist.com stakeholders remains a challenge.

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

TMC E3 EVENT: INSPIRING MEETING PLACE FOR TECHNICAL PROFESSIONALS Offering technical professional a platform on which they can learn from each other and inspire each other. That's what it’s all about at E3, the Entrepreneurial Experience Event that TMC organises on April 19 in an industrial and inspiring setting: CHV Noordkade in Veghel. The event is intended for both the ‘employeneurs’ working for TMC and technical professionals of other companies in the high-tech industry. ‘E3 was conceived as a unique way of connecting our employeneurs with TMC and each other’, says Silvia Verhoosel, marketing & communication officer at TMC. ‘However, our strength also lies in the cooperation with our clients and other organisations, so we deliberately set up the programme to appeal to a wider target group. Everyone working in hightech is welcome to this second edition of E3.’ The international consultancy

organisation has compiled an interesting and varied programme. In his keynote address entitled ‘Meta is the new Beta’, science journalist Diederik Jekel discusses the corporate social responsibility that engineers and scientists (also) have these days. Cross-industry expert Ramon Vullings explains how useful and infor-mative it is to keep a close eye on developments outside the own industry. In a live round table debate, Jekel, TMC employees and Corporate Rebels cross swords about the theme of employee engagement: how can you, as employer and employee, increase engagement in and with your organisation? Corporate Rebels is a young consultancy club that travels the world to study and explain what makes organisations attractive to work for - and what can be done to enhance employee engagement. Another topical subject is dis-

cussed in the lecture by a Spanish TMC ‘employeneur’ about blockchain and data science. The term ‘employeneur’ is based on TMC's business model, coined ‘employeneurship’. It offers technical professionals in all kinds of technical specialisms and sectors both the advantages of employment and the opportunities to work as an entrepreneur, which, on balance, creates a challenging and stimulating work environment. TMC facilitates this by means of professional in-service training, by encouraging initiatives that incite entrepreneurship and by paying attention to the development of soft skills. A key soft skill is the capacity for effective cooperation, particularly in the high-tech industry, where technological innovation, outsourcing and time to market are common-place occurrences. ‘The TMC model encourages employeneurs to be in the driver’s

seat of their own career’, says Silvia Verhoosel. ‘Honing entrepreneurial qualities is part and parcel of this. We are convinced that these qualities also provide added value to the organisations for which our people work. That way, we contribute to their innovative strength and continuity.’ To this end, TMC has set up an Entrepreneurial Lab. ‘The lab offers employeneurs with an innovative idea the opportunity to work on it outside of their day-today job and with the support of TMC.’ Various projects that resulted from the lab will be presented at the E3 event. One of these is bRemote, which promotes the preservation of a healthy bee population and ecosystem. ‘Visitors can vote for the idea that appeals to them the most’, explains Verhoosel. The E3 event starts at 3:30 p.m. and ends around 6:30 with a networking event over snacks and drinks. If you want to attend, please register via www.e3.tmc.nl. Entrance is free. www.e3.tmc.nl

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

TMC presents the second edition of the

19 April 2018 CHV Noordkade in Veghel

AT TMC WE BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE DRIVE TECHNOLOGY At E3 we want you to see that, experience that and talk about that yourselves. E3. An exciting and unique event that will open your eyes and take you to a new dimension in the world of technology. For high tech engineers and everyone participating in high tech industries. Learn more about TMC’s Entrepreneurial Lab innovative projects and blockchain technology. Be part of the ﬁrst talkshow about Employeneurship, our unique way of working and technology.

GET TO KNOW OUR SPECIAL BREED OF ENGINEERS, EMPLOYENEURS, AND LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR PLAN!

DIEDERIK JEKEL SCIENTIFIC JOURNALIST Meta is the new beta: the broader responsibility that scientists have nowadays towards society.

RAMON VULLINGS CROSS-INDUSTRY EXPERT & IDEA DJ What can we learn from other sectors? Don’t think outside the box, think outside of your industry.

YOU’RE INVITED TO JOIN US! Go to e3.tmc.nl for the full program and register immediately.

SHORTCUTS NATIONAL GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTES 130 MILLION EUROS TO 370-MILLION INVESTMENT IN REGIONAL BUSINESS CLIMATE The government is investing 130 million euros from the 'Regional Envelope' in the business climate of Brainport Eindhoven, as outlined in the plans presented to the government in January. Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality Carola Schouten, Minister for Foreign Affairs Kajsa Ollongren and State Secretary for Economic Affairs Mona Keijzer jointly announced this government investment in mid-March. The money is earmarked for a project aimed at recruiting, training and retaining technical talent at all educational levels and at developing innovations with a social impact. It will also be used to strengthen cultural, social and sports facilities and enhancing the liveability in the city and the region for the current population. The region itself is investing 240 million euros. If it fails to generate this amount, the government contribution from the Regional Envelope will drop proportionally. A substantial portion of the money is set aside for photonics and will be used to develop a

National Photonics Master Plan, in which the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland will also be involved. The government considers Brainport Eindhoven as an economic core area of national significance. With a knowledge-intensive manufacturing industry cluster, this region boosts the innovation in the Dutch high-tech sector. The region has the highest private expenditure on R&D (2 billion euros, as reported in the Technisch Weekblad (Weekly Technical Journal) and the largest economic growth in 2017 (4.9%, as reported by ING bank). The city of Eindhoven has the highest patent density in the world (22.6 patents per 10,000 residents, according to OECD). John Jorritsma, mayor of Eindhoven and chairman of the Brainport Foundation, regards the contribution from the government as a substantial investment, saying, ‘It contributes greatly to recruiting, training and retaining talent, raises the level of our facilities, and implements innovations with

a social impact in, for example, health care and mobility. More importantly, however, to me it goes to show that the government is willing to enter into a longterm partnership with us. We have made an offer with the National Brainport Action Agenda and Regional Envelope proposition. We did not beg but we ventured. And that paid off. It really is a very important step. For Brainport Eindhoven, for the Dutch economy.’ State Secretary Keijzer says, ‘In January I visited John Jorritsma, mayor of Eindhoven and chairman of Brainport Eindhoven and the Brainport Foundation, regards the contribution saw the significance of this from the government as a substantial investment. region for our economy Photo: Eindhoven with my own eyes. The fast growing manufacturing industry with firms such as ASML, government and the region to realise the ambitions outlined in Philips, VDL, DAF and NXP and the Brainport Action Agenda. over 6,000 innovative SMEs make It will allow the Netherlands as a Brainport Eindhoven a key driver whole to benefit from this strong of innovation in the Netherlands. This substantial contribution from economic region.’ www.brainport.nl the Regional Envelope enables the

NEDSCHROEF EXPANDS ITS HEADQUARTERS

Photo: Nedschroef

As Nedschroef ’s global footprint grows, so does its headquarters. The company, a automotive fasteners supplier in Europe, opened its newly expanded headquarters in Helmond to an audience of 150 local dignitaries and representatives of the global automotive industry. The interior of the newly revamped headquarters symbolizes the company’s transition from a 125year old local rivet producer to a leading international partner in joining technologies and functional components, embracing the opportunities of a digitalized world. This story has been visua-

lized through a 28-meter wire sculpture and a floor of the same size, which is designed as a piece of art. The building consists of a multi-purpose campus, located at the heart of the building. This central area is surrounded by open work spaces and modern meeting rooms to support collaboration amongst its employees, customers and other relations. ‘With our expanded headquarters we have created an environment that stimulates innovation and networking. This is also important to attract new talent to meet the growing demand for more complex engineered components

used in future mobility concepts’, says Mathias Hüttenrauch, CEO of Nedschroef. Jos Smetsers, Director PACCAR Purchasing Europe, DAF Trucks, adds: ‘Over the past 50 years, Nedschroef has become DAF’s key partner for the many fasteners used in our trucks. Both companies have a lot in common: founded and located

in the same region, expanding rapidly world-wide with a lot of dedication and passion and driven by continuous improvements. We trust with the expanded headquarters Nedschroef will create the working environment to be ready for the future to support us even better than today.’ www.nedschroef.com

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

SHORTCUTS EINDHOVEN ENGINE: SHORTENING TIME-TO-MARKET, BINDING TALENT Every true entrepreneur will recognise the phenomenon: you Translating knowledge into readyto-market innovation tends to be a slow process. The linear track via the Technology Readiness Levels, from idea to application, takes too much time. The Knowledge Workers Granting Scheme from the 2008-2009 financial crisis years, under which redundant engineers from industry teamed up with academics and graduates from universities of applied sciences, demonstrated that multidisciplinary collaboration helps reduce the time-to-market considerably. It has inspired people such as Prof. Maarten Steinbuch (professor at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and scientific director at High Tech Systems Center (HTSC)) and Guustaaf Savenije (CEO at VDL ETG) to develop the Eindhoven

Engine, says Katja Pahnke, general director at the TU/e High Tech Systems Center. ‘The Engine will become an entity where PDEngs, PhDs, students at the University of Technology, universities of applied sciences and intermediate vocational training institutes work with engineers from one or more companies. We bring the educational and industrial chains together, also physically, in order produce an exponential acceleration. Research is no longer conducted in a linear fashion, but in parallel collaboration at the levels of fundamental and applied research. Cross-fertilisation between those parallel projects at one shared location will drive this rapid acceleration. Whereas a typical PhD project now lasts four years, a typical Engine project will take two to three years', says Pahnke,

formulating a key goal of the Engine. But that is not the only goal. ‘We’re suffering from a labour market shortage here. By bringing young talent from the university – often from outside the region – in contact with industry at an early stage, we hope they will stay and Katja Pahnke. Photo: Paul Raats find a job in this region carried out in jointly developed after their graduation.’ That is why the Regional Envelope facilities on a ‘co-location’ basis. The ambition is, however, that is funding the Engine. In midMarch the government announced about 50 people from education and industry will become active in its decision to invest 130 million five or six projects this year, mareuros in the business climate of king the start of the Engine’, says the Eindhoven Brainport, to Pahnke. These projects will prowhich the region itself will add bably be selected in the coming another 240 million euros. The summer by the Engine Core Team, initiators of the Engine intend to consisting of representatives of use 20 million euros from the both worlds.’ Envelope for the Engine in the Maarten Steinbuch and Guustaaf coming five years, supplemented Savenije are the standard bearers with 60 million euros from the and Clement Goossens of TU/e is region. ‘After that, the Engine will the project manager. The official have to be able to pay for itself, kick-off of the Eindhoven Engine from the funding from research is expected to take place this clients.’ autumn. The Engine will employ hardly www.tue.nl, www.brainport.nl any staff itself. Projects will be

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

PARTNERSHIP IN THE CHAIN Chain integration is all about partnership, according to VHE Industrial Automation, specialists in the engineering and assembly of control panels and cables. VHE has a 190 strong workforce, a head office in Eindhoven and a branch in the neighbouring town of Veldhoven, which operates under the name of VHE Industrial Production and focuses on lean serial production. ‘Together with the customer, we look for the best formula for the product they wish to launch’, says Rick Valkenburg, Projects & Production Account Manager. ‘This means the best price, the best delivery date and the best quality. In these partnerships we work closely with our customers and suppliers, allowing us to act quickly and flexibly. We work with open-book costing and tell the customer up front what they can and cannot expect of us. We can engineer functionally but also think about the smart construction of the products.’ VHE stands out with its wide range of automation solutions, Operational Director

Marc van Happen adds. ‘We are able to deliver turnkey projects and products. In the engineering phase we brainstorm with the customer, build prototypes and 0-series, build panels and assemble cables, and for larger series we provide input for cost-down and shorter lead times. Our lean site really offers added value for that serial production.’ In its role of turnkey supplier, VHE acts as a chain director that coordinates the assembly capacity as well as the selection and supply of both mechanical and electrical materials and components. 'Sometimes we select more expensive com-ponents if that enables us to save on assembly costs.’ An appealing example of chain integration is the partnership with a customer operating in the 3D printing industry. The company entered into a partnership with machine builders, a software developer and VHE for the hardware from the outset. Valkenburg says, ‘Together we have built prototypes, beta series and 0-series over the last few years. The next

Marc van Happen (left) and Rick Valkenburg in the assembly facility at VHE: ‘In a partnership we work closely with our customers and suppliers, allowing us to act quickly and flexibly.’ Photo: VHE

phase is process optimisation, which is designed to shorten the lead times and lower the costs by means of value analysis and value engineering. For example, we have set up the electrical design in such a way that it is suitable for both the European and the US market. Moreover, we optimise the selection of components together with electrical engineering wholesalers.’ This can mean more cost-effective alternatives of equal quality or more components of the same make. We do the labour-intensive assembly of cables on the premises of the machine builders. We

recently agreed with a customer that we will engineer the cable sets and produce them in-house. This is efficient and safeguards quality, because we also test the sets electrically and visually in-house. We will then deliver the ready-to-use cable sets to the machine builder simultaneously with our panels. This reduces the likelihood of errors, saving time when commissioning a machine.’ Van Happen says. ‘In this way we are moving towards the supply of prefab cable sets, which can easily be installed in the machine – plug & play.’ www.vhe.nl

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech Ecosystem - April 2018

Fo l l o

w t h e s t ra t e g y o f

m u n the

r be

The Success of the Dutch Manufacturing Industry is driven by the South In the last 10 years the growth of the Dutch manufacturing industry has outstripped that of other European countries. The South of the Netherlands is clearly the driving force of this success. Brainport Eindhoven set the example and is now one of several innovative regions in the South of the Netherlands. Isah is situated in the middle of this region. Together with its employees and partners, Isah and its business so ware have been contributing to the success of the manufacturing industry for more than 25 years by focusing manufacturers on the key areas where they can be successful and competitive.

Isah started in the Netherlands, and now supports companies across the world. With more than 25 years accumulated experience in this target segment of industry, Isah consultants have the knowledge to make a significant contribution to profitability through sustainable improvements in the operations. Perhaps your company could benefit too?

THE NUMBER

SOFT WARE FOR THE MAKE-TO-ORDER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.

Visit our website www.isah.com to see the results from some of our numerous references.