Link 2016 Zuid Nederland Special by henjuitgevers.nl

HIGH-TECH AND SMART INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS

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

Special

April 2016 | volume 18 | issue 2

THEME INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR DUTCH HIGH-TECH FLANDERS AND THE SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS CONNECT IN DSP VALLEY 2.0

BRABANT DEVELOPMENT AGENCY INVESTS WITH A VIEW TO FINANCIAL ÁND SOCIAL RETURNS

EDWARD VONCKEN KMWE

TOWARDS A NEW PARTNERSHIP MODEL

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great challenge for machine builders to come up with innovative solutions which can handle individual and often extremely light products, but which can also still be used universally. Fortunately this is already happening on a large scale. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just see it in the top quality assembly processes in the electronics industry, but certainly also in the medical and laboratory world, for example with the automated taking of samples and the carrying out of analyses. Absolutely essential for being able to make a quick decision, ensuring WKH RSWLPDO WUHDWPHQW IRU D VSHFLÄ&#x2026; F PHGLFDO FRQGLWLRQ FDQ EH determined. Good solutions for light assembly, good solutions for LQQRYDWLYH SDFNDJLQJ V\VWHPV 7KDWnV H[DFWO\ ZKHUH ZH FDQ Ä&#x2026; QG D little piece of the future.â&#x20AC;? Festo BV

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015 2518759 www.festo.nl

EDWARD THREE BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

CONTENTS 4 THEME: INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR DUTCH

20 22 24

27 29 30

32 35 37 38 41 43 49 51

HIGH-TECH • From build-to-print via build-to-specification to build-to-roadmap • BIC instead of big: responding to the needs of large key suppliers with a new partnership model • Link Café discusses business models for the factory of the future MathWorks addresses engineers as well as R&D managers: the business value of doing the math Anteryon & co make groundbreaking AMC invention suitable for primary care Biesheuvel Techniek takes the next step with Océ Brightlands Chemelot: where start-ups and multinationals link up with academics to generate business Flanders and the southern Netherlands connect in DSP Valley 2.0 ‘Eindhoven’ goes for Demcon formula 100% High Tech Campus in Eindhoven offers value for large corporates and start-ups as Smart Robotics Dutch integrated ecosystem for photonic integrated chips ‘Safety first’: BKL helps AFB Manufacturing & Process Lab ‘tick all the boxes’ Brabant Development Agency invests with a view to financial ánd social returns Transdisciplinary thinking strong trump card: high-speed test for chips NTS-Group can apply generic knowledge and capabilities to series of applications JSF engine constructor Pratt & Whitney hails Eindhoven supplier as the world’s best COLUMN Big data, gold mine or legal minefield? KMWE pioneer at Brainport Industries Campus

Companies in the high-tech, high-mix, high-complexity, low-volume business are facing ever more rapid market developments. As a result, the focus is increasingly on local-for-local instead of offshoring, best-cost countries instead of low-cost countries, integrated total cost of ownership instead of the lowest price and networks of suppliers instead of hierarchical customer-supplier relationships. These trends call for different expertise and skills on the part of employees. Rather than having the lowest wage costs, being competitive demands access to well-trained technicians at all levels, from intermediate vocational to university, all over the world. In addition, enhancing competitiveness requires good access to the latest technologies – state-of-the-art technologies which are often too expensive for developers, research institutes and production companies individually. At the same time, as a result of digitisation and globalisation, the distance between development and production is increasing all the time – even though the best solutions are usually achieved when On invitation of Link Magaengineers and experts are involved in the development of a new zine Edward Voncken is the product together. guest editor-in-chief of this In short, high-tech, high-mix, high-complexity, low-volume firms special edition of Link. have a significant interest in access to the latest technology, in highly qualified developers and production engineers and in an environment within which the two groups can easily work together intensively. One solution is to have a joint training and development environment, with field labs, shared facilities and CFT2.0 programmes (in which pre-competitive research is conducted into new production technologies) – a development environment jointly designed and used by companies, training organisations and institutes. That is the environment we have in mind at the Brainport Industries Campus. The Brainport Industries Campus is a unique concept; a covered industrial estate where the entire high-tech supply chain is physically present and where the individual links in that chain work together in smart ways on the basis of the most advanced and innovative production processes (the Factory of the Future). In addition, a prominent place will be reserved for shared facilities where the latest production technologies will be available for development and education (the Atrium). The technologies and processes utilised here will also be applied in the Factory of the Future, where series production will take place. The open and transparent character of this set-up will render technology more visible and accessible, enhancing its appeal to technical talent. An environment like this will definitely make a positive contribution to maintaining and further enhancing the competitive position of Dutch high-tech industry. And that is exactly what this South special of Link Magazine is all about. EDWARD VONCKEN, GUEST EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

PUBLICATION INFORMATION Magazine

COLOFON

This special issue is a supplement to the April 2016 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 2016 PUBLISHED BY H&J Uitgevers Mireille van Ginkel P.O. Box 101, 2900 AC Capelle a/d IJssel The Netherlands +31 10 451 55 10 +31 10 451 53 80 (fax) +31 6 50 68 78 36 www.linkmagazine.nl

ADVISORY COUNCIL J. Beernink MSc (Golden Egg Check), ing. D.M. van Beers (Festo BV), ing. B. Draaijer (V en M Regeltechniek), F.M. Eisma (Trumpf Nederland), J.A.L.M. van Erp MSc (Holland HighTech), ir. J.F.M.E. Geelen (Océ), ir. R. van Giessel (former CEO Philips CFT), ing. A.L. Goudriaan MBA (Bosal), ing. J.B.P. Hol (Legrand Group), ir. T.J.J. van der Horst (TNO), prof. dr. ir. J.G.H. Joosten (Dutch Polymer Institute), ir. W. Jouwsma (Bronkhorst High-Tech), R.J.C.M. Kok (former president OTB Group), 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), 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 (Frencken Europe), prof. dr. L.H.J. Verhoef (TU Eindhoven), W.B.M. van Wanrooij (IBN Productie), ir. S.J. Wittermans (ASML) EDITOR IN CHIEF Martin A.M. van Zaalen, Edward Voncken (guest editor in chief) FINAL EDITING Hans van Eerden, redactie@linkmagazine.nl

THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ISSUE Pim Campman, Jos Cortenraad, Lucy Holl, Sven Johansen, Wilma Schreiber en Marcel Westphal TRANSLATION Powerling Nederland, Bunnik GRAPHIC DESIGN Primo!Studio, Delft PRINTED BY Ten Brink Offset, Meppel SUBSCRIPTION € 63.50 per annum EDITORS’ ADDRESS P.O. Box 101, 2900 AC Capelle a/d IJssel The Netherlands redactie@linkmagazine.nl ADVERTISING OPERATIONS H&J Uitgevers John van Ginkel P.O. Box 101, 2900 AC Capelle a/d IJssel +31 10 451 55 10 +31 6 53 93 75 89 The Netherlands john.vanginkel@linkmagazine.nl 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 - April 2016

FROM BUILD-TO-PRINT VIA BUILD-TO-SPECIFICATION TO BUILD-TO-ROADMAP

THEME INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR DUTCH HIGH-TECH

SUPPLIERS ON THE ROAD TO MATURITY

Suppliers are looking for routes to more independence, to bigger margins. But the

Dutch industry has always led the way internationally in terms of outsourcing at a high level. So it is no coincidence that a new type of supplier is emerging here which operates so high up in the chain that you can hardly still call it a supplier. This new supplier is given complete responsibility for the development and production of a module and – up to a certain point – the opportunity to use that module to serve a global market. This type of collaboration calls for the highest degree of openness and trust between customer and supplier in both directions. But it also calls for scale and proactiveness on the part of the supplier. In practice, all of these requirements are tough to fulfil.

routes available vary considerably. Some head down the road towards their own module while remaining closer than ever to their customer. That way, the customer feels comfortable relinquishing its demand for a second source and the supplier gets the opportunity to make parts of the clientspecific technology available to other customers. The second group of suppliers is not interested in having their own modules or technology and instead continue doing their thing the way they have always done.

ASML’S NEED FOR MORE OEM-TYPE SUPPLIERS

But they no longer do it alone: they form a community of suppliers in order to develop

SOURCING SPENT 2015 PER REGION

and manufacture the product together. By international standards, Dutch industry is small in scale. Cooperation is in its DNA,

NETHERLANDS

ASIA

44%

10% USA

14%

in order to survive. And it is precisely that quality which is being used to become ‘THERE ARE MORE OEMS AMONG OUR GERMAN SUPPLIERS’ NETHERLANDS

EUROPE

34%

28%

30%

72%

66%

OEM BUILD-TOPRINT

GERMANY

BY MARTIN VAN ZAALEN

e need more OEM-type suppliers who can take responsibility for engineering, production, maintenance and services.’ So said CEO Peter Wennink during ASML’s All Employee Meeting at the end of January. It is a desire which has long been felt by the chip production machine manufacturer but is now being expressed openly. The same goes for parties such as Philips Healthcare and FEI Company; in order to cut costs and increase quality and innovative capability, these OEMs need suppliers that can do much more than simply faithfully carrying out what the customer has developed in detail.

TIPPING POINT PASSED Many Dutch suppliers are still performing that ‘old’ build-to-print role. Some of them,

such as NTS and VDL ETG, have already got to a stage at which – based on functional specifications – they can engineer and upgrade a module (build-to-specification). But the next step, to an OEM-type company that develops/further develops complex modules entirely by itself in a proactive manner, based on its own knowledge of what the market wants, has been taken by only a few Dutch suppliers, says Paul Schuurmans of Praetimus consultants. ‘Of course, this step, to build-toroadmap suppliership, is not an easy one. Companies like VDL ETG and NTS are the front-runners in that regard, but they haven’t got there yet. Because you need to pass a tipping point after which you are no longer developing in response to customer requests but for the market as a whole, without there being a concrete order. That calls for a change in culture which is far from easy to accomplish and therefore demands complete commit-

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

more independent.

GERMANY

ment on the part of management. Because suddenly you need to start hiring developers and marketeers, you have to set up a global sales and distribution apparatus and start doing after-sales support. It is not uncommon for a firm’s history, its legacy as a serviceproviding, customer-focused supplier, to get in the way.’ In addition, financial clout and scale are essential. ‘Parties such as ASML are also looking for scale: if they are going to give you complete responsibility for developing a particular module as a business-to-roadmap supplier, they’ll want to be sure that you won’t go to the wall when you encounter the first dip. So you must never be dependent on a single OEM for more than 20 to 25 per cent of your turnover. And that in turn means that as a supplier, you are able to identify a market which is big enough for you to earn back the whole of your investment. A company like VDL ETG needs to find a lot more customers than just ASML for its wafer handler or the motion control technology incorporated in it. And of course that too is not so simple.’

OEMS ARE NOT CONSISTENT But there are other barriers, points out Schuurmans in a white paper (see text box

‘Semantics’): OEMs are not always consistent. ‘They are keen to establish long-term strategic relationships with their suppliers, but that desire is not always consistent with the working methods of their own purchasing departments, which are often inclined to go for the lowest price. That means suppliers are not given the financial room to develop into build-to-roadmap suppliers.’ And is not just on the money side where things tend to go wrong; even before then, suppliers may not be given the necessary space to develop. When push comes to shove, OEMs may not accept a more or less standardised module – because they don’t want to ‘engineer around it’, they end up making all kinds of customer-specific demands. As John van Soerland of Phillips Healthcare previously admitted in Link: ‘When we hand responsibility to our suppliers and demand cost reduction proposals, we have to be prepared to adjust our products accordingly.’ Schuurmans: ‘On the one hand, OEMs like to see suppliers take the step to full independence and to grow. On the other, they don’t want the same suppliers to grow so big that they can start making demands, such as negotiating a particular price and retaining intellectual property (IP). OEMs can’t make the same demands of a big German supplier with a turnover of billions such as Zeiss or Trumpf as they can of a company like Frencken or NTS.’

A POSITION LIKE ZEISS One company that wants to acquire a buildto-roadmap position is VDL ETG. CEO Simon Bambach is able to clearly indicate the size of the market for the wafer handlers his company is now able to develop, manufacture and maintain and service. ‘We see opportunities particularly among medium-sized firms

in semiconductors, and then you’re talking about a global market worth several billion euros.’ VDL ETG has managed to secure a corresponding position for itself as a supplier for ASML – in the role of ‘OEM white box’, as the chip machine manufacturer puts it. Over two years ago, the two firms launched a wafer handler pilot project. Once the required knowledge and skills had been transferred from the OEM to the supplier, ETG was also given complete responsibility for functional development. To clarify: ‘white box’ refers to the fact that the complete package of drawings for the wafer handler, which is being developed and built speciVDL ETG-CEO Simon Bambach: ‘We are now the only supplier with that knowledge of wafer fically for ASML, behandlers, so it is understandable that ASML still wants to have detailed financial control.’ comes the property of Photo: Com-magz that customer. ‘But of course we are free to knowledge and skills to us which we can use take the background knowledge we acquire more widely, precisely to enable us to enrich within the company by developing at a functithem with experiences elsewhere. And of onal level and use it for third parties too. The course also to reduce the development costs boundary between the foreground knowledge for the wafer handler by allowing us to use of ASML and our background knowledge is still somewhat diffuse. The fact is that ASML has made a conscious decision to transfer CONTINUE ON PAGE 7 >

SUCCESS ‘TEMPORARY’ Fellow suppliers are choosing to become OMMs (OEM white box or OEM black box), but that is not the role which Edward Voncken, head of KMWE, is aiming for. ‘That role does not suit us. We are a typical process specialist-plus, a world leader in particular metal machining steps with associated assembly and engineering services. If we decided to market our own e-bike or blood analysis device, for example, we could become a competitor to our own customers. I see a number of suppliers growing towards that kind of role by ‘productising’, i.e. turning a module into a product which is more or less their own, encouraged by OEMs who want to

shift greater responsibility for development, production and maintenance to the chain. But that means taking on a large number of new activities: marketing and business development, R&D and roadmap development, plus product sales, service and maintenance. And you will have to find a module for which the market is big enough to finance all those extra costs.’ Suppose you managed to overcome all those obstacles, success might still prove very temporary, so Voncken believes. ‘Of course large OEMs are keen to place the responsibility for particular modules with an OEM white box supplier – until they realise they are losing the associated know-how and

therefore control over the development of those modules; that they are becoming dependent on a supplier that can demand a larger share of the margin on account of its new position. At that point, the OEM may decide to hit the brakes and take back those modules. Module suppliers may acquire the role of OEM white box within strict limits, but OEMs will never permit that know-how to disappear into the black box, unless a module is far enough removed from their core technology.’

www.kmwe.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

Integrated automation had its day:

The future belongs to SCALABILITY+ www.br-automation.com/ScalabilityPlus

Your machine technology Our technology packages Integrated automation PCs & Panels PLC systems Motion control Safety technology

> CONTINUATION OF PAGE 5

SEMANTICS BANDWIDTH OEMS

AVERAGE OEM’S VALUE CREATION

that experience for the benefit of other customers.’ However, the final objective has not yet been achieved, notes Bambach: ‘We are now the only supplier with that knowledge of wafer handlers, so it is understandable that ASML still wants to have detailed financial control. But that is a question of time – trust needs to continue to grow on both sides. Our objective is to grow towards a position like that enjoyed by Zeiss SMT. Towards the type of partnership you already see in aircraft manufacturing. There, an OEM like Boeing has the know-how regarding the overall architecture of the aircraft and sufficient knowledge about matters such as the landing gear, the cockpit and the engines in order to be able to specify its requirements towards specialists such as Rolls-Royce.’

NO PRODUCTISATION

AD-HOC PRODUCTISATION

Vertically integrated

Limited unbundled

Largely unbundled

FULL PRODUCTISATION

MATURITY OEM

Virtually integrated

RELATION

Arms length

Coordinated

Interdependent

Integrated

SUPPLIER

Build-to-print

Build-to-print+

Build-to-specs

Build-to-roadmap

AVERAGE SUPPLIERS

SEMI-PRODUCTISATION Over a year ago, Festo revealed that it was an OEM white box supplier for a number of large technology firms in the Eindhoven region for various technical solutions. According to managing director Dennis van Beers and senior project consultant Max van den Berg, this has resulted in a much closer partnership which takes shape early on in projects. Van Beers: ‘In relation to the white paper by Praetimus, we find that Festo increasingly implements the projects in the ‘semi-productisation’ phase. Our larger OEM customers are keen for us to do that. However, full-productisation is a further step, in effect a virtual integration of supplier and customer.’ Festo is not at that stage yet, explains Van den Berg. ‘That will require a stronger basis of trust.’ Van Beers explains: ‘Both parties need to share facts that would never normally be revealed.’ Van den Berg: ‘If you are working that closely with customers on projects, you also need to make solid agreements about the costs. That is not always easy, but once those arrangements are in place, you don’t have to keep on having the same discussions about the price.’ There is still a discussion to be had about the intellectual property. ‘Broadly speaking, the background knowledge we contribute and build up during the project is for us and the foreground knowledge which is in the system drawings belongs to the customer. But if we want to use certain know-how for a customer in a different sector, they are always open to discussing that.’ Festo likes the role of OEM white box supplier and that is not just because of the margins, assures Van Beers: ‘We are always looking for the market leaders in their segment. We want to build up deep, long-term relationships with them. Because it’s also about the technology. We learn from our customers – and our customers learn from us – and we can use that knowledge and experience to benefit all our activities. This form of partnership is also a subject for discussion with other firms in the Eindhoven region.’

SEMI PRODUCTISATION

BANDWIDTH SUPPLIERS

Early this year, Praetimus, commissioned by the Brabant Development Agency (BOM) and high-tech suppliers’ collective Brainport Industries, published ‘Productization of supply companies – Value creation beyond manufacturing services’. In this white paper, ‘productisation’ is understood to mean the process of change from build-to-print via build-tospecification to build-to-roadmap supplier. In the latter role, suppliers supply modules/semimanufactures which they develop, produce, distribute, market and service throughout the life-cycle, entirely at their own risk. They supply the same modules/technology to multiple OEMs, based on their own roadmap. These build-to-roadmap suppliers are also known as original module manufacturers (OMMs). In Dutch industry, there are two types of OMMs:

The fact that Festo Nederland, as part of the global Festo conglomerate, is entering into this type of relationship with customers is no coincidence. ‘We secure a relatively high and indeed growing percentage of our turnover from customer-specific developments that call for deep relationships and an acceptance of mutual dependence.’

ONGOING DISCUSSIONS The NTS-Group is also in discussions about its role with several customers – with ASML about the OEM white box role for the reticle masking unit, a mechatronic diaphragm; and with another customer about the OEM black box role for a print module for which NTS holds the intellectual property rights (see page 41). CEO Marc Hendrikse: ‘For an OEM, a printer is of far less interest than the substrate and the resin. Because it can earn its money with the ‘paper and ink’. So it makes sense to outsource all development and manufacturing activities to a party like us.’ NTS is on the road

OEM white box and OEM black box. An OEM white box supplier maintains a relationship with its OEM customers which is very transparent in both directions: the OEM and its supplier are open about their respective product and production know-how and about the cost price structure (comparable to fullproductisation, see illustration). The supplier is free to use the background knowledge for third parties. An OEM black box supplier maintains a far more distant relationship with its customer: effectively, it supplies the OEM with a standard product. Product and production know-how is not shared, neither is information provided about the cost price structure.

www.praetimus.com

to that status of OEM white box and OEM black box supplier, but it has not achieved those positions yet, says Hendrikse, one reason being that the discussion about the ownership of the intellectual property is still ongoing. ‘If we develop a mechatronic module, naturally we do not want to run the risk of being unable to earn back the investment because our technology gets copied and marketed by a third party. Another factor is that customers could become more dependent on us, which makes them cautious. Then there is the question of who will offer the guarantee. If a product becomes defective due to a manufacturing fault on our part, we will repair it. But if that means a factory has to halt production, who will pay for the consequential loss? Making sound agreements with the customer about matters like these takes time.’ If NTS does secure the position of OEM white box/OEM black box supplier, one consequenCONTINUE ON PAGE 9 >

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & ENGINEERING COMPONENT MANUFACTURING HIGH LEVEL ASSEMBLY GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT MOTION CONTROL

SEMICONDUCTOR

HEALTHCARE

ANALYTICAL

WWW.FRENCKENGROUP.COM

GLOBAL HIGH TECH SERVICE PROVIDER.

> CONTINUATION OF PAGE 7

ce will be that it will have to start doing product marketing. But it does already have some experience in that regard. ‘For example, the print module will contain customer-specific elements, but the basic construction is always the same. The generic know-how it incorporates, for example relating to the right moment to make resins coagulate or liquefy, is something we have to develop and maintain

your customer will pay you for taking all that responsibility.’ As an OEM white box, the supplier shares those responsibilities. ‘In that situation, the production-related knowledge lies with the supplier, but the product-related

‘It is your intellectual property and, if it is good, your customer will pay you for taking all that responsibility’ ourselves. It is therefore up to us to ensure that we remain up-to-date with the latest technology and market demands and translate those things into our own products and technology roadmap and product marketing activities.’

STEP BY STEP There are also legal implications, and therefore risks, associated with the position of OEM white box or OEM black box, notes Taco Huizinga of The Law Factor. ‘If you are an OEM black box and you are responsible for and own the complete design of a module, you are also liable if something goes wrong throughout the entire life cycle. It is not enough to do some re-engineering; you have to pay for and assure the repairs and consequential loss. You are also liable for infringements of intellectual property rights held by third parties and for compliance with all kinds of statutory provisions – and for the consequences of any failure to deliver on time. After all, your customer can say: ‘It is your design, your development and production process, on which I have no influence, so you are completely responsible for it.’ On the other hand, it is your intellectual property and, if it is good,

knowledge remains with the customer. Who exactly bears the risk in this case will depend entirely on the exact agreements made. It may be that the product-related intellectual property is transferred from the customer to the supplier in a step-by- Festo likes the role of OEM white box supplier and that is not just because of the margins, assures managing director Dennis van Beers: ‘We learn from our customers – and our step fashion, so that the latter can use it to customers learn from us – and we can use that knowledge and experience to benefit all our activities.’ Photo: Festo make products for other customers in other domains. This also means the responsimore in developing and marketing ever more bility and risks gradually shift to the supplier. complex modules at their country sites. It As do the margins.’ would not surprise me if a company like that were to take over one of the larger Dutch system suppliers. They are of course capable TAKING OVER of assuming that build-to-roadmap Paul Schuurmans of Praetimus doubts wheposition.’ ther Dutch suppliers will be able to take that step to build-to-roadmap supplier any time soon. ‘You see big foreign firms like Festo, www.vdletg.com companies with their own roadmap which www.festo.com derive the major part of their turnover from www.nts-group.nl standard components, investing more and www.thelawfactor.nl

The Multi-Specialist mechanical MRO partner of Océ

Supplier

Solution partner

Jointly we add value

Consultant

Business Partner

biesheuveltechniek.nl Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

THEME INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR DUTCH HIGH-TECH EDWARD VONCKEN: RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF LARGE KEY SUPPLIERS WITH A NEW PARTNERSHIP MODEL

BIC INSTEAD OF BIG Large OEMs want a limited number of large key suppliers with the stamina to take complete responsibility for the development and production of a particular module. Many suppliers are interested in securing that kind of role. For example KMWE – not alone, but by pulling together as many development and manufacturing activities as possible. Managing Director Edward Voncken prefers to enter into strategic partnerships – such as AddLab – which are soon to be housed on the Brainport Industries Campus (BIC). BY MARTIN VAN ZAALEN

hen Edward Voncken talks about creating the ‘factory of the future’ on the Brainport Industries Campus (BIC), which is due to arise on the north-western edge of Eindhoven, he is talking about new partnership models. Partnerships including a company – an OEM – that wants to develop and market a product or module and is prepared to invest in it; also including parties – firms but also universities of applied sciences and regional training centres – that will take responsibility for the development, onward development and testing; plus production and assembly companies, manufacturers who will between them produce the different components and modules and assemble them to make that product or module; and, finally, customers who want to buy that machine or device to use in their own processes and want to feed back their experiences to the group of developers and teachers.

ADDLAB A prime example of this type of partnership model is AddLab. AddLab is part of the CFT 2.0 technology programme of Brainport Industries, intended to familiarise high-tech suppliers with additive manufacturing (3D printing) with metal. The AddLab school offers masterclasses and online teaching materials, but above all it requires a lot of DIY and learning from others. Participants include FMI, Philips Innovation Services, Machinefabriek De Valk, Frencken, KMWE, NTS Group, MTA, Kaak Groep and Additive Industries. The latter company has put the ‘steep learning curve’ of participating in AddLab to use in order to develop and market its own 3D metal printer (the MetalFAB1), in

close partnership with the other ‘Addlab firms’ acting as fellow developers and suppliers.

OTHER EXAMPLES But Voncken has worked out a number of other examples, together with the other initiators, Brainport Industries, BOM and Stam + De Koning Bouw, who will soon be developing and operating the campus. Precisely because the smart factory of the future at BIC will provide an environment for Edward Voncken of KMWE and co-initiator of the Brainport Industries Campus: ‘Partnership high-tech, highbetween various companies in the chain, to be able to offer the completeness and capacity of a mix, high-comlarge supplier combined with the agility of a small one. That is exactly what we want to achieve by plexity, lowmeans of the BIC.’ Photo: Maarten Hartman volume production, which calls the workpieces to or collects them from before for a high level of flexible automation, they taking them on to the next processing step. are examples of products which are needed to But you could also imagine a handling system make that factory run properly. Voncken: ‘We capable of unloading that pallet and packaneed a balanced and intelligent logistics sysging the products and making them ready for tem, initiated, developed and then applied in transport in a smart, highly flexible manner.’ the smart factory by the members of the partHe also sees an AddFab, as a successor to the nership. The same goes for smart interfaces to AddLab, as an option. ‘At the AddFab, that 3D ensure that, for example, an intelligent pallet metal printer and 3D printing process could can communicate with the robot it delivers

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

be developed further. Students could also contribute to and learn from these development activities, making use of the research facilities of the participating firms.’

WILLING TO SHARE The advantage of this set-up is that the community can achieve market-ready, ‘smart’ innovations for which the participants individually don’t have the knowledge and resources. The participating educational institutions (senior secondary vocational education institutes and universities of applied sciences) gain access to state-of-the-art know-how and development and production facilities which a school itself could never afford. But that success does depend on the willingness of the members of the BIC community to work together openly and share risks and proceeds. ‘By continuing to develop the machine with the same partners, releasing processes for mass production and at the same time also being involved in the design and delivery of the machine itself, Additive Industries has acquired a unique position in, for example Airbus (which bought a beta version of the MetalFab1 machine, ed.). That position can only be retained if the entire community continues to work together openly. Imagine if one of the developing or supplying parties were to keep particular know-how or technology to itself, so that Additive Industries couldn’t

BIC: ROOM FOR SHARING AND NOT SHARING A place where the residents keep to themselves what they don’t want to share and work together where that is in everyone’s interests. To this end, a 20-hectare covered industrial estate is being developed, which will house the factory of the future, with 24/7 production facilities equipped with smart technology and plenty of room for logistics – if possible using automatically guided vehicles

get its 3D metal printer qualified, then the partnership would have a problem.’

COMPLETE AND AGILE Of course, the entrepreneurs and their business cases and products are crucial to the success of the BIC partnership. Because they need to be willing to invest and have a market for a typical high-tech, high-complexity, high-mix, low-volume product for which there is also a demand elsewhere in the community. And which can be built cost-effectively in a flexible production environment such as this factory of the future. Voncken is convinced that entrepreneurs will come knocking on the door. After all, this partnership form meets the demand from OEM customers for suppliers

(AGVs). And with an ‘atrium’ for the shared facilities and the projects which companies carry out in partnership with educational and research institutes. In a park covering a total of 200 hectares, on the north-western edge of Eindhoven – just off the A2 motorway and close to Eindhoven Airport. www.brainportindustries.com

who are capable of taking full responsibility for the development, construction and maintenance of devices or the modules inside them. ‘I see two trends. One is that of the systems supplier which is increasing its scale and acquiring more and more development and machining activities and responsibilities. The other is that of partnerships between various companies in the chain, to be able to offer the completeness and capacity of a large supplier combined with the agility of a small one. That is exactly what we want to achieve by means of the BIC. BIC instead of big, yes.’

www.kmwe.com

Skipping a lap lets you get to the finish more quickly The NTS-Group develops, makes and improves opto-mechatronic systems and modules. We work for leading machine builders (OEMs) all over the world. Our methods enable our clients to innovate and respond to their customers’ demands more quickly and radically shorten the time to market for new products. Do you want to move over to the fast lane? We would be pleased to make an appointment to become acquainted. www.nts-group.nl The NTS-Group is a chain of companies in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Singapore and China specialised in developing and building opto-mechatronic systems and modules.

Accelerating your business

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

THEME INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR DUTCH HIGH-TECH LINK CAFÉ DISCUSSES BUSINESS MODELS FOR THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE

ARE YOU READY TO OPEN THE DOORS EVEN FURTHER? The ‘factory of the future’ doesn’t just set high technological expectations – such a smart environment pre-eminently offers possibilities for new business models as well. Think of smart communities where the partners themselves develop, engineer, produce and even commercialise together. Around 50 people from the manufacturing industry came to the second Link Café powered by Siemens Industry Software at the end of March. Led by Eindhoven’s professor of Technology Marketing Ed Nijssen, they tackled a few urgent questions about the factory of the future. The doors need to be open, but how far? BY LUCY HOLL

he Link Café was held in Classic Park, Boxtel. According to their site, the car paradise has the ‘most beautiful collection of classic and exclusive cars in the Netherlands’. The 1929 Rosengart Spider, the 1957 Jaguar XK 150 and the 1966 Bond Equipe GT4S – three cars picked at random – glisten behind the glass that separates the restaurant from the car museum. Classic Park also has a lot of cars for sale: for €350,000 you could own a 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Pinin Farina. A 2005 Spyker C8 Spyder will set you back €185,000. The common factor for all the classic cars in the museum is they don’t have a CPU. Imagine if the cars today were the same.

INFINITELY COMPLEX ‘A half decent car nowadays has hundreds of CPUs in it. And this quickly leads to 100 million lines of software code’, explains speaker Bas Kuper, Siemens Industry Software Benelux’s vice president and managing director, to the Link Café’s participants. Producers and suppliers are dealing with an endless complexity: ‘We are investing enormously in process automation and still, average productivity is declining worldwide. Products are continuously becoming more complex due to mass customisation, desired quality, all the regula-

Photos: Maarten Hartman

tions, sustainability requirements, you name it. It is becoming more difficult to achieve good margins.’ The number of analyses to which products and processes are subjected is never ending. This leads to a mountain of data. How do you manage that complexity? ‘Is big data the solution?’, Kuper asks the audience.

icons have already taken a tumble. Quick adapters are going to win.’ And this leads him to his theory for the entrepreneurs present: ‘Companies who use, reuse, analyse and manage big data have competitive advantages: big data is the success factor in becoming more competitive and developing new business models.’

He continues: ‘The factory of the future is a printer’. The American company Local Motors claims that they can print three quarters of a car within eight hours. This brings the costs of scale towards 0. SpaceX in California is setting its sights on commercial space travel and wants to make spacecraft for a tenth of the price. Kuper: ‘So you have to do something radically different. No single market position is sacred anymore; a large number of business

DATA MESS

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

This gives the participants a starting point for discussion. The whole big data story creates more, as well as different and unexpected, data. That much is clear. But what does this mess produce? How do you sensibly filter it and end up with usable, smart data? ‘We can put loads into a computer. A computer can literally make everything in a simulated environment. But do you end up with the pro-

ducts that you actually want?’, asks Edward Voncken, CEO of KMWE and managing director of Brainport Industries Campus (more on this later). Clients and suppliers demand an abundance of simulations and want ultimate control over what is delivered to them. Thanks to data analyses and minimal deviations, they are asking questions which they didn’t even think about in the past. In the meantime, what do you do with all your employees’ expertise and experience? Can you extract the information from their heads and put it into your computer models? People are still cleverer than robots. Are we not overreacting about big data and the Internet of Things? ‘Ah’, someone says in the Link Café, ‘we’ll probably see an overshoot.’ It is trendy nowadays to think that the system knows better than us. But this will correct itself. Let us continue thinking for ourselves. The importance of data should not be underestimated, but whoever keeps just milking data will not get very far. For innovation we need new input and creativity. Big data helps us to master processes, but it is nonsense to assume just a mass of data is the solution to everything.

SMART CAMPUS Let’s return to Edward Voncken, who has his own story to share with the Link Café participants, with a question to consider. Voncken is busy setting up the Brainport Industries Campus with a number of parties in Eindhoven. It is going to be a modularly built, physical envi-

Sharing is okay, but how much do you share? ‘I see opportunities’, says Rens Wagter, general sales manager at EBV Elektronik (Maarssen), supplier of electronic parts. ‘I like to share my predictions about the field of technology with my clients. I would like to regularly meet others in the Atrium in order to share our knowledge. It is good to work

'Do you also want to make your business part of a stable, physical ecosystem?’

ronment that is focused on cooperative development and education. OEMs, launching customers, engineers, suppliers and educators will meet each other on campus. If desired, they have their own spaces and can work on open innovation in the Atrium. They will share facilities and create roadmaps together. KMWE will move into the first building by the end of 2017 and every few years a new part of the campus will be completed. ‘The Brainport Industries Campus is a unique collaboration’, emphasises Voncken. He sums it up: ‘Leading, 24/7 production, the most innovative technology, the smartest way of cooperation, new earnings models, the best educated people. Thanks to this futuristic campus, we will be able to keep responding flexibly to market changes. What does Voncken want to know from the people in the room? ‘What impact would this way of working have on your own business model? Do you also want to make your business part of a stable, physical ecosystem?’

with relevant partners who are within reach.’ ‘But it is also difficult’, echoes the room. Stronger networks in the region are definitely needed and such a campus provides opportunities. Sharing research and educational facilities can be very fruitful. But how far do you go? Open innovation calls for other ways of

thinking and a lot of mutual trust; it requires very good agreements about what you do and do not want share. Companies like to protect their deals and are very internally focused – they won't just connect their IT systems at the snap of a finger. This makes working together difficult but how do we change that? Connect Group Netherlands’ business manager Niel van Son: ‘We call ourselves high-tech, but everybody does it their own way; processes are set up differently everywhere. More open innovation forces us to look at the hurdles that we will all encounter.’

BEWARE OF INBREEDING The willingness to open doors further is there; the response in the room is overall a positive one. We have to thoroughly search for the greatest common denominator that fulfils the needs and desires of all the parties on the campus. The people of Brabant are good at forging and maintaining relationships as we have seen in the past. However, in Eindhoven, CONTINUE ON PAGE 15 >

SECOND LINK CAFÉ POWERED BY SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE The discussion in Boxtel about new business models for the factory of the future was the second edition of the Link Café powered by Siemens Industry Software. The meeting was based on the ‘World Café’: an informal setting where people take part in group discussions and change between groups. Eindhoven’s professor of Technology Marketing Ed Nijssen was the discussion leader.

Three theories were proposed: • Big data is the success factor in becoming more competitive and developing new business models. • Make your business part of a close-knit, physical ecosystem. • Open innovation requires open source. www.linkmagazine.nl www.siemens.com/plm

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

90% CUT IN EMISSIONS

AND 50% CUT IN DEVELOPMENT TIME.

THAT’S MODEL-BASED DESIGN. To meet a tough performance target, the engineering team at Nissan used dynamic system models instead of paper specifications. The result: 50% time savings, the first car certified to meet California’s Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle standard, and a U.S. EPA award. To learn more, visit www.mathworks.nl/mbd

IT‘S A GOOD FEELING

NOT TOO OPEN AND EXPOSED

> CONTINUATION OF PAGE 13

they have to be careful of ‘inbreeding’, because too having too much fun and banter doesn’t help us progress. Discussion leader Ed Nijssen, from Eindhoven University of Technology, is pleased to hear the discussion: ‘In our society where everything seems to be moving online, we think “No, we’ll huddle together. Innovation asks for intensive cooperation close to home.”’ He advises the audience that those who are considering a new-build should have a good think as to whether they want their new-build to be part of a campus or not.

OPEN SOURCE Jan Benders, teacher at HAN University of Applied Sciences, raises a third and final question. He is the leader of the Fast and Curious project in Gelderland. This is an initiative of Benders, a couple of HAN students and the HAN Vehicle Mechatronics lectureship. It is another wonderful example of yet more collaboration between business and education. Within the project, the team has produced a software toolbox that makes the development of operating systems cheaper, quicker and less sensitive to mistakes. ‘For us it is about Model Based Development. More and more businesses from the automotive industry, but also from the robotics and agro technology industries, are latching on to our community. We do not yet have a sustainable business model, but a useful network has arisen for exchanging tools and knowledge’, explains Benders. He treats the Link Café’s participants to one more challenging theory: ‘Open innovation requires open source.’

‘Not necessarily’, is the response in the room. ‘Open source means that everyone can freely use everything you have invented. I have come across a lot of open-source initiatives, but only few of them are successful’, states Piet Tak, B&R Industriële Automatisering’s director. ‘Look at Unix, the road to acceptance in the professional world was long.’ It is better to find acceptance in a good communication protocol. ‘Open innovation requires honesty. But that is not the same as open source’, says Ralph Habets, director of Meilink, manufacturer of industrial packaging in Schijndel. ‘Cooperation is about giving and taking, not laying all your cards on the table.’ Because if you lay all your cards on the table and everybody uses each other’s cards, how do you validate your processes and warrant your product liability? What is the quality of the cards? Take Wikipedia for example: biased information or even nonsense can appear there. John Blankendaal, Brainport Industries’ managing director, questions whether open innovation is possible. He prefers to talk about collaborative innovation in order to put something more quickly onto the market together. ‘Open innovation makes me think of throwing everything out into the open. “Here you go, enjoy it.” That doesn't work. Sharing knowledge is fun, but not with everyone.’ www.siemens.nl www.kmwe.com www.han.nl

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MATHWORKS ADDRESSES ENGINEERS AS WELL AS R&D MANAGERS

THE BUSINESS VALUE OF DOING THE MATH Under the impulse of trends like ‘big data’, MathWorks, a leading developer of mathematical computing software for engineers and scientists, is broadening its scope, from the technical disciplines to other – more business- and serviceoriented – domains. In order to promote the broad spectrum of applications for its tools and their role in improving the effectiveness of R&D processes and hence the competitiveness of companies, MathWorks has started organising joint events for engineers and R&D managers. Link Magazine reports on the March 2016 event in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

BY HANS VAN EERDEN

From left to right, Vincent Theunynck (Vintecc), Lucas Koorneef (MI-Partners), Tim Pattenden (Tessella) and Marcel Stakenborg (MathWorks Benelux). Photos: Bart van Overbeeke

athWorks’ main products are MATLAB and Simulink. MATLAB is the language of technical computing that provides a programming environment for algorithm development, data analysis, visualisation, and numeric computation. Simulink is a graphical environment for simulation and Model-Based Design of multi-domain dynamic and embedded systems. Traditionally these tools have been used for R&D and systems development in automotive, aerospace, communications, electronics, and industrial automation industries. However, these tools are also increasingly being utilised for modelling and simulation in other application fields, ranging from predictive maintenance to financial services to computational biology.

VERY FAST In parallel with this development, MathWorks is evolving from a software supplier to a strategic business partner, Marcel Stakenborg, managing director of MathWorks Benelux, explains during the one-day event in Eindhoven. ‘On days like this, we do not just want to show our products. We also present trends in industry and demonstrate the business aspects of working with our products. I see developments happening very fast, so we have to stay connected to the industry.’ Among other things, Stakenborg refers to Industry 4.0, or Smart Industry as it is called in the

Netherlands, the ongoing automation, robotisation and digitisation of industry. ‘It is gathering momentum, but the problem is that a lot of talk about these subjects is rather abstract and academic, directed at the long term. People disconnect and management are hesitant to adopt this kind of innovation even if significant savings lie ahead. A lot of companies are reluctant to embrace this new technology. Many higher level managers in the machine building industry have a mechanical engineering background, and software is new

tics.’ In Eindhoven, representatives from MathWorks customers present their perspective on the matter and illustrate it with appealing cases.

SIMULATION-BASED R&D The first topic, simulation-based R&D, is covered by Lucas Koorneef, senior mechatronic systems designer at MI-Partners, the Eindhoven-based R&D company for high-end mechatronic products and systems. ‘We help customers in the early stages of product deve-

To stay competitive, machine builders need to embrace data analytics, simulation-based R&D, and hardware-independent software development to them. We want to take away some of this fear by showing that it already works in practice. The gap between traditional engineering disciplines and new software-based approaches has to be bridged. Therefore, we want to demonstrate the business value of using tools like ours.’ In the theme for the event, this is articulated as follows: ‘In order to stay competitive, machine builders need to embrace simulation-based R&D, hardware-independent software development, and data analy-

lopment to precisely define the specifications for their new machines. Sometimes the customers’ expectations are unrealistic. By means of modelling, we can check whether specs are viable. If not, we can tell the customer not to try to design the impossible, and show that if some parameters are changed, a working machine can be designed. Based on our simulations, we can come up with ideas the customer has not thought of before. Using models, we evaluate these ideas and build up confi-

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

dence in a design before we have actual hardware to performing the testing. Then we still build a prototype in order to test the concept on actual hardware. As a mechatronic designer, you have to get your hands dirty. Building and testing helps you develop a gut feeling if things will work in reality or not. But we couldn’t do without modelling. It’s a basic tool in all our R&D and design processes.’

© 2015 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders.

Machines are so complex nowadays, you have to take many things into account, yet there is no time to build extensive prototypes, test them and modify their design. ‘These steps can be eliminated, now that we are virtually working first-time-right’, Lucas Koorneef says in conclusion, pointing to the savings realized

with simulation-based R&D in the design phase, which in turn give rise to business gains due to the accelerated market launch.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Another benefit of Model-Based Design (MBD) is knowledge management, adds Vincent Theunynck, co-founder of Vintecc, a Belgium-based service provider that assists organisations in implementing MBD. ‘Traditionally, there may be some formal documents, but most of the innovation is in the heads of people. If you ‘externalise’ their knowledge through models, it is easier to share information and to set-up communication between all the disciplines involved.’ But perhaps the biggest advantage of MBD, according to Theunynck, is that software development has become hardware-independent. Besides simulation/ modelling, the second feature of MBD tools is automatic code generation. This code, for system control, can be tested using the models that were generated. It is independent of the

final hardware implementation (mechanics as well as electronics), which can therefore be determined in a late stage of the development process. This will speed up development and reduce (hardware) failure costs. Theunynck presents the case of a multi-axle harvesting machine. Because of a short harvesting season, time for hardware testing was tight. MBD accounted for shortening of the development cycle by months, with 90% of the design being verified before hardware was available. This resulted in first field deployment without a single software error and, on top of that, the design delivered more features than the customer had initially requested. ‘There is a great need in industry for these kinds of workflows, with automatic code generation, rapid prototyping and functional software-based testing. Yes, all this is possible with MBD.’

DATA ANALYTICS And a lot more is possible using software and applied mathematics, as is demonstrated by Tim Pattenden, analytics consultant with Tessella, an international analytics and data science consulting services company. For example, his company has developed complex control systems for aerospace applications, but Pattenden’s topic is getting a lot of attention from machine builders nowadays: the use

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

Impressions of the industrial executive dinner and debate that closed the MathWorks event in Eindhoven last month.

of data analytics for predictive maintenance. The idea is that data can be gathered on the performance of a system or a process using all kinds of sensors. Subsequently, these data can be analysed using mathematical (including statistical) tools and software models to make predictions about the future failure of system components for optimal planning of preventive maintenance. Pattenden discusses three cases, two successful ones (remote condition monitoring in a nuclear waste plant and improvement of train fleet reliability) and an unsuccessful one (bioreactor contamination prevention), in order to reflect on the success criteria: which data analytics cases deliver business value and which ones don’t? It’s all about first deciding on the goals and the careful set-

up of a data analytics business case, including the definition of feasible interventions, before just starting to gather data and analyse them, with the risk of finding ‘random’ correlations or ‘false-positive’ incidents. The business value question is highly relevant, according to Pattenden. ‘For example, most of the blue-chip companies have bought big data analytics frameworks, but relatively few have used them to do anything successful. Companies like the Amazons, Facebooks and Googles of this world have large amounts of similar data which they have to process in real time. For them, a big data platform can provide a lot of value. But, for instance, pharmaceutical or oil & gas companies have a hundred different parts of the business,

each with its own types of data and problems. In my experience, using one big data platform for the entire organisation is not helping their individual business units to get the data solutions they need. What they need is people who understand the analytics and the particular domain they are working in, rather than a 20 million euro big data platform.’ Software or hardware, it’s people who make the difference and MathWorks tools enable them to succeed, says Stakenborg in conclusion. www.mathworks.nl www.mi-partners.nl www.tessella.com littlebookofdatascience.tessella.com www.vintecc.com

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

ANTERYON & CO MAKE GROUNDBREAKING AMC INVENTION SUITABLE FOR PRIMARY CARE

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH CHILD ABUSE Very often, suspicions of physical child abuse are based solely on ‘gut feeling’ – and therefore no diagnosis is made. But improvement is on the way: researchers at the Amsterdam Academic Medical Center (AMC) have developed a method of spectroscopic imaging that can very precisely determine the ‘age’ of bruises, which may be an indication of physical abuse. It will soon be available not only in hospitals, but also to GPs, social workers and the police. Anteryon Optical Solutions is a ‘brother in arms’ in that innovation project. BY PIM CAMPMAN

hild abuse – physical and psychological violence and neglect – is unfortunately widespread. The Dutch Child Abuse Hotline (AMK) receives 30,000 reports annually; approximately 10 percent are so serious that the cases are referred to the Child Care and Protection Board. In spite of serious suspicions, however, the council can often – in at least 50 percent of cases, it is estimated – do nothing other than ‘hand back’ the child to its parents/carers, the reason being that it is impossible to prove the abuse conclusively. Maurice Aalders, professor of Forensic Biophysics and a member of the Biomedical Engineering & Physics group at the AMC: ‘At the AMC we have a Child Abuse Team comprising highly experienced paediatricians, social workers, radiologists and GPs. Because they don’t have any way of taking measurements, they often have to base their judgements on their gut feeling that something isn’t right. This means that even when the suspicions are serious, they sometimes have no choice but to let a child go back to its parents. This is obviously very unsatisfactory.’

BRUISES Spectral imaging, which combines spectroscopy with imaging, has the potential to help, Aalders explains. The AMC has been conducting research into applications for this technology for over 15 years. Physical abuse is one of them. ‘With the help of this technology, it is possible to establish the precise shape of a bruise (which could point to this type of crime, ed.), how deep it is and how ‘old’ it is.’ In simple terms, spectroscopy works like this: you shine a light of particular wavelengths through a liquid and based on the absorption, (read: the colour spectrum returned) you can determine its exact chemical composition. This technique has been known for a long time and is already commonly used in hospitals. Take those small sensors (oximeters)

which are clipped onto a finger or earlobe during an operation to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood. Maurice Aalders: ‘We are working on many more applications. For example, we are looking at bilirubin in premature babies (the yellowish skin colour, ed.) and at tumours in the head/neck area, skin, lungs, stomach and gynaecological tumours.’

LEAP FORWARDS

Seated: Ruben Tibben (left) and Willem Hoving (both Anteryon); standing, Maurice Aalders

Whereas until recent- (AMC). In the foreground is the filter device developed by Anteryon. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke ly spectroscopy only lent itself to point child abuse. But their duty of confidentiality measurements (pixels), by combining it with with patients places them in a precarious imaging, the researchers at the AMC have sucposition: if they express a suspicion, they ceeded in capturing the chemical information could lose contact with a family just like that, of larger tissue areas, even entire organs, in a and then they are further away from helping single computer image. In all of their facets: the child. That’s why primary carers could large and small cells, with lots of blood or really benefit from a reliable, affordable little blood; changes in cells (possibly indicameasurement instrument.’ tions that a tumour is developing); the shape and size of tumours, and so on. A giant leap forwards. With the caveat that it LEG-UP requires very large spectral cameras, plus an While looking for industrial parties that could array of filters in order to obtain the required help achieve that, the AMC encountered a colour spectrum. 400 photos per procedure – familiar face: Willem Hoving, a veteran of differing in wavelength, i.e. in colour – are no laser, optics and photonics development with exception. In short: this technology would Phillips and later with other firms, and since only be suitable for hospitals that are able and last year principal technologist at Anteryon prepared to invest €30,000 in it. Aalders: ‘Not Optical Solutions in Eindhoven. Willem exactly what we had in mind for the ‘bruises Hoving saw opportunities for a smaller, application’ at the outset: a small, handy cheaper solution, provided strong technology instrument that would be affordable and parties were involved. Assistance came in the would also be easy for GPs and social workers form of the IOP photonic devices subsidy to use. They are often the first to see signs of fund; this was created by the Ministry of

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

Economic Affairs in order to give a leg-up to the upcoming technologies of optics and photonics and encourage cooperation between parties in those fields. Aalders and Hoving wrote a project proposal, which was accepted: the ‘spectraphone’ project was born. Four years were allocated for the project, which ends this year. What has also helped is that adjustable optical filters have since been developed enabling spectral cameras to be made smaller. However, the ambition of the IOP consortium extends much further, explains Ruben Tibben, managing director of Anteryon. ‘Our ultimate goal is to integrate this application into a smartphone. We haven’t yet got to that stage, but that is the speck on the horizon we are aiming for.’

NANOTECHNOLOGY Major strides have been taken towards that goal over the past three years, with impressive technological feats being accomplished along the way. Hoving mentions the two perfectly smooth mirrors inside the filter module, which – depending on the distance between them – allow a very specific wavelength to pass through. ‘By establishing a potential difference between small piezoceramic blocks between the mirrors, the wavelength can be set in a highly controlled manner using control electronics. Incredible precision is requi-

red: the distance between the mirrors is a fifth of a micron, 200 nanometres, and can be adjusted to the nearest nanometre. That’s real nanotechnology.’ Anteryon has managed to reduce the filter module to a device that can be placed in front of the lens of a photo camera. And because manufacturability is an important aspect of the development, it is one which can be made relatively cheaply. The

want to be a catalyst for our customers’ innovations. One way is by explicitly addressing aspects such as cost and manufacturability. We devote a lot of resources to that, in this project too. The young team working on this has enormous drive and is putting a huge amount of time into it. In the longer term, we expect to set up an entire product line based on this technology for lots more applications.

‘Anteryon wants to be a catalyst for its customers’ innovations’

firm is currently working on further miniaturisation, including for the control electronics. Project manager Maurice Aalders: ‘The challenges involved in making this are huge. Initially, the idea was to bring in a lot of expertise from outside. But when that didn’t happen, we had to do the development from scratch. Anteryon said: ‘We can do that, it’ll be fine’. At the beginning I wondered whether they would succeed. But they did what they promised.’

We have all kinds of ideas about that.’ The instrument designed to help primary care workers identify child abuse quickly, reliably and affordably will probably be marketed by the end of this year. Alongside the AMC and Anteryon, the partners in the project are Delft University of Technology (optical calculations), Saxion University of Applied Sciences (ergonomic design) and the Apeldoorn-based spectrometer company Avantes (acquisition board).

MANUFACTURABILITY According to Ruben Tibben, his company attaches great value to doing just that. ‘We

Dare to take the plunge,

www.amc.nl www.anteryon.com

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Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

BIESHEUVEL TECHNIEK TAKES THE NEXT STEP WITH OCÉ

‘PARTNERSHIPS WITH OEMS ARE VITAL’ As a fast-growing subsidiary of the French IPH Group and supplier of industrial components, Biesheuvel Techniek wants to climb further up the chain. For the latest flagship of Océ-Technologies B.V., the Océ VarioPrint i300, a special team has been put together which is responsible for the supply of over 300 components. ‘In the preparatory phase, we spend a lot of time talking to R&D.’

A strategy which Océ has at the very least given a push. Following its acquisition by Canon in 2010, the firm also changed its attitude towards suppliers. This was reinforced by the latest developments and focus on the Capital Goods market in high-volume print systems. ‘In 2013 we launched the Océ VarioPrint i300 project in Venlo’, says Helmie Willems. ‘That’s a 12metre long printer which can print 300 full colour images per minute, double-sided. Designed for large print batches, with the ability to personalise each item. In order to be successful in the current market, it is important to move fast. At Océ, we call that Agile Development. Naturally it means we have re-examined our processes together with our suppliers.’

PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

Piet Holtackers and Helmie Willems. ‘With a party like Biesheuvel, we work faster, more efficiently and more reliably’, says Willems. Photo: Vincent Knoops

BY JOS CORTENRAAD

elmie Willems, procurement account manager at Océ, isn’t denying it. ‘Collaboration with our suppliers is becoming more intense. That goes hand in hand with increased demands for those suppliers. We want LEAN supply chains. That is, reduced stocks throughout the chain, shorter delivery times, increased flexibility and the creation of pull systems (kanban). All in combination with Océ Agile Development, in response to increased time-to-market pressure from the market. So we are increasingly asking our suppliers to contribute ideas and also bear the cost of some of the stock and logistics processes.’

LONG-TERM The days are gone when specified orders were simply sent out by e-mail. ‘We want active

partnership and lots of flexibility. We realise we’re asking a lot. Of course, the other side of the coin is that we establish long-term relationships with our suppliers. There are already some new projects in the pipeline, as logical consequence of which we would like to intensify our relationship and make it even deeper and broader.’ Naturally, Piet Holtackers is pleased to hear that. ‘In our world, you can only survive if you can establish partnerships with the big OEMs’, says the senior account manager at Biesheuvel Techniek, who is directly responsible for Canon/Océ. ‘There are lots of competitors supplying components. That creates price pressure and eventually you end up in a downward spiral. If you take care of your customers and take work out of their hands, you can build up a much better position. That is our strategy, certainly when it comes to the large OEMs in our market.’

Special Issue - Dutch High Tech - April 2016

Piet Holtackers, who has been working for Biesheuvel Techniek since 1980, is a frequent visitor to Océ and still remembers the first meetings there well. ‘We immediately saw an opportunity to intensify our ties with Océ and to expand the partnership. It was a prime opportunity to become a first-tier supplier for production-related catalogue items and to be able to make a direct contribution in the line. It meant we could take a step up the ladder. We started talking to the R&D department in order to share ideas about the most suitable and innovative components and products in the various modules of the new Océ VarioPrint i300. At that point, the specialist knowledge of our employees at specialised Biesheuvel Business Units such as Linear and Motion paid off. In recent years, Biesheuvel has significantly invested in product knowledge and innovative solutions. After all, this is a must in order to make life easier for our customers and stay ahead in the market. We know the specs of the components, we know what our suppliers are doing and which innovations are hitting the market. Of course, Océ's buyers

can find those things out for themselves, but it takes time and money. It's easier and much more efficient to outsource the work to a multispecialist where possible.’

POSITION ‘That's all true’, says Helmie Willems. ‘Initially, around 150 mechanical components were involved, which Biesheuvel Techniek was to supply to VarioPrint i300. As we went along,

logistics, processes and management of those components. That means we buy the parts, keep them in stock and supply them when they are needed. In order to do so in the leanest manner possible, transparent information sharing is essential. To this end, Océ generates a forecast every week and our own people make sure the components are available – 24/7, 365 days per year. Océ doesn’t have to worry about it anymore. That saves them

‘We immediately saw an opportunity to intensify our ties with Océ’

the number of components more than doubled. That’s not an insignificant change when you are talking about a total of over 7000 components. We like working with suppliers who are responsible for a large number of components. Parties that take care of everything. Biesheuvel Techniek took up the gauntlet and has made its position stronger and stronger.’ ‘Yes’, says Piet Holtackers, ‘we have not only started supplying more mechanical components, we have also taken on the complete

costs, and yes, it was a significant investment for us. We have dedicated teams for them, both in sales and in logistics.’

MORE EFFICIENT Under the Japanese influence of Canon, the supply chain at Océ is increasingly being configured according to lean principles. ‘Actually, there is no other option’, explains Helmie Willems. ‘The market wants shorter delivery times and flexibility. Keeping things the same would mean the flow of goods would be too

cumbersome and time-consuming – time that would eat into the delivery time for the Océ VarioPrinter i300. And that’s exactly what we didn’t want. Time-to-market is crucial, and we have chosen to work according to the kanban principle; early supplier involvement is indispensable to that. With a party like Biesheuvel, we work faster, more efficiently and more reliably. The advantage of working on the basis of kanban is that Océ doesn’t have bulging warehouses.’ The first Océ VarioPrinters i300 were delivered in 2015. Production is slowly being increased to 2 per week. Piet Holtackers: ‘The partnership is excellent. Currently, R&D at Océ are continuing development in terms of re-design & optimisation. The aim is to make the printers smaller, more compact and cheaper. We are involved in the new designs, we share ideas about the various mechanical components and come up with proposals for even more efficient logistics and practices. And of course we want to extend our involvement to the new generations of printers that will be built in the future – knowing that work is currently underway on a new range of products. Another new challenge. Together, we are still far from finished with development.’

www.biesheuveltechniek.nl www.oce.nl

Special Issue - Dutch High Tech - April 2016

WHERE START-UPS AND MULTINATIONALS LINK UP WITH ACADEMICS TO GENERATE BUSINESS

BRIGHTLANDS CHEMELOT CONTINUES ROBUST GROWTH The Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen is home to various research institutes where researchers, engineers and students develop and test new bio-based and other materials. The 3D printing centre, the Chemelot Institute for Science and Technology (InSciTe) and the Brightlands Materials Center (BMC) together develop ideas into concrete products, linking up science with the business community. Link Magazine paid them a visit.

BRIGHTLANDS Brightlands has four campuses: • Brightlands Chemelot Campus, focused on high-end materials. • Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus, focused on health. • Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo, focused on health and nutrition. • Brightlands Smart Services Campus, focused on smart services and data science. What they have in common is mutual cooperation across diverse scientific disciplines, geographical areas and organisations, such as start-ups and multinationals, but also the academic world and business community. www.brightlands.com

BY JOS CORTENRAAD

BRIGHTLANDS MATERIALS CENTER: NEW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS

Brightlands managing director Marnix van Gurp. Photo: MCM Productions

‘A little lab’, is how managing director Marnix van Gurp of BMC describes the laboratory which opened last February on the campus in Sittard-Geleen, literally in the shadow of chemicals giants DSM, SABIC, ARLANXEO, Sekisui and several other global players. ‘We are starting small and gradually expanding our activities. At the moment, there are a little over 20 researchers working here. By the end of the year, that number will have doubled and we will also have more equipment. For example, an extruder will soon be delivered that we can use to produce new materials and composites on a small scale. That’s important in order to test materials in practice.’

TNO The ‘little’ in-house lab was already envisaged when TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, and the province of Limburg decided to invest €45 million in BMC in early 2015, but its construction is being brought forward. ‘We already had the opportunity to use TNO's facilities in Eindhoven and the spacious labs here at Brightlands. Great, so why invest millions in equipment which already exists and is available for us to use? Well, some types of research are best done in a more isolated environment,

partly for competitive reasons. On top of that, TNO said it wanted its own site in SittardGeleen. Hence we are moving into our own space at Brightlands Sittard-Geleen earlier than planned.’ So BMC is developing faster than expected? ‘Correct’, continues Marnix van Gurp. ‘Some of our partners have been with us from day one, including large companies such as SABIC and DSM, smaller innovative firms such as Kriya and other research institutes. And of course universities, including those of Eindhoven and Maastricht. BMC has solid foundations. We are now slowly moving towards more concrete results which are also of interest to the outside world. A good example is a project under OP-Zuid (the operational programme for the South of the Netherlands), involving a study into thermoplastics in which eleven firms are involved.’

MATERIALS What exactly does the Brightlands Materials Center do? ‘We are totally focused on research into new, sustainable technologies in the area of plastics and their applications. These can be traditional polymers based on crude oil, but they can just as easily be made from plantbased raw materials. On the one hand, it is about translating scientific knowledge into concrete materials and applications; on the other hand, we are working on behalf of entrepreneurs with innovative ideas. The start-ups and smaller firms in particular don’t have the resources to equip their own labs or hire in scientific expertise. We help them turn those great ideas into concrete products and applications.’ BMC broadly differentiates three programmes: ‘Lightweight materials for the automotive sector, materials suitable for 3D printing, and plastics for electrical and optical applications. For example, we are researching which

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

light-weight materials are suitable for cars. We do this in a proactive way, obviously with the aim of interesting car manufacturers and suppliers. The same goes for coatings and films. We are currently researching how a coating with nano particles can make a solar cell more effective. We employ engineers and researchers who, together with PhD students, research and test everything right down to the molecular level. Our partners have access to the results and are therefore able to use them to start businesses or to develop their teaching programmes.’

COMPANIES The BMC site at Brightlands in SittardGeleen is of particular interest to young chemicals firms. Marnix van Gurp: ‘All the facilities are present on this campus. Companies moving here have the right permits straight away, the infrastructure is there – research institutes, pilot plants, plus things like security and contacts with financiers. Our partners get access to knowledge, talent and support. We call that shared research. They decide for themselves how much know-how they want to put in. Competitors can work side-by-side in a safe environment here.’ Over the coming years, BMC wants to further expand its number of programmes. One of the areas they focus on is sustainability. ‘We are expecting a lot from the circular economy and we are looking for new applications for recycled plastics. So we’re going to grow, but we don’t want to have to keep on reinventing the wheel. We are working together closely with the Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs (CHILL) here on the site. Where possible, we share the operational management and costs and reinforce one another.’

www.brightlandsmaterialscenter.com

INSCITE ALREADY LOOKING TO EXPAND Last summer, InSciTe, the Institute for Science and Technology, opened its new biomedical laboratory at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus. ‘The new biomedical facility makes InSciTe unique far and wide’, says managing director Emiel Staring. ‘We now have a certified GMP lab for developing biomedical materials. We don't just conduct research into new materials and applications here; the labs are also available for other parties to use. There is a lot of interest in hiring our laboratory space and clean rooms. For example, from entrepreneurs who want to test the effectiveness and feasibility of their ideas and inventions. In most cases, they don't have the resources to invest in equipment or advanced conditions, such as a clean room. Performing tests also requires certain skills. Here, everything is done by the book by specialised and experienced employees. Which is relevant when it comes to getting a medical application certified, for example. In combination with the other facilities and research centres here at Brightlands, that makes us attractive to both established firms and start-ups working on new materials for biomedical and industrial applications.’

PROJECTS In 2014, Maastricht University and University Medical Center, Eindhoven University of Technology, DSM, Brightlands Chemelot Campus and the province of Limburg provided the required €80 million to set up InSci-

Te. The first projects were kicked off early last year, together with businesses and research institutes. ‘It's going quicker than we expected. We currently have eight different projects in our portfolio’, continues Emiel Staring. ‘Three projects are working on new raw materials based on wood and agricultural waste. Five projects are concerned with growing bone for implants and the regeneration of blood vessels, among other things.’

“The new biomedical facility makes InSciTe unique far and wide”, says managing director Emiel Staring. Photo: Brightlands

PARTNERSHIP InSciTe has three areas of focus. The institute for the exploitation of research results initiates research projects, involving scientists from various universities, including Maastricht University and the Eindhoven University of Technology. InSciTe also hires out its expertise and facilities to businesses. ‘We can offer flexible services or provide a complete package. We also draw strength from our partnerships with the other institutes, research bodies and companies on the Brightlands campuses here in Sittard-Geleen and in Maastricht. The pilot plants on the site will soon be ready, which means we will be able to scale up the processes for bio-based materials. Based on that, entrepreneurs can decide to scale up further in their own factories. We also have connections with subsidy providers and investors, IP

experts and marketeers. We are training a new generation of enterprising researchers who are translating science into applications for society. The aim is very much to generate business.’

INTERNATIONAL Slowly but surely, InSciTe is gaining a name for itself. ‘Internationally, too’, notes Emiel Staring. ‘Talks are ongoing with companies and institutes from Belgium, Germany, the UK and Denmark. We are already looking into options for expanding the labs. Our ambition is to play a pioneering role in new materials, biomedical and manufacturing. We are well on the way.’ www.chemelot-inscite.com

3D PRINTING CENTRE COMES OF AGE In 2014, work started on building a 3D printing ecosystem at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus. Having started modestly with several relatively simple printers, there is now a battery of 19 printers, suitable for seven technologies. ‘Ranging from a little printer for plastics to printers for biomedical applications and all kinds of metals and plastics’, says Ed Rousseau, business development manager. ‘Fortunately, at the end of this year, we will be moving to the former DSM machine shop, which means we will gain some extra space. At that point, we will also be able to install advanced printers, including those belonging to TNO; some of these devices are worth in excess of €1 million.’

A BROAD RANGE ‘We therefore offer a broad range of options. We offer entrepreneurs and researchers the opportunity to test materials and applications using equipment which would otherwise be unaffordable, certainly for small parties or start-ups. And we have the expertise

in-house to use that equipment. In this way, we are boosting entrepreneurship and innovation. The 3D printing ecosystem also plays a central role in the inventions of the BMC, AIMBM and InSciTe research institutes. They research whether new materials are suitable for printing.’

XILLOC An important partner is Xilloc, which specialises in implants and is based at the BMC, where it has brand-new printers. ‘An important partner, which also attracts other businesses in the biomedical sector. But there is Photo: Brightlands more. For example, a satellite manucustom-made hearing aids, dental implants, facturer prints certain of its components here. and so on.’ We are currently working in partnership with Some €13.5 million have been invested in 64 firms and institutes. We will continue to the 3D printing ecosystem at Brightlands grow over the coming years. 3D printing is Chemelot Campus; it now employs nearly perfect for manufacturing complex and light 40 people and 17 scientists are working on components for the aerospace industry, for their doctorates there. making complicated spare parts and for

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

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FLANDERS AND THE SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS CONNECT IN DSP VALLEY 2.0

DESIGNING SMART PRODUCTS: FROM TECHNOLOGY TO APPLICATION A good twenty years ago, DSP Valley in Flanders started up as a network of companies and research institutes in the field of digital signal processing. Now, in 2016, the reach of DSP Valley has been extended to include the southern Netherlands, it’s focus has been widened to include smart systems – DSP now stands for Designing Smart Products – and the network has been boosted with the addition of the Berenschot consultancy in order to accelerate business development. BY HANS VAN EERDEN

he ‘godfathers’ of DSP Valley were in Leuven: the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Imec research centre (for micro-and nano electronics) and the local branch of the Philips electronics conglomerate. Their goal was to build up an ecosystem in which the partners could support one another in developing chips for diverse applications. Back then, the name used was Digital Signal Processing: audio, image processing and communication and navigation technology. The network grew quickly and professional managers were appointed, with Peter Simkens as managing director. Around 2005, Dutch partners came on board, in particular from the Eindhoven region, the home of Philips. DSP Valley now has more than 100 members, also in Wallonia (around Liège), Germany (Aachen) and the part of the Netherlands north of the major rivers.

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK Thanks to the partnership with leading semiconductor and microelectronics clusters elsewhere in Europe, united in the Silicon Europe Alliance, SMEs from the Netherlands and Belgium are able to find partners for product development and research. Peter Simkens is currently the chairman of the Silicon Europe Alliance: ‘We can use that network to build consortiums for large research projects in the European Horizon 2020 programme, for example. We organise matchmaking events, at which DSP Valley members can easily get in contact with, for example, French, German or UK companies.’ Each year, DSP Valley also creates a physical meeting place for all its members. This is the Smart Systems Industry Summit, which is aimed at an industrial audience and attracts more than 300 participants. The 2016 edition will be held in Mechelen on 11 October.

DSP VALLEY 2.0 Four years ago, DSP Valley widened its strategic focus, symbolised by the new name, also abbreviated to DSP: Designing Smart Products. ‘We no longer wanted to be merely a group of technology developers’, explains Peter Simkens. ‘For a number of technoPeter Simkens, managing director of DSP Valley: ‘We want to build up complete value chains logy domains, such as by linking digital signal processing technologies to application domains and customers.’ Photo: DSP Valley ultra-low-power chips and mixed-signal chips, we have world leaders in our region. jects.’ As part of the follow-up to the project, We wanted to better position those technoDSP Valley and Berenschot entered into a logies in the market in order to enable our partnership in order to broaden the developmembers to earn more money from them. ment of the high-tech ecosystem in Flanders In the Netherlands, that’s known as ‘from and the southern Netherlands so as to incorknowledge to skills to cash’. For this reason, porate the theme of smart systems. Teunissen: we wanted to build up complete value chains ‘Our task is business development, writing by linking those technologies to application roadmaps, also for individual firms, boosting domains and customers, such as product application development and arranging the developers, OEMs and system integrators. required funding. The biggest driver for this That was the angle we chose for DSP Valley development is the Internet of Things, IoT. 2.0: designing smart products, with digital sigThat will be a huge market, estimated at nal processing as a key enabling technology.’ $1,900 billion.’ The IoT revolves around The application domains are smart health, connectivity, sensors and software. There are smart home and smart vehicles. Smart applications in, for example, industry (conindustry was also recently added. trolling production in smarter and more efficient ways with the help of big data collected in sensor networks), logistics (track & trace, THE INTERNET OF THINGS for example measuring the quality of fruit or In order to accelerate this movement to the vegetables during transport) and healthcare market, DSP Valley joined forces with the (continual measurement of body parameters, Dutch consultancy Berenschot. ‘We were such as blood pressure, heart rate, etc.). In any already working on a project in the southern event, the future for DSP Valley looks rosy. Netherlands in the area of short-range wireless communication’, explains Erik Teunissen, senior managing consultant at Berenschot. 'For that project we drew up a roadmap and brought firms together in innovation prowww.dspvalley.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

STEADY GROWTH AT REGIONAL LEVEL WITH ‘A SINGLE FACE TO THE CUSTOMER’

‘EINDHOVEN’ GOES FOR DEMCON FORMULA 100% Demcon Zuid, set up nearly five years ago at Science Park Eindhoven, is growing steadily. ‘We have won customers that we would have found hard to serve from Enschede (Demcon’s home base, ed.)’, says managing director Toon Hermans. One reason is the Demcon culture. ‘Lots of talented engineers and project managers are attracted by it. We are able to pique their interest and get them to commit to us.’

crazy if we didn’t make optimum use of them. And we foster our Demcon culture; talented technicians and customers are attracted by it.’ What is that culture? Hermans: ‘I think of it as being enterprising and sharp. Present a problem to Dennis Schipper and Peter Rutgers and you get a razor-sharp analysis of the business side – Dennis’ strength – and the technical side, in which Peter excels. That enterprising spirit is also expressed in the room afforded to the project managers and engineers. ‘Customers come to us with technologically tricky, challenging questions. If it’s been done before, they don’t ask us. So the way our projects develop is often not predictable. Our project managers are good at managing that.’

GOOD BALANCE

Toon Hermans, managing director of Demcon in Eindhoven, describes the culture within his company as being ‘enterprising and sharp’. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

BY PIM CAMPMAN

igh-end technology supplier Demcon has its roots and home base in Enschede. Founders/owners Dennis Schipper and Peter Rutgers aren’t about to dispute that. And why would they? Since its foundation in 1993, Demcon has grown yearon-year and currently has 250 people on the payroll. Toon Hermans: ‘Demcon started out with contract R&D and was very strong in mechatronic development. That is the basis of the company, that’s what we owe our success to.’

FROM IDEA TO PRODUCT Initially, Demcon relied heavily on orders from OEMs in semiconductors. Those customers remain important, but in order to become less dependent on that cyclical market, the firm also started tapping into other markets. Successfully so: today, medical systems are one of the biggest business units, with customers worldwide. And the industrial systems business unit, which has been operating in industrial automation and specialty engineering for the past two years, is also finding success. They too serve a market in which solutions for complex systems play a crucial role.

Demcon became a systems supplier thanks to the development of Demcon Production, where the prototypes are built and (mass) production take place. The extensive customer portfolio reflects the demand for a systems supplier that has all competencies in-house. And by acquiring promising firms and startups, the competencies within the Demcon Group are being expanded further. Examples are: Finapres Medical Systems (non-invasive continuous blood pressure monitors), Macawi Medical Systems (respiratory equipment), Inbiolab (measuring muscle tension), Nymus 3D (visualisations for medical scientific and other purposes) and Bunova (thermal and structural analysis and design). With the acquisition of Finapres and Macawi, Demcon became a fully-fledged OEM.

FOSTERING CULTURE Diversification led to the opening of sites outside Enschede: in Amsterdam, Oldenzaal, Groningen, Eindhoven and Münster (Germany). These subsidiaries maintain intensive contacts with the parent firm, emphasises Toon Hermans, managing director of the Eindhoven site. ‘In Enschede we have specialists and competencies which are hard to find elsewhere in the Netherlands. We would be

Toon Hermans spends at least one day a week in Enschede in order to make sure there is ‘a single face to the customer’. And every Monday the project managers in Eindhoven discuss the best approach to projects – which are generally carried out by mixed teams. Hermans: ‘Our strength is that we do it together. It shouldn’t matter to customers whether we implement their projects in Eindhoven or Enschede; the most important thing is finding the best solution. Striking a good balance, that is our challenge.’ Naturally, subsidiaries do certain things and the parent company does other things. ‘We went to Eindhoven because customers said: you can only do bigger projects for us if you move closer to us.

‘We won’t achieve our growth targets with ‘steady Eddies’ who keep on ploughing the same old furrow’ Fine – by moving here we kept them and won new customers. Without compromising the Demcon formula – thanks to that formula, in fact.’ The Eindhoven Demcon site now employs 40 people. Toon Hermans’ aim is to grow that number to 60-70 in the years to come. ‘But only with the very best people. We won’t achieve our growth targets with ‘steady Eddies’ who keep on ploughing the same old furrow. www.demcon.nl

Special Issue - Dutch High Tech - April 2016

HIGH TECH CAMPUS IN EINDHOVEN OFFERS VALUE FOR LARGE CORPORATES AND SMALL START-UPS

‘LONG LIVE DIVERSITY’ The High Tech Campus in Eindhoven is flourishing. Last year, the number of companies based there increased to 150. Large corporates, but also small start-ups – together employing approximately 10,000 people representing 80 nationalities. They are drawn from the sciences, such as mechanical engineers and physicists, but also from the arts, such as economists and psychologists. ‘Long live diversity’, as Cees Admiraal, business development manager (Campus Site Management), puts it.

BY PIM CAMPMAN

‘I

f you succeed in discovering and utilising the enormous diversity available here, there’s no better place to be’, he says. Ferrie Aalders, a member of the Philips Research management team, agrees. Around 15 years ago, Phillips took the bold decision to open

SMART ROBOTICS AIMING TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION WITH SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

HIRING OUT ROBOTS, CREATING FLEXIBILITY Those who describe Smart Robotics simply as ‘a temp agency for robots’ are selling the start-up short. Heico Sandee, who set up the Eindhoven firm in the spring of 2015 together with fellow managing director Mark Menting: ‘We offer customers flexibility in two ways: 1) they can rent from just one month and 2) we supply software developed inhouse along with our robots, which means they do exactly what the customer wants them to do – and which makes it very easy to teach them new tasks.’ Which is to say: ‘Our marketing concept is new and so far unique. But the biggest innovation is in the technology, our software development.’ Smart Robotics (10 employees, most of them recruited from Eindhoven University of Technology) serves customers in the high-tech manufacturing sector, food (who have to deal with large fluctuations in capacity due to seasonal products) and logistics. With robots which do producHeico Sandee (right), who founded Smart Robotics together with Mark Menting: ‘We offer customers flexibility.’ Photo: Bart van Overbeeke tion line work: moving, sorting, packaging and palletising products; loading and unloading keep robots up-to-date ‘in the field’. ‘In rental mode, plans in the pipeline to steal a march on copycats. machines, and so on. Sandee: ‘You can use them we stay in touch with our customers and can alert One of them we recently announced: the partnership 24/7, at competitive rates. The average rental price them to new applications we are developing which with a temp agency to start marketing our robot in of our robots is approximately the same as what a may be of interest to them. That way, we are continucombination with a temp. That means we are taking temp on day shift costs, roughly €3000. The robot ally working to help them make their processes better greater responsibility and are able to offer customers can operate two shifts or 24/7, with virtually no and better. We are in discussions with a number of a broader palette of solutions.’ additional costs. The equivalent hourly rates are parties to take that further – to a business model in The approach is proving successful, says Sandee. competitive with outsourcing to low-wage countries, which we ultimately get paid for each action perfor‘On average, we sign one contract per week for with the additional bonus that you have the process med by the robot and are responsible for its operarobot rentals. Which is more than we had expected. in your own hands and nearby – and you no longer tion. A risk which at the same time offers opportuniBut the opportunities for growth in our market are have to worry about high logistics costs and quality ties: if we succeed in making it twice as fast, then we massive, so that won’t be a problem. The goal is to issues.’ benefit too. That’s the direction we want to go in’, organise ourselves in such a way that we can handle The business model of Smart Robotics consists of: says Heico Sandee. that demand.’ robot rental (you can of course buy them if you Smart Robotics has the drive to ‘always stay two or wish), maintenance contracts, support in (re)confifive steps’ ahead of the competition – which is not www.smart-robotics.nl guring robots and the sale of upgrade packages to there yet but will undoubtedly come. ‘We have various

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

the Philips Research complex (formerly Philips’ Physics Laboratory) to third parties – in order to create an ecosystem of ‘open innovation’ that offers the space, facilities and entourage for cross-fertilisation and accelerated innovation.

INNOVATION REGION Now, in 2016, Phillips is still the largest campus resident, closely followed by NXP, formerly Philips Semiconductors. Aalders: ‘We have our Research head office and biggest lab here – and it’s an excellent location. Talented people from abroad and from outside the region come here not just for a job at Philips, but also for a career in an ‘innovation region’ with a lot to offer. There are plenty of opportunities to switch and to keep developing.’ Cooperation with third parties, on the campus and (far) beyond is an ever more important success factor, he says. ‘When I started working here in 1985, the site was closed to outsiders. Around 15 years ago, it was thrown open to other firms and they started moving in; first a few, then more and more. A sign that patterns of collaboration are shifting.’

start-ups and scale-ups. Cees Admiraal: ‘We like to see the bright young things coming here. They find the network and the climate to thrive here. The HighTechXL start-up boot camp, which will shortly be held for the fourth time, is also part of that story. Take Smart Robotics, which has been based at the campus since its inception on 1 May 2015; see adjacent text box. Heico Sandee, founder and managing director of Smart Robotics along with Mark Menting, confirms that the campus is pricey for start-ups. ‘But what is more important is that we get an awful lot for our money. The campus is very active in bringing parties together. Every one or two weeks, they will suggest a contact, a lead or a partner from their enormous network. And the services they offer are brilliant. From the first day we were here, we had an internet connection and lots more; everything was laid on. That means you can focus on the things you want to focus on. We are earning back those rental costs in spades.’

where we can learn and add value. Where it’s really happening – in hospitals, in care homes and the like. They are standing beside the surgeon in the operating theatre and beside the nurse elsewhere in the hospital. In short: we are participating much more in those processes – in order to learn from them, in order to be able to develop optimum solutions in terms of products and services, and in order to be an interlocutor and adviser to our customers. All based at the High Tech Campus, with its open innovation climate and tip-top (shared) facilities.’

NO PLANS TO MOVE Phillips doesn’t shrink from reinventing itself, nor from setting up shop elsewhere. Ferrie Aalders: ‘Last year, we moved a research lab from Briarcliff (near New York, ed.) to Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Boston. The reason? That’s the home of MIT, with whom we are developing a strategic partnership for new digital techniques. But we are happy with our location in Eindhoven; we have no plans to move in the Netherlands.’

SIGNIFICANT ADDED VALUE LEARNING OUTSIDE LABS ‘The next stage, which we are in the middle of now, is that our researchers are no longer working in labs but in those places within society

While large corporates like Philips and NXP feel comfortable at HTC Eindhoven, the same is true of small start-ups. The campus is increasingly emerging as a breeding ground for

www.hightechcampus.com www.philips.com

Have you lately experienced any of the situations below? • I had to say “no” when one of my clients asked me for a product adjustment • Our competitors are able to get new product on the market in a short period of time • Over 50% of our parts are catching dust on the shelf for 2 years or more • Unfortunately, also last year we did not meet our sustainability targets • For us co-creation is a plan, but not yet reality • Digital transformation is discussed, but we have no vision yet Each of these situations is known to us, as we have supported our customers on how to incorporate these and other aspects of digital manufacturing and services. A number of the examples of the new insights and practical solutions we developed together with our customers are bundled in the publication ‘Successful Business Models for 3D Printing’ For more information on our insights and services to help you make a head start with your digital transformation, please touch base with Onno Ponfoort o.ponfoort@berenschot.nl, call + 31 30 2 916 916 or see www.berenschot.com/topics/3d-printing

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

PHOTON DELTA IS READY FOR THE TRANSITION TO MEGAMARKET

DUTCH INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEM FOR PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CHIPS The market for photonics, modern light applications, is growing by around ten per cent per annum and by 2020 will be worth in excess of 600 billion euros. The Netherlands is a pioneer in technological development and is a driving force behind the formation of a European research consortium. A complete ecosystem called Photon Delta has now evolved in the Low Countries, encompassing research, production and application development. ‘There’s potential for it to expand and become the Silicon Valley of integrated photonics.’

photonics research for over two decades now. ‘We’re currently working on scaling things up to European level’, says Erik Teunissen, Senior Managing Consultant at consultancy firm Berenschot. He was the Programme Coordinator for the Dutch research and is one of the initiators of the proposal for a European research consortium which will shortly be submitted to the European Joint Technology Initiative ECSEL (Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership). ‘The USA is putting 600 million dollars into photonics and China more than 300 million, so it’s high time Europe invested in photonics.’

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

From left to right: CEO Ton Backx and Scientific Director Ton Koonen from the Institute for Integrated Nano-Photonics and Ewit Roos, Managing Director of Photon Delta. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

BY HANS VAN EERDEN

or half a century now the development of semiconductor chips has been following the well-known Moore’s law: due to the progressive miniaturisation of chip features, the performance of electronics is doubling every two years. However, limits are gradually creeping into view. Fortunately, an additional basic technology is presenting itself, namely photonics: applications involving the use of light particles or photons. The combination of photonics and electronics – faster and more energy-efficient than the two technologies separately – has the capacity to continue the trend of ongoing improvement in terms of chip performance.

600 BILLION EUROS The data centres, which host software applications and data storage for the internet, are an

important driver. Their energy requirement now makes up three per cent of worldwide energy consumption, according to Professor Ton Backx from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). ‘And that’s growing exponentially. In two to four years’ time photonics will have to take over the communication in those data centres.’ Photonics can easily fulfil the increasing capacity requirement – up to as much as 1 terabit/second by 2020 – without the high degree of heat generation that characterises semiconductor chips. ‘Other applications will be able to develop in the slipstream of technological developments for data centres as well.’ The market for photonics is growing by around ten per cent per annum and by 2020 will be worth in excess of 600 billion euros, of which 60 billion will be accounted by photonic integrated chips (PICs) and their applications. The Netherlands has been a pioneer in

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

The Netherlands is ready for it, particularly after the foundation of Photon Delta last autumn. Teunissen was co-author of the road map for the platform geared towards accelerating the growth of the photonic ecosystem around Eindhoven. ‘Boosting application development is key to this ambition.’ To this end, Photon Delta will be facilitating R&D, knowledge sharing and cooperation. The R&D will be conducted by the Institute for Integrated Nano-Photonics (with Ton Backx as CEO; the official kick-off will take place during the Photonic Integration Symposium in Eindhoven on April 25). The institute conducts research on three levels, namely photonic materials, integrated chips and complete systems. A separate limited company will be managing the intellectual property and companies can join a cooperative offering access at reduced licensing rates to the knowledge generated. A major task for Photon Delta is to chart the demand side of things, says Managing Director Ewit Roos. ‘We have to bolster demand – at European level too – by means of ‘sensitisation’, as the restrictive factor in the market at present isn’t the technology but awareness of the possibilities. We’re tackling this by efficiently connecting all parties in the photonic supply chain and getting them to cooperate on open innovation. There’s a great deal in place already in terms of knowledge generation at universities and high-tech mechanical engineering in the Brainport Eindhoven region.’ A third crucial ingredient for the ecosystem is freely accessible production capacity. This is also provided for, by means of SMART

Photonics. Roos: ‘If this can expand to become an international player for prototyping and volume production of PICs, Photon Delta will become the Silicon Valley of integrated photonics.’

PURE-PLAY One product of the photonics research carried out by the TU/e is SMART Photonics, the world’s only pure-play foundry for this new technology. The independent chip manufacturer is accessible to any chip developer. Last autumn SMART Photonics opened its pilot production line for PICs in indium phosphide (InP). Active photonic components, such as lasers, and passive components, such as filters, can be integrated on the InP platform. CEO Richard Visser: ‘The production expertise of our people is among the best in the world. Every three months we perform a so-called multi-project wafer run, which enables participants to try out various designs for a new chip relatively inexpensively. It has proved a huge success, as our process is generic rather than application-specific. We offer a number of generic building blocks, developed in conjunction with the TU/e, which make designing chips for a variety of applications straightforward: medical, telecom and datacom, aviation, automotive, mechanical engineering, etc. We want to open a factory for volume production in Eindhoven in 2018. The

intention is that it will go on to become the world’s largest supplier of photonic chips.’ SMART Photonics is one of the driving forces behind Photon Delta, says Visser. ‘Our multiproject wafer runs from 2013 onwards – which is when we first started openly offering the technology on the market – allowed us to demonstrate their disruptive character, with performances up to 10,000 times better than the existing technology for similar applications. We’re currently witnessing the same evolution in photonics that we saw starting in semicon fifty years ago, and we need to be ready for it if there is demand for considerable volumes of chips. That’s why we’re busy working on the technology and Photon Delta can help us to get the market to grow.’

PACKAGING Already active on the market at present is Technobis in Alkmaar, part of the Photon Delta ecosystem and a customer of SMART Photonics. ‘We’re a pioneer in sensing applications for photonics’, says CEO Pim Kat. Special sensors or bare fibres that are read out photonically enable detection of changes in physical variables such as length, pressure or temperature. This makes it possible to measure distortion in precision machinery, mechanical load on aeroplane wings or temperature of critical components, etc. ‘When it comes to sensing, we’re now able to create anything the

customer can think of. Thanks to the integration of photonics, we’ve achieved a reduction in price and dimensions and a breakthrough in terms of possibilities. This is only just starting to seep through into the market.’ Technobis still has its work cut out for it. ‘We badly need more photonic building blocks. There are standard blocks of course, but for certain applications we need to adapt them. A second challenge is the ramp-up of production. Until now we’ve been doing series of ten to a hundred. We’re now heading towards 5,00010,000. This means that the yield of the production process will have to be improved. Furthermore, the packaging for a photonic chip is more complex than it is for a semiconductor chip. We’ll be doing the packaging ourselves, because we don’t want our bare chips getting into the hands of third parties. In order to recover the requisite substantial investment, we will be offering this packaging service to the market.’

www.photondelta.eu www.tue.nl www.smartphotonics.nl www.technobis.com www.berenschot.nl www.phisymposium.org (Photonic Integration Symposium)

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

FACTS EMPLOYENEURSHIP, Number of employees 900 Locations The Netherlands: Eindhoven Utrecht Location Belgium: Brussels Locations France: Paris Rennes Locations Italy: Rome Milan Turin Locations Spain: Madrid Barcelona Bilbao info@tmc.nl +31 (0)40 239 22 60 www.tmcporch.com TMC Group deploys highly skilled professionals within technical environments. TMC distinguishes itself by supplying scarce competencies required for the development of complex products and projects. Our focus is on projects that are crucial to our clients. In addition TMC contributes to our clients’ project continuity and flexibility and we are able to provide them with strategic knowledge on a continuous basis. TMC works for clients specialised primarily, but not exclusively, in High-Tech, R&D, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Chemical & Process Industry and Automotive.

THE BUSINESS MODEL OF THE 21 ST CENTURY!

TMC is unique in drawing the right specialists to the company, by using our Employeneurship model, the model that combines employment and entrepreneurship in a new working relationship. This model is the driving force behind TMC and it features the following 5 principles: The first one is that we work with permanent employment contracts. Our people work from a secure entrepreneurial home, which offers continuity to the Employeneurs and to the clients as well. The second pillar is financial. People share in the profit margin, which they generate individually. The profit share for an Employeneur can amount to up to fifty per cent. The third pillar is one-on-one coaching. The highly skilled and highly educated technical engineers’ strength is their expertise, but their influence can be enhanced by stimulating entrepreneurial behaviour. A team of psychologists counsel them in their development. In addition the TMC YOUniversity offers an array of training courses to enhance and strengthen their personal skills. The fourth pillar is the contact with colleagues within a cell. TMC’s Employeneurs can meet one another within the cells and discuss the policy: where do the opportunities in the market lie, or how is the internal organisation set up? The cells almost operate as a company within the company.

The fifth pillar, the Entrepreneurial Lab. This is the place for people to get a taste of 100% entrepreneurship, by developing their own product. Our Employeneurs do not have a noncompete clause: when someone wants to take the step towards becoming selfemployed, we actually encourage that.

How does the customer experience the Employeneurship? Where the development of the individual (i.e. TMC’s Employeneur) is at the heart of the business model, our clients also recognise the added value of Employeneurs coming in to strengthen their organisation for a number of years. Our professionals are among the very best. The combination of high-level knowledge (specialism) and the ability to think and act as an entrepreneur is extremely successful in day-to-day work practice. The Employeneurs are able to implement changes and manage them, but they are also able to come up with solutions that will take the business process a step forward. We are receiving an increasing number of requests to set up joint programmes in this area.

What does Employeneurship mean to the professional? TMC combines the security of a permanent contract with the opportunities of entrepreneurship. TMC is transparent when it comes to costs and revenues of a project and as a professional you always share in the profit. Our collaboration is based on mutual trust. Our training and coaching contribute to your success on your projects, enabling you, as a professional, to make the difference for the client.

14:13

BKL HELPS AFB MANUFACTURING & PROCESS LAB ‘TICK ALL THE BOXES’

‘SAFETY FIRST’ ‘Safety is paramount; we will never make concessions on that’, says Jean Pierre Heijster in the control room of the ‘rolling road’ test bench. The rolling road is being prepared for a test, which means the door to the chamber locks automatically. ‘Safety has been our ongoing focus, right from when we first started developing this facility.’ Nuenen-based BKL Engineering B.V. helped with the assurance and recording of all the safety issues.

Jean Pierre Heijster, operational manager of AFB Manufacturing & Process Lab (right), and Coen Aarts, commercial director of BKL, in the hall built specially for the ‘rolling road’ test bench. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

BY PIM CAMPMAN

hared facilities are a crucial asset of the Automotive Campus in Helmond. The ‘rolling road’ test bench (RRT) is one of them, and not the least. ‘You’d be hard pressed to find a second rolling road like this in Europe’, says Jean Pierre Heijster. He is the operational manager of AFB Manufacturing & Process Lab, which developed and built the rolling road together with other parties and which manages the facility and arranges for automotive firms in the heavy-duty segment – bus, truck and trailer manufacturers, along with suppliers of modules/components for them – to run tests on it. Endurance tests (how long does it take before something breaks?), shock-absorption tests, braking tests, power tests, fuel consumption tests and more.

INNOVATIVE AND EFFICIENT The test bench is huge (22 metres long, 7 metres wide) and incredibly strong (built for vehicles of up to 13 tonnes). Heijster: ‘What

you see is only the half of it: there is another part of the system underground which is just as big.’ It includes two steel rollers (threemetre diameter), onto which elements can be screwed in order to simulate extremely realistically the characteristics of a range of road surfaces, such as rough and uneven surfaces. At rolling speeds of up to a hundred kilometres per hour. All in all, this makes the ‘rolling road’ innovative and also efficient, with fast, consistent and reproducible test results. A concrete structure many metres thick and smart damping technology prevent the massive energy released during the trials from causing vibrations outside the hall.

ASSET FOR SMES The rolling road has been operational for two years. According to Jean Pierre Heijster, it is heavily used. ‘By the large bus, truck and trailer manufacturers, but also by small and medium-sized enterprises’, he emphasises. ‘It is a great asset, particularly for the SMEs, which get to use it at reduced rates. Obviously,

an SME can’t cough up that kind of investment itself. Thanks to this shared facility, they can nevertheless conduct tests to help them improve products, for example to make them more sustainable and at the same time lighter and/or more fuel-efficient.’

SAFETY AS A SPECIALISM AFB Manufacturing & Process Lab makes the RRT available to parties in the Netherlands and abroad. ‘They perform the tests; we offer the equipment, our sensor and software systems (which record the test results) and professional support.’ And as said, safety is paramount. In order to leave nothing to chance, AFB went looking for an independent party that could thoroughly review and assure all the safety issues by completing the construction file. They chose BKL, based in the neighbouring municipality of Nuenen, known as a specialist in machine safety. Coen Aarts, commercial director of BKL: ‘BKL started out around 30 years ago, as an engineering firm. From being a sole trader, it has grown to employ approximately 50 people. Fifteen to 20 years ago, BKL decided to differentiate itself by focusing on the area of safety. Today we are a specialist covering the full safety spectrum, from the customer’s idea/wish right through to the disposal of end-of-life equipment.’ BKL’s customers include major OEMs like ASML, FEI Company, VDL and Philips. For AFB Manufacturing & Process Lab, these were excellent references which convinced them to do business with BKL.

ALL BOXES TICKED The roles which BKL can perform vary. Aarts: ‘We support machine builders from idea to concept and drawings – and if required, we can also take care of the production and installation. In addition, we are also able to act as consultants, in the sense that we offer customers our knowledge of safety to monitor, assure and manage their processes – by helping them ‘tick all the boxes’, completing the construction file and – we do that too – training people. The end result is that they can rest assured that their product is safe and they can put a CE sticker on it in good conscience.’ www.bkl.nl www.automotivenl.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

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RELEVANT FOR BRABANT The Brabant Development Agency (BOM) invests in companies with share capital and (subordinated) loans – not just for the financial returns but particularly for the social returns too. The companies in question are relevant for Brabant. Two promising examples.

exchanged the campus for their own premises in Geldrop. Here, the devices are developed and assembled before being shipped to customers across six continents, says a proud Van Helvoirt: ‘We started out by selling to and providing the process support for laboratories at universities and knowledge institutes. But since then we have also supplied devices to the US firm HART for the production of windpipe implants and to a European customer for heart valve implants.’

DREAM For the time being, IME is aiming for a business model in which it offers that combination of equipment and support. ‘We now only develop customer-specific devices, and customers still really need our know-how in order to set up the process properly so that it can be reliably used for production runs of hundreds or thousands of identical products. But my dream is to be the ASML of electrospinning equipment in a few years’ time, able to install complete, reliable production ‘My dream is to be the ASML of electrospinning equipment in a few years’ time’, says Jan van Helvoirt, CEO of IME. Photo: Com-magz lines for medical implants for customers. We are also considering setting up BY MARTIN VAN ZAALEN body, the body forms its own tissue between our own production line to mass-produce those fibres. If you make the threads from a biomedical products for the smaller players in biodegradable material, after some time you lectrospinning is not a new technology. the market.’ So says Van Helvoirt, who hopes are left with a heart valve or a reinforcement However, its application for biohis workforce will have swollen from the curto the artery consisting purely of material medical purposes, for the production rent 12 people to 25 in five years’ time. grown by the body itself, which helps prevent of ‘nano fibres’ which can be used to rejection and infections. This is what makes make implants, is just about ready for its regenerative medicine so successful’, explains market launch, says Jan van Helvoirt. And PROMISING the IME CEO. that is exactly what his company, IME Precisely because long-term growth is the Technologies from Geldrop, is working on. objective – and the firm is not looking for Electrospinning involves liquefying a polymer. short-term working capital – IME (again) SIX CONTINENTS In IME’s application, that liquid is pumped turned to BOM and investor TIIN Capital And that exactly is the market his company is through a syringe, the opening of which is for additional share capital. ‘A loan’, says now targeting. As a spin-off of Eindhoven suspended in an electrical field, generated by Ilse Massart, the BOM investment manager University of Technology and formerly part of means of a voltage of several kV or more. The involved, ‘was also considered. But because the the university’s holding company, the firm electrostatic force draws the liquid from the objective is to enter new markets and this is an focused on performing all kinds of contract syringe into a ‘collector’ and the resulting investment with a higher risk profile than, for research in the first years after its establishsubstance, which has a consistency something example, bank finance, we opted for shares ment in 2008. As part of that, IME worked up like chewing gum, is stretched into a very thin and for the control you get as a shareholder.’ the prototype – developed by co-founder thread. ‘As thin as 1/500 of the thickness of a The fact that BOM took that step says everyRaymond Solberg – of an electrospinning human hair’, says Van Helvoirt. On the collecthing about their confidence in and appreciamachine into a test rig for biomedical research. tor, which can be a flat plate but also a revoltion for the earnings model: ‘IME also serves Then, in 2012, the two entrepreneurs decided ving tube, the fibre is woven into a mould – an interest of society as a whole. Their regeneto focus completely on developing and builfor example, in the shape of a heart valve, a rative medicine technology can significantly ding these devices, while also helping custostent for an artery or a layer that can be used mers to configure the production process. to cover a burn. ‘After it is introduced into the They bought out the university and have since > CONTINUE ON PAGE 47

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

TRANSDISCIPLINARY THINKING STRONG TRUMP CARD

HIGH-SPEED TEST FOR CHIPS In partnership with supplier Cortexon, NXP has developed the next generation of its test system for chips (ICs). The integration of mechanical and electronic design culminated in an even more advanced system: nxParset.

The development process is characterised by openness between NXP en Cortexon, says Henry Wichert (in the center). ‘We’ve discussed everything with one another, right down to the smallest details.’ Vincent van der Velden left, right Marcel van de Sande. Photo: Gerard Verschooten

µParset. For this we wanted an aesthetically pleasing, functional and recognisable design’, says Henry Wichert. ‘If functional is what you want, then you’re in good hands with Cortexon. They don’t lose sight of the functionality. They know you have to be able to access it for maintenance in any way whatsoever, how essential cooling is, etc. The high degree of integration means you standard components no longer suffice.’ The requirements that NXP-ITEC set for the design of housings helped Cortexon professionalise further. ‘The cooperation enhanced our expertise in housings for electronics and assembly of electronic components’, says Business Unit Manager Marcel van de Sande. Cortexon performs a proportion of the electronic assembly. ‘It’s useful for NXP if certain components have been pre-integrated into the housing. This optimises the supply chain.’

DESIGN REVIEWS BY WILMA SCHREIBER

ince 1991 ITEC (Industrial Technology & Engineering Center) has been operating as an internal supplier to NXP on the Parset platform: test systems for discrete components – transistors and diodes – as well as ICs. The development started with the Parset (parametic semiconductor tester), followed by the µParset and now, nxParset that has been released last year. The nxParset enhances the possibilities in terms of the functional testing of chips, and because the system is multisite, it is capable of measuring several products in parallel. What this means is even faster testing and even greater throughput. ‘Two to three times faster

S 38

than NXP’s competitors’, says a proud Henry Wichert. ‘Indispensable if you’re looking to test tens of billions of chips each year.’ The nxParset is now being used to measure sensors for the automotive industry at NXP’s site in Hamburg – to the complete satisfaction of the customer.

FUNCTIONALITY An important partner in the development of the Parset platform is Cortexon based in Veghel. The company supplies customer-specific housings for electronics and over the past few years has developed dozens of products in conjunction with NXP. ‘Back then we started out with a standard housing, but this soon evolved into a specific design. It started with

Special Issue - Dutch High Tech - April 2016

The nxParset was developed in line with the PXI standard in combination with customerspecific solutions. To this end, NXP and Cortexon collaborated with the American inTEST. ‘The components were developed separately. Everyone prepared a design in 3D. Subsequently, on the basis of design reviews, we made several strides in the draft design before building a prototype’, explains Senior Project Manager Vincent van der Velden. ‘A real challenge, because all three of us were working with a different engineering system. In the end we managed to integrate everything into a single design. And everything fitted immediately, much to our delight. After all, if it’s not right first time, that sets you back four months in the design process.’

The cooling of all compartments was not the only challenge for Cortexon. ‘The positioning of the print cards and alignment of the connectors is extremely precise work. We gradually optimised this during the design process so as to make maintenance and assembly easier, as a result of which less configuration work will be necessary’, says Marcel van de Sande. Furthermore, Cortexon also had to take electromagnetic compatibility (EMC requirements) into consideration so as to not disrupt the test process. ‘Which is why the housing is impervious to electrical radiation on two sides. High-frequency radiation cannot escape from it (emission) and signals from such things as a mobile phone can’t get in (immunity).’ Henry Wichert cites this immunity as an essential aspect. ‘This requirement is primarily down to the fact that we want to measure properly.’ One of the tricks in the case is the compartmentalisation: shielding certain spaces, likewise intended to ensure that the measuring process runs with minimum disruption.

OPENNESS In addition to EMC, attention was also devoted to ESD (Electrostatic Discharge), with the assembly being done in an ESD-safe room. Even the packaging for transport of the nxParset housings does not escape attention. Marcel van de Sande: ‘We work with an anti-

could be moved a millimetre to the left to produce a better result for us. It’s precisely if you don’t have a clue about housings that your questions can sometimes yield useful adjustments.’ Marcel van de Sande echoes this. ‘At first I thought a printed circuit board was a

static casing and have developed a special bracket to lift the housing out of the box. The integrator gets it out of the box, fits the remaining electronic components, tests the system and then the housing is put back in the box and shipped off to the end customer.’

‘It’s precisely if you don’t have a clue about housings that your questions can sometimes yield useful adjustments’

fixed design. It turns out that that’s not always the case, presenting us with increased opportunities in terms of design.’ Vincent van der Velden sums it up concisely: ‘This transdisciplinary thinking is producing a high degree of integration of electronic and mechanical design. Rendering the nxParset unique. Built in line with the PXI standard and combined with all manner of freedoms so as to come up with an optimum product.’

NXP-ITEC has short lead times. When dealing with suppliers such as Cortexon, the company works with Outline Agreements; basic contracts to cover the financing of the supply chain. The development process is characterised by openness between parties, says Henry Wichert. ‘We’ve discussed everything with one another, right down to the smallest details. We highlight the hotspots, literally the places where we’re expecting the temperature to rise. Cortexon keeps these in mind when installing the fans and generates the requisite airflow. But they also look at whether a connection

www.cortexon.com www.nxp.com

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Special Issue - Dutch High Tech - April 2016

Brainport industries is a supplier network of 90 high-tech companies active in high-mix, low-volume, high-complexity in the Netherlands. Brainport Industries provides des a ffer ertile ground and a solid structure fo or collaborative projects whether they are related to technology, market or people and represents the interests of its members on political level.

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NTS-GROUP CAN APPLY GENERIC KNOWLEDGE AND CAPABILITIES TO SERIES OF APPLICATIONS

‘OUR PRODUCT IS ACTUALLY EXPERTISE’ For the production line of a new type of 3D display, NTS-Group develops and builds the heart: the digital printer module. This is right up the Eindhoven system supplier’s street as they have been specialising in optomechatronics for years. ‘This product is being built upon the expertise we have gained in, I estimate, a dozen other printer projects. Just as we will develop future projects using the expertise we are gaining now’, says Paul Neggers, NTS-Group’s Business Line Manager.

– with no less than 1024 nozzles – that allow miniscule drops of ink to fall, with ultimate precision, onto a prepared sheet of glass that is just a few millimetres ‘thick’, in exactly the right angle, without spraying or omitting pixels. A tough job, even for NTS. But also not completely unknown, explains Paul Neggers. ‘We handle the substrate (the sheet of glass, ed.) using lifting pins. If you have never made a module with lifting pins then you have to start from scratch and discover everything involved. Not us: in the past, we have applied this principle to lifting wafers for semiconductor clients. We recognise the client's problem and have conceptual ideas to solve the problem effectively.’

ORIGINAL MODULE MANUFACTURER

Paul Neggers: ‘We never could have developed this printer if we hadn't developed ten others.’ Photo: Gerard Verschooten

BY PIM CAMPMAN

ive years ago, NTS-Group separated its developmental activities in NTS Systems Development. There are currently around 200 people working in this ‘incubator’ for new products/modules, especially mechanics, mechatronics, optics and software experts. A number of these employees work in Wychen, near Nijmegen, where Development Prototyping is based. ‘Here we have brought development and production closer together’, explains Paul Neggers, ‘and we also have a mechanical workshop to make the critical components ourselves. Short lines, quick adjustments; this works well.’ NTS works as a system supplier for clients. Neggers: ‘We don’t have to keep starting from scratch, we have worked on similar projects a few times before; that means we know what to do and what not to do. This learning curve is very important as we can help our clients more quickly, with regard to quality and time to market, as well as costs because we always consider (re)producibility.’

A PIECE OF GENERIC EXPERTISE NTS’ core expertise lies in optomechatronics, plus everything required to achieve ultra-precision in machines and processes. NTS applies this expertise in various areas of applications. Print technology is one of these areas. ‘An area of great diversity’, explains Paul Neggers.

And so, the present project has more similarities with previous projects. Neggers mentions the maintenance station that cleans the print head. NTS developed the ‘jetbar’ especially for this project. The smart ‘module in the module’ checks immediately after the print heads are installed if they are in the correct position to allow the patterns to land in the correct place on the substrate; if not, correction follows automatically. ‘The jetbar has provided us with new knowledge which we can use to our advantage in following projects’, says Paul Neggers. He adds: ‘We never could have developed this printer if we hadn’t developed ten others.’ What you see now is that we have made steps in modular development and building - and are moving towards Original Module Manufacturer (OMM, also known as OEM white box, see page 4, ed.). That makes it interesting for OEMs to talk to us about their road map, to converge with ours.’

‘There are synthetic and metal prints, you can add ‘tracks’ to a substrate, and graphics applications are also possible. For example, we have developed very large printers for Agfa.’ Now that digital printing is taking off, this expertise and experience is very useful. ‘Although every client request and application is different, there is a great deal of generic expertise involved’, he explains – based on a project that NTS has been working on for the past eight months: a number of advanced inkjet modules. These are to become the heart of a production line for a new type of display that enables you to see 3D images without 3D glasses. Dimenco, a company based in Veldwww.nts-group.nl hoven which is further developing this Philips technology, wants to conquer the world market with it Govers Govers Accountants/Consultants Accountants/Adviseurs – and ‘neighbour’ Morphotonics (deveOur rankbehoren among the industry Onzeclients klanten tottop de in toptheir in hun loper of light manaor we support development sector, of wij their ondersteunen huntowards ontwikkeling gement textures) and reaching their potential. This is achieved daar naar toe.fullest Dat doen we door een hoge NTS-Group are 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 lending a hand.

A FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE NTS is taking care of the optomechatronic part of the system. Simply put, it concerns the print heads

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 5653 MA MA Eindhoven Eindhoven Postbus 657 Postbus 657 5600 AR AR Eindhoven Eindhoven

TT +31 504 504 040(0)40 2 5042504 FF +31 504 599 040(0)40 2 5042599 EE mencke@govers.nl mencke@govers.nl W I www.govers.nl www.govers.nl

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

ADVERTO RIAL Leading provider of EXTREME fiber sensing systems, Technobis is launching its new product family for fiber sensing based on Integrated Photonics, i.e. Application Specific Photonic Integrated Circuits (ASPIC). ASPIC technology supports existing and future sensing and monitoring solutions for challenging applications and stringent environments. ASPIC systems have huge advantages over conventional optics systems. Among the many technology benefits are improved reliability, solid state, smaller sizes, reduced weight, significantly reduced pricing, hybrid integration, improved thermal and vibration stability.

TECHNOBIS LAUNCHES ITS NEW PRODUCT FAMILY FOR EXTREME FIBER SENSING MARKETS & APPLICATIONS The new product family offers exceptional performance in fast and accurate measurements for demanding market segments such as high tech, aeronautics, space, medical, nuclear and automotive testing industries. The systems are specifically developed for strain sensing (down to 0.02 nanostrain resolution), thermal mapping (up to 100 FBGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in one fiber, high resolution, high speed), pressure sensing, force sensing, shape reconstruction (multi-channel systems), displacement sensing, etc.

DEMONSTRATION Technobis will be demonstrating its new Gator product family on request and at the Photonics Event in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, between 1-2 June 2016.

MORE INFORMATION Technobis can help you gain new insights about the dynamic behavior of your application resulting in the most innovative solutions. For more information and specifications, please contact us or download our EXTREME fiber sensing brochure.

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JSF ENGINE CONSTRUCTOR PRATT & WHITNEY HAILS EINDHOVEN SUPPLIER AS THE WORLD’S BEST

‘KMWE/DUTCHAERO DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB’ Over the next 10 years, KMWE/DutchAero will be manufacturing complex engine parts for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF, official name: F-35 Lightning II). This is a major achievement, because engine constructor Pratt & Whitney and the US Department of Defense set the bar for suppliers extremely high. ‘We spent a year and a half to two years convincing them that we really could deliver what they were asking of us’, says Grignon van Bakel, aerospace business manager at KMWE.

improvements in those areas. It starts with AS 9100 certification, the aerospace equivalent of ISO 9000. On top of that, the firm now holds all the required process qualifications and customer-specific approvals – and its information flows are separated in such a way that what is secret for one customer cannot leak to another. This is relevant in KMWE’s case, because its customers also include Airbus, Boeing, General Electric, Rolls Royce and the French firm Snecma.

EXOTIC MATERIALS

Grignon van Bakel, aerospace business manager at KMWE: ‘We spent a year and a half to two years convincing them that we really could deliver what they were asking of us.' Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

BY PIM CAMPMAN

he contract – worth approximately $20 million – was signed in early January. Cliff Stone, business development & international programs director at Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, travelled specially to Eindhoven for the signing. ‘KMWE/DutchAero may well be proud to have won our global sourcing competition. They did an outstanding job’, said Stone. The Eindhoven company is building seven components for the F-135 jet engine for Pratt & Whitney. And the prospects for more orders are good, says Grignon van Bakel, responsible for sales and strategy within KMWE’s aerospace market segment. ‘Those seven components are a great start, and they represent quite a significant value. An intention has been expressed to increase that number. For

that to happen, we will have to demonstrate that we are better than anyone else in the world.’

FAILURE NOT AN OPTION The barriers to supplying aircraft manufacturers are extremely high. Van Bakel: ‘Products for this market need to be 100% reliable – 99.9% is not enough. Quality is paramount. Look, the JSF only has one type of engine. That places high demands on your qualification systems and testing equipment – and the way in which you organise your processes. Moreover, the selection is extremely strict on aspects such as financial health, reliability of delivery and capacity planning. Because it is of course not acceptable for deliveries to be halted because a supplier is having trouble maintaining the promised capability.’ KMWE has it all and is constantly investing in

KMWE has been operating in the aerospace market for quite some years. Initially, it primarily manufactured structural parts for civil and military aircraft. In February 2014, it acquired DutchAero. This Eindhoven-based firm was the successor to the Philips business unit that built components for the F-16’s engine exhaust. Subsequently, DutchAero grew to become a recognised supplier of complex machined engine parts; critical components that need to be able to withstand extremely high temperatures over long periods. Grignon van Bakel: ‘We are not talking about aluminium but about titanium, which can withstand higher temperatures and allows you to design smaller and yet stronger – and therefore lighter – parts. On top of that, there’s a whole range of ‘exotic’ materials, such as Inconel (a nickel alloy, ed.) and the so-called super alloys (alloys of cobalt, nickel, chrome, molybdenum, etc., ed.) with names like René 41 and Hastelloy.’ KMWE/Dutch-Aero also has the technology in-house to provide components with hard, accurately dosed coatings. These can serve as wear-resistant or heat-resistant coatings. The products are made on the newest generation of fully automated milling machines and lathe/machining cells. Welding robots are used for sheet metal composites (fabrications), and so forth. And crucial assets also include the extensive testing and measurement equipment, for instance for performing crack tests (fluorescent penetrant and X-ray inspections) and for measuring layer thickness/hardness, plus the materials analysis laboratory and training programmes for the over 550 staff. CONTINUE ON PAGE 45 >

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

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> CONTINUATION OF PAGE 43

GETTING NOTICED KMWE is therefore perfectly equipped to also manufacture critical components for aircraft (engine) constructors. But as a medium-sized supplier, how do you get noticed by a large

is no longer allowed in Europe. Certainly, the intention is that Dutch industry should get the opportunity to participate. But if we were not competitive in terms of quality, reliability of delivery or in any other way, we would not have got the order.’ That was also the message from the top executive of Pratt & Whitney

‘If we were not competitive in terms of quality, reliability of delivery or in any other way, we would not have got the order’ aerospace OEM like Pratt & Whitney, far away in Connecticut, USA? Van Bakel: ‘We spent a year and a half to two years convincing them that we really could deliver what they were asking of us. We received excellent support from people at the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Defence – and from Maxime Verhagen (former Minister of Foreign Affairs, ed.), who acted as a special envoy to promote the involvement of Dutch companies in the JSF programme. And when it all got more concrete, the Noord-Brabant provincial authority stuck its neck out to bring the order here.’ The award has nothing to do with compensation orders, explains Grignon van Bakel. ‘That

during the official contract signing. ‘For every component that we do not make ourselves or in the US (the American Ministry of Defense prohibits certain critical parts being manufactured outside the US, ed.), we conducted a global search for suitable suppliers. The one that scores highest on all criteria gets the order.’

one of the key priorities of the JSF programme. The eventual purchase price of the JSF is a very sensitive issue in the Netherlands too. Those who believe this contract is highly lucrative are wrong: we will have to work really hard to achieve the agreed price.’ KMWE has some experience in this regard, said CEO Edward Voncken during the signing at DutchAero. ‘Our strategy is focused on supplying high-quality products at competitive prices. Our ‘lean’ production philosophy is a good foundation for that.’ That formidable package of requirements is balanced by a long-term relationship, initially for ten years, based on mutual trust. ‘Because we will be manufacturing those seven components, and possibly more, for all the JSFs to be built. We are investing heavily in this, and so are Pratt & Whitney. Ultimately, that will see us further deepening and broadening our technological capabilities as a supplier to the aerospace industry’, concludes Grignon van Bakel. KMWE expects the contract to generate work for 10 extra people.

AFFORDABILITY A PRIORITY Alongside the criteria listed above, there is one more to which Pratt & Whitney attaches crucial importance: price. Van Bakel: ‘They not only demand a competitive cost price from their suppliers, but also that they continue to reduce that price step by step. Affordability is

www.pw.utc.com/military_engines www.kmwe.com www.linkedin.com/company/kmwe https://twitter.com/KMWEprecision www.youtube.com/user/KMWEprecision www.facebook.com/KMWEehv

TSG Group is a Dutch engineering company located in Brainport region Eindhoven with a focus on development of specialty machines, products and solutions in the markets: Industry, Consumer (including Medical) and Automotive. At the end of this year the company will exist 25 years and during that quarter of a century we have built up a valuable amount of experience and impressive portfolio of technical projects. With almost 100 specialists, TSG Group offers its customers project based support in development processes from idea up to production including design, engineering and manufacturability. Skills in the area of engineering and project management are combined with extensive knowledge of materials, surface treatments and production. Our in-house Proto & Pilot Workshop provides facilities on behalf of development activities, tests and (turn-key) projects as well as prototyping and pilot series production of products. We have proven to be a successful partner for low-volume, high complexity specialty machines and pilot series manufacturing for new product introduction and niche markets. Please contact us to for more detailed information and to help you in your next step. Email: info@tsggroup.nl Website: www.tsggroup.nl T: +31402548222

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

> CONTINUATION OF PAGE 37

enhance the quality of life of many patients. It is a promising technology, and the growth we anticipate will also benefit a whole ecosystem of supplier firms. Besides, we have here two entrepreneurs who complement each other very well and have the ambition and drive to really make a success of it.’ Jan van Helvoirt expects to be knocking on BOM and TIIN’s doors again in future. ‘Because if we want to achieve our dream of building our own factory and production line to manufacture our devices, we will undoubtedly need much more money.’ BOM will be pleased to discuss it with them, says Ilse Massart.

RISING QUALITY STANDARDS The Eindhoven high-tech group One of A Kind Technologies consists of Crux Agribotics, Smart Vision Center, Beltech and VIMEC, firms specialising in vision technology. Crux Agribotics, for example, develops robotics and automation solutions for more efficient agricultural production with higher yields – for example, robots that can harvest, sort and pack 24 hours per day, that are able to identify diseases and non-conformities, and that do not bring viruses with them. VIMEC develops and manufactures vision technology for inspecting pharmaceutical glass (such as syringes, vials and ampoules) and Beltech does the same for all kinds of industrial applications, from inspecting engines through to checking weaving errors in carpets. Smart Vision carries a range of inspection cameras made by Cognex and installs and services them, using innovations from the other parts of the group, if necessary. ‘Worldwide, quality standards are rising. Customers do not tolerate manufacturing errors, and if they do occur they want the causes to be properly traceable. For this reason, our technology puts us in a growth market’, says CEO Alex Kind.

EXAMPLES Two companies serve as an example for his growth strategy: Aalberts Industries and Lely. ‘Over the years, Aalberts has taken over hundreds of firms, with a particular eye for businesses that can reinforce one another – the way our businesses do too. For years Lely has invested a lot of money in development, laying the foundation for the worldwide success they now enjoy with their milking and manure robots. We invest a lot in R&D too.’ Because getting a robot with computer vision to harvest cucumbers, say, does not happen by itself, Kind explains. ‘Unlike in the automotive or food industries, in the agricultural sector each product is different. No two cucumbers are the same, they are all in different places and sometimes they don’t even stay still. Nevertheless, the robot has to recognise the cucumber, so that the gripper can get hold of it. With Crux, we consciously chose cucum-

bers because they are green in a green environment. Our thinking was: we’ll start with the hardest thing there is, after that we’ll be able to handle anything.’

PROFESSIONALISING But the research done by Crux costs a lot of money, and there are not yet any sales to offset the investment. The other companies do generate turnover and a gross profit of around 20 percent, but the work there consists virtually exclusively of risky development projects that do not yield a return until the customer’s problem is actually solved. ‘We don’t just need money for innovation, but also to be able to professio- CEO Alex Kind of One of A Kind is pleased with the loan from BOM for commercial reasons. nalise. Because growth ‘What’s more, we can use this money to implement our growth plans.’ Photo Thomas van Oorschot in itself causes inefficiency. Since 2012, we bank regards this type of loan as venture have grown from 10 to our current staff comcapital, which is almost equated to share plement of 55, and we want that number to capital, and therefore as shareholders’ equity. increase to 80 over the coming year. But you In this way, we boosted One of A Kind’s only benefit from the know-how of new solvency, making it easier for the company to employees if your existing employees know borrow additional funds from banks.’ they have it, in other words if the know-how is properly assured in the system.’

PARTNERSHIP RECOGNITION So it was gratifying that last year One of A Kind received a loan from the Brabant Development Agency. ‘Gratifying for commercial reasons. Because in order to qualify for a loan, the company and management need to go through an extensive selection process. The award of this loan is a recognition of our qualities. What’s more, we can use this money to implement our growth plans. We now have access to a reserve of money we can use if we need it. We will try to use it sparingly, though. We don’t want to dilute our ownership and we want to run up as few debts as possible. But this way we can grow, organically and by means of acquisitions. We are always looking for partnerships with other firms when we encounter capacity or competency issues. And yes, when we do so, we always check to see whether those partners are potential takeover candidates. We are very open about that.’ The loan which One of a Kind received from BOM Capital was a subordinated loan. They opted for a loan, explains Gert Jan Vaessen, investment manager at the development agency, because it means the entrepreneurs don’t have to dilute their own shareholdings. ‘And we chose a subordinated loan because the

BOM dared to take this extra risk because the organisation ‘believes in the entrepreneurs’. Vaessen: ‘They are ambitious but also realistic. They are the type to really go for it and at the same time they are professional. The latter is demonstrated by their very methodical, clear reports, strong customer focus and consideration for their own employees.’ BOM also got involved because the innovations which the One of A Kind group are working on are regarded as being ‘relevant for Brabant’. ‘In terms of employment, but also because their knowledge and expertise in vision technology are contributing significantly to the regional value chain. To this end, they are also looking to establish partnerships with other businesses in the region, which are resulting in innovations those firms could not have achieved on their own. At BOM, we are also concerned about this social return’, says Vaessen, who confirms that the faith invested in One of A Kind is already paying dividends in financial terms.

www.bom.nl www.imetechnologies.nl www.oneofakindtechnologies.nl

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

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 140 high-growth companies choose to build their future at a single location. 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!

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

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COLUMN SVEN JOHANSEN AND MARCEL WESTPHAL BIG DATA: GOLD MINE OR LEGAL MINEFIELD? Sven Johansen and Marcel Westphal Westphal Johansen lawyers ig data is hot and a topic of discussion in almost every boardroom. The reason is simple: the use of data – whether or not it is big data – offers huge commercial opportunities. Opportunities that can significantly improve a company’s market position, create a new earnings model or even wipe out an entire industry or sector. Shining examples are Google, Facebook, Amazon and Bol.com. There is every reason, therefore, to start prospecting this potential gold mine. Particularly since these days nearly all firms produce huge quantities of data in their daily processes, or can obtain access to it. But those operating the big data gold mine would do well to bear the legal risks in mind.

To start with, the fact that the terms ‘data’ and ‘big data’ are not legally defined, or not very well, and these terms are a long way from being worked out in case law. Neither has it been established who the owner (or, more precisely, the rights-holder) is of the data or big data. Is it the manufacturer, the importer or seller, or rather the owner, lessor, lessee or user of the car or machine? Or is it the software supplier whose software facilitates the data gathering and analysis? In the absence of regulations, parties need to make sound agreements in this regard. Moreover, careless use of big data can cause great detriment

to those affected and issues of ‘data liability’ can quickly come into play. Big data is a collective term for gathering and analysing large quantities of various data at high speeds, with the results then being used by people or computers. Inherent to their high-speed nature is that the collection and analysis are not very accurate. This can lead to incorrect conclusions and far-reaching and unpleasant consequences for individuals, such as being unjustly labelled a bad driver and having to pay a correspondingly high insurance premium. Another issue is that big data can contain unique personal information. The Dutch Personal Data Protection Act stipulates that this personal information may only be processed in a limited number of cases. Improper data processing or the leaking of data is punishable by fines as high as €820,000. The data can also contain commercial secrets or other sensitive information, and processing, analysing or disseminating it can destroy a company’s competitive advantage and the associated, often substantial investments, in one fell swoop. In situations like these, claims are bound to follow. Before entering and operating the gold mine, it is therefore important to plot a course to guide the big data user through the legal minefield. This should take in such matters as accuracy, security and privacy by design. Only then is it safe to enter El Dorado and ‘cash in’. www.wjadvocaten.nl

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Special Issue - Dutch High Tech - April 2016

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SHORTCUTS FRENCKEN TO MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRIALISE CARE ROBOT Frencken is taking on the production of the Lean Elderly Assistant (LEA), developed by the company Robot Care Systems, based in The Hague. This is a high-tech robot that provides part of the care for elderly people with reduced mobility but also for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. The device enables people to live at home independently for longer and can also reduce the workload for care home staff. The robot is packed with sensors that help it to keep an eye on the client; it can invite the client to walk or dance with it if they have been sitting still for too long and it can also raise the alarm if it senses that the client is lying on the floor. When taking a walk, the robot avoids obstacles and provides exactly the right support for the client in order to prevent them from falling. The LEA is currently still in the testing phase and will be trialled in five European countries, inclu-

ding the Netherlands, this year. Frencken has now been asked to take on the industrialisation and manufacture of the robot as a system supplier: ‘We are doing some re-engineering in order to be able to manufacture it efficiently and at the lowest possible cost while meeting all the internationally applicable safety requirements for medical devices and making it suitable for long-term maintenance. We are also configuring a production process and supply chain that will allow us to scale up to bigger quantities quickly’, explains managing director Henk Tappel regarding the order from Robot Care Systems. ‘Of course we won this order because we have lots of expertise in industrialising complex systems and are big enough to be able to cope with a rapid ramp-up, but also – quite simply – because their people got on with ours from the get-go. RCS chose us based on a gut feeling.’ Pagina 1

Photo: RCS

Henk Tappel says this is not the only new order received by the Eindhoven firm in recent months. ‘I can’t name any names, but in the first months of this year we have acquired new customers in the United States, France and Germany as well as in the Netherlands, in all the segments – semicon, medical technology and analytical – in which we are active.’ Has this successfully reversed the declining turnover trend of last

year? ‘In 2015, the turnover of our entire group fell by 13 percent, but the most important cause of this was the unfavourable exchange rate of the euro compared to the Singaporean dollar (Frencken Group’s head office is in Malaysia, ed.). An additional important cause, in Europe, was that, as a result of Fukushima, we lost a major nuclear customer.’ www.frencken.nl

© Meilink Borculo B.V. Kamerlingh Onnesstraat 1 • 7271 AZ BORCULO 0545-253525 • borculo@meilink.eu Meilink Boxmeer B.V. Industriestraat 1 • 5831 AH BOXMEER 0485-561756 • boxmeer@meilink.eu Meilink Edam B.V. Ambachtstraat 13 • 1135 GG EDAM 0299-682040 • edam@meilink.eu

Meilink is a market leader in packaging, packing and logistical solutions for industrial capital goods. Meilink’s range of products and services covers the entire chain, from design until delivery on the final destination. We have divided our activities into the seven Meilink Chain Solutions: specific areas of expertise servicing the market as a valuable and reliable partner. With this combination of ‘Meilink Chain Solutions’ we are offering you the full benefit of our leading market position.

Meilink Raamsdonksveer B.V. Zalmweg 31 • 4941 VX RAAMSDONKSVEER 0162-574674 • raamsdonksveer@meilink.eu Meilink Schijndel B.V. Van Leeuwenhoekweg 35 • 5482 TK SCHIJNDEL 073-5442060 • schijndel@meilink.eu Varekamp Project Services B.V. Parkstraat 6 • 3016 BD ROTTERDAM 010-4367717 • exp@vpservices.nl IPS Technology Boschdijk 760 • 5624 CL EINDHOVEN 040-2647 200 • info@ips-technology.com

Special Issue - Dutch High-Tech - April 2016

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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.