ENGINEERING IN SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

VDL Enabling Transport Solutions (VDL ETS) plays an important role in the areas of Mobility and Energy & Sustainability, where it is focused on research, development, prototypes and testing of new opportunities or concepts for future mobility solutions. VDL ETS was founded in 2015 for the development of VDL’s electric buses but it does much more than that nowadays. With around 150 employees, this team forms the basis for the development of new vehicles by the entire VDL Groep.

Solving problems

Jordy Heusschen is an electrical engineer. While studying Automotive Engineering at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven, he chose to do an internship at VDL ETS in Valkenswaard. “During my internship I worked on the further development of the high-voltage box. That is the DC relay for the high-voltage part of the bus, i.e. the electric motor, the air pump and the heating. I helped to solve some of the problems with heat build-up. The company asked me several times during my internship about my future plans and offered me a contract before I left – and that offer was interesting enough that I decided to stay.”

Impressed

“I gradually got to know VDL ETS better during my internship. I started right after Christmas, but everything was very well arranged for my workstation. The people here are very friendly and there’s a really pleasant working atmosphere. Plus when I saw all the test equipment here, I was really impressed by the set-up.”

From electronics and batteries to climate control

“VDL is very diverse. When I started I thought that the company only made buses, but we actually do a lot more, including tractors and lots of components for third parties. In turn, many bus components come from other VDL companies. I was initially surprised at how diverse it is. In fact, VDL ETS is more like an engineering firm. We do lots of long-term engineering and test a lot of things long before they go into production. At the same time, we’re also system integrators, which means we have a lot of contact with suppliers and are in close contact with dynamic and innovative markets. Moreover, the products themselves are very varied, because an electric bus is full of electronics, batteries, climate control and software. So VDL ETS is a very interesting company for graduates from many different technical backgrounds.”

Part of the team

“Although I’ve only been here for six months, I’m already seen as an important part of the team. Whenever there are any questions about the HV box, people always come to me first because I was the one who spent so much time on investigating everything back then. No one knows more about it than me, and I love the fact that I’m now able to help the colleagues who used to help me!”

With more than 100 different businesses and with around 15,000 employees, VDL Groep is one of the biggest family-owned companies in the Netherlands. Thanks to the large degree of freedom and autonomy you receive at VDL, you benefit from the chance to increase both the breadth and depth of your development within the VDL companies at home and abroad. If you have a passion for technology, are looking for a friendly atmosphere and love a no-nonsense approach, find out more about VDL.

CBS seeks IT specialists with a passion for their work Statistics Netherlands (CBS) is continually seeking new employees related to all aspects of statistics and IT. The organization is particularly looking for IT specialists right now. Two such IT specialists are Rein Baarsma and Bart Caumon, who both joined CBS last year. They are enthusiastic about their experiences at the national statistical office.

In his role as a developer at CBS, Rein Baarsma’s daily work is very varied. “I’m currently working on the statistics relating to legal protection, and last week I took a dive into property statistics. When I joined CBS three months ago, my first project related to energy statistics. That broad view makes my work very interesting. For me, the challenge lies in working together with the colleagues from the statistical departments to make attractive, modern applications. Take the property statistics, for example. We extract the data from municipal registers, but before we can turn that data into statistics we first have to analyse it critically. We do that together, because you need statisticians to solve some issues and IT specialists to solve others.”

Bart Caumon is equally positive about working at CBS. “I’m part of a team that’s currently working on the Top Down package in the R programming language. We’re developing a basic package that colleagues in the statistical departments can use themselves to fine-tune the statistics. We work well together as a team. Everyone always comes into the office on Mondays, and then we all eat lunch or go for a walk together. And we regularly visit our colleagues in The Hague, or they come to us in Heerlen. Otherwise, we have a lot of contact online using Zoom, which works fine.”

“It’s nice to be in the office together with your colleagues, but in my current phase of life I also appreciate being able to work from home slightly more often because of my young children, and this is possible thanks to the generous employment package. Besides that, it’s a very sociable atmosphere and colleagues are very understanding of one another. Plus there are plenty of opportunities to learn new things and progress into new roles.” www.werkenbijhetCBS.nl

Working on the buildings of the future

With 1,400 employees across 16 locations in the Netherlands, Kuijpers is a sizeable business. However, it’s still relatively unknown amongst TU students, despite the fact that it works on important innovations for increasingly smart systems in many different fields. Roel van der Heijden joined the company as an intern and never left.

Kuijpers covers many different specialisms, such as sprinklers and fire safety systems, cleanroom systems, security systems, offices and hospitals, and sustainability-related technology. Consultant Roel van der Heijden: “It’s a big organization with lots of long-term possibilities and a broad range of projects. No two projects are the same here, and we have a wide range of different customers and employees too.”

“In the past, 80% of a building was based on civil engineering and 20% on technical systems, but nowadays it’s almost fifty-fifty. The level of comfort is becoming ever-more important, buildings are getting ‘smarter’, and they contain a growing number of systems. Moreover, an integral approach is becoming increasingly common, with different systems – and even different buildings – being interconnected and working together. The future is already here and it’s absolutely fascinating.”

“What I personally like about Kuijpers is that the company actually produces the new solutions it devises. When you’ve thought up something at the start of the process, it’s rewarding to see that it actually works in practice. Besides that, there’s a nice atmosphere at the company, with short lines of communication, including between the different locations. The culture is friendly and personal. People are important here. There’s a strong sense of engagement, including thanks to various employee associations and knowledge-based events to support your personal development. It’s human-centric with a focus on talent development. As a result, many people tend to stay here for a long time. The company also pays a lot of attention to well-being and a culture of safety. Kuijpers is a very good place to work.” www.werkenbijkuijpers.nl