The Spartan #03

‘when we lose, we perfect our gameplay’

Petra Stoker, professional gamer

10% or more

This is the range that founders and CEO’s of some of the biggest tech companies, the likes of Meta and Tesla, have given their board members – to fire. After years of hypergrowth and endless opportunities there’s now a strong and obvious decline to be seen in the tech scene. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

During their journeys to glorious victory in their respective markets these companies may have been ‘overhiring’. An abundance of money was made available in the last decade, primarily due to low interest rates and other economical boosts. In combination with a special interest in tech companies by risk-taking venture capitalists a true war for tech talent ensued. It sometimes seemed to be a goal on its own to hire as many great engineers as possible.

Why though? There was never a clear overview of what realistic revenues could be with these hypergrowth companies operating in new markets.

However, the promise was that it would touch the sky. It made the tech talent join these companies. Now that it becomes clear what the actual revenues will be, these companies have realized they’re overstaffed. As a result major layoffs become inevitable to stay competitive and these same engineers get fired.

Was it all a well-calculated plan, or were they just naïve?

Bob Defilet Founder of WAES

‘

Making choices means sacrificing things’

By Niels Guns / Photography Martijn van der Sanden

“Do I regret anything? What a shitty question.”

Rico Verhoeven digs deep into his memory. The world kickboxing champion has just given an inspiring speech to employees and connections of WAES in the Ketelhuis, located in Strijp-S in Eindhoven. Giving that speech seemed peanuts to him. Now, at the Q&A section with the audience at the end of the afternoon, the smooth chattering engine falters for a moment. Regret borders on doubt. And doubt does not fit Verhoeven’s vocabulary very well. In recent years the top athlete has profiled himself ever more as a businessman. Now he runs vacancy platform Heel Nederland Werkt, he is co-owner of restaurant Mood Streetfood with Eveline Wu, and he gives motivational speeches. Besides that, Rico is also increasingly focusing on his career as an actor.

After a short silence, his reflection in the Ketelhuis leads to an answer: “I once made my father pay for a trip to a match. I had to choose between him and a direct trainer. I could only bring one person. In retrospect, this was when my father and I started growing apart.”

Rico, the biography of the top athlete written by journalist Leon Verdonschot, also starts with the sometimes troubled relationship between father and son. It talks about the moment Rico’s father first announces that he is having euthanasia performed. And not long after, a WhatsApp voice message in which Rico’s father announces that he no longer wants to see his son.

Elite sports mentality

An hour before his talk in the Ketelhuis, Rico’s father is also mentioned during our conversation for The Spartan. Rico is sitting one floor above the stage where his talk will soon start. Before we can talk, Rico quickly orders carpaccio and spicy tuna at Mood, the restaurant chain in which he is also involved as a co-owner.

As soon as his food is on its way, he resolutely answers the question of how the athletecum-businessman interprets elite sports mentality: “Holding on. Never giving up. Being able to deal with setbacks. And always getting up one more time than your opponent.”

World kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven is currently in a transition from top athlete to businessman. The Spartan spoke to him about the lessons he incorporates from one discipline into another.

Was there a certain moment when you thought: ‘Ah, that’s it! This is elite sports mentality!’? Or is this a skill you can’t learn?

Rico: “I think you can definitely learn it. Although it certainly has to fit your character. It has been pounded into me to be honest. Especially by my father.”

Did he have that mentality himself as well?

“Yes, absolutely. This kind of mentality has always been important in my life. The word discipline often has a negative connotation. As if it’s some kind of punishment. That’s not how I see it at all. I approach it as something you give yourself: lines, structure, grip. For me, discipline is one of the most important values in my life. It’s the foundation of all my success.”

_Discipline is one of the most important values in my life

That mentality seems hard though. Do you sometimes have trouble with that?

“No, not if I constantly realize that everything I’ve achieved comes from there, from that mentality. Then it isn’t at all difficult for me to stay motivated. Everything I’ve achieved comes from discipline: getting up early, training hard, getting the most out of it and sticking to that structure.”

How does an elite sports mentality help you in business?

“Of course it helps a lot to be driven and persistent. To never want to give up. You may fail so much more often in life than you are successful. The moment you are successful, everyone goes through the roof. Then everybody thinks: ‘Everything Rico does turns into gold.’ But of course there is a lot of hard work behind that success. You fail, learn and get up again and again. I really take that knowledge with me in business life. By the way, I wish nothing but the best to my opponents. At least, behind me, they may be the best. But I do stand on my own pedestal. The motivation for this hasn’t got much to do with having a lot of money but with knowing what it is to have less. In my head it was only yesterday that I really had to bite the bullet. I never want to go back to that kind of stress and worry about it. That’s why always falling back on discipline works so well for me.”

Your manager Karim just told me that you rejected a clinic in Belgium after some debate, because you are preparing for a match. Is that also elite sports mentality for you: making the right choices at the right time? “Yes, because I never want to be able to say afterwards: I wish I hadn’t done this or that. No apologies! Making choices also means sacrificing things. That’s the other side of achieving goals. Of course it’s a matter of searching for balance. I always know: there will soon be someone who will try to knock my head off. That keeps me sharp and focused.”

How important is it to have a team around you to make these kinds of choices?

“For me that’s the most important thing: getting the right people around you. Both in business and in pro sports.”

How do you know you’re working with the right people?

“It really is a matter of trust and a gut feeling. What your gut tells you is often right. Ultimately, when putting together a team, it’s also a matter of trying and probing. I always try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Until you disappoint me. With my manager Karim I had the right click straight away.”

Characterize that collaboration with Karim if you will. What qualities should someone who works with you have?

“Mutual respect is the basis of any good cooperation. Money should never be the main motivation. It’s never been the main motivation for me while becoming a champion and it’s not in business either. If you’re driven by money, you can only have shortterm success. Then you will never last long.”

In short

Name Rico Verhoeven 1989 Born in Bergen op Zoom 2004 Becomes a professional kickboxer 2014 World champion heavyweight at Glory 2023 Defends world title for the tenth time 2023

Leading role in American action thriller Black Lotus

_I succeed, because I slowly let one career flow into the next one

Are there any examples that have made the transition from elite sports to business life who inspired you?

“Yes, of course. People like Jean-Claude van Damme or Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example. I’m mainly talking about the entertainment world now, a transition that I also want to make. Or take The Rock for instance. He really has reached a new level, also as a businessman. He runs huge productions of his own. His success is proof to me that such a transition is truly possible.”

Speaking of success: at the end of the day you are the only one in your team who takes blows in the ring. And in business too, you are the person who takes the most risks, because you are on the billboard.

“It’s true that only I end up in a situation where it’s literally eat or be eaten. The adrenaline that is released is ridiculous. But I also know that because I experience everything up close, I cannot oversee everything. I need people around me who can see with a helicopter view. The people in my team also know that I need them for that kind of focus.”

How do you keep focus in everything you do? Among other things you run a vacancy platform, you are co-owner of a restaurant, and you give motivational speeches. Furthermore you’re still a world kickboxing champion.

“I succeed because I slowly let one career flow into the next one. All the businesses I run, I see as seeds that slowly take root and will hopefully grow. I know they won’t all grow, but that’s okay. If three, two, or even just one grows into a serious business, I’ve done well. But for now: I also want to finish my career as a champion.”

Spartan Life

By Ilona de Bok Photography Martijn van der Sanden

“I moved to the Netherlands about a year ago, but long before that, I was baking bread. My mother used to bake bread and when I left home at 17, she always had her homemade bread ready whenever I came back. In Brazil it’s very hard to get good bread so I tried baking bread once a week. In the Netherlands the quality is much better, so I have gone down to about once a month.

When I started baking, I used my mother’s recipe. But I soon moved on to sourdough and I have taught her some tricks now myself. If you bake, you have to be resilient. You won’t have a good bread the first time and not even the second. The third time may be a bit better. Your fifth bread is still not much fun to eat. Sometimes you don’t have the right conditions. But you can’t give up. This is similar to what we do in software engineering. We may fail sometimes but it helps us to improve. With bread it’s the same. You ask: what can I do to improve? You learn from your mistakes. My rookie mistake was that I was impatient. You want to see results as soon as possible, but it’s all in the yeast and the conditions. You have little influence and you just have to go with it.”

To reach your goals, you’ll need your inner Spartan. Like WAES software engineer Daniel Bojczuk. His goal is to bake the perfect sourdough bread. He has made hundreds already and still the results are ever changing.

_Total surrender to the yeast and the process

LOEWE PIXELATED CLOTHING

Pixel perfect

Your eyes don’t deceive you, these are actual clothes made of fabric. Admittedly they’re designer wear, so not something you buy directly off the rack. Fashion brand Loewe managed to get fashion lovers (and digital enthusiasts) excited about these pieces in the spring/summer 2023 womenswear line they presented at Paris Fashion Week. The pixelated hoodie, dress and pair of pants are just that, a hoodie, a dress and a pair of pants. The outline of the pieces gives a Minecraft look to it, but the clothes are real. The comfort? That’s still up for discussion. Check loewe.com for future availability

THE COMPLETE VANLIFE BOOK

Pack it in

Drop everything, fill your van with the essentials and just go where the road takes you. It’s no longer hippies and weirdos who dream of vanlife. It’s become such a sub culture that it even has its own book. And what a book. Amazing photography, essays, how to’s and more on what it’s like living in and off of your van. If you’ve read this book, you’re ready to hit the road, leaving the comfort of a big home behind. Or start small, do one up and take it camping. Available at bol.com or your local bookstore

INTERACTIVE GO CUBE No more failure

When it comes to Rubik’s Cubes, there are two flavors: those who can finish them and those who can’t. We dare say the latter is the bigger demographic. But for them there is a new shiny toy to lift the curse of failure. This interactive, app-enabled version of the classic cube gives tips on how to solve the puzzle using tools and tutorials. Online you can compete with other cubers (it’s a thing, just go with it) and have the difficulty adjusted to age and experience. This will mean closure for a lot of people… getgocube.com

POWER STATION Charge me up

Who needs slim and sleek chargers when there’s always so much to charge and there are never enough power or outlets to charge with? We don’t need them either. Give us this beast of a charger over any design gadget that fits in your pocket. This is something you can bring on rugged camping trips. Heck, you can even knock an aggressive bear out with this thing and still charge your devices, since it has two USB-A ports, plus an AC and a DC outlet. You can charge up to four (!) devices at once. jackery.com

Hot Gear

WEB3

By Martijn Vet / llustrations Timber Sommerdijk

Web3 is supposed to be an answer to an imperfection of the internet. The web has become increasingly interactive over time, but who has benefited so far? Especially the big tech companies, it seems. The more you post and like on Facebook, the more parent company Meta benefits. Releasing your music on Spotify is easy, but per stream you only keep a few cents at most. Even platform companies like Uber and Airbnb are still centrally controlled, so those who contribute the most aren’t rewarded.

On Web3 users and creators themselves are the owners instead of a small group of shareholders. This is because it uses decentralized applications based on blockchain technology. “The potential of Web3 lies mainly in rewarding the input users give - in time or creativity, for example - in a more equal way”, says Bram Kanstein. He is co-founder of Web3 company EARLY

ONES. “That can be in money but also in the form of a token, such as an NFT (see the ‘Web3 speak’ box) or voting rights. This is in contrast to free services where you are the product yourself.” As an example he cites decent.xyz, where emerging artists make a portion of their royalties from new work available for users. Those users can buy an NFT from there that entitles them to a percentage of the royalties.

Prove your reputation

“That ownership is also tradable. If I sell a thousand NFT’s with certain access to me as an artist, then that makes me more money than a million streams on Spotify.” Such a token would also allow owners to prove, for example, that they were one of the first thousand fans of an artist. “Imagine the new Lady Gaga starting on such a platform, you could prove your reputation as a music connoisseur that way.”

His platform EARLY ONES is meant for anyone who has a good idea for a digital service or product. “We help to do market research so people don’t have to put

Web3 will be the future of the internet. That’s what supporters of the decentralized version of the web believe, even when the hype has died down somewhat. Will Web3 deliver all its promises in the end? “Within a decade issuing digital assets will be as common for organizations as having a website.”

hours into development. People who build something new create a listing, a kind of advertisement with us. We offer help with that in exchange for a fee. Other users can give feedback. Users are anonymous, but we can collect data on age, gender, activity and so on. By combining these, creators get a good picture of their potential users without having to do expensive market research themselves. This is how we match users with creators. Everyone who provides valuable input gets a reward in crypto coins.”

Points for comments

“Within a decade issuing digital assets will be as common for organizations as having a website.” That’s what entrepreneur Mieszko Czyzyk thinks. “NFT’s now are often thought of as jpeg files, but they can also be concert tickets or documents. It may not be a very sexy example, but tokens are already being used in the port of Rotterdam to replace the paper documents needed to track containers. They automatically process cargo documents. The law has even been changed slightly to make that possible.” Czyzyk’s company THX Network makes it easy for organizations to launch and use digital assets such as tokens and NFT’s. “There is no need to write code to do so. We bring a complicated and costly development process down to a process of a few seconds.”

Web3 knowledge

Where can you learn most about Web3 according to Bram Kanstein, Mieszko Czyzyk and Erikson Murrugarra?

Crypto Canon: a16z.com/2018/02/10/ crypto-readings-resources/ A wealth of readings about crypto, from the basics for absolute beginners to resources for experienced crypto enthusiasts.

dutchblockchaincoalition.org

A coalition with a mission: increasing knowledge and speeding up the decentralization of digital infrastructure.

cosmos.network

A very large ecosystem of interconnected apps and services for a decentralized future.

One of THX Network’s customers is the United Nations Development Program. “With funding from the EU we built a proof of concept. The platform allows staff and policy officers worldwide to collaborate on policy. Our solution helps to visualize who the users are and what they’re talking about. When people contribute, for example by posting comments or uploading an article, they get points for it.” The THX Network protocol also has its own token. “We introduced that in a legally sound way and it is available through exchanges like Uniswap.”

Tokens offer more and more possibilities. Even WAES consultants have received a real NFT. “We asked our consultants to create a wallet so that we could send them the token”, says Erikson Murrugarra, senior software engineer at the consultancy company. “At the moment it has no monetary value and perhaps a WAES token may not be monetized, but we have to see how it develops. Consultants can decide for themselves how much it is worth to them.” When you are a developer and you are interested in Web3, there are plenty of opportunities, he says.

Web3 talk NFT

Non Fungible Token: proof of ownership of which only one unique version exists. You can link this to something like a digital artwork, a piece of music or an item in a game. With an NFT you can prove that you are the rightful owner. You can buy and sell NFT’s.

Smart contracts

Contracts that automatically execute a process when certain conditions are met.

DAO

Decentralized Autonomous Organization: a form of organization on the blockchain where creators and users are rewarded for the value they add.

The reward is in tokens representing, for example, economic value or voting rights.

Metaverse

The set of 3D virtual worlds in which users can interact, play and work. It’s often associated with Web3, because tokens can have value precisely in a virtual world.

_ There are skeptics with every new technology and it’s no different here

Feature

“Developing applications is not that difficult, especially if you are a full stack developer and can build front end and back end.” The latter is important, because this knowledge is necessary for building a smart contract. “There are all kinds of resources on the internet from which you can learn a lot. I myself am a fan of Cosmos, a very large community.”

Venture capitalists

Erikson is also critical when it comes to Web3. “Many blockchain projects fail, because they involve costs and the returns are often unclear. I do see the danger in mainly venture capitalists investing money in Web3 projects, because they can afford the costs. The tokens you issue go to those lenders, there is a risk that they will become the owner, and that is in contradiction to the principles of Web3.”

He is also concerned about Web3 not only attracting creative people but also many hackers. Partly because of the anonymous aspect of the blockchain. In addition he hopes there will be more cooperation

between blockchain initiatives, which will make the network faster. “It’ll also make more exchange possible between different cryptocurrencies.

Beyond the hype

Where to start if you are interested in Web3 technology? Mieszko Czyzyk: “You can benefit greatly from web articles by the larger consulting firms such as McKinsey and EY. They think beyond the hype and have a down-to-earth view of what can and cannot be done.” For the more practical side there are now small communities of entrepreneurs and other people in many cities who are enthusiastic about blockchain and Web3. “Through meetup.com you can easily find these kinds of local communities”, he says. Bram Kanstein adds: “There’s a wealth of online tutorials or YouTube series to be found on everything concerning Web3. From the basics to topics like coding smart contracts.”

The phase in which Web3 now finds itself is marked by enthusiasm from a – still – small group but also by distrust. Bram Kanstein: “There are skeptics with every new technology and it’s no different here. Of course there are also people who only want to profit. We really are still at the stage where we have to find out together what does and doesn’t work. Above all, let’s do that and stay positive.”

5 WAES TO... EAT BETTER

Long workday ahead? The right fuel for your body can make the difference between finishing your to-do list in frustration or completely focused. How do you get more productive by eating and drinking the right way?

#1 Eat ‘brain food’

#2

Drink green tea

Green tea contains a large portion of caffeine. Together with the amino acid L-theanine it helps your brain to stay sharp. Of course you also get your caffeine fix with a double espresso. But don’t drink too many of those in one day, because that will affect your sleep. In addition to tea and coffee don’t forget to drink 2 to 2.5 liters of water every day to keep your brain cells (and the rest of your body) hydrated.

#3

Don’t eat late

Is there a lot of thinking involved in your work? Then it’s important to keep your brain in optimal shape. Some foods do this very specifically. For example, dark chocolate: a good source of polyphenol, which makes your brain function better. A handful of almonds is also recommended: they contain healthy fats that slow down the digestion of sugar and carbohydrates. This allows you to focus better. Walnuts and bananas are also real brain boosters.

#4

Avoid fast carbs

Fluctuations in your blood sugar levels don’t make your productivity — or mood — any better. Fast carbohydrates cause a sudden spike and a rapid drop in your blood sugar level. As a result you can concentrate less well and it can also cause damage to your blood vessels. So leave those sweets, biscuits and soft drinks in the cupboard or vending machine.

A good night’s sleep is key to performing well during the day. But eating too late — especially big meals — can keep you up at night. Your blood sugar levels can fluctuate and high blood pressure can keep you from sleeping. So eat your last meal at least 2 to 3 hours before you go to sleep.

#5

Get off that chair!

It can be so tempting: a lunch at your desk, so you don’t lose precious time. However, it isn’t efficient to do so. Because we can only focus well for a limited time per day, a lunch break away from your desk ensures that you can recharge your concentration.

Modern Day Spartan

WORK HARD TO PLAY HARD

By Ilona de Bok / Photography Martijn van der Sanden

Her eyes are focused on the screen and all that’s happening in the virtual world of Valorant, a first person shooter. The hand in view on the screen casually flicks between nunchucks, knives and all sorts of weaponry. Her real left hand looks glued to the keyboard, frantically pressing keys. Her right arm moves in short bursts to gage her playing field, all the while chatting amicably to her teammates scattered across the world.

Petra is one of the very few female professional esports players in the Netherlands. She is part of G2 Esports’ all female Valorant team, G2 Gozen. The 29-year old Frysian is pretty senior for the game scene, but she is not planning on retiring soon. She’s ranked number 28 in the top 100 of female players worldwide.

Her drive is incredible. Every day she and her teammates meet up from noon onwards to train, study theory, and analyze previous games and maps until they switch off the computer again some eight hours later. And then, just for fun, she goes online to stream, chat or play some more. Her life is centered

around gaming and everything that comes with it. And she loves it.

Already competitive

As a little kid, Petra and her twin sister would play the videogame Unreal with their dad, where they would kill monsters. “I would turn down the sound, otherwise it was too scary for me”, reminisces Petra. “I was already competitive then.” When they got Call of Duty 4, her approach became more serious. She joined a clan and went to LAN-parties to compete. Then all her (mostly male) Call of Duty friends started playing Counterstrike.

“I didn’t like the game at first because no one wanted to play me. I was just that bad”, sniggers Petra. “I was determined to get better, so I put the hours in. You need a certain amount of talent to get a good game sense. I meet loads of people who practise every day but don’t reach the top. Luckily I had that talent and I was able to hone it. I like getting better. I want to be the best.”

Petra Stoker is one of few female professional esports players in the Netherlands, and one of the world’s most successful Valorant-players. From her small room in Frysian Heerenveen, she dominates the Valorant playing fields together with her team. “When we lose, we perfect our gameplay, so it won’t happen again.”

Interview

_I was determined to get better, so I put the hours in

Modern Day Spartan

Valorant

Valorant is a free online game, developed and published by Riot Games. Every team in the game consists of five agents who play on different maps. These maps represent different countries and cultures around the world. In a game two teams battle each other, one the attacker, the other the defender. The goal is to either detonate a bomb-like device called the Spike on a specified location or to make sure it can’t be detonated.

Counterstrike turned out to be the first game that put her on the track to becoming a professional esports player.

The quality of her team is in its determination. “All my teammates have played (semi) pro-sports. So have I. And it helps mentality-wise. You know if you want to become the best, you have to work for it. I remember our first tournament as a team. We thought we had a fair chance to win. We knew we were good. And then we lost. It hurt, but as professional athletes we already knew how to lose. When we do, we quickly analyze what went wrong and go to perfect our gameplay, so it won’t happen again.”

Dominated by men

Being a woman in esports is not unique, but the professional gaming world is still dominated by men. There are thousands of professional esport players worldwide, playing in separate men’s and women’s leagues.

In some ways it’s an advantage to be a woman, in other ways it’s not. “There are less women playing the game, so getting to the top is easier. But on the other hand, men do earn much more than we do”, says Stoker. Looking at 2021, the best paid male gamer was NOtail, earning nearly 7,2 million dollar, while the best earning female athlete received little over 440 thousand.

Reaching the top and getting taken on in a professional team didn’t go as smoothly as expected. “I worked at an office and when I lost that job, I was asked to join a pro-team. I would earn 500 to 800 euros a month but thought I could do it, since I didn’t have a job and was still living at home”, remembers Petra.

She was part of her current team for a while when they were still playing Counterstrike. When she was dismissed from that team, she decided to start her own Counterstrike team.

“I got my ultimate revenge. We ended up playing in the finals of a big tournament against them. Because I knew their every move, we managed to beat them. Not long after I was asked back on the team. When I told my teammates, they said they would let me go only if I became the best player on the best team. And so I did.”

_As professionals we already knew how to lose

Predictive maintenance has become an integral part of many industries. Finnish company Wärtsilä is a forerunner in the field of maintenance. Based on a data-driven crystal ball.

By Niels Guns

Interview

Shaping the Future

In some respects, not much has changed in the shipping industry in centuries. Maintenance has been critical all these years. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when ships sailed the world’s seas intensively for the first time, a large maintenance crew always traveled along. They were busy maintaining bowsprits, masts and all kinds of woodwork. Even today, a ship does not set sail for a long trip without a crew of engineers that ensures a ship can continue to sail.

In a way, their work hasn’t changed. But their timing actually has. A lot. Take the ship The Faith – part of the renowned Rotterdam Company, of which one other galleon eventually became the first Dutch ship to reach Japan. On 3 January 1599 it set sail for an Atlantic crossing. Soon the mast split in half and broke into three great pieces and fell overboard. A large group of carpenters had to rise above themselves to repair the mast.

Growing market

Things are now very different in the shipping industry: long before there is a technical breakdown, maintenance technicians can get to work. Predictive maintenance is becoming an increasingly dominant philosophy in many industries, including maritime shipping. According to market research agency The Insight Partners the market for predictive maintenance services will grow to more than 87 billion euros in 2028, from 5.4 billion euros in 2021. This growth can easily be explained by the many advantages of this kind of maintenance. According to some studies a good predictive maintenance system saves about 18 to 25 percent of maintenance costs. Add to that the shorter downtime and longer life of parts and the benefits are obvious.

Key benefits of predictive maintenance

Be proactively notified of potential equipment failures and receive expert recommendationsIncrease reliability with less unplanned downtimeIncrease efficiency through optimal asset operation

The Finnish company Wärtsilä is one of the forerunners in the field of predictive maintenance in the shipping, oil and gas industry. The company specializes in, among other things, maritime technology. Last June it opened a sustainable technology hub for decarbonization in the marine and energy sectors, worth 250 million euro. It’s a way for the company to underline its determination to push forward with energy-transition objectives. The hub includes a new, modern Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy training center, customer expertise centers for remote operational support, predictive maintenance solutions and the development of new digital innovations, that will support customers in optimizing their operations and decarbonizing.

Data collection

WAES’ Guillermo Delany works under project manager Mark Dagnall on Wärtsilä’s Data Collection Unit (WDCU), a cloud-based and remote monitoring service that optimizes fuel economy and periodic maintenance. WDCU is part of Wärtsilä’s Expert Insight service, that uses artificial intelligence and

_ Predictive maintenance will only get better in the future

The keyword is connectivity. In other words, everything must be connected

Interview

Shaping the Future

_The key is: gathering data and acting upon it

Industry 4.0

Predictive maintenance can be seen as part of Industry 4.0. Little by little robotics, AI and data exchange are revolutionizing industry and transport. This fourth industrial revolution comes after the steam engine (late 19th century), mass production (early 20th century) and automation through electronics and IT (from the 1970s on).

Keyword is connectivity. In other words, everything must be connected. Only then it will work; machines can ‘talk’ to each other and systems can learn from the data they receive. They can independently improve their processes and become smart.

advanced diagnostics to take predictive maintenance to a level not earlier possible. It’s estimated that unplanned downtime can be reduced by 30 to 50 percent. Setting up a predictive maintenance system for the shipping and energy sector poses quite a few challenges. Software solutions provide the answer to those challenges. “A ship has an enormous amount of components. If it’s a part that can transmit data, we collect it”, says Argentinian born Guillermo, referring to an Internet of Things (IoT) setup that streams data into a cloud. “We need to be able to compress that data to a size as small as possible. In the middle of the ocean the possibilities to send data are limited. A network is expensive, slow or both. What it comes down to is that we have to be able to let a large number of components send data in the smallest possible size. The hardware we work with is also extremely robust. It must be able to continue to operate perfectly under extreme conditions.”

Monitor each millisecond

Another critical aspect of a predictive maintenance system that is actually able to predict accurately is continuity, Guillermo says. “You can’t afford to lose data. If you want to predict accordingly, you have to monitor changes each millisecond. That goes for instance for engines, gas tanks and electrical relays. To measure such short intervals might seem like a big contrast if you look at the sheer size of some of these vessels.”

By combining AI and rule-based diagnostics, Wärtsilä experts can identify possible issues, then diagnose what’s wrong, provide recommendations to their clients’ experts and support them in solving the issue. Wärtsilä Expert Insight has a track record of success, the company states on their website. ‘From detecting seemingly minor deviations that indicate a bearing failure in the turbocharger to noticing alarming trends in the cooling water system – proactively solving the kinds of cases that can potentially result in significant financial losses and engine downtime if they are not detected in time.’

“It’s all about information”, Guillermo adds. “That’s absolutely the key: gathering data and acting upon it. In the future I foresee that these systems will be ever more flexible. A lot of resources are spent on predictive maintenance. For good reason: at the end of the day you’ll save money and resources. The beauty of it all is that predictive maintenance will only get better in the future. Thanks to artificial intelligence we know more and more precisely what and when something can go wrong and, more importantly, how we can solve it.”

_A lot of components have to send their data in the smallest possible size

THE PLAY LIST

BOOK

Rabbit hole

This podcast is about YouTube and how its algorithm draws people down a rabbit hole of disinformation. You see how easily you slip into extreme ideologies. New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose talks to people who managed to turn away from the radical ideas that were fed to them by the algorithm. But also to people who worked at Google and saw the dangers of the personalized feed. It offers a well-balanced view into tech, what it can do to the information society and how your internet bubble is built and supported. nytimes.com/column/rabbit-hole

Let my people go surfing

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard was never one to follow the laws of business. He rocked the business world by announcing that he was donating ownership in Patagonia to a trust, to ensure profits are used for addressing climate change. Now read his autobiographical book on how he started Patagonia and how his healthy leadership style empowered the people working for the brand. Chouinard shows his struggles with wanting to do good for the environment whilst running a worldwide brand and he shares how he kept a healthy balance. Available at bol.com or your local bookstore

SERIES

Human Playground

Idris Elba narrates this six part series where the makers dive into how we play and grow and evolve. It shows different people and different sports and plays organized by themes like Breaking the Pain Barrier and Rites of Passage. Through the games that are played all over the world, we see how ancient rituals and billion dollar businesses grow and inspire people: ‘If we didn’t play, we would not be who we are today.’ You see the pain and glory of play and get a grasp of why playing is so important for evolution and pushing boundaries. Watch on Netflix

EVENT KotlinConf 2023

If Kotlin is your thing, you can’t miss KotlinConf 2023. This community event brings together speakers and workshops on the statically typed programming language for targeting JVM, Android, JavaScript and Native. Workshops are on 12 April while the actual conference is on 13 and 14 April in Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam. kotlinconf.com

CODING CARS

By Niels Guns

Software is increasingly becoming the game changer in the automotive industry. Whoever finds the best mix of hardware and software wins the battle in developing the car of the future.

In pictures of the future, you can almost always see cars. They symbolize progress, whether driving, floating or sliding. Revolutionary car designs have always captured the imagination. Take Leonardo da Vinci’s first drawings of such a vehicle. Or the first actual automobile patented by Carl Benz in 1886. Henry Ford’s 1941 soy bean car is another great example: a car made entirely of soy and corn plastics. Due to bad timing this model never got far. Look at futuristic designs from films, such as the DeLorean from Back to the Future. And now there are also real passenger cars driven by solar energy, such as the Lightyear One.

“For a long time the future of mobility has been predicted as people who could fly. Or, for example, vacuum tubes that we would shoot through”, says Carlo van de Weijer. He is the director of the Eindhoven AI Systems Institute at the Technical University and co-wrote the book Forward, the future of mobility. “In recent years, self-driving cars were the dominant image. However, that trend seems to be cooling off a bit.”

Recalls or scandals

Self-driving or not, in the design of the car of the future, software plays an increasingly important role. “In many breakthroughs in technology hardware has been completely replaced by software. Look at the encyclopedia, a camera, or the music industry. Kodak, for example, was bankrupt in no time”, Van de Weijer says. “It’s a bit different in the case of automobility. You’ll never have a fully digital alternative to a car. You always have to deal with physically bringing a person or package from A to B. So logically there are limits to the software solutions that you can come up with in car mobility.”

This is one of the reasons why developments in car mobility aren’t going as fast as in other industries. “Disruption in the automotive industry simply can’t happen as quickly as in more software-based industries.” According to Van de Weijer there are two types of blood groups that will have to find each other in the automotive sector: “In order to develop good software, you need a certain freedom of thought. At the same time you don’t want recalls or scandals in the automotive industry. The fail fast culture of the software world does not apply here.”

Successful partnerships

“More ‘software-based’ cars such as Tesla seem to have a lot of trouble with hardware”, continues Van de Weijer. “If there wasn’t an awful lot of genius and money behind that company, then they wouldn’t have made it. Besides Tesla, there are dozens of others that have tried but failed. Building a car is not as simple as you think. On the other hand, the more traditional industry, which has always been based on hardware, usually works with sub-optimal software. In the automotive world both components are extremely important. Whoever finds the perfect mixture will probably win the battle.”

In line with those thoughts alliances between traditional automotive and tech companies are becoming ever more frequent. Take, for example, Mercedes-Benz, that teamed up with computer hardware producer NVIDIA. ‘NVIDIA and Mercedes-Benz are joining forces to develop the next generation of software-defined vehicles, combining Mercedes-Benz’ heritage of craftsmanship and engineering innovation with NVIDIA’s leadership in state-of-the-art computing and AI’ are the words of the tech company itself about the collaboration between the two greats. It’s exactly this kind of collaboration that consultancy firm Ernst & Young describes in the report ‘Achieving successful partnerships between automotive and technology companies’.

_

In order to develop good software, you need a certain freedom of thought

‘Technology disruption will continue to fuel the growth in the auto sector, and forming successful strategic partnerships will be even more critical to invest for future growth’, the report reads.

User-first

Whatever the collaboration between automotive and software tech will look like: the design will have to be user-first, according to Luuk Roozen. Roozen is one of the software engineers of Solar Team Eindhoven. He worked on the design of the Stella Vita, a solar powered camper with which the team successfully traveled across Europe. “I’m not talking about a software-first or hardware-first approach. You first have to ask yourself what the car should be able to do and then you come up with a functional architecture based on that.”

The use of software does help enormously in providing insight into hardware-technical problems, as Roozen also noticed when developing the Stella Vita. “A motorhome is by definition cumbersome and inefficient. With software you can gain insight into how you can use energy as optimally as possible.”

For the user software is also a way to continuously upgrade the car. “In the past, if you wanted an upgrade, you just installed a new spoiler or fancy wheels underneath your car. Now you see that there are software updates that customers also pay for. This indicates that the differentiation that used to be given by mechanics is now also given by software”, says Van de Weijer. The design of the car must of course be ready for all those updates. The hardware must therefore be designed reasonably stable and has to be able to last for about thirty years. “There should actually be an interface that you can customize without having to change the rest of the car. For example, one of Tesla’s strategies is to have as few buttons as possible. If you are too stuck with buttons in your design, then you can’t update the software optimally.”

Generating data

Another future development in the automotive industry that will be made possible by software is value addition through data. “That is actually an even more vague and abstract issue”, says Van de Weijer. “In the future there may be more money to be made with the data a car generates than with the sale of the car itself. You may get continuous live street view streams in the future. The fact that these future revenue models depend on data increases the pressure on the software that supports all this.”

All these developments ensure that car companies have radically changed and will continue to change. “Where in the past there were mainly mechanics at an automotive company, you now see that the software department is often much larger”, says Van de Weijer. And that is by no means undesirable, when you consider what should be the most important quality in the industry: safety. “That’s what software will become increasingly important for. In fact, most accidents could have been prevented with software technology that’s already on the shelf.”

_ In the past fancy wheels were an upgrade. Now it’s also software updates

The Sweet Spot

Spartan minded folks uncover the places they love most.

By Ilona de Bok Photography Martijn van der Sanden

Who Igor Alves and Fabricio Yamamoto

Work as Software Engineers at WAES

Favorite place Boulderhal Sterk in Utrecht

Flanked by Fightclub XL and some derelict old warehouses there shines a warm light through an open door. Cheery, nondescript music wafts through the outside air luring you in. Once inside you see walls covered in bouldering grips and people hanging of off them, finding their way to the top.

On the ground there are groups of people edging the climbers on. It ends in either cheers and applause or applause and sympathetic ‘aaah’s’. This is Boulderhal Sterk in Utrecht, where you can find WAES’ software engineers Igor Alves and Fabricio Yamamoto three times a week. And admittedly you can find more WAES’ers here, because the two Brazilians have gotten more of their colleagues enthused about bouldering.

Fabricio (27) already dipped his toes in the wonderful world of climbing in São Paulo, with lead climbing and a touch of bouldering. But once he relocated to Utrecht in November 2021, he soon picked up and is now adamant to grow and evolve in this particular sport. Igor (24), also from São Paulo, only climbed trees as a kid. Then a friend took him to Sterk and Igor was sold on the bouldering.

Getting in shape

Their goal is to come and boulder three times a week. Fabricio: “I want to get better at it and it’s good for getting in shape.” Igor adds: “It helps me to take my mind off work. I’m also a bit competitive, so it challenges me to try and get better, to do more difficult routes. It’s like solving a puzzle with your body.

Interview

The Sweet Spot

_It’s like solving a puzzle with your body

You have to find your way to the top and everyone takes a different route, even though we use the same colored grips.”

More tricky

When comparing bouldering to software engineering, both Fabricio and Igor agree the latter is more tricky. “Maybe here you know how to do it, but you know you are not flexible or strong enough. Then you can train. A difficult route is something you try five or ten times. With software engineering that is more tricky. More attempts means more risk of failure”, says Igor.

The colors of the holds determine the difficulty of the route to the top. The two agree that the yellow routes are almost impossible. But they’re their common next goal. The white routes are the most difficult. Fabricio: “They’re a distant goal. Only people who have done this for years can do it. Upstairs you can train grips and feet positioning to get better. There is also a regular gym type room to improve fitness.”

The routes change every week. “On Monday you see many people come in to check out the new routes. And after you’re done you can have tosti’s here. They’re the best. The pizza is good here too, but the tosti’s just hit differently”, insists Igor.

Big bonuses

The Boulderhal has become a favorite spot for the Brazilians. They were quick to ask more colleagues from WAES to join them. Dutch friends are harder to find. Bouldering is a good way in, but often contacts remain superficial.

Asked what they like most about bouldering, especially at Sterk, Igor and Fabricio are in agreement of two big bonuses.

Fabricio: “I like the feeling of improvement. You go in one day and can’t climb a route. And then you come in the next day and you manage.”

Igor nods in agreement. “And when you’re done and tired, you sit here in the back area and just have conversations. And great tosti’s. And a couple of nice beers.”

Igor’s and Fabricio’s hotspots in Utrecht

Griftpark

“We call lots of people to go there with us for barbecues in the summer.”

Saturday market

“For lekkerbekjes we go to Vishandel De Ruiter, because it’s more traditional. For kibbeling we go to Hillebrand de Graaf. And don’t forget the stand with sweets, they have amazing and cheap chocolate.” (Vredenburg)

Tea Guys

“They sell tea and blend it with different things. They have so many possibilities to personalize your drink.” (Central Station - hall)

Five Guys

“The best burgers in town.” (Stationsplein 20)

Dunkin’ Donuts

“But only when they have a Too Good To Go box, then you get good and cheap donuts there.” (Gildenkwartier 165, Vredenburg 1 or Stationspassage 1)

By Niels Guns Photography Martijn van der Sanden

What will your focus be for the next six months?

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to really take the time to identify where we might have opportunities in the market. We’ll continue to do so for the next six months. Our roots are in the dance world. We’ve become big at what we do worldwide. But in the end we noticed that sometimes it felt like the same kind of trick over and over again. We are broadening our scope and tapping more into new and interesting markets like Formula 1.”

What do you expect will happen in society in that time?

“Digitalization and technology will continue to develop at an accelerating pace. That gives us so many possibilities. A trend that we see a lot is crossovers of disciplines. Many events are becoming real brands. Everything comes together during these events. Experience is the keyword here. There are fewer and fewer obstacles in the implementation of our ideas. For example, we make the most bizarre drone shows these days.”

And what about your own near future?

“I think I’m getting better at letting go of fear. I often doubted whether I was doing everything right. Also as an entrepreneur I’ve always had that insecurity in me. In a way, that was a strength. I will never completely lose it, and that’s okay. But nowadays I can let it go easier due to a better balance between my private life and my existence as an entrepreneur. For instance, I find it easier to take a step back every now and then. An additional advantage of that is that I have a much better overview of what I’m actually doing.”

Future Thinkers

In Future Thinkers we ask fellow Spartans to look into the future. This time we explore the glass orb of Sander Reneman, CEO at 250K, a multidisciplinary, creative agency specialized in show and experience design.

LET’S SHAPE OUR FUTURE

LET’S SHAPE OUR FUTURE