Helping each other is the key to success

Inventing machines from day zero, that is what System Architect Kees loves to do. He has been working at NTS for over seven years and talks about his work, colleagues, and the importance of cooperation at NTS.

"If you ask me, I have the best job in the Netherlands," Kees says. "This is because I provide technical leadership to a team of people who devise a machine for a customer. Our customers often come in with very abstract and general ideas. When we ask them about the underlying problem, we’re given very interesting explanations and it often turns out there is a sublayer to the question. The human aspect of our job is great, you are involved in project meetings with a customers from day one".

Cooperation

Kees feels the human aspect is also very visible in the way in which everyone cooperates at NTS: "We come up with new machines together with a group of specialists. I am personally not a star in optics, for example, but fortunately I get to ask help from an opticial engineer here when necessary. We discuss every milestone of the project together and get to make a technically successful solution as a team."

Your added value is high

Because Kees is involved in projects from A to Z, he finds that his work is incredibly diverse: "A day or month is never the same because you are not constantly working on just one small part of a machine. You get to start with the concept, ask the customer for feedback, build the concept, then fine-tune it, and so on. As a result, your added value as an individual is very high. You really help customers."

"You are not just the boss of a single screw."

Kees Verbaan

Sharing knowledge is one of the constituents of NTS

Apart from his job at NTS, Kees expands his knowledge even further. He teaches as a lecturer at the High Tech Institute in Eindhoven, for instance. "I enjoy sharing knowledge. Even though teaching is something I do outside NTS, it is definitely encouraged. It gives me real satisfaction when I see a spark ignite in others. The thought'look, that person has really learned something today', brings a successful day for me too."

"Within NTS I am working on structuring competences. These are technical fields within our company, such as dynamics and mechanics. We are constantly working on building knowledge and then putting it at the service of our customers. Sharing knowledge is really a part of the building blocks of NTS."

"Sharing knowledge is in NTS, we really share that."

Kees Verbaan

Different characters, different roles

Kees: "There are often many different people in a team. But that's what you need, different characters in different roles. After all, I think a certain depth in a project is important. I am not a project manager: I want to know what the situation is and what is needed to move forward. That technical probing, but at the same time not losing sight of our people, that is the most important thing in my job."

The key to success

"We never really lose sight of each other," says Kees. "NTS is a family business, people care about each other, and the team spirit is enormous. If you need help, colleagues will put their own work aside. Sometimes you need to support someone who needs crucial help before you move on with your own tasks. You wouldn’t want to have an entire team waiting for an answer after all. That would delay their project and that is something we obviously want to avoid. Helping each other is the key to success."