Constant change is now the only constant in the high tech industry. This is where Theun Prins, general manager and owner of YP Your Partner, responds with the C.A.R.S. community. ’’What we rolled out ten years ago we can still fill in with today's demand''.
By Berend Henk Huizing
Modern high tech is never finished. That is why Prins’ products and services move with the demands of tomorrow, but remain connected to the past. ,,An example. My building is full of sensors from manufacturer X. If I write new software, all the sensors have to be replaced. That's an expensive joke and also unnecessary. So we look at the current situation and incorporate it into the new product. That's what we call sustainable development. So we have to be flexible to take what we rolled out ten years ago with modern demand. That way we are already answering tomorrow's demand today.’'
Five years ago, Prins replaced the metering of energy management at the University Medical Center Groningen with the most advanced equipment at the time. ,,With this, all important energy parameters could be measured and monitored to the highest quality. Now, five years later, there is much better equipment with which you can not only monitor more parameters, but also have insight into the critical components. With all of today's LED lighting and switched-mode power supplies for computers, there are many interference signals on the power grid. This causes current differences outside the view of conventional measuring equipment. These current differences can be so high that they cause outages or even fires. Without having to modify more than 700 distribution devices, we manage to leave the existing technology in place and add new ones. In this way, the hospital's energy technology once again meets the highest quality standards, without having to make another major investment.’’
To collaborate
Prins says he and his colleagues sometimes get so absorbed in their work that they unintentionally and unintentionally take too little time to look out into the world to see if they are still on the right course. This is why he finds collaboration within the Innovatiecluster Drachten so valuable. ,,Innovatiecluster Drachten is high-level cooperation and has already brought us a lot. My R&D people share their experiences with the professionals at the other companies. Everyone has experience in something or does something special that the others can learn from. This is how we share knowledge and move forward together. This network yields so much that the men now know how to find each other.’
,,The energy technology of the University Medical Center Groningen meets the highest quality again, without making another major investment.’’
Another important reason for cooperation, Prins cites recruitment of suitable personnel. He struggled with the question, why would someone come to Drachten to work for us? ,,I can't do this myself, but in the collective I can. I make sure our company is interesting to work for and together with the other partners we can offer new employees a career in the high-tech industry. In the joint recruitment of personnel, therefore, I do not see a struggle that we lose personnel to each other, it is rather the other way around.’’ Prins also notices this in the attention from training and knowledge institutions. ’’The roles have been reversed. I used to have to work very hard to keep in touch with them, but now schools keep a close eye on us. We can submit research questions to them and keep in touch with what are important themes today and tomorrow through the students.''
Co creation
For Prins, innovation is more than just a product and service, it is above all co-creation. ,,Working together, therefore, as a shared facility. This has led us to put an existing product on the market in a different way, not as a product but as a participation program with knowledge institutions, government and industry. An example of this is the Pumping Station of the Future. This concept hits like a bomb. We will roll it out nationwide in the next few years and call it a platform for innovation.’’
Prins got the drive to innovate and make everything better and more beautiful from his father. ,,Just like me, he had the drive to work on new things. That is also in our company's DNA. We work on socially relevant themes and are looking for the twinkle in our customers’ eyes. That's great to do! The human side of our work, such as the energy supply of a hospital, that's what excites us. Then we feel we can contribute something. Moreover, the image of our company has been boosted by the Innovatiecluster Drachten. We are not an elite club, but we are an exceptional company. I am proud of that.’'