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When Sabine Mulder went for her interview for a project engineer position at VDL Steelweld she quickly googled the company to see what VDL was really like. ‘As a recent mechatronics graduate, all directions were open to me. While I had heard of VDL before, I was positively surprised after the interview, and the position, as well as the company seemed super interesting.’
Mechatronics
At an early age, Sabine (23) knew she wanted to be involved in engineering in some way. ‘But exactly what was not entirely clear. When something broke at home, I was always trying to figure out how to fix it. Ultimately, I decided on mechatronics at the Avans University of Applied Sciences in Breda. This education programme exposes you to various engineering disciplines. This helps you fairly quickly discover what you enjoy doing. In my case, this was mechanical engineering. I was the only woman in the class, but this never caused me any problems. I know how to stand up for myself.’
Project Engineer
At VDL Steelweld, they develop production lines for the automotive industry. They do this for various customers, including BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volvo. As project engineer, Sabine has technical responsibility for a certain project. She manages a team of project designers that specialise in mechatronics, pneumatics and software. In this role, she also is the technical contact for the customer. ‘During a project’s start-up phase, you try to identify the customer’s requirements and rules as clearly as possible. This enables me to properly brief the designers responsible for developing the design. This results in proposals that we first discuss internally. Ultimately, I must the take the decision as to whether to submit a certain solution to the customer. During the design process, we regularly meet with the customer to discuss the issues we run into. Once a design has been approved, we can start working on developing the detailed design. Every discipline develops a phased plan detailing the steps to be followed. The parts required to build the installation are purchased or made in-house by VDL Steelweld. I am then responsible for ensuring that the installation is properly set up on-site, so that the new line or installation can be commissioned.’
Seeing what you have made
‘Up until now, I enjoyed my first project the most. I started 2.5 years ago and I was then added to a group of engineers already working on developing the production lines for BMW’s MINI at VDL Nedcar. This regularly took me to Born. Here I saw what we designed being tested. You see the end product. What more could you ask for? I am proud that I was able to contribute to this.’
Managing her own project: robot cells for automotive spare parts
When the project at VDL Nedcar was almost finished, Sabine was presented with a new challenge: a project for BMW. ‘The fact that you work for different customers is what makes it so enjoyable. In addition, the project team you work with is different every time. This means that you work with many different colleagues within the company.’ Not long after this, Sabine was given the opportunity to manage her own project for the first time, for Voest Alpine. ‘We manufacture robot cells for manufacturing spare parts for this customer, for example the sides of an Audi A6. It was exciting, because I have only worked here for a fairly short time and I was already given my own project. And therefore a great deal of responsibility. But fortunately, you do not have to do it all by yourself. Twice a week, I meet up with another project engineer, which enables me to interact about the next steps. This is characteristic of VDL Steelweld - the atmosphere is very good and very informal. When you need help you can ask anyone; ranging from an immediate colleague right up to the Executive Vice President.’
Staying close to engineering
‘I consider it important that I enjoy my work and that I am not too far removed from the field of engineering. For example, as project manager you are far more involved with planning and cost estimating. This is not my main interest. As project engineer, you are much closer to the engineering discipline. For me what makes the job so challenging is the combination of project management, directing and making use of my technical background. My educational background helps me better understand all of a project’s aspects relating to electrical engineering, software and pneumatics. Aside from this, my position offers me many opportunities to continue to develop myself. So for the time being, I am perfectly happy in my present position.’
