Bert Brals (Sioux Technologies) receives Rien Koster Award 2024
Creative inventor, collaborating foreman and true teacher. During the 23rd edition of the Precision Fair, the Rien Koster Award was presented for the tenth time under the auspices of DSPE (Dutch Society for Precision Engineering).
Bert Brals, system architect at Sioux Technologies, received the award for the extensive oeuvre of mechatronic designs to which he has successfully contributed. In many projects, as a creative inventor and collaborating foreman, he was both the driving force behind the team’s inventiveness, and a coach and trainer for new colleagues.
The Rien Koster Award is given to a mechatronics engineer/designer who has made a significant contribution to the field of mechatronics and precision engineering. The jury, chaired by Ton Peijnenburg, deputy general manager and CTO at VDL ETG, uses four criteria in the assessment: oeuvre, creativity, relevance (social and commercial) and professional attitude. Also, the winner must have been working in the profession for at least fifteen years, have put theory into practice, contributed to the promotion of the profession, and know how to enthuse colleagues. They need to have demonstrated exceptional competence and creativity, and have achieved appealing results that are recognised and acknowledged internally and externally.
System architect
The award was presented for the tenth time on Wednesday, 13th November. On behalf of the jury, Rien Koster, after whom the prize is named, presented the award to Bert Brals, system architect at Sioux Technologies in Eindhoven (NL). The jury decided that Brals more than meets the criteria. He trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of Applied Sciences in Groningen and the University of Twente. In 1993, he joined CCM (Centre for Concepts in Mechatronics) in Nuenen (NL), where he worked as a mechanical designer and head system designer mechatronics. He is currently a system architect at Sioux Technologies, which acquired CCM ten years ago.
Driving force behind the inventiveness
In his career, Brals has successfully completed numerous challenging projects, the jury reports. “He is often a collaborating foreman, with a role not only as the driving force behind the inventiveness, but also as a coach and trainer. He is thus a true teacher, who works a lot with and between the designers, and always makes time to explain or clarify matters. In doing so, he strives for a suitable and sufficient solution, without too many extras. This enables him and his team to meet the performance requirements and to achieve any other objectives; think of reducing costs or improving the maintainability of machines. Bert is very productive and contributes to an average of three to four projects at the same time. In addition, as a creative inventor, he has several patents to his name.”
Inspiration and perspiration
As a collaborating foreman, Brals puts theory into practice like no other, according to the jury. “The choice of concept is always based on extensive analysis, in which all system aspects are taken into account. This is followed by an iteration in which all relevant aspects that are important for being able to create and maintain the system are examined once again. Bert leads both the inspiration phase, where the concepts are devised, and the phase of perspiration, where he guides teams with great dedication to develop the chosen concept.”
Careful documenting
According to the jury, Brals also excels in the careful documentation of the reasoning followed, as well as other matters concerning the design. “This is necessary for subsequent steps in production and maintenance, but also to be able to explain and test the reasoning. It demonstrates a high degree of professionalism in the field. He also sees that experiencing all the design details while writing has great educational and connecting value.” Finally, the jury mentions that Brals was a member of the editorial board of Mikroniek for 10 years. “This unique technological magazine is published by DSPE and is important for the promotion of the precision engineering profession. Bert has also contributed to that.”
The importance of designing
With its Rien Koster Award, DSPE wants to highlight to the precision industry the importance of designing. In this industry, which can broadly be dubbed the ‘high-tech systems’ sector, the Netherlands plays a leading role globally. The award’s namesake Rien Koster has made a major contribution to the Netherlands’ position in this sector as a group leader at Philips CFT and a professor at TU Eindhoven and the University of Twente. Koster is also the author of the renowned textbook Constructieprincipes voor het nauwkeurig bewegen en positioneren (Design principles for precision movement and positioning). The Rien Koster Award comprises a sum of money, donated by VDL ETG, and a trophy made by students of the Leidse instrumentmakers School. In addition to chairman Ton Peijnenburg, the jury included Pieter Kappelhof (Hittech and DSPE), Rien Koster, Hans Krikhaar (Fontys and DSPE), Richard van Lieshout (Inspirich), Hans van de Rijdt (Van de Rijdt Innovatie) and Ad Vermeer (Omniad).
Note for the press (not for publication)
For further information, please feel free to contact:
• Rien Koster Award: Ton Peijnenburg, +31 (0)6 – 3174 1023, ton.peijnenburg@vdletg.com
• DSPE: Hans Krikhaar, President of DSPE, +31 (0)6 – 5137 8798, hans.krikhaar@dspe.nl
