Hello all,
My name is Jorrit Brolsma and I’ve finished my Masters Supply Chain Management last February. Recently, during the second lustrum of TeMa, I was again able to taste the cosiness of our beautiful association. That cosiness that brought me to TeMa almost 4 years ago, because I wanted to have more contact with my fellow students. Once at TeMa, I became an active member in several committees and I also had the opportunity to experience three amazing ISPs.
After my study, I started working at Scania Meppel as a Process Engineer via NextGen. While I was busy with writing my thesis, I was approached by NextGen. So it happened that I arrived at a Friday morning at their impressive country house in the woods near Dalfsen. I realized very quickly that NextGen is a company that suits me perfectly because you as a person are the most important. Their slogan is for a reason: “Match. Improve. Grow. ”They are genuinely interested in placing you at a company that suits you, to subsequently improve yourself through the Management Development Program and grow as a professional.
Since I am seconded, I work for one company: Scania Production Meppel. Scania Meppel was established in 2005, which is also noticeable by a large number of young professionals. There is, for instance, an association for young employees as well: Young Scania. The factory in Meppel paints the plastic cabin and chassis parts that are delivered to the European truck factories of Scania in Zwolle, France and Sweden. The painting process is carried out fully automatically by 22 robots according to the latest technology.
Unlike many starters, I do not follow a traineeship. I immediately got a permanent position with my own area of responsibility. In my case, this is the paint distribution, which means that I work with the paint shop itself. In short, I do projects to ensure that the paint flows to the robots, as efficiently as possible. Although this may sound very technical, you learn it very quickly as long as you are curious. In that respect Scania is a very nice company too, there is a very open culture where everyone wants to help each other. Despite that I am working via a secondment, this is not observable. I receive the same coaching and trainings as other people.
My work as an engineer mainly consists of leading projects with a duration of 3 months to 2 years. In the first place, you are the person that works between the different departments, which is why I walk around a lot on the shop floor. As an engineer, you try to combine the wishes of all stakeholders. In addition, you speak a lot with suppliers as well in order to create the best outcome. Finally, there are plenty of opportunities to come up with your own solutions and you can use all your innovativeness. Scania is namely on top of all a very dynamic company where new challenges arise continuously and continuous improvement is done on a daily basis. All in all, it is a function where you have to be able to communicate well and where it is an advantage when you are can think ´out-of-the-box´.
In addition to my work at Scania, I go to Dalfsen once a month to work on my Management Development Program where I follow different trainings. Half of the trainings are to work on your Personal Development. During these trainings, you work on your own character traits and how you can use these to effectively communicate and collaborate with others.
The other training are all about obtaining your Greenbelt certificate. Every training is about a phase in the DMAIC process and you discuss the progress of your project. Part of this training is the implementation of an improvement project at your company. In my case, I am working on a project to identify how much paint we are losing in our system with the aim to eventually reduce this amount. You will conclude this Greenbelt with an exam after approximately one year.
As I mentioned earlier, NextGen is a company where you will be guided in a very straightforward and above all personal way. For a long time I did not see the added value of a seconded worker, why would you go on seconding if you can also work directly for a company? In the meantime, I know better! Thanks to NextGen I have several advantages such as: a permanent contract, the same terms and conditions of employment as directly employed, more guidance and additional development opportunities. Finally, the process is such that once I have completed my Management Development Process, and it still clicks between all parties, I will be taken over by Scania.
Do you want to know more about my experiences with NextGen, or my work at Scania Meppel, or do you have other questions? Do not hesitate and please contact me!
Jorrit Brolsma
06 383 029 56
Jorrit.brolsma@scania.com
