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We recently celebrated the retirement of our colleague Martin Weggen. Although he has been retired for a number of years, we can still make use of his knowledge and experience. So we are not yet saying goodbye to Martin, but we hope that we will be able to work with him on innovative technical projects for a long time to come.
Curious about how he gives shape to his retirement and what has stayed with him most in recent years? Then read on quickly!
What has stayed with you most in recent years?
''’That it is very important that you keep striving. That the work you do also gives you satisfaction. The most of my time I was involved in function development – developing new technical solutions in new innovative products gave me a lot of satisfaction.’’
What changes in the field have you noticed in the recent years?
‘’The biggest change in the field of work is the machine movements. In the past, movements were mainly performed with air cylinders, sensors and a simple PLC. Nowadays everything is controlled via a computer chip on a control card. The possibilities are many times larger and more complex. The mechatronic world has also grown in technology.’’
What would you like to pass on to the young generation of engineers?
‘’Try to gain a broad knowledge of different techniques and disciplines. I have personally experienced that the mechatronic part is becoming increasingly important. To be able to work successfully in a team, you also need to know a little about the problems of other disciplines, so that you can arrive at an optimal design.’’
What are your plans during your retirement?
‘’Firstly, continue to work on the best possible health and mobility. I also keep busy with technology: designing and building printers, participating in DCD projects and getting familiar with programmable electronic boards. In addition, I would like to take more short vacations and read the newspaper. Finally, I would like to do something with children or young adults in the field of technology, education and/or information at schools.’’
What was your best project at DCD?
‘’The robot vacuum cleaner project was in many ways one of my most beautiful projects. This project was ahead of its time, nobody knew exactly how to do it. It was a constant adjustment between the mechanical operation, software, electronics, building test rigs and testing. A project I also enjoyed working on is developing an OLED lighting armature. It is fascinating to see how a designer puts down an atmospheric model on paper with a minimum number of lines and then comes to a working model. This project was also ahead of its time. Flexible OLED lighting armatures were not yet for sale at the time.’’