10 years at TMC: a challenging and exciting career!
“Looking back at my 10 years working at TMC, I have seen myself grow in several challenging positions and projects. I have developed new skills, started initiatives and increased my knowledge – all aspects that helped me to enrich my career as an engineer.”
This August, Bert Stohr celebrated his 10th work anniversary at TMC: a milestone Bert achieved with great pleasure, so he tells.
“I still remember very well when I first got in contact with TMC. I was a manager in mechanical development at a company in Almere. For this job I had a lot of contact with companies, including TMC, that placed engineers for shorter periods. At that time, we did not do any business with TMC, but their involvement and personal way of making contact was refreshing. The positive contact and impression that TMC made was the reason I approached them a few years later when I was looking for a new challenge. After 17 years of having several interesting management positions, I wanted to return to the field of technology. Besides that, I had been travelling a lot for my work for years and I wanted to find a job closer to my hometown, Vught. TMC’s network in the high-tech industry of Eindhoven, their Employeneurship model, and their personal approach, made me enthusiastic about exploring my career opportunities there.”
Perfect fit
Bert joined the Manufacturing Support business cell of TMC, starting his first project as an Industrialisation Engineer at Océ. “The funny thing is that Océ is located in Venlo, which is just as far for me as Almere. However, TMC’s car arrangement meant that my traveling time decreased from four to two hours per day. Also, the Industrialisation Engineer position was a perfect fit for me. It gave me the opportunity I wanted to dive into the technology again. The time pressure and the high level of responsibility that came with this project made my job very challenging and very fulfilling. It broadened the horizon of my working life – which is important to me, and which has been consistent in all my projects at TMC.”
Career highlight
Alongside holding several challenging positions at a number of clients, Bert also participated in an internal project. “As a member of TMC Manufacturing Support, I wanted to contribute to the success of our business cell. Up until a few years ago there was quite some ambiguity about our activities. After doing some research I suggested that we split the cell into four smaller competence groups that each focus on one specific aspect of our field. The new structure made us more recognizable in the market. Also, the smaller groups meant more contact moments with each other, opportunities to share information, and a stronger community. This resulted in a recent new business cell: TMC New Product Introduction. To me, contributing to the competence groups is one of my career highlights at TMC. It made me more connected to the company and challenged me to develop my skills in whole new areas.”
“The entrepreneurial spirit of TMC encourages me to get the best out of my career.”
Thinking one step ahead
For the last three years, Bert has been working on the realisation of new products at Heijmans in Eindhoven. Bert: “The thing I like most about this project, is that I am able to translate the infrastructural developments I co-created with the Heijmans team into actual products. To me, this means another new step in my development, in which I can challenge my creativity. I am still very happy with my work in the project at Heijmans, however I always like to think one step ahead, and set goals for my future. For instance, I would like to explore my options in the field of education – something I became excited about while developing training materials for the TMC Master Class. I like that I can discuss my ideas freely with TMC and that the company facilitates me in taking initiatives and working on my career development. It is exactly this entrepreneurial spirit that encourages me to get the best out of my career, and it’s the reason why my time at TMC has been a great experience so far!”