Rien Koster award

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).

Presentation of the Rien Koster Award 2024, under the auspices of DSPE, to Bert Brals, system architect at Sioux Technologies; on the right the namesake of the prize.

Rien Koster Award 2022 goes to Hans Vermeulen (ASML and TU/e)

During the 21st edition of the Precision Fair, the Rien Koster Award was presented under the auspices of DSPE (Dutch Society for Precision Engineering).

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, now chaired by Ton Peijnenburg, deputy general manager and manager Systems Engineering at VDL ETG, uses four criteria in the assessment: oeuvre, creativity, relevance (social and commercial) and professional appearance. 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. He/she needs to have demonstrated exceptional competence and creativity, and achieved appealing results, which are recognised and acknowledged internally and externally.

The award was presented for the ninth time on Wednesday, 16th November. On behalf of the jury, Rien Koster, after whom the prize is named, presented the award to prof.dr.ir. Hans Vermeulen, senior principal architect EUV Optics System at ASML, part-time professor of Mechatronic System Design at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and lecturer at the High Tech Institute.

Precision mechanics and mechatronics

Vermeulen has built up an enormous track record by successfully applying well-known design principles for precision mechanics and mechatronics on the one hand, and training and enthusing a new generation of precision engineers on the other. After obtaining his Ph.D. on the design of a precision machine tool, he started working for Philips CFT (Centrum voor Fabricage Technieken [Centre for Manufacturing Technologies]). There he worked on semiconductor equipment, including at a CFT site in the US. In 2007 he joined ASML, the current global market leader for lithography machines. There he has held various, ultimately leading positions within Development & Engineering and Research. In 2015, he was appointed part-time professor of Mechatronic System Design within the Control Systems Technology group of the TU/e ​​Department of Mechanical Engineering.

New book

In his roles at ASML and TU/e, Vermeulen is a driving force behind expanding the field. He pays attention to the basics and the history, as well as to new developments. For a long time, he was chairman and initiator of the National Mechatronics Working Group, which was set up to continue to stimulate sufficient attention for research in the field at high-tech companies and university departments outside Philips. Two years ago, he and his fellow professors from Delft and Twente, together with DSPE, took the initiative to compile a new standard work on design principles. With this updated edition of the existing books in this field, they follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, including Rien Koster. The precision industry is closely involved in this and contributes precision technological feats that are presented as examples on a special website and included in the book. The website went live at the Precision Fair and the book will be published in 2025 under the title “Design Principles for Precision Mechatronics”.

Inexhaustible energy

According to the jury and the referents it consulted, Vermeulen is characterised by his enormous energy and drive, his ability to explain things well and make them accessible to a wide audience, his historical awareness and his willingness to collaborate. “What struck me most about Hans was his inexhaustible energy. I still see that today, for example with driving the creation of a new version of “The Devil’s Picture Book” (by Wim van der Hoek, the founder of the field of precision engineering in the Netherlands and the predecessor of Rien Koster, ed.). For me, Hans is an inspirer in the field, not only technically, for precision mechanics, but above all personally: how do you make progress as a team?” Vermeulen is a team player who allows others to score and gives them a lot of space within a collaboration, according to the jury. Frequently heard keywords were: “Solid, hardworking, thorough, enthusiastic, can-do mentality.”

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, of which the book by Vermeulen et al. will once again give testimony. As a group leader at Philips CFT and a professor at TU/e and the University of Twente, the award’s namesake Rien Koster has made a major contribution to the Netherlands’ position in this sector. Koster is also the author of the renowned textbook Constructieprincipes voor het nauwkeurig bewegen en positioneren (Design principles for precision movement and positioning), one of the predecessors of the new book. The Rien Koster Award comprises a sum of money, donated by VDL ETG, and a trophy made by students of the Leidse instrumentmakers School.

Winner of the Rien Koster Award 2019 is Hans van de Rijdt

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 award was handed out for the seventh time on Wednesday, 13 November 2019, and this time the focus was on the depth and breadth of the mechatronic design discipline. On behalf of the judges chaired by Ton Peijnenburg, Manager Systems Engineering at VDL ETG, Hans van de Rijdt was presented with the Rien Koster Award for his merits as a developer of multidisciplinary and straightforward concepts for high-tech systems that score well on manufacturability and cost.

Hans van de Rijdt holding the certificate of the Rien Koster Award. The award’s namesake shows the associated trophy, made by students of the Leidse instrumentmakers School. (Photo: Mikrocentrum)

The award went to Hans van de Rijdt for his merits as a developer of multidisciplinary and straightforward concepts for high-tech systems that score well on manufacturability and cost.

On behalf of the panel of judges, Rien Koster, after whom the award is named, presented the award to ing. Hans van de Rijdt, of Van de Rijdt Innovatie, based in Gemert (NL).

From patient table to asparagus harvester

After his mechanical engineering studies at the HTS Eindhoven, Van de Rijdt joined Philips CFT, where he worked on many different topics, including the transport system of a placement machine for electronic components and a patient table for radiotherapy. In 1997 he started his own company, Van de Rijdt Innovatie, and since then he has worked for a variety of clients. For example, he developed the concept for a pathology scanner by Philips Healthcare, Sioux CCM and Frencken. He designed the architecture for various NXP production systems and elaborated the concept for a new ASML wafer stage. He also made important contributions to the concept of an asparagus harvester by Cerescon.

Multidisciplinary system thinking

According to the panel of judges, Van de Rijdt’s concepts bear witness to multidisciplinary system thinking. “He makes careful use of mechanics, electrical engineering, metrology and control technology to arrive at an optimum design. At the same time, he considers the manufacturability and the cost price, and he often manages to achieve significant cost-price reductions with his design approach. Moreover, he usually comes with multiple options, so that clients have something to choose from, and his designs are often remarkably simple. He creates no-nonsense solutions that make everyone comment, ‘That’s right, this is how you should do it’.”

Professional and modest

On the criterion of ‘relevance’, Hans van de Rijdt’s input leads to usable, marketable products, the production of which generates a lot of high-quality employment, the panel judged. “Finally, he combines a professional appearance with a modest attitude. Van de Rijdt Innovatie is hired by numerous companies, in many cases for just one day a week. Yet he is often the guiding factor in a design team of five to 20 people. In addition, he remains relatively modest as a person. He also offers his time to the High Tech Institute as a training coach for manufacturability. All in all, the jury has every reason to award the Rien Koster Award 2019 to Hans van de Rijdt for the intelligent and intensive way in which he has been practicing his profession for 30 years.”

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