Thijs pushes his limit in Bucharest

Thijs van Tiel, Field Service Engineer at Blue Fielders, doesn’t lose sight of the details. He currently works at CSi Palletising, a company that makes palletizers for a variety of products, such as potato chips, soft drinks and medicines. Thijs talks more about his work in Bucharest and everything he has learned in the past few months.

From empty hall to full palletizing area

Thijs is currently working on a project in Bucharest, Romania, where he will stay until the end of March. Thijs says, “I am working here on a palletizing area, where eventually seven robots with four pick points and four endpoints each will pick products off tires and stack them on pallets. It is a challenging and interesting project because I have to learn a lot about the machines and the system. It’s fun to see how big the machines end up being, because that’s not always easy to estimate from a 3D drawing. Therefore, I did a lot of preparatory work, such as reading in the customer’s specifications and reviewing the project’s documents. Furthermore, you have to be able to organize and prioritize well, because you have to take into account space, time and the customer’s wishes.”

Eye for detail

“For this project, it is hugely important not to lose sight of details,” Thijs said. “You have to be able to measure and check well, because sometimes the measurements on the drawing don’t match reality. Fortunately, I can always switch with my colleagues in the Netherlands if I have questions or when there are problems I can’t solve myself. It’s nice to know that you can always count on support from your colleagues in the Netherlands. Even when you’re not quite in your place, Blue Fielders at home thinks with you and helps you look for something that suits you better.”

Cross-border leadership

In addition to realizing the palletizing area, Thijs has a leadership role at CSi. In doing so, he manages local employees and acts as a knowledge carrier of the machines. “This role is completely new to me, but I think it’s cool that I’m being given the confidence to take this on. You have to be able to communicate and work well with different people and parties. Sometimes this is done on all fours, with gestures or with the help of Google Translate. Not everyone always speaks English equally well, of course, but that’s what makes leading here a fun challenge.”
Consequently, Thijs is not afraid of a challenge. “I like to discover new things and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others. I have learned an enormous amount from this job, especially about machines and the system, but also in terms of managing a group of people with different languages and backgrounds. You learn a lot here not only professionally, but also definitely on a personal level.”

More than a job

Thijs is a laid-back engineer with a passion for technology and travel. “I enjoy being technical and learning a lot at the same time, both professionally and personally,” he says. “Blue Fielders challenges you to constantly step out of your comfort zone and try new things. For example, one of the things I personally like is to skip the well-known restaurants abroad and go eat somewhere on an unfamiliar street. Because at Blue Fielders you get the space to push your boundaries, my job is never boring: a job where you’re in the same place five days a week wouldn’t be anything for me.”