"Emotron really excels in good service," says Hoppenbrouwers

“If you know that you can trust each other completely, that the service is always good and that you are helped quickly and adequately, then that really contributes to job satisfaction within a project. We have that kind of relationship with Emotron and that is very nice.”

These are the words of Roel Hoosemans, director of Water and Industry at Hoppenbrouwers Techniek. The cooperation between the two Brabant companies in the field of water infrastructure dates back several decades.

Hoppenbrouwers Techniek is an all-round technical service provider with approximately 1500 employees with its head office in Udenhout. In their water- related projects they make frequent use of the variable frequency drives (VFDs) developed by Emotron. “This electrical device helps to maintain the water pressure when you turn on the tap at home” explains John Derks, sales engineer Water and Wastewater at Emotron. “As soon as someone takes a shower, it is registered that the pressure within a water system drops. Finally, a signal is sent to an Emotron VFD. This ensures that somewhere a pump driven by an electric motor starts to run faster, so that the water pressure remains at the right level.”

Strengthen each other and keep each other informed

Building or renovating these types of installations often involves projects worth millions of euros. Drinking water companies, water boards and sewage pumping stations throughout the Netherlands belong to the clientele of both companies. “We know each other well at all levels within the organization,” says John. “Communication is very open and half a word is often enough for us.” Roel responds: “We keep each other up to date. If John runs into something in a project and notices that the process is not running smoothly, he calls me immediately. I can then check internally what is wrong, see what the cause is and prevent it from getting out of hand. That is very nice, because in this way we strengthen and inspire each other.”

A triangular relationship

After Hoppenbrouwers has completed a project, Emotron takes care of the service and maintenance of the VFDs. “Our customers are also often very impressed by the service and quality that Emotron provides. In the event of a malfunction, they are always on site quickly to resolve it. With that good service, they really stand above the competition," says Roel Hoosemans. Like the 18 Hoppenbrouwers branches, Emotron's service technicians are spread throughout the country. “This allows us to be on location quickly in the event of an emergency,” John explains. “It is really nice to work in such a triangular relationship, where the end customer is also an important partner of ours.”

Working together in training

Emotron and Hoppenbrouwers are currently working together on water projects for AWP2.0, Dunea and various water boards. But their collaboration will expand even further in the future and will also extend to the joint training of new employees. Both men know from their own experience that you only really learn the profession from service technicians or engineers in practice. Roel: “If we want to continue to provide good service on both sides, we need well-trained people. Hoppenbrouwers has more capacity to work with interns than Emotron. We always have about 12 students working in our Hoppenbrouwers Experience Center (HEC). We are looking at possibilities how we can do more things together in this area in the future.”

Future developments

The two companies also regularly discuss changes in work, driven by developments such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). “Now people still control the installations. But soon data will control people. And an operator will adjust or adjust a machine on the basis of data that we obtain from installations,” says Roel. John adds: ”More and more things can be set remotely. But for installing hardware and solving malfunctions such as blockages by objects, people will still have to go on site.”

Whatever the future will hold, both men are firmly convinced that the good collaboration between these two great companies will last for a long time to come. “Although we are not married to each other, the cooperation does feel like a pleasant courtship”

Author: Dianne Huijskens