Saco¶
What I do¶
I was lucky to have my dad as a role model when I was a kid. He earned a living as a truck driver but when not on the road he did the maintenance of his truck and constructed a big variety of machines. So from a young age on I was stimulated to make things. Professionally I just manage teams that make things, and most of the time I don’t need to get my hands dirty. But after some time I will get an inescapable urge to saw, drill or weld ssomething and I will rush off to my workshop.
Welding¶
My avatar picture is an old welding machine from a shipyard I own. I’m not a professionally trained welder, but I like it and even named my company LasLab. But apart from welding, I like making things with any tool that’s available to me. I have been tinkering all my life.
Professionally I’m educated as mechanical engineer and I’m working as a project, program and innovation manager, and have been doing so for more than 25 years. You can have a look at saco_pm if you want to know more.
Working¶
When I’m not working for clients you can find me in my workshop, repairing motorbikes, making cabinets, helping my workshop mate to overhaul one of his boats, or work on a prototype for some product idea I have.
My plans¶
Just a few months ago Henk from the Waag, with whom I share some friends, showed me around in the fablab of Amsterdam. I have been tinkering a lot in my life, both personally and professionally, so it looked to me like a wonderful playground. My first reaction was: “Wow! Can I work here too?” and of course the answer was yes. It turned out that he had a spot left for the fabacademy of 2022. I was just about to finish a project I was assigned to, and had both the time and the resources to scale down my work for some time. So here I am.
Goals¶
Generally, I just want to make things for the fun of making them. Creating something that works is very satisfying to me. But to give my journey at fabacademy a bit of direction I have set some goals.
- I’m trained as a mechanical engineer and work as a project manager for projects that also include electronics, embedded software or IT. On the mechanical side I have to catch up a bit and get to know the latest 3D modeling tools.
- As said, I’m familiar with electronics and software, but I don’t have the practical knowledge. Maybe my main goal is to expand that knwledge and become able to design in those disciplines myself.
- Professionally I work for clients and I have to work towards their desired result. This has a good side: it gives you a clarity about what to achieve. But at fabacademy I would like to step out of that comfort zone. In the way I define my own projects I want to kindle my creativety, experiment more and follow where that leads me.
THE Port @ CERN¶
Apart from the persuasive tour at De Waag by Henk there are more reasons to do the fabacademy.
First of all my involvement in THE Port @ CERN and for which I’m currently part of the executive committee. We organise several events and our flagship is the annual humanitarian hackathon. In this event we bring together teams to solve technical problems for humanitarian organisations. In fact we run a fablab in just three days. Until the pandemic hit us this hosted by ideasquare of CERN in Geneva.
You can have a look at THE Port for our projects and past events.
During the hackathon I usually coach a team working on their challenge. Often I bump into my knowledge limits in electronics and software design. So during fabacademy I hope to learn a lot about that.
BTW: anyone that has an idea for a challenge, please come forward. You don’t need to be part of a NGO to do so. Anyone who has an idea that improves one or more of the sustainable development goals can contact us. Just contact me or go to our challenge page.
But maybe the main reason to do it is that I’m already a project manager far quite a long time and would like to get back to the joy of making stuff again. Not for a specific reason, but just because making things is fun.