'Bringing theory and practice together'

With company projects, Peter van den Berg, lecturer in electrical engineering at the Academy for Industry and Informatics at Avans Hogeschool in Den Bosch, offers his students the link between theory and practice. In that context, third-year students Mick Lems and David Boonstra worked out an assignment for Prospact.

Mick: "David and I's choice fell on Prospact. They carry out large projects for clients, making the connection between software and PLC. Our assignment was to figure out how systems can communicate more directly." David: "The assignment dovetailed well with topics we cover during our studies. For example, in the area of security and the ISA95 model. We spent quite a lot of time figuring out the systems."

Company project

Peter: "The bottom line is that a large customer of Prospact had put a question to them. The result of the business project is that Mick and David removed a layer from the system. As a result, the process in the plant now runs more efficiently, is more manageable and also cost-saving. This is interesting for us as an education: students learn in practice what is going on in the industry."

System integrators

"We have developed a demo that will be used in practice: Prospact's customer has ordered two versions!" David adds "We initiated the process with our research and developing the demo." Peter explains that the interpretation of this assignment is exactly what he has in mind: "Theoretical courses that are applied in assignments with system integrators or end users."

Flat organization

"This was a good assignment for a one-and-a-half-day-a-week project," says Mick. "We worked on it for twenty weeks, including one day a week at Prospact. The guidance from Prospact was top-notch!" David continues: "Because Prospact is such a flat organization, we could always go to someone with our questions. Despite being so busy, our supervisors Joey and Bastiaan always made time for us. They really wanted to help us move forward, learn something."

Great lunch

Mick: "Besides being able to put the theory of our studies into practice at Prospact, you also experience the day-to-day operations of a company." David: "For example, the lunches are really great: everyone eats at the same time and time is really made to talk to each other about things other than work!"

Satisfactory

The assessment from their training was more than adequate. Peter: "Perhaps they could have paid a little more attention to documenting their findings. But the fact that Prospact's customer is placing orders based on the demo says it all!" Mick, concluding, "Prospact is flexible and dynamic. It's a young company, with young employees. I am definitely attracted to small-scale companies. The atmosphere is open and also as a student you get a lot of freedom and trust!" David, in conclusion, "This project also made me think. I thought I would thrive better in a larger organization, but I really liked this!"