Gerben has been working at Kolmer for 30 years. A calm, modest guy with a good head on his shoulders, but to this day he hasn’t realized that…
Gerben has been working at Kolmer for 30 years. A calm, modest guy with a good head on his shoulders — yet to this day, he hasn’t even realized that he’s responsible for the success of many modification developments.
He came from the MTS (technical school) in 1993 and went into the army. After spending some time tinkering with what were then the largest Leopard tanks, his motivation to move on to the HTS (higher technical school) had pretty much vanished, so he went to work in structural engineering. Calculating and drafting constructions became his daily work. After a year, he quit and joined Kolmer.
His always friendly, even-tempered face starts to light up:
“That’s when I discovered that the technology behind electric motors is so much more fascinating than designing the same constructions over and over. Together with my colleague, we started adapting motors at customers’ requests. He came up with the big ideas; I worked them out and kept testing and improving until it was right.”
That’s also how the still-produced brake hood for brake motors came about. We developed a fully waterproof version. Always one step further. The motor with brake hood had to run for at least an hour, completely submerged in a tank of water. And we made it work! Demand became so high that the brake hoods eventually went into production at one of the Cantoni factories. And that was just the beginning — we’ve developed much more custom work for brake motors since.
When asked, “So you’re the one who, by constantly improving and testing, made sure so many modification developments were successful?” Gerben looks surprised.
“Well… I just try to solve the customer’s problem. And of course, it has to be done right.”
After years of designing and implementing all kinds of modifications on electric motors, he was mentally and physically ready for a new challenge. The logical next step: putting all that experience into engineering. No longer trying and testing in the workshop, but designing and calculating up front. After a few courses — like CAD drawing — he’s now been running smoothly in this role for about five years.
He knows better than anyone what happens when you make a special adjustment to a motor. If a customer faces a challenge, he engineers a solution — and thanks to his many years of hands-on experience, he also spots what else to watch out for. Because often one solution brings along a whole new set of challenges.
He loved organizing sterritten (regularity rallies) — even championship-level ones. That involves quite a bit: planning starting points, mapping out routes, arranging permits (if needed), handling communication and registrations, preparing assignments and questions, organizing the reception and closing event. Turns out, there’s a real organizing talent hidden there. He doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, but on those occasions, he organizes, explains, and steps up as spokesperson. Still waters run deep…
According to colleague Jaco, who started at almost the same time, his second name is Mr. Rectifier Block. He always had one complaint:
“Why isn’t there a rectifier block included? That’s not supposed to happen!”
And he would make sure everyone knew it. Then buyer Tonny would step in asking where the 70 rectifier blocks had gone. Uh… didn’t write it down.
But that’s Gerben in a nutshell: as long as the customer is helped, that’s what matters. And that’s exactly the DNA of Kolmer!
🎶 Listen here to the song made for Gerben:
Together with all of us!
