I've been working at Leenstra for more than 36 years now. As a true farmer's son, I grew up getting on with the job and working hard. Having completed junior and senior technical education (LTS and MTS), I joined the military. After that, I ended up at Leenstra and never left. I've held a variety of positions within Leenstra. I started out in production as a construction fitter. Back in the day, we still did a lot of editing. After a couple years I ended up in the drawing office as a draftsman/designer-detailer. In the office, I've also been a work planner and calculator and I have been project manager for a while as well. When the then-company manager (Abele Brandsma) retired, I took over his position. My current position is technical salesman.

Connecting and consulting
All the experience I've gained over the years enables me to fulfil my current role as a technical salesman well. Being able to advise customers and promote the added value of Leenstra as a supplier feels good. As a technical salesman at Leenstra, you interact with people a lot, both within Leenstra and in the field. Internally, I consult intensively with various disciplines so that everyone knows what the customer's wishes are and the assignment can be carried out properly. Furthermore, I'm often out and about visiting customers and prospects and I attend various trade fairs. I've now built up a large network which is very useful in my current position.

Proud of our developments
I'm most proud of the development in the field of robotic welding and serial welding. We started with 1 robot and now we work with 8 of them. In my last years until retirement, I would like to acquire another major customer for robotic welding work.