In the very competitive automation and mobile robotics sector, what’s true yesterday isn’t true tomorrow.
Accerion has to be flexible enough to change almost instantly. Everyone has to react to quickly changing market conditions, says Eveline Wijnhoven, Sales and Operations Coordinator. Eveline is a key player in the effort to bring not just new management systems and process coordination to Accerion, but new ways of thinking about the fundamentals of work.
Eveline arrived at Accerion more than equipped for the role, with a logistics and supply chain engineering degree and an impressive career resume with experience gained at multiple industries … at big companies and small, Dutch and American.
But two personal life events led directly to her new career. After starting a family, then experiencing a serious health scare, she found herself reflecting on what she really wanted out of her life and her career.
“What I decided is that I want to build something innovative with a strong, diverse team,” Eveline says. “And then Accerion came along.”
At our maturing, fast-growing company, a lot depends on the Venlo native.
In her role as Sales and Operations Coordinator, Eveline is responsible for procurement, fulfillment, logistics, production planning and certain aspects of manufacturing. Oh, and she has to coordinate information flow between departments with many of her colleagues working remotely. And she has to get it all done in her 24-hour work week.
“With Corona, it’s really a challenge,” she says. But for more than a year, she’s been equal to that challenge.
After years at a variety of companies, including an American multinational, she’s bringing that depth of experience and extensive knowledge of sophisticated management and supply chain systems to her position.
Eveline sees her career at Accerion as a chance to not just realize her dream of working with cool people at an exciting company – it’s her opportunity to be part of a fundamental change in how people view work.
The aspirations of young talents have changed radically over the generations.
Her father worked to provide for his family, Eveline says. But in 2021, people come out of university “wanting to be valuable. And salary doesn’t mean that much anymore.”
Young talents want to contribute to something bigger than just making money, she says. “They want to know why we’re doing this. And the reason we exist is, we make the future better” in many industries including fulfillment and warehousing.
“That’s the motivation of most of the people coming from school. You learn so much. I have so much freedom at Accerion! So you can really explore yourself.”
For Eveline, it all comes down to people.
“Because if you hire good people, then treat them well, they’ll reward your company with great work.”
Her management philosophy of treating people well and making sure people feel good at work resulted in her initiating HR-related projects.
Within Accerion, you’re encouraged to suggest projects you believe will contribute to the benefit of all employees and the overall success of the company.
Eveline makes sure new colleagues have a soft landing with a fully effective onboarding process. In addition, she gave a boost to the vitality of the employees when she organized the “Steptember” team event last September. Teams signed up to put in at least 10,000 steps per day for the month of September while raising money for charity.
This was a fun event for employees to stay connected with each other while working remotely … all for a good cause.
“For me it’s all about connection.”
Every one of the 20 Accerion employees “is giving all the energy they’ve got and all the knowledge they’ve got,” Eveline says. The trick, she adds, is knowing how to balance the go-go instincts of salespeople focused on selling and shipping and the engineering and production side, where process, quality and precision rule.
Which is exactly where Eveline Wijnhoven wants to be – in the middle of the action.