When Product Development spreads its wings
Mark Gerber - VP Engineering
We first got to know Mark Gerber in 2005 when he was part of our Aeronamic team as a researcher from the Delft University of Technology. Seven years later, he joined our company taking on the role of R&D Lead Engineer. Now, ten years later, he has switched roles and became our new Vice President of Engineering.
Mark Gerber’s predecessor, Sido Kermans, has also been appointed our very first CTO. This expansion of our Product Development department is necessary to meet the growing activities required to launch our products onto the market. We can see a lot of great opportunities and developments ahead.
An open road for a market-ready product
Mark Gerber: “In my days as a researcher with Aeronamic, I was already involved with the high-speed electric drive technology from which the e-compressor has emerged. Now the technology has matured into a serious business case and once more I get to share the responsibility for it. In my role as VP, I get to help lead our amazing team of engineers in the journey of taking the technology we developed to the market. The great thing about our e-compressor technology is how versatile it is, which means a huge range of industries can benefit from it. This technology can be utilized for air compressors, refrigerating systems, battery pack (pre) conditioning, heat pumps and so on. The manufacturing industry, conventional aerospace, urban air mobility and countless other markets cannot wait to have this technology at their disposal.”
Dedicated attention
“It’s interesting to take a closer look at how we used to go about things in our department. When it came to production, purchasing, logistics, marketing and communication, we were accustomed to doing everything ourselves. And in that phase of our development, it was certainly the way to go; it met the needs of the circumstances at the time. However, things are changing. We have a market-ready product at hand, which means it’s time for an R&D project to become a full-blown business activity. The fact that we only had a VP Engineering and now have a CTO in addition is a testament to that growth. We can now pay dedicated attention to the potential of our market-ready product, with more team members achieving things faster and with more impact.”
Show and tell
“One thing that will probably never change is the old ‘show and tell’. Customers want to see for themselves that our technology and market-ready products do what we say they will do. This is an important step before deciding on whether to work with us on a project or product and in our efforts to bring this technology to the market, we have developed product demonstrators. These are designed to demonstrate a customer-specific application of our technology. By doing this, we want to show customers that we can meet their challenges. After a demonstration, customers know what they can expect from our technology, as well as what awaits them when working with Aeronamic.”
Demonstrators push the market for change
“In the future, we will be showing all kinds of demonstrators, but for now our first demonstrator is an electric centrifugal compressor. With demonstrators like this, we can make the market aware of new technology more quickly. At the same time, our technology is playing a huge role in making greener solutions possible in all kinds of industries. So, across a broader spectrum, demonstrators will also contribute to sustainability goals and even our own Mission Zero! Keep an eye on our social media updates and we will take you along on this journey.”
With our e-compressor technology, what kind of application would you like to see in play? And what demonstrator would you like us to develop?
Do you feel as though this expanding of Aeronamic’s product development department has your name written all over it? Then send in your job application!