Working together on high-quality precision products

Since 2019, Werkse! assembly workers at the Delft high-tech company HedoN. After six years, we can certainly call it a fruitful collaboration. We visited the Werkse!-team at HedoN and spoke with manager Richard van der List of HedoN and Werkse!-employee Peter Dessens. 'Werkse! helps us exceptionally well with the assembly of our precision products.'

HedoN is a high-tech company that has been developing and manufacturing electronics and software for various markets since 1979, including offshore, medical infrastructure, chemotronics, and green energy. Operational Manager Richard van der List explains: "We work entirely on a customized basis. This involves developing new devices and technology that precisely aligns with our customers' needs. They seek technological solutions to optimize their work processes and have high standards." For production, HedoN employs a number of permanent specialists, a variable number of TU students who can be deployed flexibly, and seconded employees. Werkse!.

Scalable
Richard: 'The collaboration with Werkse! started around 2019. We were looking for workers who could work very precisely and carefully, and we wanted to do business in a socially responsible way. That's how we came to Werkse! rightly so. Through them we were able to ensure high-quality assembly of our products on the one hand, and on the other hand help people with support needs to find work.' In the initial period, the Werkse!-employees trained to work on one specific product, an induction heater – a device that can heat metal parts (bearings, bolts) of an industrial machine. Richard: 'We liked it so much that we Werkse!-team is now also being deployed in the assembly of other devices. This is largely done here at HedoN, with a smaller portion being Werkse! done and gradually the activities are expanding.' The advantage of using Werkse! according to Van der List, it is scalable: 'This means that depending on demand, we sometimes need more or sometimes fewer people. And that this can happen Werkse! is very pleasant.'

iDuctor
Peter Dessens is part of the Werkse!-team. He has been with Werkse! employed, primarily in secondment roles. He has been working on secondment at HedoN since 2021. Peter is currently assembling a handheld induction heater – the iDuctor – which can be used in garages, for example, to safely heat rusted (wheel) nuts and bolts, making them easier to loosen. Peter: "Very enjoyable and precise work. At my workstation, I have all the necessary components for the device: printed circuit board, cables, coils, connectors, and a soldering iron. First, I check the printed circuit board. If it's good, I solder the cables and connectors onto it and assemble everything. That's a whole series of steps until the entire internals are finished. Other colleagues then install it in the housing."

Trots
Peter is proud of his work, especially when he can admire the finished product. He recently saw the iDuctor again on the Discovery Channel, where it was being used to heat the wheel nuts of an old car: "I couldn't believe my eyes! Damn, that's my device they use on TV! I thought that was great to see.' Peter's colleagues from Werkse! Working on another induction heater, a mobile device that precisely heats steel bearings so they can be installed without damage. This is widely used in mechanical engineering, shipyards, and the like. Richard: "Some of this is specialized work, such as laying copper coils in the device's housing. The Werkse!-employee who does this has also obtained a wrapping certificate.'

Perfect
Supervision and control of the work is a fixed routine within HedoN. Richard: 'This does not only apply to the Werkse!-team, but all intermediate and final products are routinely inspected here. In our line of work, you can't leave anything to chance.' Peter agrees: 'I'm a real stickler for detail. Everything has to be absolutely perfect, otherwise it has to be redone. It has to be perfect, that's what we stand for!' The clothing, furniture, and carpeting in this workspace are antistatic and dissipate static electricity to protect the sensitive electronics. Richard: 'You can't tell from the outside whether something is being damaged by an electric shock. That's why we do this preventatively.'

Development
The employees of Werkse! learn technical skills, work accurately and in a structured manner, collaborate in a professional production environment and develop craftsmanship.
Richard: "Besides a manual describing what they need to do, the employees are guided from start to finish. When assigning tasks, we assess each person's capabilities. We start with a simple task, and then it gradually becomes more complex." Peter, with his extensive experience and meticulous attention to detail, is assigned multiple tasks. The other employees are currently working on a specific product and help each other out where needed. The atmosphere is certainly good. Peter: "It's nice here. There's definitely room for a chat or a joke. And if you have questions, you can always contact Richard or one of the other HedoN staff. Great!"