I’m Laurens Spier, and I’ve been working in the Mechanical Engineering department at VIRO’s Zwolle branch since mid-2021. Before joining VIRO, I studied mechanical engineering at Saxion University of Applied Sciences in Enschede. I’ve just finished a project here for Spark Holland, a developer and manufacturer of analysis systems for laboratories. The project involved a trade fair presentation for Spark. I worked with a design agency on creating new designs for a number of machines, then I personally assembled them at the end of the project.
In this project, the design had to be translated into a manufacturable product. One of the biggest challenges was the delivery time of all the parts, which led me to rethink the design. I was used to pretty tight tolerances in other projects, to ensure that everything fitted. However, delivery time was the priority in this project, so the tolerances were less rigid and I had to compensate this aspect in my design. In addition, I had to think which of the different production techniques would be most suitable for this project.
I learned a lot from this and other projects at VIRO about effectively working with tolerances, and where tolerances play a role or are less critical. The project also brought me into contact, directly or indirectly through colleagues, with a wide range of companies and fields in the mechanical engineering sector. Educational and interesting experiences, the first of many I expect at VIRO!
At the moment, I’m working on the heat shields of another client's new machines. This is an interesting project in which we’re liaising extensively with the client and the heat shield manufacturer. We’re paying particularly close attention to both the functionality and the manufacturability of these parts.
