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Speed roll-out Nijmegen: “The biggest challenge lies in collaboration and communication”

What is a challenge other than a success story in the making?

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Martijn de Coninck (28) works as an IT SAP consultant in the SPEED program at Philips Semiconductors. Using SPEED, all Philips Semiconductors production facilities are being shifted into a single ‘SAP-core’ (a standardized business process). Within this extensive program, Martijn is working in the ‘Industrial Order Fulfillment’ team, which is an important facet of Supply Chain Management.

In 2004, Martijn moved from Philips Medical Systems to Semiconductors where he is now working on a project which is not yet a success story – it’s still too early for that. Martijn, however is convinced that it’s going to be one… the SPEED roll-out for the semiconductor plant in Nijmegen.
“We’re currently working on the preparatory phase: set up and scoping. It is now a matter of finding out to what extent the business processes in Nijmegen deviate from our blueprint. We’re working with simulations of streams of goods and looking out for any divergencies that may come to light. We’ll then adapt the blueprint where necessary, and that will be the basis upon which the project will in fact be started up.” The new system is to Go Live in the third quarter of 2007.

Martijn: “We’ve pretty well mastered the technology, so the main challenge now lies in the fields of collaboration and communication. We have to get the people in Nijmegen optimally involved, even though they are primarily concerned with their own daily tasks. Everybody understands that a number of systems are obsolete and need replacement, but to some it seems preferable to improve existing systems rather than install something totally new. Even though the latter is the best option when you look at the bigger picture. So we’ll have to somehow put across that bigger picture in a clear and convincing way; we need to come up with the right arguments if we want to get everyone 100% on our side. I’m convinced that we’ll succeed, but I know that it’s not going to be easy.”

“An extra dimension that keeps me alert”
In a large, complex organization like Philips Semiconductors, all sorts of interests and forces are constantly at work. To Martijn, this makes the job all the more interesting. “Clearly one is involved with content, but also with the process itself. I find that part of the work particularly challenging. It’s an extra dimension that keeps me alert. Just working with SAP simply wouldn’t be interesting enough. To me, it’s all about the whole playing field, and I indeed find the human side of things the most interesting aspect. The high level of quality I see in the people around me, convinces me that, together, we are going to fully meet this major challenge.”

Bringing together ‘Model’ and ‘Reality’
Philips is Martijn’s first employer. “I chose Philips because it is a large, technically oriented company that can offer me enough growth opportunities both nationally and internationally. I’ve been with Philips for five years now and I’m really happy with my choice. Major, highly challenging projects in a wide-ranging complex organization. Which means that a call is made on technical know-how and insight, but also that the ‘collaboration’ aspect plays an important role. I enjoy interacting with a wide diversity of people both in IT and on the business side of things. That’s really what makes my work fascinating: bringing those two worlds together. As an IT person in Eindhoven you may well have a certain model, but the realities of business may prove very different. What you have to do is bring model and reality together. Contact with people, gathering know-how and interacting with a variety of cultures are crucial to being able to succeed in this.”

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