“Knowing the latest research allows you to make smart decisions”

At high-tech companies, valuable expertise often remains locked in engineers’ minds, making it challenging for new colleagues to grasp the complete picture. This knowledge gap was exactly what mechatronics engineer Eric Dannenberg encountered at Itec with feedforward control systems, which prompted him to take High Tech Institute’s “Advanced Feedforward and Learning Control” course.

Nijmegen-based Itec operates at the forefront of scientific discovery, merging its die-bonding technology with machines taking care of subsequent steps in the chip production process. The company develops high-throughput assembly and test equipment for semiconductors, specializing in optical and electrical inspection and die bonders. One such machine focuses on taking chips from the wafer and gluing them in place on the substrate.

Eric Dannenberg has been with Itec for three years now, the last of which he spent as a mechatronics engineer. Earlier, he worked as a mechanical engineer, amongst other engineering roles, but his interest in mechatronics never wavered. “A mechanical engineer designs the needle that pushes the chip to the right position,” he explains. “The mechatronics engineer is responsible for the needle’s movements, ensuring the right speed and coordination.” Mechatronics, however, is a niche in the mechanical and electrical engineering branch, meaning fewer jobs are available.

'I applied for the course because I noticed that while my colleagues had a wealth of knowledge, their explanations were always -logically- aimed at the matter at hand. I often felt like I was missing context, not getting the full picture.'

As a mechatronics engineer at Itec’s die bonder department, Dannenberg focuses on three main areas. First is the general problem-solving and debugging of existing equipment, helping customers keep their machines operational. Second, he optimizes the current high-end systems, looking for ways to increase throughput speed and precision and decrease errors. Lastly, he and his colleagues work on designing the next generation of machines, using the most recent developments, acting truly at the forefront of their scientific field.

Dannenberg appreciates the alternation in responsibilities. “Only doing repair work might get boring, but getting back to the roots is very helpful, and the small successes are welcome when stuck on an engineering problem for future machines.”

Feedforward control

When Dannenberg started working for Itec, he had a lot to learn. “I applied for the course at High Tech Institute because I noticed that while my colleagues had a wealth of knowledge, their explanations were always -logically – aimed at the matter at hand. I often felt like I was missing context, not getting the full picture.” Itec has a history of using courses from High Tech Institute, some of which Dannenberg had already completed. “Advanced feedforward and learning control was the next logical step, after Motion Control Tuning and Advanced Motion Control.”

Eric Dannenberg at ITEC in Nijmegen
Eric Dannenberg at ITEC, Nijmegen

Feedforward control refers to the machine preparing control inputs in advance, based on the desired path. Instead of waiting for position errors to occur, the actuators are guided to proactively follow the upcoming reference points more accurately. This reduces errors and improves response time, since adjustments happen while the substrate is moving forward.

The course, which took three consecutive days, focuses on iterative learning control, repetitive control and new advanced feedforward algorithms. It thus serves a very niche market segment, where little training is available. For Itec, iterative learning control with basic functions is the form most used from the course, but the entire training paints a complete picture.

Firsthand experience

The course gives insights into developing machines capable of reducing position errors to encoder resolution during repetitive movement. It provides a roadmap of how to get to the point where the encoder resolution, rather than high-value parts, becomes the limiting factor in position error reduction. Here, the close collaboration with Eindhoven University of Technology comes into its own, according to Dannenberg. “The knowledge that High Tech Institute shares in its courses is truly novel. It doesn’t exist in books yet and can only sparsely be found on the internet.”

'A colleague who followed this course was quite enthusiastic and my manager agreed that it would be a good next step for me.'

This knowledge comes in handy both when optimizing existing equipment and when designing new systems. “Knowing the extent of the latest research allows us to make smart decisions on whether to design entirely different mechanical parts for a new machine or adapt what we already have to fit the latest developments in the field.”

Dannenberg gained more than just an overview of the complex material with this course. “We could actually test the knowledge and the algorithms we were learning on real machines. Playing around with these algorithms straight away helped us gain an understanding to a level you can’t achieve just from a Powerpoint presentation. We also got to experience firsthand how the algorithms learned from their interaction with the machine. In one case, for example, we could see the algorithm adapting to the resistance of attached cables, which it hadn’t taken into account before.”

That hands-on knowledge made it easier to put the learnings into practice. When returning to the work floor, Dannenberg could immediately share his ideas and experiences with his colleagues. Having a clearer, bigger picture helped him advance his tasks.

Dannenberg already knows what his next course will be: “Experimental Techniques in Mechatronics.” This training focuses on determining the dynamic properties of mechatronic systems. “A colleague who followed this course was quite enthusiastic and my manager agreed that it would be a good next step for me.”

This article is written by Marleen Dolman, freelancer for High Tech Systems and Bits&Chips.

“To solve complicated problems, we need everybody’s mind on it”

This fall, Jessica Korzeniowska will be teaching her award-winning fantasy-themed training course in basic systems engineering at High Tech Institute. Bits&Chips sat down with her to talk about her background, her experiences as a systems engineer, her teaching method and the importance of reaching out to students, especially girls.

Jessica Korzeniowska hails from a family with a passion for aircraft engineering. Her grandfather was Polish and immigrated to the United Kingdom. Korzeniowska herself grew up in Milton Keynes, “a very normal town in the UK.”

Korzeniowska’s path in engineering started with a campaign during school to get more women into engineering. She thinks that’s what has made her passionate about creating a course that’s accessible for everybody. “Because I’m a product of other people trying to make engineering accessible.”

After a week’s work experience, specifically for girls, at a Royal Air Force base, she decided that engineering was what she wanted to do. “I think for me, it was a good mix of puzzles and problem-solving. I always loved puzzles and I loved building Lego, because you have to think innovatively, you have to think of new solutions. For me, engineering and the technical side of it are a mix of these two things. You can build something, you can create something. You have to problem-solve and think of ways to get there. I still enjoy it after making that decision half my lifetime ago in school.”

'We have to encourage more girls to go into science and engineering.''

Know-it-all

Korzeniowska obtained a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at the University of Southampton, where she specialized in spacecraft engineering. She found it difficult to choose between the different technical disciplines until she took a module on spacecraft systems engineering in her third year.

“The lecturer stood up at the front of the class in the very first lecture and said that systems engineers are know-it-alls. They know little pieces about all the different subsystems that come together. They have a big-picture view of what the whole engineering product must do. And truthfully, the idea of being a know-it-all appealed to me. I also thought, maybe this is what I could do, because I like all these different technical areas, but I don’t like one of them enough to only do that. Then, out of university, I applied for systems engineering jobs and got those and became more experienced in the field. It’s continued to be something I enjoy, and I feel like it was the right choice.”

More girls

Korzeniowska is one of the few women engineers in the UK. Only 9 percent are female. Working in a technical environment with really difficult problems can be challenging, Korzeniowska says.

For women, it’s difficult in another way as well, because there aren’t many female engineers and parts of how companies work are still very male-dominated. You have an additional hurdle as a minority. Not only are you trying to work on technically challenging problems, but you’re also trying to break down stereotypes, challenge people’s unconscious biases, and that can be exhausting. It’s helpful if you have a good group of people around you, if you have people who support you, but it can be quite challenging in both the technical and personal sense. “In the end, I was fed up with having to deal with all the nonsense that women have to put up with, but I still wanted to be an engineer. So, I started my own business.”

Korzeniowska stresses that it’s important to encourage more girls to go into science and engineering, because we need them to end up in an engineering career. To solve all the technical challenges, we need the most diverse set of minds that we can possibly get, Korzeniowska says. “There are all sorts of statistics about diverse teams performing better; they’re able to solve challenges more flexibly, more efficiently. And so, we need everybody’s mind on it. And it’s not just about women; other groups may also be underrepresented in engineering.”

'I’m a product of other people trying to make engineering accessible.''

Model-based

As Korzeniowska progressed in her career, she started to become more and more of a trainer. “I did more outreach for science and I taught science in summer camp in America. I realized that I had the skills to teach and that I was enjoying it.”

Now, Korzeniowska is a partner at Scarecrow, a model-based systems engineering consultancy firm in the UK associated with High Tech Institute. “We do training, but we also do consultancy with a whole range of companies across the UK. We implement model-based systems engineering in their work because it’s a great way to manage the information in complex projects and make sure it’s consistent, and it helps us solve the problems. My background is space and nuclear fusion, so a lot of the consultancy I’m doing is still in the nuclear or energy domain.”

Korzeniowska is also an author of engineering textbooks, but she writes fiction stories as well. She’s using model-based techniques to help her model her fiction stories. “It’s a really great mechanism to handle a lot of information and keep track of everything, like the different characters and locations.”

Adventure quest

In her three-day course, Korzeniowska uses a fantasy-themed adventure quest to guide participants along their engineering training journey. There have been studies that show that people respond to storytelling, particularly in technical aspects, so she uses this to engage participants.

Korzeniowska remembers also her own experience with Lego. “I got into Lego when I was bought a Harry Potter set. I had never shown an interest in Lego before, but having a story associated with it and characters that I knew and to play out a certain scene, really engaged me in a building and construction method. I thought that this was just me, but there was actually a study done in the US that showed girls were more likely to interact with construction and building toys if there was a story to go with it.”

Korzeniowska started to think about how she could use methods that she knew had helped her learn, in her training and maybe also attract people who otherwise wouldn’t be in engineering. That’s where the adventures come from. “I wondered if you could take people through a training course of the V-model, as if they were walking through an enchanted valley. You journey up and down the valley in the same way you would in an engineering project, but then make it like it’s a quest.”

The Netherlands

Korzeniowska also spent a year in Leiden, where she got a job at the European Space Agency. “I graduated and then two weeks later, I turned up in the Netherlands with a suitcase and some euros. I was like, all right, let’s start a new life.”

She worked as a graduate trainee in ESA’s education office. “This is another aspect of my career that has helped me toward the training: we were thinking about how we can take industry-level space standards and translate them in a way that we can teach to students, so they can get hands-on experience of creating spacecraft and launching rockets. I loved living in the Netherlands. I’m hoping to be over here a lot more often, now that I’m delivering this training.”

This article is written by Titia Koerten, editor for High Tech Systems.