Mechanic speaking with Corne

31 March 2022

As Staad, we are working hard to make the path to a zero-emission construction site a reality. In addition to development and production, this also involves good personnel. That's why we've interviewed a lovely colleague this time to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what a day as a mechanic looks like with us. Curious? Then read on quickly.

Introduce
Corné de Graaij lives in Udenhout and has a wealth of experience. Corné studied automotive engineering and then started his impressive career in the electrification of machines. After having seen several companies over time, he soon felt completely at home at Staad. Here he feels like a fish in water and, together with a great team, he converts all electrical Doosan machines and he does that excellently.

The day of
''How my day goes here; heavy, Corné jokes. The first thing I do when I'm on the job is check everything. Did everything go well yesterday and where did everyone end up. I'm always there an hour earlier, so I can immediately judge what we can do today, based on where we left off yesterday. I help to get rid of all obstacles and then I myself will help build the electrical machines. I save the problems I see throughout the day at home in a Word file, so that when this occurs more often I can view it. Then I know that we have to do something with that structurally. Our team spends all day electrifying excavators and we are increasingly scaling up production. In this way we can meet the rising demand. My role in this is to support the team and ensure that a great product rolls out."

Opportunities and challenges
“The biggest challenge for us as a company right now is manpower. From the assembly of the batteries to the construction of the machines. We need people for everything, so that we can focus on scaling up production in the coming period. In addition, it would also be very nice if someone with as much experience as me would join, so that there are more people who can learn other things. In terms of opportunities, I see that for us in the power boxes (the self-developed battery boxes that provide the machines with 'energy'). For me, our electric machines are really the most beautiful electric machines on the market at the moment. The machine plus the power box that we developed ourselves is truly a unique product. The power boxes are heated and cooled, so that the batteries always maintain the right temperature, so that we can extract the maximum capacities and can always recharge the batteries as quickly as possible. The gift of us is that we don't stop here. We keep looking at what can be improved and what we need for that. That is where our strength really lies: we do not stand still and remain at the forefront of the development of sustainability. It will always be a challenge to keep up with developments and to consolidate and guarantee one of the best products, but that also makes it interesting and fun."

Think differently
''The biggest challenge for our customers will be; run for as long as possible. In addition to the product, which must of course be good, but which is good in my opinion, the operator must also learn to operate differently. Diesel or electric is really a difference. That is learning to think differently. Do not use energy unnecessarily during the day, but learn to use it sparingly. That's about driving from A to B and using the big feature on your boom. I think those are the most important things that you should deal with as sparingly as possible. We can include train drivers in this by giving our training on delivery, but also, for example, to better link train drivers who have an electric machine to each other. So that they can learn from each other and that it can also become a game of who can run the machine the longest in order to use your energy as efficiently as possible.''

Regulatory change
''In 2030, the construction sites must be emission-free, so we can expect a very big change in the coming years. That's not all that long now. That is why it is also important for us to continue to pay attention to how we can do better again and also to make it accessible to all our customers. That is also something I really enjoy doing. I regularly speak to many people from the industry to keep abreast of the latest innovations. For me it's super important because I just want to build the best machine together with the team. And we work hard at that every day!”

Safety
Our machines operate on 800 volts. Some people who don't know what that is find that exciting. But I dare to say with certainty that nothing can happen to the train driver if he follows the rules. The most important rule here is to think first and then act. For example, you are not going to throw a cigarette in a diesel tank. You shouldn't do simple things like that with an electric machine. All our plugs have locks and protection so that you cannot just pull out a plug that has power on it. When changing a power box, always make sure you turn off the main switch so that all power is off. We have built this in such a way that you can see from the outside on the power boxes when all power is off. If there is also only one light on the power box, you cannot remove the plugs yet. We have therefore properly secured the machine. When a machine is delivered, we also train the operator and go through all safety protocols. For me, working safely is the most important thing!"