Testimonials

Frank Auer

"Precise"

Precision is a relative notion. Positioning something with an inaccuracy of 5 cm may seem imprecise, but it is a good achievement for a weeding machine. I sometimes see these machines from the back of my house, driving through corn or bean fields.

My name is Frank Auer, educated at the Technical University of Delft as an engineer in fine-mechanical technics and with a PhD in mechatronics. Last year, I bought an old farm, which I am now renovating. Especially the garden could have been maintained with a little more precision.

Currently, I am working for ASML in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, a company that produces one of the most precise machines you can imagine. At ASML we are working on the positioning of components within a few nanometres. In order to achieve this level of exactitude, precision has to be an absolute top priority. But here as well, precision is sometimes relative too. For example, I am presently working on a component (together with ALT and PI) that goes by the name of PALM. Again, it involves positioning on the nanometre and subnanometre level, but the relative precision of the component is just 1 to a 1,000. Much worse in fact than the weeding machine I mentioned earlier.

My relationship with ALT developed over the past three years via ASML. To my great surprise, it turned out that I knew Erik Keune and Dick Moerman from their previous job more than 10 years ago. It’s a small world. Together with Dick and a number of developers at PI, we designed the PALM for our machine. This cooperation involved a number of sacrifices on both sides, but resulted in a very nice product and a good working relationship. Something we can all be proud of.

For further information on ASML, click on the Website.