Mathematical models and processes ensure correct logistics within ASML Warehouses
Interview with Marleen van Brandenburg
Marleen started her mathematics career in 1995 by studying Applied Mathematics. She discovered a lot of new mathematics and gained foreign experiences during her internship and graduation assignment. Now she has been working at ASML for 12 years – the company which enables ground-breaking technology to solve some of humanity's toughest challenges and provides leading patterning solutions that drive the advancement of microchips.
Because I was good at maths and science subjects at secondary school, it was soon clear that I would choose a technical programme after graduation. After doing some research, I decided that Applied Mathematics at UT was a perfect choice.
Internship and graduation assignment abroad
This programme has brought me a lot besides regular mathematics knowledge. For example, I did an internship at the University of Singapore, where I worked on constraint programming problems for the Dutch football leagues. Funny of course, working on Dutch football rosters in Singapore. It was a very nice time where, besides the knowledge I gained, I also met many international students and was able to discover the region.
I had a taste of working abroad and I was ready for my next challenge. For my graduation project, I contacted Johan Hurink to see if there was an interesting graduation project abroad. I left for Siemens in Munich to work on mobile phone sites under the supervision of Johan Hurink. At that time (2001), mobile phones did not yet have GPS so you had to get your data from near the phones. I investigated how to determine where someone was situated within the range of 3 masts. This is important in case of an accident so that emergency services can drive to the right place to provide help immediately.
Be prepared to go to work
The various assignments within the programme give you a good idea of the kind of projects you will face after graduation. This was reinforced by the alumni stories during company visits and lunch or drinks lectures organised by WSG Abacus. In my time (1995-2002), you studied mainly on your own. There were only a limited number of projects where you had to work with other students. There were fewer opportunities to also work on your soft skills. I actually started to work on that during my first job. This is apparently different now and that’s a good thing. Learning to collaborate well with other people is really useful, as you have to do that daily in your job.
Warehousing
My first job was at a consultancy company where I was working on mathematical models in warehousing. I worked on a layout for warehousing by processing data in Excel and Access and simulation software. During my master’s in Operations Research, I was already introduced to warehousing. Warehousing is a term commonly used in logistics services where you deal with storing goods, order picking and order processing in a warehouse or distribution centre.
Nowadays, I work within ASML as a manager of warehousing processes and analytics. ASML has 50 warehouses worldwide which are situated near our customers. Together with my team, I make sure these warehouses are ready to be stocked with all the (spare) parts needed to repair devices or machines within an hour so that chip production can be resumed quickly. At ASML, we work with specific processes and stock these warehouses all in the same way so that processes all work the same. Very handy if you are temporarily deployed abroad, then it works the same way you are already used to and you know what to expect.
At the moment, my team and I are busy getting the logistics in order. We make sure that all teams adhere to the processes and that new processes are implemented everywhere. However, I am not only working on these kinds of processes but there is also a bit of change management involved. When implementing (new) processes, you want to get the people all on board to work differently, even though they might lose some of the flexibility. This is not just about the people in the workplace, you also have to think about end-users and management in all layers of different departments.
ASML as an employer
When I started at ASML 12 years ago, the company was only well-known in the southern parts of the Netherlands. Now basically everyone knows what we do at ASML and we sometimes even make the news. We are a growing company and for this, we build new buildings (warehouses), we provide good infrastructure, we are an internationally known company and an innovation leader in the semiconductor industry. I find it a really inspiring place, there are many opportunities in many different areas and where you work with interesting and nice colleagues from all over the world. So I can definitely recommend considering ASML as a future employer. If you are still looking for a challenging internship, check out the website https://www.asml.com/en/careers/students-graduates/asml-internship. Here you can find our internship opportunities, it's definitely worth taking a look! And it will immediately give you a good idea of what it is like to work at ASML. If you want to know more first, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Just ask Diana Dalenoord for my email address.