Interview with Jeroen Lammers,  

manager of turbocharger sales

When did you start your career at MTEE?

I started my career at MTEE in 2004. At that time I was living in Munich and working at a Dutch company. Through my network, I was offered a position as a resident engineer for MTEE, at the customer site of BMW. The BMW N54, a 3.0L bi-turbo engine, was the first BMW gasoline programme that MTEE had been nominated for, and therefore someone was requested on location. I slowly took on the role as project leader. I continued in this role when I returned to the Netherlands in 2008, at the location of MTEE. This was a period of great expansion for the company due to the turbocharger market for gasoline application taking off. I think we almost doubled the amount of people in the company in the period from 2004 to 2008. In 2011, I became account manager in charge of the Southern Germany market and in 2014 I became manager of sales. 

What brought you to MTEE?

I have always liked the automotive industry. I got my first car when I was 17 and was always busy with it. Additionally, I have a background as an electronic engineer. After graduation, I decided to do extra automotive studies at the HTS in Eindhoven. My first job was as a trainer in auto electronics, a nice combination of both professions. Therefore I did evening classes alongside my work to become an authorized trainer. I worked here for five years before I decided to go travelling again and finally ended up in Munich, where my journey at MTEE had begun. Travelling is something my parents taught me. Our whole family lived abroad for some years and we often went travelling. This meant that from a young age I came into contact with many different cultures and this experience has guided me in the choices I have made, both professionally and personally, ever since. This is why I chose to work for an international company like MHI, which has locations all over the world, multiple global customers and a work environment here in Almere that currently has more than 40 different nationalities. 

How have you seen the turbocharger business change over the years?

The first programme I worked on was a bi-turbo for a 3 litre engine on a high-end car. Quite soon after this programme, almost all projects became 1-2 litre downsized engines. Nowadays downsized engines have become a commodity. Furthermore, we have seen that the requirements have become higher, both technically and commercially. This has had an influence on the team structures. When I first started here, one team would work on multiple projects, but nowadays we have one big team working on one programme. Customer contacts have increased and the teams travelling to the customers are expanded to include more experts.

Based on your experience, what are the main reasons why customers choose MTEE as their turbocharger supplier?

I see it as a mix between our high flexibility and our high standards in quality, technology and assembly solutions. Programmes change a lot during the acquisition and development phases, so flexibility is important. We always stay in close contact with the customer to see how we can support these changes and come up with the best solutions.

What changes is the sales department/MTEE going to undertake in the coming years?

In the time that I have been sales manager we have been very successful, so from a personnel point of view we are working hard to keep our sales team stable. We aim to not change the contacts our customers have with us too much.

Besides our sales contacts, we are focusing more within the sales team on new market trends and expanding our focus on our R&D teams in Almere, here in the Netherlands, and Sagamihara, in Japan, to see how we can support the new market of mild hybrids, full hybrids and solutions for battery electric vehicles.

Additionally, we are striving to become more flexible in our volume flexibility solutions as the automotive market is on a roller-coaster ride.

Let’s move the world forward!