Veröffentlicht am
24 September 2020

Alphatron Observation & Communication wurde im September 1989 gegründet. Nach der Umbenennung in Alphatron Marine entwickelte sich das Unternehmen zu einem globalen Akteur mit 450 Mitarbeitenden und Centers of Excellence in Rotterdam, Tokio, Singapur und Houston. „Man darf jedoch nie davon ausgehen, dass man schon dort ist, wo man sein möchte – man muss seine Sensoren immer eingeschaltet lassen“, sagt Mitgründer und President Luuk Vroombout mit Nachdruck. Wir sprachen mit ihm über Innovation, den „human touch in technology“, über Unternehmertum in den vergangenen drei Jahrzehnten und natürlich über die Zukunft.

“I used to travel around the world with only a tool box under my arm. For example, on Friday, I would board a ship in Vlissingen (the Netherlands) and a week later, step onto a wharf in Egypt with my bag – without any money or vaccinations, for example. Well, you learn to climb in situations like that, reminisces Luuk Vroombout, thinking back to his days as an employee of Internationale Navigatie Apparaten (INA). After working for INA for sixteen years, Luuk Vroombout literally and figuratively felt sick to his stomach about the straightjacket that he had ended up in. “I had learned a great deal, but I wanted to work more independently. On top of that, INA was no longer privately owned, and you could no longer feel any passion in the company after its acquisition by a listed corporation. I wanted to start out on my own – that much was clear to me and my wife Leny. But that was easier said than done. I would need money for this and I was bound by a competition clause. Pim de Lange, the then-director of Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (later Stena Line), gave me the final nudge in the right direction. He said: ‘Are you crazy? Surely you won’t let anything hold you back? Just start somewhere!’”


Read more in the 12th edition of Alphatron Marine Magazine, page 4 to 11.