Gepubliceerd op
24 september 2020

Alphatron Observation & Communication werd in september 1989 opgericht. Na de naamswijziging naar Alphatron Marine groeide het bedrijf uit tot een wereldwijde speler met 450 medewerkers en Centers of Excellence in Rotterdam, Tokio, Singapore en Houston. “Maar je moet er nooit van uitgaan dat je bent waar je wilt zijn – je moet je sensoren altijd aan hebben staan,” zegt medeoprichter en President Luuk Vroombout resoluut. We spraken met hem over innovatie, de ‘human touch in technology’, ondernemerschap in de afgelopen drie decennia en natuurlijk over de toekomst.

“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.