Girlsday at EPR: a day to remember

Yesterday 14 girls and their teacher visited us on behalf of Girlsday 2018. Girlsday is an initiative of VHTO to let girls know that they are more than welcome in the world of technology.

When the girls arrived at EPR, they were immediately very enthusiastic and curious. A great way to start this day with! Covered in ESD-clothes, the girls first got a quick tour as an introduction to the high-tech world and our Smart Factory.

After the tour, Product Engineer Frank gave the girls a masterclass engineering. He asked the girls to calculate the value of the resistance used in a design: “When U is 1 and I = 0,001, what would R be if U = I x R?” Ofcourse they knew the answer, smart as they are! Time to put their knowledge and enthusiasm into practice. In three groups the girls were asked to think about their own high-tech innovation. An innovation that they had to present to the EPR jury, to convince them to produce their product. As a little backup the girls were allowed to ask five questions to Quality Controller Koen, NPI Manager Alexander and Product Engineer Frank. In between their brainstorming sessions, the girls visited our production area. Soldering their own beating heart turns out to be a piece of cake, thanks to the assistance of our soldering queens Kawita, Asia and Tania.

The moment of truth came closer and closer. Time to convince the jury! We were amazed by the awesome ideas of the girls. A robot teddy bear for children in hospital, a smart watch for children with epilepsy that warns parents and emergency services, and a pillar that shows patients the route to their appointment. How exciting! The jury unanimously agreed that the girls who came up with the epilepsy smart watch, had won the competition. Congratulations girls!

What a day! We loved every second of it. Thank you girls for sharing your knowledge, creativity and enthusiasm with us. Special thanks to Mr. van Hoof, Maaswaal College, VHTO and ofcourse our own team for making this day possible.

Girlsday, see you next year!