Experience in composite materials
Donkervoort develops supercars, also called fast lightweight cars, that are mainly made of composites. During Robin's internship, he had an important assignment: “Optimisation of the composite production process”. Completion of this contract was intended to streamline the production process. “It was quite a tough assignment and because I had no idea what the current production process was like, I worked full-time in the production department for two weeks at the start of my internship.” During these two weeks, Robin learned a lot about the process. “I noticed that I had gained little practical experience at school, as unfortunately, we had very few practical lessons during COVID. For me, this was the perfect opportunity to gain that experience at Donkervoort, so you can actually see how it works in practice!”
From research to implementation
After a few weeks on the shop floor, Robin had gained a lot of knowledge that he could use for his assignment. Robin put this knowledge on paper and developed a manual. “After writing the manual, the idea was that all employees involved in this process would be informed. It was a good thing that my course also included communication because this allowed me to communicate with them in the right way. In fact, the degree programme is so broad in scope, you will learn something about every aspect of the field!”
A future in composite
“I really enjoyed my internship. Of course, it's very different compared to going to school. And by being organised, I hardly needed to spend any time on my technical report after my working day.” Robin gained a lot of knowledge during his internship at Donkervoort. This is how he discovered that he is very interested in working with composite materials. “We will also be working on this during our final year project, so it is a great advantage to have gained experience at Donkervoort.”
