On (the) T at... Draka

On the edge of Strijp-T, in building-TAY is the company Draka Comteq Fibre B.V., part of Prysmian. This company has long been located at Strijp-T, so it’s high time we paid a visit here with our T-pot. We are warmly welcomed by Myrna Boon.

What does your organization do?

“We make fiber optics here for tele- and data communication worldwide and supply cable manufacturers and data centers,” replies Myrna. To gain a better understanding of how this works, we finish our tea and are given an impressive tour of the factory. Here we see how a glass rod is ultimately made into 200 kilometers of optical fiber.

What is your role?

“Right after my studies in chemical engineering I came into contact with Draka through an old classmate and I started here in the development department with a project for a better coating that surrounds glass fiber. In the meantime I have been working here for 25 years and I now work as ‘manager specialties production’. Together with a team of 8 operators and engineers we form our ‘own little factory’. That means that we have direct contact with the customer. And then from the beginning with a specific (research) question up to and including the delivery of the product. It concerns a special type of fibers, in fact ‘everything that deviates from our standard fiber’. Think of fibers for laser technology and for use in nuclear power plants”.

“In those years I have seen Strijp-T change significantly. From a once-closed site with a gatehouse where you had to register with your pass to an open, increasingly greener business park with a lively, active community. This development is nice to see. Although it is a pleasant environment, it could certainly be greener. And where we used to be able to have lunch on this side of the site in the TAM building, we now have to go to Vascobelo in building TQ or to Strijp-S. Good to hear that concrete work is being done on a plan for a thousand trees and a hospitality facility in building TX.

Who do you want us to go to on the T next time, and why?

“For years I've driven past a small building TT every day. I really have no idea what goes on inside it.” “So next time we'll go to interior architecture firm B-too on (the) T” respond Cecile Smeets and Boudie Hoogedeure.