The trip to Eaton, Hengelo on June 2nd started around 8:15 from Delft. A lucky day, we arrived at the company 20 minutes ahead of the expected time. We were warmly received by the HR and host from the company with whom we had a cup of coffee and an informal introduction to meet the team. The Eaton team was composed by several engineers from the R&D MV power distribution department and the head of HR, Monique Oosterbos. From the R&D MV power distribution department we were greeted by Martin Binnendijk, the main director, Johan de Jong, the manager, and Joost Ottink and Luuk Ruiter, both Junior Engineers who joined Eaton through different disciplines but are now working under the R&D department, managing their own projects. The Eaton team was interested as well in getting to know the students and their background, so after an informal presentation we settled for a company presentation. The company was introduced in terms of its global ventures and product line. We learnt that Eaton works not only on switchgear, electronics and electrical equipment, but also on eVTOLs and other products, making it relevant to a multitude of engineering disciplines.

We then headed for a plant tour where we saw switchgear panels, circuit breakers, relays and other protective devices, and were able to have quick chat with some of the plant workers which told us about their work tasks. The company then organised lunch, where we were able to talk to other company experts and have a glimpse of what a day at Eaton looks like. We had a presentation from the Research and Development team, where they told us about some of their projects and explained how the field was highly multidisciplinary, giving examples on what projects they had done before joining the R&D team. They also showed us some prototypes of various electrical equipment and explained in detail about them. Additionally, Monique from HR introduced us to the Eaton International Graduate Program and encouraged us to apply for internship positions and the program after graduating if we were interested. The students showed clear interest throughout the whole visit, asking questions about the specifics of the projects and some of them seemed convinced to apply for internships and future positions at Eaton. At the conclusion of the presentation, we had a quick chat with the employees again and soon took off to Delft.