Future-fitting systems engineering skills across organizational boundaries

Vanderlande and TNO-ESI joined forces to map the skills architects and integration specialists need, to streamline the development of increasingly complex systems. The collaboration has yielded a tailored competency framework and a replicable methodology for other high-tech companies.

Vanderlande has made a strategic shift toward “configure to order” – building more modular, standardized solutions rather than bespoke systems. At the same time, the logistics automation specialist’s systems are becoming increasingly complex and software-intensive. These developments demand new competencies from the engineering workforce, prompting the Veghel-based company to critically reflect on whether its organizational capabilities are still fit for the future.

This reflection revealed significant organizational challenges. Vanderlande’s structure includes distinct project and R&D divisions that often operate in silos, with the project side serving customers while R&D focuses on technology development. “This creates a communication gap, for example in aligning the requirements, with both sides asking: are we speaking about the same things?” says Radhika Nedungadi, manager of platform integration and quality at Vanderlande. The fragmentation has led to inconsistent terminology and approaches, even among professionals holding similar roles across different parts of the organization. Adding complexity, R&D embraced agile methodologies while the project side maintained traditional approaches. This created a fundamental mismatch where teams worked at different speeds and with different mindsets.

“Getting to customers with a new way of working proved extremely difficult under these conditions,” notes Nedungadi. These challenges reflect broader high-tech industry trends that TNO-ESI has been closely monitoring. The research organization has identified several key shifts affecting the entire sector: increasing system complexity and criticality, suppliers climbing value chains, growing industry collaboration needs and high demand for scarce experts who need to keep up with constant innovation.
“The landscape of R&D and engineering is changing,” observes Joana Teixeira, competence development manager at TNO-ESI. “These changes are compounded by work environments that have become multidisciplinary, geographically dispersed and culturally diverse.”