LiS and Summa scale up precision craftsmanship to Brainport

The Netherlands is facing a dire shortage of skilled professionals capable of manufacturing, measuring, and assembling with nanometer precision. To prevent innovations from stalling at the drawing board, the Leiden Instrumentmakers School (LiS) and Summa in Eindhoven are joining forces. Starting this coming academic year, Brainport Eindhoven will receive a full-fledged instrument-maker training program under the Summa banner, with the proven Leiden standard serving as a mark of quality. Patricia van der Linden (Summa) and Thijs Pernot (LiS) fill us in on regional clout, industrial urgency, and the hunt for new talent: “It will only be a success if we train *extra* students.”

Interested in the Research Instrument Maker program? Email: d.metselaar@summacollege.nl

When considering the Netherlands' leading technological position, one quickly thinks of billions in investments, patents, and advanced machinery from global players like ASML. But those machines do not run on ideas and designs alone. They run on extreme precision: parts with minimal tolerances, flawless assemblies, and fine mechanics that demand the utmost from both material and machine. This is precisely where the problem lies. While the high-tech and semiconductor sectors are gaining momentum, enrollment in technical vocational education is under pressure nationwide. As the Wennink report unequivocally stated: realizing technological sovereignty and productivity growth begins with finding and developing the right talent.

To structurally close this looming gap, substantial investments are being made in training additional technical talent within the National Microchip Talent Strengthening Plan. One of the components of this is the nationwide scaling up of precision craftsmanship. In Brainport, Summa and the Leiden Instrumentmakers School (LiS) are collaborating on this. The historical expert in this exceptional trade – the Leiden Instrumentmakers School (LiS), founded in 1901 – consciously chooses not to remain solely on its own campus for this purpose. Instead of opening its own branches scattered across the country, the vocational school is explicitly seeking collaboration with leading regional MBO institutions within high-tech ecosystems. In Brainport Eindhoven, that institution is Summa.

While the two institutions may have viewed each other from a distance in the past, the relationship has gained momentum, says Thijs Pernot, Program Manager for Industry-Education Collaboration at LiS. “For us, it was initially a matter of testing the waters: should we do this in this region or not? But it soon became clear that the collaboration with Summa was particularly constructive in achieving our shared objectives. We can switch gears incredibly quickly, both at recruitment events and in the substantive industry sessions.”

© Summa

Patricia van der Linden, Director of Engineering and Technology at Summa, saw the phone call from Leiden as a bullseye at the time. “A huge part of the current and future demand on the labor market is concentrated in the Brainport region. Machining and precision engineering form an important pillar in this. When LiS approached us with the proposal to share their expertise with us and establish a training program at Summa together, we saw it as an opportunity to expand Summa’s current offerings, including machining, with the instrument makers training program.”

In concrete terms, this collaboration means that Summa will launch a full-fledged 3- and 4-year Research Instrument Maker (RI) program in the upcoming academic year (September 2027), accessible to VMBO and HAVO students. The program will be formally embedded in Summa's educational structure, and within it, the DNA of LiS will remain clearly present.

“Summa is responsible for the quality of education and the students enroll with us; the program is ‘ powered by LiS ’,” Van der Linden summarizes the division of tasks. “We already have a solid foundation with our machining and engineering programs. Research instrument makers also learn machining, but at a micro level that is even more precise and specialized. By weaving the specialized know-how of the LiS together with the strong educational structure of Summa, we enrich our portfolio.”

Pernot emphasizes that LiS carefully safeguards its century-old quality standard. “We have a number of clear subject-matter milestones that make our program strong,” he explains. “We are going to integrate these with the qualities of Summa, creating a high-quality instrument-maker training program in Eindhoven.”

The new programme does not stand alone. Both Summa and LiS operate in close consultation with the high-tech manufacturing industry. The Eindhoven region is characterized by an intensive supplier network centered around ASML and parties such as VDL. To ensure that students acquire exactly the competencies the market is clamoring for, so-called 'industry sessions' are organized.

“On September 15, we brought education and industry together in Den Bosch from Brainport Academy for the CNC Operator and Assembly Technician profiles,” explains Pernot. “Based on a thorough articulation of needs, we look at what the business community needs now and in the long term. We translate that directly into concrete learning outcomes. The first rough drafts of these have now been shared. In this way, we are building modules that are usable for regular MBO tracks (BOL and BBL) as well as for Lifelong Learning (LLL) and retraining.”

This integrated approach resonates with employers. After all, companies are desperate for immediately deployable skilled workers. “For those companies, it is particularly important that we train enough skilled workers to start working in the sector,” says Van der Linden matter-of-factly. “If employees also wish to further develop their skills, modular retraining or part-time education is often much more effective than having them immediately continue full-time studies at a university of applied sciences. Although, in parallel, we are also exploring continuous learning pathways with partners such as Fontys for students who do have the ambition to progress.”

The initiative in Eindhoven is part of a broader, national strategy within the Beethoven funds and related education covenants. LiS has similar partnerships with ROC van Twente and Firda in Drachten.

At the same time, Van der Linden emphasizes that Summa does not operate in isolation within Brainport. The educational institution works closely within a regional MBO consortium with Koning Willem I College, Curio, Yonder, Gilde Opleidingen, SintLucas, and Yuverta. Furthermore, within Brainport, it collaborates with Ter AA, Fontys, and TU/e. We have signed a covenant with MBO partners in Brabant to tackle this enormous challenge jointly. Every MBO institution has its own profile and qualities; we do not compete with one another, but rather reinforce one another. That Summa is the driving force behind this instrument maker training program is logical given our scale, our location at Brainport Industries Campus (BIC), and the physical proximity to ASML and its ecosystem.”

When will the project be considered a success? For both managers, it is a given that the classrooms, workshops, and curricula will be ready for the next school year. “That will work out; we have sufficient educational experience in-house for that,” states Van der Linden decisively.

According to her, the real litmus test lies in the enrollment figures: “This initiative will be successful if we train more students. We must avoid simply fishing in the same pond and siphoning students off existing technical programs. We want to get a new target group excited about this craft: young people who love extreme precision, knowledge of materials, and technological marvels, but who have not considered the profession of instrument maker until now. If, in four or five years, we see that the total intake has grown and the business community confirms that we are producing the right professionals, then we will have accomplished our mission.”