Pieter Engels has been appointed Business Development Manager at the Business Continuity department of Smart Edge specialist Simac PHI DATA. Drawing upon his market knowledge and product expertise, Pieter Engels will advise companies on making their workplaces safer and preventing workplace accidents.

Every year, several hundred workplace accidents occur in Belgium. With its SmartProximity & Collision Warning solutions, Simac PHI DATA wants to help bring that number down and thus, more importantly, prevent them. Simac PHI DATA launched the SmartProximity solution three years ago to help monitor ‘safety distancing’ during Corona. The offering is now being further expanded to the prevention of physical accidents as well. Pieter Engels was recruited to advise companies on these solutions.

Pieter Engels previously worked in commercial positions at Datacolor and Objective, among others, where he was introduced to the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT markets. “Digitalisation is playing an increasingly important role, both in our private lives and in the work environment,” says Engels. “Companies want to be ready for the evolutions in Industry 4.0, and we want to help them do that.” Drawing upon his market knowledge, he sees many opportunities for SmartProximity & Collision Warning. “Using tracking and audio and visual ‘warnings’, we can indicate when but also where a forklift or other vehicle is getting too close to a pedestrian or too close to another forklift. This significantly increases safety at warehouses, while also providing some very useful information for taking preventative measures. So the same technology can just as easily be used by companies to optimise the flow of visitors and staff.” The technology can be applied to a range of use cases in various industries. 

In his dealings with Simac PHI DATA, Pieter Engels noticed that the company wants to move forward and is continuing to develop. “I want to learn and evolve all the time too, so this corporate culture attracted me. I’m looking forward to helping develop and expand the SmartProximity & Collision Warning platform, along with our partners. It gives me great satisfaction to help improve workplace safety.”

But Pieter Engels loves a good challenge in his spare time too. For example, he is continuing to improve his skills in playing the cello, and with three marathons to his name, he does not shy away from any hefty bike rides either. 

“Pieter’s way of working and his personality are a perfect match with Simac PHI DATA,” says Kurt Roothans, Sales Manager for Simac PHI DATA’s Business Continuity department. “Thanks to his fluency in four languages, Pieter can get across to anyone. His extensive network and market knowledge represent clear added value for Simac PHI DATA.”