In the Eindhoven ecosystem one company is more visible than the other. There are the Usual Suspects like Philips, NXP and ASML. But behind those companies, there’s a layer of suppliers that are not as well known to the public. One of those companies is Sioux. Main Difference: Philips supplies the public, Sioux supplies Philips.
Sioux was founded over twenty years ago by Hans Duisters and Erik van Rijswijk. Both of them have a technical background and added some entrepeneurial spirit over the years. That spirit has made Sioux a big player in the hightech software-market over the years. By now, over 500 engineer are employed by Sioux. The next step lies in taking the international market. Soon, a start will be made in Germany.
Pioneers
Giving the company an international presence feels like pioneering, according to Van Rijswijk. “We like the entrepneurial aspect of this. Like we are starting all over again” This new chapter for Sioux, does come with a new challenge however.
Philips sells it as a product of their own, but we know who has helped them with it
“We have been through this before, when we opened up a new office in Belgium in 1999. The Belgian prefer to work with people from their own country. For Germans, this is the same”, Duisters says. “Therefore, we are now starting to carefully build relations in foreign countries. Germany is our jumping board in this.”
“The goal is to get the same position in Germany as we have got here”, Van Rijswijk says. The duo claims to be ‘world famous in the Brainport-region’. Although this isn’t the case with the public. “This is so because we work in a business to business-fashion”, Duisters says. “We’re the company behind the company.”
R&D
Sioux helps hightech-companies with their R&D. In some cases this happens by taking over the complete R&D department. Whatever the situation, innovation is always an important part in making the development-time of a product shorter and creating a better position in a competitive market.
This happens on all sorts of levels: from thinking along with a client on a product in a concept-phase to delivering a completely finished product.
One of Sioux most well known clients is Philips. Sioux has helped develop Philips-products that Philips eventually sells as their own. Sioux is constantly in the background, behind the face of the product.
Eindhovens FEI Company, part of the international Thermo Fisher Scientific, is another client of Sioux. Together they have developed a microscope that can scan and analyse samples in a quick user-friendly way. Hein Gijsbers, connected to FEI Company, says the company ‘Could not have achieved the same result without Sioux.’
Background
The fact that Sioux often operates as the background-singer rather than the front-man of the band, doesn’t bother either Duisters or Van Rijswijk.
“Philips might market their products as their own, but we know who has developed it”, Van Rijswijk says while he strolls through a hall filled with Sioux-built products. His hand rests on the tabletop-microscope Sioux built together with FEI. Other machines, from a different class, are not exhibited in the lobby. “Those machines are sold for several millions of euros”, Van Rijswijk says, “They’re way to big to be put in this room.” Van Rijswijk can’t help but smile.
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