A Conversation with Coen Bijen, Product Specialist for Sampling

15 June 2022

To ensure a strong knowledge base within our organization, we have appointed several product specialists. Drawing on their respective areas of expertise, they monitor the processes. Coen Bijen is the product specialist for sampling. Coen discusses his role at Normec Kalsbeek and the challenges he faces.

Hi Coen, can you briefly tell us who you are and what you do?

“I’m a chemical engineer by training, and I have extensive experience in water treatment and Legionella prevention. This September marks my fifth year with Normec Kalsbeek. I started as a Drinking Water Consultant. Because of my background and my many years of experience as a consultant, I was asked after a while to become a product specialist.”

Product specialist? What exactly do you do?

“I’m responsible for the sampling specialty. In this role, I serve as the link between Normec Kalsbeek and the laboratories that analyze all our samples. We collect 16,000 Legionella samples each year. This requires a lot of attention and time to ensure everything runs smoothly. Colleagues can come to me if they have questions about the samples. But the most important thing is that I ensure the organization maintains its expertise in sampling.”

What makes your specialty so interesting?

“I’m the first point of contact for the sampling process. Changes and updates to regulations occur regularly. This keeps me on my toes and challenges me to stay up to date with the latest information. Since a large part of our services involves sample collection, I get a good sense of what’s going on within the organization. Personally, I really enjoy that.”

How can you help customers through your area of expertise?

“As a product specialist, I’m not directly visible to clients. Instead, I ensure that the processes surrounding sample collection run smoothly and comply with laws and regulations. This way, clients can entrust their sample collection to us without any worries and can be sure they’ll receive accurate results. The consultants can then base their recommendations on these results.”

What questions do you get asked most often?

“Customers often ask how many days it takes for us to deliver analysis results for Legionella samples. That’s within 10 days at the latest. They also frequently want to know which laboratories we work with. The samples are processed at two labs that are also part of Normec: Normec Dumea and Normec BioBeheer. So the lines of communication are nice and short! We also occasionally work with Waterlaboratorium Noord.”

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