ALMELO, THE NETHERLANDS-Frans Schaeken, a cathode assembler in PANalytical’s X-ray tube factory in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, has been awarded the 2006 Ir. Noordhof prize in recognition of his exceptional craftsmanship in engineering.

This Dutch prize, named after the late vice-president of Philips, is designed specifically to award and promote excellent craftsmanship. Besides being a craftsman, candidates must have been active in their profession for at least 10 years. In addition to being a team player, a contender must also be recognized by colleagues as a mentor and coach.

Maarten van Andel, general manager of PANalytical’s tube factory says, “I am pleased to add my congratulations to Frans on this exciting success. Everyone at PANalytical knows that he meets all the required criteria, and more. We value very highly the skills and achievements of all of our teams and are delighted when individual effort and achievement is recognized so publicly. In addition, this prize also honors the skill of our whole team, as Schaeken himself promptly remarked on receiving the trophy.”

PANalytical has more than 50 years experience in the development of X-ray diffraction  and X-ray fluorescence instrumentation and software.