A high-tech repair café. Not for household appliances, but for machines that manufacture chips. The leading specialist in this field, the American company Odyssey, is rolling out a European network from Nijmegen.
Odyssey is a world leader in the repair and servicing of radio frequency (RF) equipment and specialises in breathing new life into machines in the semiconductor industry. The company was founded twenty years ago and has specialised in this niche market. It has its headquarters in Texas and a branch in Singapore. In March 2020, Odyssey decided to establish a presence in Europe as well. Nijmegen was chosen as the location.
Emergency operations and maintenance
The timing seemed rather unfortunate, as the coronavirus pandemic broke out at precisely that moment. For the high-tech repair centre, however, this proved no problem: demand for chips only increased. Chip shortages are severe, and so is the demand for the company’s services. Chip manufacturers are operating at full capacity, and even that is not enough.
In the semiconductor industry, losing just one day of production costs a fortune. That is why Odyssey’s customers want to resolve urgent problems as quickly as possible. Angelo Andres, general manager of Odyssey Europe: “We carry out emergency repairs, but also routine maintenance to prevent machines from coming to a standstill. We have the in-house expertise to get virtually any device or machine in the semiconductor industry up and running again.”
NXP, Nijmegen, Europe
Chip manufacturer NXP is one of Odyssey’s major clients. This was one of the reasons the company chose to establish itself in Nijmegen. Nijmegen possesses a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the semiconductor industry and RF technology.
Odyssey is based at the Novio Tech Campus, close to the NXP factory. Andres: “Furthermore, Nijmegen is close to Schiphol and Düsseldorf, making it easily accessible. We can also find well-trained staff here. The repairs and maintenance we carry out are always bespoke. We are therefore looking for technicians who are very skilled with their hands, but who also have a great deal of independent insight. To this end, we collaborate with ROC Nijmegen and Fontys University of Applied Sciences, amongst others.”
From Nijmegen, the company serves the whole of Europe. The fact that Brussels is set to invest heavily in the semiconductor industry in Europe is therefore particularly good news for Odyssey.
Growth plans
Andres himself has a background at NXP Semiconductors. Odyssey Europe was launched under his leadership and its workforce has since more than doubled. If it were up to Andres, this would be expanded significantly as the company grows.
The company also intends to invest in additional office and laboratory space and is receiving support for this from the municipality of Nijmegen, the Novio Tech Campus and the development agency Oost NL. Oost NL provides an extra boost to innovative companies that strengthen the economic structure of the eastern Netherlands.
In addition, the company will focus on the repair and maintenance of medical devices that use RF technology, such as MRI scanners.
