With around 40 employees, we make Cugla strong. Production worker Erik Roks is one of them. He has been associated with the company for almost a lifetime.

In his office chair, with an overview of all the screens, he enjoys his work the most. There are days when production worker Erik Roks (1965) is once again impressed by the automated production process at Cugla. Everything before him happens naturally. He experienced other times. During his 35-year tenure, innovation followed innovation. Filling bags by hand and placing them on a pallet, Erik is familiar with it. These days, he knows exactly how to wield the buttons to get the same thing -but faster- done.

“This I totally master,” he says gloating in ‘his’ excipient plant. Although automation is no guarantee of a smooth process. Very occasionally, Erik hears a sound that does not belong. Then, for example, when filling, a valve does not close properly. It’s those things that nobody else notices but him. “You also have to want to hear them,” he tells himself.

“That’s called love for your profession.”

Job Application 1.0

Erik remembers well how he became a permanent employee as a young twenty-something. The application was a formality, partly because Erik was already doing holiday work. “These days there are three men sitting opposite you. With me, you couldn’t even call it a conversation. I was handed a paper saying that I was entering the service. The salary was already there, I just had to sign. Funny really, when you think about that after so many years.”

“I enjoy that the company is doing well”

It was in the days when the Cugla Campus was still future. There was one location, only years later the auxiliary materials plant came across the road. Erik was asked to become head of production there. “I came to have a look and liked it. A lot has changed since then here too. We had one mixer then, now there are four. At the time, the factory felt very big. Now it all just fits.” For a change, he is silent for a few moments. Then, softer: “I enjoy that the company is doing well,” he says.