Eddy is available for hire
Hire EddyEddy Vermeulen
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Location
Waregem, Belgium
Toptal Member Since
June 20, 2019
Eddy has been working in product and project management for high-tech multinationals for nearly 30 years. The combination of technical knowledge, experience in electronics companies like Barco, Flir, and Honeywell, and his writing skills allow him to bring a unique advantage to his clients. Eddy has a passion for market analysis and new product introduction. He has expertise in a variety of sectors such as finance, IT, and marketing.
Project Highlights
Video Smoke Detection for Buildings
Created the complete business venture plan for deploying video-based smoke detection in the building industry.
Expertise
Work Experience
Owner
2019 - PRESENT
NeoBasics
- Oversaw the project and product management, as well as the consulting and training.
- Started my own consultancy to help businesses successfully grow and perform well.
Product Manager
2016 - 2019
Honeywell’s Elster EnergyICT Enacto™
- Responsible for the product management of all communication hardware for smart electricity meters. The focus was on new product introduction an development, which included the support of a broad range of legacy products. I executed several end-of-life programs for old and neglected products.
- Supported the migration of R&D and manufacturing activities to Romania, China, India, which ending with the closure of the local facility.
- Acquired technical knowledge and understanding of high-level data security, and encryption protocols and standards including authentication, identification, hash, ECDSA, MD5, SHA, AES, and ECC.
- Acquired technical knowledge and understanding of power line communication (PLC) specific technology (Prime, G3-PLC, OFDM, BPLC), and protocols (DLMS, COSEM.).
- Executed market analysis to understand the European utility and energy distribution market. Contributed to overall strategy analysis and long-term planning.
Product Manager
2008 - 2016
Traficon (Acquired by Flir)
- Responsible for all product management related activities such as Automatic Incident Detection (AID) products, video-based hardware and software that automatically recognizes traffic irregularities through video processing (wrong-way drivers, slow or fast vehicles, pedestrians on roads, and smoke from fire.) These products are implemented worldwide for traffic management and incident detection–Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), especially on long tunnels and highways. Responsibilities included new product introduction, lifecycle management, sales support, R&D project management, business case generation, competitive analysis, marketing, and strategy analysis.
- Conducted market and technology research to generate five-year strategy plans for the traffic incident detection market.
- Followed up on scope, time, budget, risk analysis, and quality as the R&D project manager for products within my product portfolio.
- Migrated the whole incident detection product portfolio from analog cameras to the IP network-based camera world. This included the introduction of new knowledge (video compression), cooperation and contract negotiation with new technology partners and the introduction and launch of a new product concept such as the smart camera.
- Contributed to the continuous growth of automatic incident detection (AID) revenue. Doubled the incident detection revenue over seven years.
- Generated and submitted requests for government funding for innovative programs (IWT). Acquired a total of €434,000 of funding.
- Integrated new thermal-based camera technology into the incident detection market after the acquisition by Flir Systems.
Project and Product Manager, Systems Engineer, Product and Customer Support Engineer.
1999 - 2008
Barco
- Performed depot repair, remote support, and worldwide field interventions on complex visualization systems. This allowed for the real-time display of video and radar overlays on computer systems, for life-critical applications in air traffic control and defense applications.
- Executed both pre-sales, and post-sales support on above-mentioned products for the EMEA and APAC defense customers. This included the generation and presentation of compelling product presentations and demonstrations to defense system integrators and military stakeholders.
- Oversaw the full product lifecycle support of above-mentioned products in the EMEA and APAC market. This included pre-sales, post-sales support and helpline, quotation support, internal and external training, marketing, technical writing requirements gathering, exhibition and event coordination, budget control, and strategy input.
- Evolved to become the link and single point of contact for all matters related to above-mentioned product portfolio between the US, Atlanta-based R&D, production, and EMEA and APAC market internal and external stakeholders.
- Oversaw the system-level projects that integrated real-time visualization products into full-blown rugged consoles, and workstations for the EMEA and APAC defense market.
- Controlled several critical projects simultaneously such as a newly introduced video broadcast product that got deployed in television distribution centers like Technicolor, and television broadcast stations such as Star TV.
- Mentored by senior managers, and having taken part in various trainings, and third-party consulting programs, I become a product management specialist and adept.
- Specialized in video compression, computer graphics generation, radar processing and visualization, video processing and visualization, and VME and PCI rugged systems. I became the market specialist for EMEA and APAC defense applications (naval, airborne, and landbased.).
Field Engineer
1996 - 1999
Microcomputing N.V. (Now Incrius)
- Installed, managed, maintained, and documented the complete IT infrastructure, including the network, servers, mail and office software, , and internet connectivity for small to medium business, and government customers.
- Designed and implemented the first company website.
- Acquired in-depth knowledge and certification on network architectures and design (Cisco Certified Design Associate, CCDA), and Microsoft server operating system installation, configuration and management (Microsoft Certified System Engineer, MCSE).
- Created international exchange mailing systems between France and Belgium.
- Pioneered with internet connectivity, e.g., connecting the first schools in Gent to the internet through Cisco hardware and software.
Support Engineer
1991 - 1996
Data General (Now Part of Dell EMC)
- Performed depot hardware repairs, and telephone support on computer displays, Unix terminals, PCs, printers, and other peripherals.
- Redesigned a series of Unix terminals as a proactive action on high failure rate. Coordinated and executed the resulting retrofit program for over 2000 displays for the Dutch market in the Amsterdam office. The failure rate was normalized after one year.
- Assisted in the first implementation of the ISO9000 quality system in the Brussels office by generating and documenting the depot repair procedures.
- Learned to work with, configure, and maintain the Unix operating system based mainframes and PCs.
- Working in a bi-lingual environment and customer base resulting in enormous progress in the practical use of French.
- Performed emergency recovery on data storage devices, thus recovering critical business data for several companies, e.g., an artist agency booking system.
Project History
Video Smoke Detection for Buildings
http://www.araani.com/en/Created the complete business venture plan for deploying video-based smoke detection in the building industry.
Given the (funded) innovation opportunity to map a proprietary traffic product capability into a different market, I formed a team with an R&D, finance, and sales colleague. They analyzed the market and developed a business plan for deploying video-based smoke detection in industry buildings with specific fire detection needs and issues. Today, a separate company is executing that business and has successfully certified and deployed its first products in the market. I'm a product manager at that company now.
Traffic Incident Detection Smart Camera
Combined the knowledge and capabilities of two companies to create a new revolutionary product for the ITS market.
As a product manager with the world leader in hardware and software for video-based automatic traffic incident detection, I negotiated and coordinated the partnership with a camera manufacturer to develop and launch the first integrated single product into the market. In a second program, a high-resolution version was also launched.
EADS-CASA P3 Orion FITS System for Maritime Search and Rescue
Was the key customer support and technical assistance in the integration of high-end Barco visualization products into maritime patrol aircrafts.
I was the main contact and technical support for the integration of real-time video visualization boards into the FITS system by EADS (part of Airbus) for the modernization of maritime search and rescue planes. The system was implemented for several defense customers, including the Spanish Air Force. Despite many technical challenges and a complete change of architecture, going beyond the typical customer care level, escalation, and personal follow-up of support issues to US-based R&D facilities and frequent visits plus communication led to personal recognition by the customer, a high level of customer intimacy and frequent re-ordering of the solution.
Display Terminal Retrofit Program
Reduced the fall-out ratio of a new display device back to the normal level, and led the retrofit program for over 2,000 afield.
After extensive defect analysis on a new product with an exceptionally high field return ratio, I developed several small redesign features on this product to implement proactively on all equipment. After a one-year retrofit action and replacing more than 2,000 fielded displays, the return rate became satisfactory, and most importantly, customer satisfaction was restored.
Education
1985 - 1989
Master's Degree in Engineering
Howest - Kortrijk, Belgium
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