Team player Edwin Bruinsma

“Climate change is happening rapidly. The time to act is now. Our refinery in Rotterdam produces renewable fuels. I started working here in 2009, during the construction phase of the plant, as a maintenance engineer Electrical / Instrumentation & Analysers (E/I&A). Since that initial period, I have been working on the start-up and growth of the factory. With refineries like this, Neste is taking responsibility to take care of our planet and the future generations. That is what is meaningful to me: creating a healthier planet for our children.

Safety is at the core of our business. We encourage people to give feedback whenever noticing unsafe behavior. Naturally,  safety is always important in engineering. But with Neste, it is probably even more important. Neste as a company has transformed from a regional oil refiner to becoming a global leader in renewable and circular solutions. Neste is now a pioneer in sustainable aviation fuels, renewable diesel and renewable feedstock solutions for various polymers and chemicals industry uses. Being a pioneer means that you have to create all the building blocks yourself. If you want to do this - and moreover, you want to make fast and bold moves - this can only be done successfully and without major issues by having an unrelenting focus on safety.

In order to create renewable and circular solutions, renewal is important. Neste's top priority is to use waste and residues as feedstock.

Neste had the courage to step into this new business of sustainable fuels when the only accepted way of creating fuel was from oil products. As a first mover, Neste has become a leader in sustainable fuels. And what is really important: this would not have happened without the whole company being willing to move forward. The people creating sustainable products and oil products have been working together in close cooperation to achieve this.

We care, we have courage and we cooperate are our values at Neste and we act according to these. With all these new projects, it is very important that everybody cooperates. We succeed together because all projects are important but not all of them can get the same priority in the overall picture. It is similar for flexibility. In a rapidly changing company, priorities change. There are different phases the company goes through:turnarounds, authority inspections, world-scale projects and, as always, business as usual, with its own changing priorities.

The year 2023 is my 14th  at Neste, but I still enjoy going to my work every day, I work at home and on site. I am repeating myself now, but I can say the atmosphere is equally good in other departments because of the good cooperation. ”Collaboration between all organization levels and departments works well and we have a lot of cooperation around the refinery growth project.”