With the death of Erik Loopstra, ASML and Zeiss lose one of their great system architects and inventors. The engineer with Frisian roots has more than 280 patents to his name. “All the important ASML products bear Erik’s stamp.”
For many years, Erik Loopstra was one of the driving forces behind ASML’s engineering in Veldhoven. Many (former) colleagues saw him as a motor of machine development at the lithography company until he went to partner Zeiss Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (SMT) in 2018 to give a push to the mechatronics competence there. Whereas Martin van den Brink, who retired early this year, was in frequent contact with customers, connecting market and technology, Loopstra was one of the boosters within the company.
The whole of high tech knew Loopstra’s reputation, but for the outside world, he remained invisible for a long time. That suited him like a glove. “He felt comfortable with the technical specialists,” says Wilbert Kohler, who experienced him closely at Zeiss in recent years. “Often people at his level don’t have that anymore because they’ve lost touch at some point when they’ve been ‘up high’ for too long.” According to Kohler, Loopstra was an example of someone who has risen through the ranks but has remained very approachable, which helped find good solutions. “Because, at the end of the day, it’s all about teamwork.”
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