He obtained his PhD. degree in Mechanical Engineering at the same university. Eric holds an additional position as professor extraordinary at the department Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Also, he is a scientific board member of the Fraunhofer Project Center at the University of Twente. Eric is a fellow of CIRP; currently he is the chairperson of the Scientific Technical Committee on Design and the co-chair of the cross-STC group in CIRP.