Fergal Conlon - Field Service Engineer, Nikon Precision Europe

Nikon Precision Europe is a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation, a leading global supplier of Semiconductor lithography systems to a very diverse range of high-tech applications.

NPE provides sales and customer support (service, applications, technical support) for Nikon’s photolithography systems at key manufacturing locations across Europe.

Field Service Engineer Fergal Conlon joined Nikon Precision Europe over two years ago. He says NPE is the ideal workplace for people who enjoy variety in their working day and are keen to progress their career.

Tell us more about your company?

Nikon is a world-leading optics company. Nikon Precision specialises in developing and servicing photolithography machines. These are highly complex machines which to etch circuitry into silicon wafers. It’s a process which is fundamental to making the microchips used in everyday electronics.

What attracted you to working at Nikon Precision Europe?

I wanted the opportunity to work directly on machines that are widely regarded as the most precise machines in history.

Tell us about your average day with Nikon Precision Europe?

My day involves servicing and maintaining machines at a large customer site. Every day starts with a pass down where the previous shift explain what work they did on each machine.

Each engineer is then assigned a machine to work on which can involve tasks such as troubleshooting and analysing data to making hands-on changes and adjustments.

What you do you enjoy about your job?

I enjoy the practical aspects of the job whereby I am directly working on a machine and not tied to a desk all day.

There are also many opportunities to perform various data analysis jobs which means the job is always varied and you are never working at the same task for too long.

What are the challenges?

The machines we work on are extremely complex, a high level of concentration and skill is required. Even a minor lapse in concentration can result in significant extra machine downtime for the customer.

Describe the work culture at Nikon Precision Europe?

There is a very strong team ethos in Nikon. There is great comradery with colleagues. This culture makes it extremely easy to ask more experienced engineers for support and advice and it leads to a great sense of satisfaction when everyone pulls together to overcome a challenging problem.

What advice would you give to somebody interested in working at Nikon Precision Europe?

Engineers with a good grasp of many different engineering disciplines perform the best in Nikon. Sometimes you are changing electrical connections and the next day you might be analysing water flow rates and pressures. My advice would be to make sure you have a good understanding of the basic fundamentals of how many different machine and processes work and operate.

Is there something unique or interesting about Nikon Precision Europe you’d like to share with jobseekers?

There are great travel opportunities within Nikon Precision! I have travelled to countries including Israel, USA, Germany and Japan and I have had experiences which I never expected such visiting Jerusalem in Israel to hiking up mountains in Yosemite National Park in California.