Hi, I’m Richard van Toorenburg, and I’m thrilled to have you here on my website.
Let me tell you a bit about myself both professional and personal.

Personal

I was born in Amsterdam in 1967, and my childhood was quite a journy, having moved house 27 times and also living in Ireland’s picturesque County Galway for four years.

Since I was 12, I’ve called Friesland in the Netherlands my home, where my wife Tineke and I have raised our two children, our son Liam of 27 years old and daughter Ailish who is 23.

Family is very important to us, and even though our kids are grown and have flown the nest, we make sure to spend time together regularly.

Tineke and I love to travel and explore new places, whether it’s a city, nature, or ancient places we like to immersive ourselves in  the people, culture and food every destination has to offer.

As relaxation I love to lose myself in listening to music played in my purpose build listening room.

I build the room and acoustic treatments myself, measuring the room for its responses and fine-tuning as I went along.

Another hobby I have is repairing and restoring antique and vintage watches.

I design and craft my own leather watch straps as well, adding a personal touch to my collection.

My interest in quality and technology comes from my grandfather, who worked for KLM as a developer of undercarriages and maintenance equipment. He sometimes took me with him to Schiphol airport where I had the privilege of witnessing aircraft up-close, sitting in the cockpits and learning about various aspects of aircraft manufacturing and maintenance. Those experiences ignited a lifelong passion for quality and technology that continues to this day.

Professional

As a professional I am driven by a passion for quality and a dedication to making a positive impact on people’s lives.

I have built a career in manufacturing and supplier quality management. With over 30 years of experience, I have worked my way up through various roles in the industry, gaining invaluable knowledge and insights along the way.

Let me tell you a bit more about my roles, and resonsibilities.

Global Head of Supplier Quality at Philips Personal Health.

From 2016 until 2023 I have been a supplier quality director responsible for the quality of the complete supply base for BU Grooming and Beauty and partly for Oral Healthcare and Mother and Childcare products.

Responsible for the QMS, quality strategy, qualification, development and performance of the global supply base of more than 600 suppliers.

Leader of 6 teams of more than 35 professionals across the world located in The Netherlands, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Austria and Romania.

As a leader I put people first, with trust, honesty, openness and respect being my guiding principles. I believe that by focusing on wellness, coaching and empowerment, great results will naturally follow.

Senior Supplier Development manager.

From 2012 until 2016 I led a team of engineers responsible for the industrialization and quality of suppliers for BU Grooming and Beauty.

Responsibilities encompassed a wide range of tasks such as managing projects, overseeing the industrialization of production processes at our suppliers, implementing Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) at both Philips and supplier sites, qualifying and approving suppliers and their products, process improvement, complaint handling, and assuring supplier and product performance throughout the entire product life-cycle.

The range of technologies within my expertise is broad, some examples:                        – Assembly, Late customization, Print & Pack, Plastic molding, PCBA, Packaging, Raw materials (resin, steel, lacquer, etc), Metal stamping, Electronic components, Motors, Batteries, Adapters, Warehousing, Transport, Lacquering, materials & finishing, Tampo print.

Program Quality Manager F35/JSF at Fokker.

In 2011 I was the program quality manager for the F35 program at Fokker Aero Structures.

Fokker makes the Flaperons, Doors and Leading edges for the F35. These are highly complex composite products that have to fulfill the absolute highest of quality requirements and standards.

I was responsible for the full quality assurance of the F35 program and all direct quality related customer communication.

Responsible for process and product quality.

Responsible for customer audits and inspections from customers like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and the Dutch goverment.

Senior Supplier Quality Engineer.

From 2004 until 2010 I was directly responsible for managing a global portfolio of 50+ suppliers for Philips Grooming products.

Project management, APQP, PSW, process release, product release, complaint handling, process improvement, quality contracting, and trouble shooting were all activities within my scope.

Production Quality Engineer

From 1999 until 2004 I was responsible for the quality in  the Drachten shaver production factory. My scope was electronics, plastic molding, assembly and packaging of more than 10 million shavers annually.

Operator and soldering expert.

From 1990 until 1999 I was operator and soldering expert. I operated assembly machines and I was resonsible for the wave, robot and reflow soldering machines and their maintenance for the shaver production in the Factory in Drachten. I also was the soldering trainer, giving trainings to groups and individuals on hand soldering as well as machine soldering. Including making the training material.

Thank you for stopping by on my website, I hope you enjoyed learning more about my offered services, passions and experiences as you browsed the pages.

I am Richard van Toorenburg, I provide Quality consultancy and advice. I am a consultant and quality expert. I provide support, process improvement, QMS improvement, you can connect with me, reach out, I live in friesland, nederland, netherlands, close to groningen and noord holland, experienced kwaliteit manager, consultant, interim manager. Richard van Toorenburg