Mr Nicolaas Zerbst
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Nicolaas Zerbst is a Mechanical Engineer and is based in Stuttgart, Germany. He is working for one of the leading global companies in Filtration – Mann+Hummel. Zerbst studied Mechanical Engineering at the beginning of the 1990s at the former Port Elizabeth Technikon and an MBA at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He was first employed in the Automotive Sector in Port Elizabeth, followed by the Managing Director and CEO of Eberspaecher Exhaust Systems South Africa. In 2014 he emigrated to Germany and became the Global Head of operations of Eberspaecher. In 2019 he joined Mann+Hummel as Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Executive Board. He is responsible for all Manufacturing worldwide, including 80 countries and more than 40 manufacturing plants with around 16,000 employees. He is also responsible for all Logistics worldwide, Continuous improvement, Quality, Health, Safety, Property management and Corporate Sustainability.
Zerbst advice for current engineering students is to study hard, but be sure that you enjoy what you are doing since you will have to do this for a career. He furthermore says that he enjoys his job working with people and producing products that add value. Fluid Mechanics, Strength of Materials and Mathematics was some of his favourite modules. Lectures that made a life long impression includes Pat McGrath, Russell Phillips, Thomas Adlam, Danie Hatting, Karl du Preez and Hugh Jeffery. His future plans are to support his company's Strategic Growth Plans.