CONTEXT ENG #1 2020

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

PASSIONATE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY

MARTIN WAHLGREN

CEO OF THE YEAR

2020!

ORVAR

GETS TO BE NEAR THE TECHNOLOGY

SPOTLIGHT ON CONSAT TELEMATICS

Consat SES’ recipe for success

EDITORIAL

Tailwind despite a challenging 2020 EVERY YEAR HAS ITS CHALLENGES but

expanded trial which is based on infor-

with Tommy Hansen as regional mana-

2020 will without a doubt go down in

ming passengers in real time about how

ger, and during Q1 2021 we’ve taken a

history as the year of the pandemic. The

many passengers are onboard buses

serious step into Europe, which we will

year began so well and right in the midd-

and trams so it enables them to decide

talk about in our next issue.

le of an on-going expansion it just stop-

which transport to take based on how

Consat Data was affected like many

ped dead. Short-term redundancies and,

full they are. The project has had a lot

other companies during the spring,

in the end, laying-off staff permanently

of media attention in Australia. Lach-

but it showed fairly quickly that clients

is depressing to put it mildly, not to men-

lan was invited to the Swedish embassy

needed help with IT just as they had

tion the uncertainty about the future.

in Sydney where he met Marcus Wal-

needed it before. With staff working

Yet again, our strategy within the

lenburg, among others. The Australian

at home remotely and through Teams,

Consat Group of spreading risks th-

ambassador in Stockholm also asked if

it then turned out that clients needed

rough the branch network was the right

he could come and visit us in Partille.

even more assistance. Even if figures

medicine.

During the year, we haven’t been able to

haven’t yet been prepared for 2020,

For a while, Consat Telematics was

travel as we had been able to previously

everything is pointing to Consat Data

affected by a certain lack of compo-

and the strategy to appoint leaders to

setting all-time records. Great work!

nents but other than that the company

build more self-propelled national local

Consat SES, who works with energy

has, if anything, had more enquiries

offices couldn’t have been more appro-

efficiency for commercial properties

due to Covid. In Melbourne we won a pi-

priate. Besides Canada and Australia, we

and industry, continue to bring in suc-

lot contract which has since become an

have now seriously got going in Norway

cess. During the autumn, the client

2 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

EDITORIAL

base has been broadened and several

managers as well as other colleagues

but until then we will have to find new

large projects have been won. In these

both in Gothenburg and Stockholm.

ways of cooperating and communica-

times when property companies are

Magnus Ohlsson who has been CEO

ting. Amongst other things, we under-

under pressure, low energy consump-

for more than 10 years had previously

took our first digital personnel meeting

tion gives an increase in value which

announced that he didn’t want to be

and more are likely to follow. It’s been

is not negligeable when offset against

in the position for too long, and we all

enormous fun to have been able to work

the opposite due to reductions in rent

felt that to move things on with fresh

with all our committed and skilled col-

and lower occupancy rates. Consat SES

energy and new thinking that it was the

leagues. Once we decide on something,

has also stepped into a new, interesting

right time for a new CEO. We are really

we have a great ability in coming up

and expanding area, namely factories

pleased that it turned out to be Orvar

quickly with fresh technical solutions.

manufacturing sustainable fish feed. In

Hurtig, with his solid background in te-

Above all this it’s appreciated by our

short, this involves factories who pro-

lecoms, automation, electrification and

clients, which really warms the heart.

duce fly larvae, and this requires new

digitalization. Orvar will introduce him-

With our new marketing manager,

system solutions to manage climate con-

self in more detail later on in Context.

Jenny Fredér, we now really have an in-

trol and temperature. Without a doubt –

During the autumn we have noticed a

creased ability to spread the word about

this is an area of growth.

recovery and the year looks to be en-

Consat to even more customers and fu-

Consat Innovation Partner (CIP) with

ding considerably brighter than we had

ture colleagues.

Emil Brandt at the top has a lot going on

reasonably been able to hope for last

At the end of the year, we were cho-

with several exciting deals. Although the

spring. We have won several interesting

sen as one of Sweden’s top 100 most

brakes have been applied a little as Emil

development projects within industrial

interesting career companies for the

had to help Engineering with the sale of

technology as well as in the Connected

ninth time in a row. This is a feat which

a special machine project for, amongst

area and even more are in progress. In

no other company in Sweden has mana-

others, SKF as well as a product deve-

Stockholm, the team have a series of or-

ged to achieve!

lopment project involving our new su-

ders in the pipeline for various types of

We shouldn’t count too many chick-

per-efficient grey water heat exchanger

production tools and fixtures. Together

ens but we are beginning to see the

which is a joint project shared between

with their colleagues in Partille, they

light at the end of the tunnel as far as

CIP, SES and Engineering. In times of

will be supplying an interesting vision-

the introduction of our new business

crisis, cooperation is more important

based calibration system which you can

and storage systems go.

than anything else and so Emil’s assis-

also read more about in this edition of

tance has been really important.

Context. Engineering has also begun to

A big thank you to all of you for your outstanding efforts!

Consat Engineering started the year

grow again with new managers and col-

really well but it was also affected the

leagues. As always, any suggestions are

hardest when several clients panicked

warmly welcome.

Martin Wahlgren

and cancelled contracts on a continual

It will probably be a while before we

basis. Unfortunately, we had to lay off

can all meet up again as we did before,

Group CEO, Consat AB

For many, this may be the first time you read ConText. ConText is the magazine that takes the time to tell in more detail about our innovative and challenging projects and not least what it is like to work at Consat. Our ambition is to use interesting articles and good visual material to describe and highlight in which contexts Consat operates.

www.consat.se info@consat.se +46 31 340 00 00

Publisher: Martin Wahlgren Editor in chief : Jenny Fredér Text editor: Mattias Johnson Editing assistant: Gabriella Wendt Design: Happy Camper Reklambyrå Graphic Design: Andreas Eklöf Print: Billes Tryckeri

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 3

AT CONSAT

ORVAR

GETS TO BE NEAR THE TECHNOL ORVAR HURTIG Age: 56 Family: My fantastic wife Victoria and the ‘kids’, Matilda (24) and Karl-Johan (21) From: Gothenburg Best way to spend a Sunday: Some physical activity and a Sunday dinner with the family

LOGY

CONSAT ENGINEERING TEXT JACOB LARSSON [BORG & OWILLI ] PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

Orvar Hurtig has turned a childhood interest in technology into a career. Over the years, he has helped drive forward digitalization within both the telecoms and motor vehicle industries. As the new CEO of Consat Engineering, he now plans to continue this journey through Consat’s unique service offering, while also coming closer to the technical side of things once more..

A

S A CHILD, ORVAR HURTIG was the sort of kid who would take the radio apart to see what it looks like inside and to try and understand how it works. He developed an early interest in computers.

This interest in technology would be defining for Orvar’s entire career. Over the years, telecoms and digitalization have taken him to all four corners of the world.

“I’ve seen sandstorms in Sudan, negotiated with the prime minister of Lebanon, discarded vodka into plant pots in Moscow, held courses in Wellington, started up global service centres in Romania, China and Mexico and lived in both Dallas and Dublin, to name just a few of the places my work has taken me. This has taught me a great deal, but the absolute most important thing I’ve learned is that people are all the same at heart and we share very similar values,” says Orvar.

Orvar was never top of the class when it came to working practically with technology, but he has always had a great understanding for its potential.

“Technology has always been a driving force of mine, though I am also passionate about business development and I am extremely interested in how business models are changed as a result of technological development,” says Orvar, elaborating: “At the end of the day, that’s what digitalization is – making business out of technology.

There are two worlds, the digital world and the physical one, and they now must be stitched together. To make a success of this, we need to know how the customer earns their money – that knowledge will make it possible to take the right technology decisions. This is an area where I believe Consat is unique. We

are not just an IT company, but we also have technical expertise and we understand how the two sides work together. Most of our competitors lean more heavily towards one side or the other in their service offerings.”

Over the course of his career, Orvar moved further and further away from the technology that his work revolves around. In autumn 2020, when he first came on board as the CEO of Consat Engineering, he found that the distance between the development floor and the actual technology itself had gotten shorter.

“At previous workplaces, I have been promoted into less inspiring roles which meant working less with the technology and engineering side of things. But the culture here at Consat is one where everyone has the ability to exert influence and where knowledge is what counts, not hierarchies. Knowledge exchange is encouraged regardless of age, experience or title. Everyone gets involved and learns from one another, and this is something that makes the organisation stronger,” says Orvar.

He has also seen from the outside how this culture yields results, both as a client and as a partner of Consat’s.

“That Consat is a good company, with good people and a good culture, is something I’ve always known. As a client of Consat’s, I have never felt pressured into something that I don’t want or don’t need. Their approach has always been about looking out for the customer’s – i.e. my – best interests.

This is an attitude which I believe stems back to the founder, Jan-Bertil Johansson.

There is a real love for technology here at Consat and a real willingness to help people,” Orvar Hurtig concludes.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 5

CONSAT TELEMATICS TEXT RICHARD EMM PHOTO ANDREAS EKLÖF

Multimodal travel with 5G WHAT IS THE WORST PART of taking public transport? Is it the delays? Or when there’s standing room only? Or perhaps we can live with delays and congestion, and the most frustrating part is before we even board a vehicle – the waiting for a bus, train, ferry, or plane.

The best part of a public transport journey? Reaching the destination must be high on the list, though public transport RARELY takes a passenger to their destination – unless the destination really is a station, a bus stop, an airport, or a ferry terminal.

Public transport helps the passenger complete, hopefully, a large proportion of their journey. The decision whether to take public transport, compared to alternatives, is based on the customers’

preferences, predisposition, ability, value of time and a host of other attributes.

Ultimately, what everyone wants is a single transport mode from journey origin to destination - this is what made the private car so popular. Public transport will struggle to provide this utility until such a time that Star Trek transporters become commonplace.

In the UK during the 1960’s, private vehicles had won the debate and vehicle ownership was seen as the future of travel, de-

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CONSAT TELEMATICS

spite only 1 in 9 households owning a car. This led to the beginning of massive cuts to the railways – manifested by the infamous Dr. Beeching’s railway closures and a loss of 7000 miles of railway routes.

In these more enlightened (and congested) times, planners accept that public transport is vital in enabling an efficient use of road space and critical to maintaining a heathy environment. To encourage usage, public transport must enable passengers to achieve their highest requirement – to reach their destination.

In achieving this aim, customers are often required to change services – hop from one bus to another for example. They are also often required to change mode - giving a so-called multimodal journey, where the strengths of various transport modes are combined to give a single transport option.

A significant obstacle to creating a high-value

public transport journey is the concept of the “Last Mile” – describing the difficulty (and therefore cost) of moving a customer from the final transport “node” to their ultimate destination. The Last Mile is not unique to passenger transport, but also creates significant costs for freight transport and telecommunications – the Last Mile requires less capacity and more bespoke, targeted consideration than the more utilised system “trunk”.

“In my day” said my father, “I had to walk home through 6ft of snow from the nearest bus stop, 25 miles away, with nowt to eat but a lump of coal”. Though walking has been the traditional method of achieving the Last Mile for public transport, many cities are now implementing solutions – including cycle hire, electric scooters and other types of light electric vehicles – encouraged by technology enhancements including green energy, communication and a propensity for the general public to improve their journey time.

Such transport possibilities are grouped under the term Micromobility – where vehicles of low capacity, weight and size are operated by the user, and whilst they can provide for a complete journey, they are often optimised for the short trip that characterises the Last Mile. Micromobility solutions are generally provided for shared usage “as a service”, with users paying or subscribing to utilise the service as part of the general public transport network.

A PROBLEM WITH MICROMOBILITY SOLUTIONS JUST NOW is despite their ability, these devices don’t actively attempt to become part of the public transport journey in the same way as a bus. Public transport vehicles are predictable and governed by timetables which me-

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 7

CONSAT TELEMATICS

“Connected micromobility vehicles can allow other systems to ascertain their location and status, allowing the devices to actively become a chosen, viable and available option as part of a larger passenger journey.” ans passengers can obtain information on both their whereabouts and their forecast arrival time. Where the passenger is on a journey that utilises several public transport vehicles, connection information is often available, both on the incoming vehicle, and at the connecting stop.

The difference is largely due to connectivity. Public transport vehicles invariably connect with a real-time passenger information platform – such as Consats Telematics Solution, in operation around the globe – whilst micromobility solutions, in the absence of a connected docking station – need to be generally sought out where they were previously left.

The opportunity for connected micromobility has been enhanced through the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) – machine to machine communication over the internet – and the vast improvements made in connectivity through the introduction of 5G, the fifth generation of mobile network technology.

Much has been written about 5G, and a lot of the benefits are still to be analysed, much less realised. However, the most relevant benefit that 5G brings to IoT is the vastly increased capacity of the mobile network – 4G can provide around 4,000 active connections per square kilometre – 5G can connect over 1m devices in the same area. From the consumers view, it is 8 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

speed and bandwidth, not network capacity that is often considered the constraint to a mobile network, however only 5G can support the widespread, growing connection of “smart devices”.

SO, DEVICES CAN BE CONNECTED, but what do they want to talk about? Connected micromobility vehicles can allow other systems to ascertain their location and status, allowing the devices to actively become a chosen, viable and available option as part of a larger passenger journey. A passenger alighting from bus can be presented either on the vehicle or at the stop, with details of the nearest micromobility device, as he/she would with another bus service. Options for the Last Mile can be presented on departure/ arrival boards and integrated into journey planners.

For this purpose, Consat, together with Voi Technology, has shown the possibility of presenting real time on internal signage how many scooters are available at the next stop on an Electricity bus on Lindholmen in Gothenburg.

5G will create completely new opportunities for tomorrow’s Smart City. With higher data speeds, connected vehicles can take advantage of even more sensors and external data from a city’s transport network for increased safety, efficiency and not least to reduce negative environmental aspects.

As an initiative for a continuation of the ElectriCity project in Gothenburg, Ericsson, Volvo, Västtrafik Consat and several others have equipped electric buses with 5G modems.

During Open Days at Lindholmen Science Park, a bus was run in traffic for the first time ever with genuine 5G via Ericsson’s test network.

It is of great importance to be able to test the possibilities of 5G technology at home at an early stage together with competent partners. At Consat, we are in the middle of the development of the next generation of our vehicle computer and then it is perfect to be able to be at the forefront with 5G for public transport.

CONSAT SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEM

Consat SES’ recipe for success:

INNOVATION AND UTILITY OVER SUBOPTIMISATION TEXT ANNA BJUR [BORG & WILLI] PHOTO TOMMYS KRANBILAR HELSINGBORG

With a clear focus on goals and a pervasive system perspective, Consat Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) is constantly securing new victories.

The company’s CEO, Ian Hostetter, explains how SES rapidly grew to be a well-known name in the real estate sector and what lies behind its impressive project results.

A

CCORDING TO THE Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, in 2018 the housing and service sector was responsible for 39 percent of Sweden’s total energy consumption. But by adopting technical measures which increase energy efficiency – and retain utility – it is possible to reverse this trend and secure huge victories for both the climate and the economy. This is an area where Consat Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) is leading the way as a company that has reduced energy consumption by an average of 50 percent across its customers’ properties.

“Our focus on generating utility and value for our customers has proven to be the most profitable and effective goal we could have set for ourselves. Instead of pursuing suboptimisation with the aim to boost our own profitability, we have placed focus on inspiring trust and confidence whereby the customer understands that we are willing to take an alternative, less conventional approach,” says Ian Hostetter, CEO at SES, adding: “We have been able to demonstrate that placing confidence in – and focus on – a goal, rather than on short-term private gain, is a profitable method from all perspectives. We have the expertise and the self-belief to give our customers concrete decision-making guidance, to take responsibility for our work and to abide by our promises.

https://www.naturvardsverket.se/Miljoarbete-i-samhallet/Miljoarbete-i-Sverige/ Uppdelat-efter-omrade/Energi/Energieffektivisering/Bostader-och-lokaler/ 1

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CONSAT SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEM

Which is to say cutting energy consumption in our customers’ properties by half. Our ideological profile is also something which attracts young talents – they want to work on something that feels meaningful and to be part of a company which helps change society and provide concrete utility and benefit.

UNIQUE IN THE SECTOR SES makes properties and industries more energy efficient all over Sweden. What makes the company unique within the sector is, among other things, its system perspective which Ian Hostetter believes can be seen reflected in everything that SES and the Consat Group takes on.

“The market is split within both the technical discipline and the interest areas of property owners. System perspective is no doubt a buzzword that many talk about, but few companies actually practise it. For us, it means that we look over all of the disciplines that have a bearing on a property’s net operating income. We have different models which

“We have been able to demonstrate that placing confidence in – and focus on – a goal, rather than on short-term private gain, is a profitable method from all perspectives.”

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DID YOU

KNOW...

As of 2014, SES is the exclusive reseller in the Nordic market for one of the world’s most efficient grey water heat exchangers for heat recovery in showers. As the exchanger comes with a certain scope for enhancement, SES has decided to take matters into their own hands and further develop the product in collaboration with its subsidiaries Innovation Partner and Engineering. The design is largely complete and it is hoped that the exchanger will be available on the market in early 2021.

“The new heat exchanger boasts operational stability and a monitoring function which users can follow in real time. It can also connect seamlessly and easily to multiple devices for a larger and cohesive facility which is something that enables scalability,” says Ian Hostetter.

show us the most profitable way to work with these factors and what consequences will result from different options.

SUCCESSFUL PROJECT BROUGHT THREE NEW JOBS Stadsrum Fastigheter took on SES to halve the energy consumption in their business property known as Kvarnen located in Uppsala. The project was completed in July with an outcome that well exceeded the client’s expectation. To say this came with a bonus would be to put it mildly – the successful outcome resulted in three new projects from a very satisfied customer.

“We kept to our project budget and by the end of July-August, we had exceeded the result we had promised in our preliminary study.

They have now placed their trust in us to remodel three commercial properties in Nyköping, Södertälje and Helsingborg,” says Ian Hostetter.

Prognosis for these new projects indicate that, overall, they will be able to reduce energy consumption by 5000 MWh per year. This is equivalent to an annual costs reduction of approximately four million Swedish kronor (€395,000).

“Our projects are completed in three stages; we always begin with fundamental analyses, then we undertake the actual remodelling work with a firm focus on our guaranteed energy saving goals, and finally there is a follow-up stage for the property where we fine-tune things over the course of two years from completion of our remodelling work,” says Ian Hostetter.

Another example of SES’s focus on net operating income is a successful project for one of real estate company Klövern’s larger proper-

ties in Gothenburg where SES managed to secure massive cutbacks. Not just within energy consumption, but also in terms of operating and maintenance costs. The project is now in its final stages and has reduced the property’s energy consumption by 54 percent as of last month. The amount promised upon commencement had been 48.5 percent.

“In another smaller property, also owned

by Klövern, we started remodelling with a focus on improving the indoor climate and retaining tenants. This particular property was running on 65 kWh/m2/year initially. To put that in its context, Klövern’s goal is to get all of its properties collectively under 100 kwH/ m2/year. Today this property is running on 30 kilowatt hours per square metre per year,” says Ian Hostetter, concluding: “Utility is the main headline for our company agenda and something we want to direct all of our energy towards. Our projects for Stadsrum and Klövern are two superb examples of that. Putting utility in the front seat gives us an edge over our competitors and a scope for profitability that we can openly share with our customers.”

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CONSAT TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

An assignment executed well is a good advert, but nowadays it’s not enough. Right at this moment a renewed marketing department is rolling up the sleeves to make Consat a well-known name in a bigger crowd.

THE HEAD OF MARKETING AT CONSAT Jenny Fredér, and the graphic designer, Andreas Eklöf, are teaming up to form Consat’s new marketing department.

The CEO, Martin Wahlgren, is passionate about communication and has worked hard with Andreas Eklöf to drive them forward for many years. As the business is growing, we want to step it up a gear and expand our marketing activities even more. Therefore, Jenny has stepped in as Head of Marketing. She has been at Consat for a long time and has a degree in graphic designer as well as a finance education. She will be able to put all her focus on a job that demands all of your energy and attention.

With a mission to both protect the corporate spirit internally – and to promote the business externally – Jenny Fredér and Andreas Eklöf have already many irons in the fire and even more balls in the air. The task within the company is to spread Consat’s core values: competence, innovation, sustainability, cooperation, authenticity and commitment to every corner of every Consat office and every representative out in the field. There are workshops taking place with all the departmental heads, discussing how Consat should be marketed. And then there’s the fine-tuning of a new website, the preparation of covid adapted online trade shows, printed material,

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CONSAT

CONSAT NEEDS TO BE

SEEN MORE!

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CONSAT

“The big challenge is that the target group is so wide. We have to think through what sort of company we are and how we want to be viewed, she says.” social media, online news – and Context of course, the magazine you’re reading now.

With the flow of information there is today, with a lot of channels and areas where contact with clients, users and external parties can take place, it’s a matter of being seen, both in the right way and ”everywhere, all the time”.

– Unfortunately, we are a little anonymous, even if clients and others of course know of us. But more people need to be aware of what we know and what we do, says Jenny Fredér.

– Martin and Andreas have done a fantastic job, but we need to intensify our efforts even more, she says.

nology. And that’s easier said than done. To reach everyone with the right message requires a lot of hard work and an intuitive feeling in communication and design, and nowadays, also the talent and resources to produce webinars and set up digital forums. A static and dull website and an occasional brochure won’t go far.

– Actually, it’s just a case of telling everyone how awesome we are! We need to be in all of these forums. We need to get out there and tell them what we do, because we have so much to talk about, says Jenny and laughs.

– The big challenge is that the target group is so wide. We have to think through what sort of company we are and how we want to be viewed, she says.

– We have already had a preliminary meeting with the leaders of each company to discuss our core values. They are shared values, but they can naturally mean different things for individual Consat companies, she continues.

A POWER HOUSE

SAME SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

– In a way, the job is quite simple. Consat is a company with self-esteem, a humane and safe corporate structure who, together with all of our fantastic employees, is a source of world-class innovation and performance – a technical power house, as Jenny says.

Those who already know Consat are already aware of this. But the job is to spread the word to many more than just the present clients and those who hear about Consat through successful projects in other countries, which is usually the best type of advertising you can get. Without a doubt, Consat needs to get more awareness, to attract future employees, but it’s also about being seen in the right places and in the right way. The aim is clear – Consat should become be a well-known name in all the fields that the Consat companies operate, but also outside the world of tech-

Jenny and Andreas have to take into account that the Consat Group includes consultancy companies, such as Engineering, and service and product companies like Data, Sustainable Energy Systems and Telematics. Companies which need to be seen in different ways and need to say different and very specific things to its clients. And everything also has to be under one roof.

– We are a business with certain core values and a jointly face outwards. But at the same time every company has its own niche, so naturally we will need a marketing strategy for each company, Jenny adds.

– For Engineering it can be a lot about ”employer branding” but then that’s not the case with Telematics, for example, she goes on.

– And how do we make ourselves look attractive to the various target groups? This is something we need a strategy for and not to just send out little bits here and there – it’s got to be thought through and put into context, she says.

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IN YOUR FLOW – The same applies when we are trying to attract new employees.

It’s vital to have an attractive company structure, the latest technology and to be seen at the right forums, Jenny adds.

– This is how you attract young talent. Then the company needs to be ”cool” in a way that is different of how it used to be.

We believe we are cool, but perhaps we’re not seen in that way, Jenny says and laughs.

– It’s a different world out there now and everyone is connected, with social media – you have to be out there to be seen. All the larger companies had a great deal of attention on social media, adds Andreas.

Consat’s collective presence on social media is already being managed by Jenny and Andrea which also makes it possible to create a uniform style on everything Consat put out.

– Like! Share! Comment! Spread! Social media is a powerful tool, and this is where all can help, says Jenny emphatically.

Even with the approaching trade shows, which now during these corona days, take place on the internet, social media must make up for the lack of the usual trade show. The marketing activities must be able to deal with all situations and conditions.

– People only go to the website if they’re looking for a job or need a consultant or already know what they’re looking for. It works a little like the old Yellow Pages, says Andreas.

NEW WEBSITE The website is our face outwards. Jenny and Andreas will be putting a lot of effort into balancing the content at the new website by considering all and everything about each of the companies’ requirements and the overall Consat identity. The website is expected to be launched in February 2021.

– My job as designer is to package all this to make it really interesting, look good and bind the companies together visually – and that’s a difficult task, says Andreas Eklöf.

– The design and communication are also put on test at the trade shows where you only have a couple of seconds to make an impression on the students passing by. Is he going to step into the stand and have a chat with us or have I put out the wrong message on that large banner over the stand? continues Andreas.

ON THE PANEL The global pandemic has raised the profile of online trade shows and webinars. Consat has already taken part in several of these, and Jenny and Andreas see bigger and more opportunities to increase their presence and to make the company into an even bigger player in the technology sector.

– Today, you can see other companies holding webinars about 5G or smart cities, and we should be there as well. We should be on the panel – maybe we should even host these things? We have so much to talk about and we do a lot of great stuff in so many aspects of society! says Jenny.

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CONSAT AUSTRALIA TEXT LACHLAN MACKAY PHOTO WEYNE YEW, L ACHLAN MACKAY, MATTIAS JOHNSON, SAM MURRAY, ADOBE STOCK

SPOTLIGHT ON

AUSTRALIA

They may be Down Under, but our Australian team has come out On Top this year with their work on key government projects gaining national media attention. Managing Director Lachlan Mackay made his media debut on ABC News Radio Canberra last month, answering questions on the current trial of the Consat solution in the state of Victoria and the viability of the system for other regions in Australia.

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CONSAT AUSTRALIA

A

LTHOUGH WE’VE HAD some customers in Australia since 2017, the physical presence of a dedicated Australian team since 2019 has seen major growth for the business. We now have the ability to serve new and existing customers with local experts who understand the nuances of the Australian market.

SPOTLIGHT ON NEW SOUTH WALES After successfully delivering Phase 1 of Transport Connected Bus (TCB), we have been awarded Phase 2 of the program by Transport for NSW. The Consat Telematics system is now being installed in a further 1000 buses across the state of New South Wales in 14 regions.

It will provide important vehicle tracking and passenger counting technology as part of the NSW Government’s promise to provide quality services and infrastructure to growing NSW regional

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 17

“The Consat Telematics system is now being installed in a further 1000 buses across the state of New South Wales in 14 regions.”

communities. It’s a huge step forward for people travelling in regional areas and it’s exciting to be entrusted with this project.

On the back of this success, the Australian Ambassador to Sweden, Bernard Philip, and Investment Director for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Kerstin Classon, visited Partille in October to learn about the technology behind these projects.

SPOTLIGHT ON VICTORIA The Victorian government is trialling the Consat solution on buses and trams across metropolitan Melbourne to help restore the public’s confidence in taking public transport. This comes as Victoria emerges from many weeks of hard lockdown to contain the number of COVID-19 infections in the state. This trial will be a key to helping passengers comply with physical distancing guidelines by avoiding crowded services. A group of public transport users, including

18 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

essential workers, are participating in the trial, with a review of its success coming in the new year.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS The team Down Under have also been working with numerous operators and transport authorities in the Asia-Pacific region, with several trials underway, so watch this space!

ELECTRIC VEHICLES The Australian team has been receiving a lot of interest in Consat’s capability in the monitoring and management of electric vehicles. With vehicle fleets gradually moving to electric propulsion, the Consat Telematics Solution (CTS) provides new tools for traffic controllers and operators. Both overnight and opportunity charging of vehicles, demand centralized monitoring for efficient operation.

As our Adam Armstrong explains “through the Open Charge Alliance OCPP interface, we can read information such as, vehicle Such of Charge (Soc), charge point occupancy/status/transferred energy etc. Our Charging Infrastructure functionality, together with our Electric Vehicle Monitoring capability, provides a complete electric vehicle management system.”

About Consat Telematics – Australia Lachlan Mackay – Managing Director

Kirsten Collins –

Office Administrator/Project Support

Lachlan is a management professional with over 25 years of experience across a broad range of clients and cultures. Lachlan lives in Sydney with his wife, has two teenage daughters and is a keen cyclist.

With a background in project support and administration, Kirsten started with Consat Telematics Australia in July 2020. She lives in Sydney where she is also a football cheerleader and is looking forward getting married in February 2021.

Adam Armstrong –

Duncan Murray –

Product Manager Asia-Pacific

Support Engineer

Adam is a Mechatronics Engineer, with 20 years of experience in bus manufacturing and the supply of electronics components to the bus and rail industry. Adam lives with his wife and two young boys in Inverleigh Victoria.

Duncan has a background as an auto electrical engineer and over 25 years’ experience in the transport industry. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and two teenage daughters and has keen interests in historic cars, motorbikes and fishing.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 19

CONSAT ENGINEERING

The ASLA project strengthens

Consat’s relationship with Scania TEXT JACOB LARSSON [BORG & OWILLI] PHOTO TEO MÖLLER-NIELSEN

Over several years, Consat in Stockholm has been nurturing a good relationship with the lorry manufacturer Scania. In their largest project thus far, the partnership between the two has been further strengthened with new opportunities opening up for the Stockholm office.

20 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

W

ITHIN THE MARKET for modern cars, assistance systems such as lane assist and blind-spot warnings have become standard and the same features are now in demand for trucks as well, and are even set to become a requirement under new international laws. For lorry manufacturer Scania, this means integrating new radar systems into their vehicles. To do this, they turned to Consat’s Stockholm office for help calibrating the new radar systems as part of the ASLA project.

“Consat landed this project on the basis of our solid relationship with Scania over a long period of time and because we had proven ourselves to hold the technical aptitude that this task required,” says Henrik Grahn, Area Manager Production at Consat in Stockholm.

To calibrate the lorries’ radar system a Doppler generator, a fan that generates soundwaves to simulate another vehicle travelling beside the lorry, is used. Consat has constructed a machine for Scania

CONSAT ENGINEERING

which is now at the end of the production line and has a Doppler generator on each side of the vehicle in order to calibrate the radar on each side simultaneously. The equipment localises the lorry and correctly positions the generators in relation to this.

“We have built two different machines for Scania. At our factory in Södertälje, the lorry drives up onto a ramp. The machine then uses an arm to localise the lorry and thereby determine its position. At their factory in the Netherlands, we have produced a somewhat more advanced solution.

The lorry travels on a continuous track where it is the floor that moves, not the lorry. The equipment then needs to find the lorry’s position using cameras,” says Henrik Grahn, going on to say: “When the lorry reaches the station, its positioned is measured using Consat’s vision system, CQV, the Doppler generator is then automatically moved and placed correctly relative to the lorry.”

Following a preliminary study in 2018, the first prototype was sold to Scania’s Swe-

dish factory in 2019 and the company then went on to purchase two further machines the next year. In addition, Consat has also sold two machines to Scania’s French factory and four to its factory in the Netherlands.

Scania has long since been the biggest customer for Consat’s Stockholm office and their already solid partnership has been further strengthened through the ASLA project. This applies not just to their relationship with the plant in Södertälje, but internationally as well.

“Thus far, our dealings with Scania have mostly been in connection with their Swedish factory, but I believe we have also built up a solid level of trust and confidence in France and the Netherlands as a result of ASLA. This may well lead to even more and even bigger projects in these countries as well. Moreover, we are currently in negotiations with Scania’s Brazilian factory. We don’t currently have any links with them but that may change in 2021,” concludes Henrik Grahn.

“When the lorry reaches the station, its positioned is measured using Consat’s vision system, CQV, the Doppler generator is then automatically moved and placed correctly relative to the lorry.”

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 21

CONSAT TEXT MARTIN WAHLGREN PHOTO PER WAHLBERG

The Open

Days 22 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

2020

CONSAT

L

INDHOLMEN SCIENCE PARK IS A so-called triple helix operation and owned by the city of Gothenburg, the academy and private companies such as Volvo, Ericsson and Consat.

This year, Lindholmen celebrated its 20th anniversary and festivities had been arranged with Open Days – an event to help raise the awareness of ongoing projects and cooperation’s between companies at Lindholmen.

Due to the current situation, the Open Days format had changed to a live broadcast. The program was scheduled with presentations about artificial intelligence, transport safety, future mobility and Sweden’s competitiveness, and with speakers such as Ibrahim Baylan, Leif Johansson, the former Group CEO of Volvo and the current chairman of the board at Astra Zeneca.

Of course, Consat was there as well, and together with Ericsson and Västrafik, we showed a demo featuring 5G in a Volvo hybrid bus.

We also featured a presentation on how we can display which multimodal offers are available at the following bus stops in real-time using an internal display system.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 23

CONSAT TELEMATICS TEXT RICHARD EMM PHOTO GIORDANO ROSSONI, RICHARD EMM, ADOBE STOCK, NICK JONES

SIRI -BROKER IF THERE’S ONE THING TO BE LEARNT from Crocodile Dundee (though to be honest I learnt a great deal), it’s that Australia is a vast, largely empty continent – requiring Mick Dundee to crawl hundreds of miles back to civilisation having received a “love bite” from a saltwater crocodile.

The population density of the continent is a lowly 3.2 people per km2, compared to 37 people per km2 in the US, 275 people per km2 in the United Kingdom and, just for fun, 8,358 per KM2 in Singapore.

Australia and the term Traffic Congestion, are not normally held in close association – however back in 2018, Sydney University declared that Sydney – Australia’s most populous city - was approaching a tipping point, that would see commuters abandon public transport for their own cars as the city struggled with population growth.

Of Australia’s 25.5m inhabitants, 5.3m live in the Sydney metropolitan area, giving a population density of 1,171 people per km2 in the central urban area. Whilst this is not as high as, for example, London (5,701 per km2), Sydney’s population has recently been growing at 2% annually.

Public transport in Sydney is diverse and extensive, operated by over 600 bus routes, 813km of suburban rail, 25km of light rail, the new fully automated Sydney Metro and 32 vessels operated by Sydney Ferries. Buses in the Sydney metropolitan operate under 15 separate contract regions, currently worked by nine separate entities.

With more than 1000 buses converging on Sydney city centre in the morning peak, Engineers Australia states that 88-98% of 24 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

“The New South Wales (NSW) Government’s decision in 2018 to invest in new technologies to address the increasing congestion on the Sydney metropolitan road network, with the objective of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of existing roads and traffic systems with improved incident and proactive network management .”

CONTEXT / #1/ 2020 25

urban congestion in Sydney is a result of the number of road users exceeding the capacity, whilst the remaining 2-12% is due to incidents, planned events and weather.

The Australian Government expects growth to continue at 2% per year up to at least 2030, bringing only further pressure on road capacity.

Traffic congestion impacts on bus services by reducing reliability and increasing running time – however greater bus patronage will reduce overall road congestion.

Currently only 6% of daily trips in Sydney are made on buses.

This provides the background to the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s decision in 2018 to invest in new technologies to address the increasing congestion on the Sydney metropolitan road network, with the objective of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of existing roads and traffic systems with improved incident and proactive network management to reduce delays and ensure greater journey time reliability.

26 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

“Public transport in Sydney is diverse and extensive, operated by over 600 bus routes, 813km of suburban rail, 25km of light rail, the new fully automated Sydney Metro and 32 vessels operated by Sydney Ferries.”

One of the two major components of the investment is the development of the Intelligent Congestion Management Program (ICMP), with the aim of delivering; • Improve situational awareness by delivering a real-time view across all modes of transport to provide better customer information on journey choices, support operational decision making and inform strategic network planning • Improve incident response and clearance times • Improve network efficiency and contribute to reduced congestion costs by proactively managing the transport network and thus increase journey time reliability and customer satisfaction • Increase coordination across all modes enable two-way sharing of data to improve network-wide operational decision making, strategic planning and investment prioritisation across all transport modes TRANSPORT FOR NSW (TFSNW), the agency tasked with building transport infrastruc-

“In the summer of 2018, TfNSW awarded Consat Telematics AB the contract to implement the PTMSB solution, linking together all public transport operators, agencies and business units throughout Sydney and New South Wales.”

ture and managing transport services in NSW, recognised that one of the key factors in providing a foundation to achieve the ICMP objectives was the detailed, accurate availability and exchange of multi-modal transport information.

Within TfNSW, the Transport Management Centre (TMC) is responsible for managing the transport response to special events (concerts, festivals etc), planned closures (roadworks, utility works, filming) unplanned incidents (RTA’s, fires etc) and the dissemination of transport information. A vision of the TMC was to utilise rich datasets to better coordinate operational decisions, create situational awareness, provide incident response, and lead strategic decision making. Of course, the ultimate goal is to improve the customer experience – and TMC recognised that ICMP would deliver the following benefits for customers;

• Faster and more detailed travel advice • Reduced delay time for road users • Increase reliability for end-to-end journeys • More efficient alternative travel options during planed disruption • Allowing customers to better plan their journey for the best outcomes To this end, as a component of ICMP, TfNSW commissioned the development of an Operational Data RealTime Exchange (ODRE) platform to facilitate data brokerage between operational systems and different agencies, including operators, TfNSW’s Customer Services Directorate, the TMC and third-party developers. The ODRE itself consists of 3 components: 1. a Public Transport Message Service Broker (PTMSB) 2. an integration platform delivered as a service (iPaaS) 3. an Operational Data Lake (ODL).

IN THE SUMMER OF 2018 TfNSW awarded Consat Telematics AB the contract to implement the PTMSB solution, linking together all public transport operators, agencies and business units throughout Sydney and New South Wales.

Whilst it is anticipated to take several years to gradually connect all the operators, the platform – itself an implementation of the standard Consat Telematics Solution (CTS) – has been developed and configured over the past 24 months with expected Go-Live towards the end of 2020.

The project requirements, specification and use cases for the PTMSB interface protocols and functions have primarily existed in TfNSW’s versioned PDF documents. This has necessitated in-depth technical discussions with TfNSW regarding the intent and consequence of scope items, with Consat relying on the wealth of experience brought from similar im-

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 27

CONSAT TELEMATICS

plementations around the world. Due to the absence of operational data – the PTMSB platform is to be brought on-line prior to the majority of operator connections – the Consat team has also constructed a robust and automated test harness.

Additionally, Consat has provided expertise in establishing the iPaaS in Microsoft Azure, allowing secure redundancy, scalable architecture, and a virtualised application client.

CURRENTLY TRANSPORT OPERATORS send timetable information and real-time ope-

28 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

rational messages to TfNSW in Google General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format. This facilitates the provision of trip planning services to the public.

To promote a co-ordinated, multi-modal response to incidents that occur across the network, a more extensive set of data attributes must be exchanged when incidents occur. To this end, the PTMSB utilises the Service Interface for Realtime Information (SIRI) standard, supported by the TransXChange (TXC) base-timetable and spatial protocol.

The first operator providing data via TXC and SIRI into PTMSB will be the Central Business District and South East Light Rail (CSELR), with initially TfNSW’s Customer Services Directorate receiving a more comprehensive GTFS output, which will also be provided via TfNSW OpenData portal to third party developers. Both SIRI and GTFS messages will also be distributed to the Operational Data Lake (ODL) for statistical analysis.

So, TfNSW and TMC will soon be in a position where a richer, more detailed and consistent dataset is available with which to manage network disruptions and incidents, and to provide strategic direction on managing congestion. Over time, each transport operator will become obliged to submit their current traffic situation to PTMSB and receive in exchange an entire picture of NSW, harmonious with each and every stakeholder in the transport network.

“Due to the absence of operational data – the PTMSB platform is to be brought on-line prior to the majority of operator connections – the Consat team has also constructed a robust and automated test harness.”

CONTEXT / #1/ 2020 29

CONSAT TEXT JENNY FREDÉR PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

CEO OF THE YEAR 2020!

A little more than a year ago, our Group CEO, Martin Wahlgren, was nominated by the company Universum as the CEO of the year.

UNIVERSUM HAS MEASURED, analyzed and ranked companies since 1988, both in Sweden and abroad. Each year they select companies and managers who’ve shown to be particularly successful in “Employer Branding” – by marking themselves as an attractive employer through luring and keeping a hold on the right staff.

The winner is normally announced at the yearly Universum Awards, held at Berns in Stockholm, but because of covid, this year became a live-streamed event. Martin was selected as the year’s CEO for 2020 in Sweden with the following justification: “This CEO has directed the work both strategically and operationally in employer branding issues. He has in a short space of time achieved very strong results in this area and there is a deep foundation of these matters in management.”

“Under the direction of this CEO, a broad and clear image has been held up of this company as an employer which has attracted many engineers.”

“This CEO is a true role-model in these matters. He also shows how a relatively small company can be just as attractive to employees as the larger ones.”

30 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

And we’re all are very proud to have him as our CEO! Martin is passionate about teamwork and wants us to reach further and move fast. This goes hand-in-hand with cooperation and is one of our strong core values.

Through his inspirational creativity, his curiosity and his passion for technology, Martin really deserves to be CEO of the year.

This is what he says himself: “Obviously this is great fun and an honor.

But, above all, I regard it as a team victory for everybody at Consat. Everyone who knows me knows that I love to compete and to win is always a bit extra.

I also see the award as proof that our long-term strategy to create benefits and value through innovation, technical height, system thinking and, last but not least, through cooperation, brings results!

To dare to think new is decisive, regardless of whether it’s to do with employer branding or helping our clients with new advanced projects and solutions.”

Congratulations Martin, from all of us at Consat!

“This CEO is a true role-model in these matters. He also shows how a relatively small company can be just as attractive to employees as the larger ones.”

No. 1

CONTEXT / #1/ 2020 31

WELCOME TO

THE FUTURE

OF EXHIBITIONS 32 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

CONSAT ENGINEERING TEXT JENNY FREDÉR, PÄR FORSBERG ED. MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO ADOBE STOCK, RAGNAR HALLGREN - SELFIE

For years, the Chalmers’ Harm and DateIT trade shows, have been contact surfaces between future generations of engineers and Consat. Then the corona pandemic happened and forced both of the shows to switch to a digital format. After the first digital show Consat was left with knowledge and a thirst for more.

J

ENNY FREDÉR, HEAD OF MARKETING at Consat AB, was involved and prepared the company’s presence at Harm and DateIT – Chalmers’ trade shows where students can meet and establish contacts in the technology and IT industries.

– It was a new experience and of course with a completely different arrangement than the usual Chalmers’ trade shows, she says.

– We had preparatory meetings on the internet using Teams with project leaders from Harm and DateIT, where we went through the online trade show tool Graduateland, continued Jenny.

– We received our own ”showcase” which we filled with information, and to attract students we did certain campaigns on social media, she explains.

A SMALL STEP FOR CONSAT...

Pär Forsberg, Head of the technology section at Consat Engineering, pulled a heavy load during the show. He sat in front of a couple of portable computers at the Lindholmen office conference room which became the ”showcase” during the digital trade show.

He talks about the first tentative contacts with visitors when he and a colleague ”took the temperature” in the conference room. A ”visitor” pinged on the fair application: – Are you taking this one? It looks like a mechanical engineer, something for you, said his colleague who is an electronics developer, says Pär.

Pär peered skeptically at the message which had just appeared on the screen. ”Hi” ...the visitor wrote.

Pär clicked on the icon which showed the visitor at the stand and saw that he had shared his CV. Another click to open the CV... hm, studying engines and likes to produce stuff on his own 3D printer – interesting... ”Hi! Pär at Consat here!” Pär wrote and the meeting was up and running.

It was quite hectic for a while and visitors was in a queue. Most of the visitors were looking for a part-time job. Only one wanted to, or dared to, use the video camera, which worked perfectly fine, says Pär.

– Most students sent us their CV which was good for background information, says Pär.

– It was, of course, difficult to have the same contact and vibe as when you meet CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 33

someone face-to-face. So, that was a clear disadvantage, continues Pär.

– One thing which I found particularly tricky was how to bring a conversation to an end, so that you could go on to the next visitor.

In reality, you can subtlety glance at the next person in the queue, but here you’re alone with a person who cannot see that you have four other chat conversations lined up and that the time is running out, says Pär and laughs.

– We had to fine-tune our conversation technique and to find ways which felt okay, says Pär.

A STEP OUT INTO THE SEA OF OPPORTUNITIES

“It was interesting to test the digital format and there were some laughs along the way and beginners’ errors of course, but I did make contact with several students who were looking for a part-time job and maybe in the future we will take them on.”

34 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

Once the show had been open a while and the chat enquiries tailed off, Pär wondered if he could do what he usually would do at a fair – step outside the stand to reach out to the students himself.

– We soon realized that we could start our own dialogue with a person we selected ourselves. The application showed who had been at our showcase, and as soon as we’ve had a look at their CV, we could select a few students that we wanted to have a chat with, says Pär.

– It felt a little uncomfortable at first, a bit ”stalker-like”, but it became apparent to us that no one thought of it that way and I had a couple of interesting conversations by doing so, says Pär.

LOOKING FORWARD TO CHARM It was of course a bit bumpy at this first trade show in this new and unfamiliar format, but Pär and his colleagues at Consat’s showcase thought the digital recruitment show worked much better than expected.

– It was interesting to test the digital format and there were some laughs along the way and beginners’ errors of course, but I did make contact with several students who were looking for a part-time job and maybe in the future we will take them on. And now that we know how this works, we can look forward to CHARM, says Pär.

Jenny, who takes care of Consat’s overall marketing strategy, also thinks that Harm and DateIT worked well in its virtual format, but there some areas where it could be improved.

– One thing we take with us from this experience is that we need to substantially improve the aspect of being seen and heard on social media in the surroundings of student activities and to attract students to our showcase, she says.

– The step from clicking on our logo to go into our ”stand”, you need to have an inkling of who we are. Otherwise, they’ll end up clicking on the companies they know instead. We must be seen and stand out! And of course, nowadays that means social media, but even those traditional ”goody bags”, quizzes and so on, Jenny says with emphasis.

CONSAT NEW EMPLOYEES

WE MIKAEL .

KRISTOFER .

proudly present

our new

FRIENDS

JESPER .

FREDRIK .

Mikael Boman, 53

Kristofer Carlin, 37

Jesper Fälth, 27

Fredrik Olsson, 45

(Engineering Services)

(Consat Data)

(Telematics/Supply Chain)

(Telematics/Supply Chain)

Previously worked at BS Elcontrol in Älvängen and Eitech Engineering.

Lives at Hisingen with his wife and two children. Interests: Electronics, going on vacations with the family, visiting the summer house at Smithska Udden. He’s very happy with his job as an electrical designer at Limab.

Previously worked at Elgiganten as a technician. Lives with his wife in Björkekärr, but will soon be moving to Hisings Kärra. He’s expecting his first child in April 2021. Interests: Gaming and watching TV. Works at First Line support.

Previously worked at Parker Hannifin AB. Lives in Borås with his wife and son and has a baby on the way. Interests: Work out and sports.

Works with logistics, stock and order management in the Supply Chain.

Used to work at Data Respons, Altran and at his own consultancy. Lives at Hisingen with his wife and daughter.

Interests: Sports, sea, travel and whisky. Works as the Department Manager for Supply Chain.

ANEL .

CHRISTIAN .

PER .

REINE .

Anel Foric, 34

Christian Ottoson, 30

Per Wargskog, 48

Reine Larsson, 54

(Telematics/Supply Chain)

(Telematics/Economy)

(Telematics/Economy)

(Industrial Engineer)

Has previously worked at AB Effektiv Gothenburg. Lives in Gråbo with his wife and two children. Interests: Golf. Works in the Supply Chain and is responsible for RMA.

Has previously worked for Volvo, Bravida, Carrier, Dentsply, Intersport and Nordea. Lives with his partner at Hisingen. Interests: Music production and everything that comes with it. Works as a book keeper with the ledgers, controller and will also be a sounding board for project managers.

Previously worked at Akademibokhandeln. Lives in Kålltorp with his partner and two children. Interests: Society and economics, nature and culture, food and drinks. Works as Finance Manager at Telematics.

A new but “old” employee at Consat. Worked most recently at Ewellix, on the development of actuators, and before that as a mechanical designer here at Consat. Lives in Lerum with his partner and has two grown-up children. Interests: Sailing, when he’s not fixing something on his house. He’s responsible for project sales at Industrial Automation.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 35

Australia’s ambassador visits Consat 36 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

After the success in the Australian public transport sector, Consat Telematics got a visit from a distinguished man. Last autumn the ambassador made a visit to the Consat office in Partille.

CONSAT TELEMATICS TEXT JENNY FREDÉR ED. MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

“We had great discussions concerning developments of communities in respect of public transport and we talked about our different experiences.”

B

ERNARD PHILIP, AUSTRALIA’S AMBASSADOR TO SWEDEN, got a guided tour by Thomas Ottosson, the CEO of Consat Telematics AB, during his visit in October 2020. Thomas Ottosson talks about the visit and why an ambassador from one of the largest countries in the world chose to make a trip to little old Partille.

– The visit took place because we recently had a great deal of publicity in Australia, mostly due to our quick response when it came to travel information and to reach out to the community to provide a safer journey, says Thomas Ottosson.

Consat already had an established relationship with Kerstin Classon, the Investment Director for Australian Trade at the embassy in Stockholm.

– Kerstin got in touch with us when the ambassador wanted to pay us a visit and talk about our business and contribution to the Australian society. Dan Pettersson, the SVP at Volvo Buses, also

joined us as Volvo Buses are increasing their fleet in Australia, continued Thomas Ottosson.

– We spent the morning together and were able to present our systems in Sydney and surrounding areas, as well as our new pilot project in Melbourne. We had great discussions concerning developments of communities in respect of public transport and we talked about our different experiences, he went on: – As we are expanding rapidly in Australia it was particularly fruitful to have a chat with both Kerstin and Barnard. We look forward to keeping in touch and having talks in the future, says Thomas Ottosson.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 37

Tommy Hansen – the new Head of Consat in Norway

After many years as a consultant and manager for IT at Vy, Tommy Hansen was lured over to Consat Norway – the company that dominates the Norwegian market when it comes to information systems for public transport..

38 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

CONSAT NORWAY TEXT TOMMY HANSEN ED. MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO TOMMY HANSEN, OLLE BREDEGÅRD

I

CAME ACROSS CONSAT in 2015 while working with IT at the bus operator Vy. We operated in Møre, the Romsdal district and Glåmdalen, and Consat had been awarded the contract to provide new real-time systems in the area. I was particularly involved in the purchase of the information systems in Glåmdalen during 2016. Since then, Vy has Consat systems installed in nearly all its projects with information systems. Not least since TaaS (Transport as a Service) has become popular and the ITxPT standard for bus systems had a breakthrough in Norway.

I was even responsible for the Romerike project in 2019 – a prestige project for both Norway and the principal Ruter where Consat also had been awarded the contract for its real-time solution.

I have now been the manager for Consat Norway AB since June 1 (2020). I am enormously happy to get the opportunity. I believe that my background within the sector and at Vy gives us great opportunities to maintain the high quality of supply to our Norwegian clients. With all the restrictions surrounding covid-19, I am glad that I was able to assume responsibility for the Norgwegian customers from day one.

“I believe that my background within the sector and at Vy gives us great opportunities to maintain the high quality of supply to our Norwegian clients.”

THE NORWEGIAN OFFICE In November Consat Norway moved into new, lovely premises just outside Oslo. From here we have access to a large storage facility in which we have all the Norwegian supplies. This has made it possible to take over much of the responsibility for installation and service, which previously had to be managed by Consat in Partille.

For the time being, there are two of us at the office: myself and Olle Bredegård, who started the operation in temporary premises in 2019. Olle handles support issues for our Norwegian customers and is a technical resource for both customers and our local installers.

We now also have a system technician, Davon Baskarada, who starts in January 2021. At the moment he’s working for Metrotek CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 39

CONSAT NORWAY

“We are currently generally regarded as the market leading producer in this area and our clients can be found all over the country.”

as a product specialist and provides technical support. As Metrotek installed Consat systems a while ago and Davor knows our products, I’m convinced that he has the right skills for the job.

In Norway, Consat supplies solutions to both the principals (administrative councils) and bus operators. We are currently generally regarded as the market leading producer in this area and our clients can be found all over the country. The systems vary a great deal when it comes to hardware and functions.

Norway invested in the ItxPT standard at an early stage (see the information box).

Ruter was one of the first to include this in the contract for Romerike in 2019. Following this, several councils have adopted ITxPT, at least to some degree. Consat is one of the few suppliers who fully support ItxPT and obviously that’s a strong point in this particular market.

I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO continue to work as the manager of Consat Norway and I’m sure that we will continue to consolidate our position as market leader. Along with our gifted colleagues in Partille, we will be doing everything we can so that we, and our clients, can succeed in our ambitions, says Tommy.

TAAS A service-based system consisting of deeply integrated vehicle systems and back-end systems.

ITXPT A structure which standardizes electrical connections and software interfaces onboard vehicles (Traffic supporting functions, passenger information, displays, ticketing systems, passenger counters etc.)

The standard also covers some interfaces from communication with central systems and provides advantages when it concerns the installation and integration of systems from different suppliers, which explains why it’s popular with principals of course.

ONGOING PROJECTS In total, the systems are installed in more than 400 buses in projects for the following companies: • LoVe • Ålesund • Molde • Salten 3 • Indre Østfold • Hallingdal • Jæren og Dalane • Ryfylke Nord • Drammen

FUTURE PROJECT Vy will be getting all the buses in Tröndelag into operation from August 2021. This means approx. 500 buses in operation, both school buses and regional traffic. Consat is supplying speech communication (between driver and traffic control) in all its buses as well as passenger counting solutions with internal displays in its regional buses. This is a TaaS solution based on ItxPT where the Consat system communicates with equipment from Fara, the Norwegian provider.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 41

CONSAT TELEMATICS

SUPPLY CHAIN – LINKS WHICH HOLD FOR ALL BUSINESS

42 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

CONSAT TELEMATICS TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO ARNO SENONER, MICK TRUYTS, MATTIAS JOHNSON IMAGE PROCESSING KARL BANE

It may be the best type of problem, but not being able to deliver to a client to a deadline is not a good thing. For the past year, Fredrik Olsson has been managing the department Supply Chain with his sights firmly set on Consat Telematics who (almost) will be able to handle any number of clients, no matter how big they are..

T

HE FACT THAT Consat Telematics real-time system for public transport is a market leader, even viewed from a global perspective, can be seen time and time again in the number of contracts awarded and new businesses in Norway, Sweden, Australia and Canada.

Clients choose Consat instead of the largest international suppliers. They’re pleased and they want more. And despite the fact that the company’s client base is growing at an impressive rate year after year, the potential of the system is far greater than that; only the ability to deliver and install can keep pace with sales. Unfortunately, up until now it hasn’t always been the case.

NEW MANAGER, NEW GOALS Fredrik Olsson began as head of the restructured Telematics department ”Supply Chain” in March 2020. He shaped his role and his department from the first day on.

The aim is to take Consat Telematics from

a small, rather provincial, company which was able to supply and install relatively small volumes of vehicle systems in certain markets to smoothly handle really large clients all over the world.

The new department name – ”Supply Chain” – was a very conscious choice on Fredriks part. It’s both a description of the business and a way of show that Telematics is aiming high.

A THREE DIMENSIONAL SUCCESS Every part of the system’s design and production has to be adapted for an ever-widening horizon. Even if each customer and, sometimes, each type of vehicle for the client has to have a unique system configuration, the ”building blocks” must be optimized in order to scale in volume.

Telematics’ strength in meeting the client’s needs doesn’t have to mean that the system’s constituent products need to be produced by hand in small volumes.

Fredrik is aiming for a system and an

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 43

Fredrik Olsson and Terese Qvarnström

organisation which can handle five or even ten times as many installed systems than it does today. Both products and organisation are to function just as well at the time of factory installation as at post-installation. So it’s a question of thinking ahead.

– Our development and expansion can be seen in three dimensions: functionality, geography and volume, says Fredrik.

The company needs to be able to grow in all of these dimensions. For example, limits on volumes must 44 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

“Supply Chain” – was a very conscious choice on Fredriks part. It’s both a description of the business and a way of show that Telematics is aiming high.”

not prevent geographic expansion.

Consat shouldn’t have to turn down a big deal just because the schedule is too tight and there is some hardware component missing or if there’s a mix-up in supplies.

Even before Fredrik was appointed by Consat, he was, as a salesman at Data Respons, a subcontractor of vehicle screens and related hardware – deeply involved in Telematics’ expansion plans.

– It began even during the Romerike project (a system procurement in Norway) just over three years ago,

Anel Foric and Jesper Fälth

where Consat decided to commit to expanding the functionality and I found myself right in the middle of the process as a subcontractor, Fredrick says.

– So you could say that Consat and I grew together during these years, Fredrick adds.

REFINEMENT It was during that exact time Consat decided to lure Fredrik to the company in order to turn over the steak, and to steer up the whole hardware and supply organization. There was, of course, an awareness to realize the

company’s great potential in a global market they had to keep a careful eye on, and have full control of, the hardware. Consat should not be dependent on an individual supplier. It’s not enough to be able to develop the world’s best software and functions that win orders.

During the year or so that Fredrik has been working for Consat, a lot has changed in the now called Supply Chain. The product range has been refined, the blocks, which build the customers’ vehicle systems, worked into a joint stock management system

“Even if each customer and, sometimes, each type of vehicle for the client has to have a unique system configuration, the ”building blocks” must be optimized in order to scale in volume.”

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 45

CONSAT TELEMATICS

“We’ve signed new contracts with two shipping companies, and we’ve made a great saving on shipping costs, simply by using all of our volume in negotiations.”

which is now used by all Telematics’ companies in the world and refined the supply organization. All local Telematics offices will soon have their own product stock and the company will be taking a more active role in the design of everything from vehicle computers and all the wiring which will be vehicle approved, to fixtures for the information displays.

– If you look at Telematics’ organization as a matrix and vertically divided into our various offices: Norway, Sweden, Canada and Australia, Supply Chain is a horizontal row in the matrix which spans across all the offices. For example, we have partners in Australia who designed the computer fixtures we can make as a standard product and use everywhere, these are naturally produced by various local subcontractors, says Fredrik

RELATIONSHIPS ARE EVERYTHING One of Fredrick’s pressure points is the subcontractors and the relationship with them.

He spends a lot of time finding and connecting the suppliers to different parts of the system – but also to get a professional rela-

46 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

tionship with the suppliers. Suppliers who can scale in volume and geography, officially become global suppliers. Other small manufacturers become purely local or regional suppliers, and everything is tied down to a clear contract and adopting an official role.

A professional relationship also means complete documentation and all the necessary certificates. When a bus manufacturer requires fully completed documents and all the right certificates from Consat, Telematics will place the same demands on the suppliers who produces the components.

Quite simply – to have everything cleaned and organized is a presumption in order to expand.

FLYING START – On the production side, we have done a lot of hard work this past year. To start with, Per Bertilsson, in Telematics’ hardware development department, went through all the item numbers to scale back all the unnecessary or duplicated products.

– And before I started, Terese Qvarnström had done a lot of work so that we could get going with the new Rambase product and stock management system. This system is central in our operations, says Fredrik.

– Then we went through the certificates, drawings and documents from various manufacturers – something which is necessary during a factory installation. Bus manufacturers are always very careful and professional clients, and “Supply Chain” is of course a very carefully selected name, so we need to keep a close eye on the whole chain from raw materials to the management of returned faulty

CONSAT TELEMATICS

hardware. We’re not at a point where we can take responsibility for everything but we’re getting there, one step at a time, Fredrik says.

– We are now suppliers to Volvo Buses and we have order management directly linked to Volvo’s purchase system for supplies to their factory in Poland. We deliver to Iveco in the Czech Republic and to the MAN factory in Turkey. These are signs that we are on the right track, adds Fredrik.

A LOADED CONTAINER IS COMING Another sign that Telematics is now ”playing with the big boys” is that products are no longer being bought from Asia in boxes, they’re now bought by containers. Fredrik points at a row of container seals (these show that no one has opened the container since it left the factory).

– Next year we’re going to be doubling the size of our storage space in this building, he says.

As volumes increase, Consat can also save money on shipping.

And big customers get far better prices, of course.

– We’ve signed new contracts with two shipping companies, and we’ve made a great saving on shipping costs, simply by using all of our volume in negotiations. We are now even taking over the shipping responsibility from the factories in Asia to here or to the regional offices in Canada or Australia, and with the increased volume we can get an even better price next year, says Fredrik.

Soon, very soon, the hardware is not going to be a hurdle when it comes to the really big business which is waiting for Consat Telematics all over the world.

CONTEXT / #1/ 2020 47

CONSAT TELEMATIC

Smart covid-information on-board TEXT JULIE LINDGREN PHOTO LACHLAN MACKAY, CHUTTERSNAP ILLUSTRATION ANDREAS EKLÖF

Keep a safe distance, wash your hands, wear your mask.

These are some of the rules that are now part of our daily lives. However, old habits can be hard to lose and that is one of the many reasons why transport authorities have turned to Consat to find ways of reminding their passengers to ensure that safety guidelines are followed, for everyone’s benefit.

48 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

E

DWARD LUNDIN, ONE OF THE VEHICLE TEAMS experienced software developer, has been involved from the start. “Me and my colleagues immediately saw the importance of reaching out to our customers travellers. We have raised our preparedness at Telematics that if any of our customers wanted help in getting out COVID-19 related information, that we would do it as soon as possible. The team were often ready to deploy the same day, or at latest the day after, after receiving such requests.”

Our customers with the Multi-Media Studio tool, aka MMS, put it to good use already in the spring to inform their passengers via the internal displays on-board their vehicles, with images and videos to make everyone’s travels safer.

In early April, we received an inquiry from Västtrafik, the public transport authority for the county of Västra Götaland in Sweden, about which other options were available. Given the importance of the global situation, Consat gave this project top priority and our developers got their creative juices going to come up with an extensive list of possibilities. The result included functions for the various speakers and displays connected to our system, both for vehicles and stop points equipment, some of them even integrating with the Automatic Passenger Counters (APC).

Some examples include audio and/or text announcements at spe-

CONSAT TELEMATICS

cific points along the route, when doors are opening, when someone presses the stop-request button, and so on.

Västtrafik decided on the external announcement paired with the existing solution which triggers whenever doors are opened at a stop point.

AKT in Kristiansand, Norway, decided that they wanted an internal announcement whenever leaving a stop point. However, it was soon discovered that this could quickly get on people’s nerves when the vehicle drove past a few stop points, which could lead to them ignoring it in the long run, thus defeating the purpose of the message.

After some brainstorming and development, the solution which became a crowd-pleaser combined a few conditions. To make it short, the announcement is broadcasted at every timing stop point with permitted boarding where the vehicle has stopped and opened its doors. Another condition that we hope we can implement in the future is to integrate with the APC system, so the call would only happen if at least

one person had boarded the vehicle before its departure.

AKT was very pleased with the results: “Thanks for the swift and great help with the audio call”, commented Ståle Sætre, adviser at AKT. We received another request after the summer from Brakar in Drammen, Norway, who wanted to inform passengers to only leave via the rear door.

The new function made use of a new view in MMS where the instruction could be linked to the stop-request button, meaning that whenever a passenger pushed that button, a specific image would show on the internal displays and an audio announcement would play via the speakers to instruct them to use the correct way out. This function also proved popular with many of our Canadian customers from the Metrolinx procurement in Ontario.

Anyone with the Consat system has incredible possibilities at their fingertips when it comes to informing passengers. As Edward says: “If you have a Consat system, then

“If you have a Consat system, then you have access to an extremely powerful communication tool.”

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 49

you have access to an extremely powerful communication tool to quickly convey important information to the public inside vehicles and at stop displays”. One of Edward’s goals is to connect our system to the Emergency Population Warning systems to quickly spread important information to the population. “I’d love to integrate our Sydney system with the JATWC which handles the tsunami warnings on a national scale” he added as a specific example.

SPEAKING OF AUSTRALIA, one of our newest additions to the Consat Team as the Managing Director for the region, Lachlan Mackay, has seen a surge of enquiries about what Consat could do regarding COVID-19 to encourage people to use public transport. One partnership to result specifically out of these questions is with the Victorian Department of Transport, where we have rolled out our system on buses, and soon trams, to enable greater flexibility in travel arrangements as well as give passengers the power to make transport decisions and avoid crowded services.

Just like in Norway, we make use of their APC sensors to know

50 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

“With renewed focus on safe and efficient travel, this technology provides confidence to the traveling public, it helps them make informed decisions about the mode of transport they use.” how many passengers are on-board at any given time. These numbers, coupled with the vehicle’s capacity, give a good indicator on how crowded the vehicle is. This information is then sent, along with the vehicle location and timetable adherence, through our central system, via open APIs, to apps, websites, and even displays.

“The main benefit is providing passengers information on how crowded a service is. They can get it before they leave their house in the morning for work. In addition, when a passenger is at a stop, the approaching service can already display “Bus Full, next bus in 2 min”, whilst on the bus we provide COVID-19 messaging on the internal video screens on how to travel safely” states Lachlan about the benefits for customers and passengers, adding that “We provide the same information via audio messages for the visual impaired and of course, all this can be provided to off-vehicle displays at bus stops, in shopping centres, at large train terminals” he adds.

THE CONSAT’S PASSENGER INFORMATION SOLUTION has been available, and running, for over a decade in Scandinavia and Canada,

and in the last few years in Australia. The unfortunate situation with COVID-19 has led us to explore its potential in more depth and to find out just how powerful it can be when combined with other areas of our and our customer’s systems. There are endless possibilities to improve it further, if given the chance. As Lachlan says, “With renewed focus on safe and efficient travel, this technology provides confidence to the traveling public, it helps them make informed decisions about the mode of transport they use and when they use it, and it assists us all in getting back to work. Of course, this same technology can be used during major public events, terror related incidents or to simply improve the everyday customer journey experience”.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 51

CONSAT CANADA

Greetings from

CANADA!!

52 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

CONSAT CONSAT TELEMATICS CANADA TEXT ROGER SAUVE PHOTO STEVEN WRIGHT, WILL BURBANO, DANIEL SAUVE ETC.

M

Y PREVIOUS WORK and life experiences have brought me to this point in my career where I can take full advantage of what I have learned over the years combined with absolute core values to ensure the ultimate success of Consat in Canada.

Some positions held over the years include customer service specialist, house painter, janitor, lineman, business owner, bus operator, union president, transit manager, director of transit and fleet services and many more. I have been a lifelong community volunteer, dedicating hundreds of hours each year to the betterment of my community.

When I joined the Consat team nearly four years ago now, I brought values that I believed would ensure the success of the company. Honesty, respect, dedication blended with an emphasis on customer service and doing the right thing. With that in mind I began to build a team that would support and compliment the skills and qualities already in place with Robert Jancev and Florian Chabin.

GROWTH OF THE COMPANY Consat Canada began in Montreal Quebec many years ago when Robert Jancev volunteered to move to Canada in an attempt to expand into the Canadian market. Robert spent many years forming relationships and doing the work required to establish a customer base.

As newly hired CAO, I was tasked to build a strong team which could deliver systems and provide services to many more customers. The growth of the Consat Canada would be anchored by our ability to provide exceptional customer service leading to a high level of customer satisfaction.

THE CANADIAN TEAM works out of three offices.

The Laval office includes Robert Jancev – Product Manager and Florian Chabin-Psyche – Customer Support Specialist. Robert is the longest standing employee in Canada.

Robert has worn many hats over the years but with the expansion of Canadian team he has been able to focus on the technical aspects. Robert is Consat Canada’s technical guru. Robert regularly finds himself resolving issues for customers which are even unrelated to the Consat system.

Florian has taken on different roles throughout his years as well but has settled nicely in the position of customer support.

Regularly solving customer issues and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Working from his home office in Quebec City is Wes Woods – Transit Specialist, who came to Consat with decades of experience in the Canadian transit market. Wes has performed many duties over the past four decades including bus operator, transit manager, sales director, consultant, board member of provincial and national committees. Wes has received the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) lifetime achievement award at the CUTA conference in November 2020. The lifetime achievement award is presented to a select few within the transit industry and is regarded as the highest award in the industry.

The home office of Consat Canada is in Sudbury Ontario. This office is responsible for the overall direction of Consat Canada, administration, project management, hardware, and analytic services.

Roger Sauve – Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) responsible for the overall management of Consat Canada.

Filip Stekovic – Project Manager, although

Who I am: Roger Sauve, husband of Liana for 35 years, father of Janni and Patrick and grandfather to the most amazing grandchildren Keegan, Athea, Corbin and Alice.

What I do: Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Consat Canada Inc.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 53

CONSAT CANADA

“The Canadian offices continue to see success with a growing customer base and strong focus on customer support and satisfaction. ”

Filip worked in the Sudbury office for three years, he has recently relocated to Sweden as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Filip has undergone tremendous professional growth during his time in Canada. Filip came to Canada and took on the role of project manager with very little experience.

Filip’s personal approach to project management has allowed him to form many customer relationships. These relationships formed the foundation needed to help him succeed and grow as a project manager. Filip will continue to work as Canadian project manager from Sweden for a period of time.

Dan Sauve – Hardware manager. Dan has completely revamped the hardware management and installation protocols for the Canadian market. The Canadian customers always have access to hardware as needed.

The new installation process has ensured the stability of the system, increased reliability and reduced maintenance and support.

The personal attention provided by Dan is second to none and has been very well received by all our customers.

Robert Gauthier – Data Analyst. Consat is pleased to introduce “Consat360 Services”.

With the addition of Robert Gauthier, Data Analyst to the Consat team, we can offer a variety of services to all Consat customers.

54 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

THE CONSAT SYSTEM GATHERS a significant amount of data which is valuable to all transit systems. We understand that customers may not always have the manpower or time to access the data and take advantage of all the available information.

We would like to bring this information to all customers by way of a variety of services. We can ensure that all customers will have access to the most information possible, customized to meet their individual needs. Services can be divided into three categories, Recurring Reports, Analytics & Actions and Services.

We look forward to working with all our customers on the development of these new services and are excited about the opportunity to work even more closely with our customers.

The Canadian offices continue to see success with a growing customer base and strong focus on customer support and satisfaction. In the past few years, we have increased our customer base to more than 30. With a high focus on customer service, Team Canada is always very busy.

ON-GOING PROJECTS METROLINX – We are currently in our last year of our five-year contract with Metrolinx. Six years ago, Consat won an RFP process to be the Intelligent Transportation System-Automatic Vehicle Location (ITS-AVL) Supplier for any Metrolinx customer.

This contract has allowed Ontario properties to purchase the Consat system directly without having to go through individual RFP processes. The initial project started with 6 customers, Sarnia – Kingston – Kawartha Lakes – Temiskaming Shores – Orillia and Milton. The delivery of the initial Metrolinx systems was challenging. Six different cities with a variety of bus types, IT environments, support systems and requirements. All six system were successfully setup and operating. The system functionality and features selected through the Metrolinx RFP were significant and provided the flexibility for many other transit properties to join.

With the addition to the Consat team we have streamlined and perfected our delivery for Metrolinx customers. We are now able to deliver a fully installed system in a very short period of time.

Improvements have been made to installation protocols, training, customer support and project management. All of these improvements were done as direct feedback from our existing customers.

We have added five new properties under this contract, Timmins – Cornwall – Simcoe County – Belleville and Stratford. We are currently working on securing another handful of customers before the end of this contract. Our Metrolinx customers could not be happier. We continue to receive amazing positive feedback.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 55

CONSAT CANADA

CONSAT

TEAM

CANADA ROGER S. FILIP S.

NOVA/ATUQ – Consat Canada has had a long partnership with Nova in Canada. In fact, the very first Consat system was sold to Sudbury Transit through Nova bus. This partnership set the foundation for the newly awarded ATUQ contract. Through this project we are delivering our system with every Nova bus purchased through the ATUQ program for a period of 5 years. This will total approximately 1500 buses spread over 9 different transit properties in the province of Quebec. We will also provide support for these vehicles for a minimum of 7 years. In 2020 we have delivered hardware and software for more than 400 buses.

SOCIÉTÉ DE TRANSPORT DE MONTRÉAL (STM) – as a spinoff of the ATUQ contract, we are in negotiations with STM to proceed with several projects which will see our system installed in every bus in Montreal. Our system will be installed in over 2300 diesel, hybrid and electric buses and will provide the maintenance depart with the data required to perform smart maintenance and informed purchasing decisions.

CONSAT 360 – the Consat 360 solution comes as result of good customer feedback. We can now provide customers with data analysis which is invaluable to the operation of their systems. We have already sold these services to Cornwall and Belleville. The initial feedback received has been incredible.

“Once again Consat made us look great to our Council and customers! Thank you!!” – Paul Buck Transit Manager Belleville We anticipate providing these services to many more customers as interest has been very positive.

WES W. FLORIAN C.

ROBERT J. ROBERT G. 56 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

NOVA/ATUQ – Participating properties are: Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO) Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) Société de transport de Laval (STLaval) Société de transport de Lévis (STLévis) Société de transport de Montréal (STM) Société de transport de Saguenay (STSaguenay) Société de transport de Sherbrooke (STSherbrooke) Société de transport de Trois-Rivières (STTR)

CONSAT CANADA

CONSAT CANADA VS CORONA 19 – The corona virus had a direct impact on all our customers. Many were running reduced services with limited staff while trying to manage a system remotely from home. The challenges were incredible. Consat was proactive right from the beginning. Recognizing the challenges of our customers we began to provide additional support, running health checks, analyzing data and providing new solutions to help our customers get through this pandemic.

Ways we were able to help customers: – Data support as transit routes required immediate changes

“We are in negotiations with STM to proceed with several projects which will see our system installed in every bus in Montreal.”

– Onboard special announcements advising customers of changes – Exterior bus announcements – Terminal display messages – AnyRide messaging direct to customers The Consat team became fully dedicated to helping our customers in whichever way we could. I am very proud to be a member of the Consat Canada team and look forward to the new adventures 2021 will bring. We will continue providing the best service our customers have become accustomed to.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 57

CONSAT TELEMATICS TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

Telematics takes finance a level up The business is growing and Consat Telematics is expanding the finance department.

Newly appointed Head of Finance, Per Wagskog, and accountant, Christian Ottoson, are forming a team and see great assignments ahead of them.

58 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

T

O TAKE CARE OF the finances of a growing company, with offices on three continents, is a challenge. Over the past few years, Consat Telematics has quickly grown strong, both in the Nordics as well as in Australia and Canada, where they have subsidiaries and local staff.

ORDER FIRST – THEN DO THE DEVELOPMENT With the arrivals of a new finance manager, Per Wargskog, and accountant, Christian Ottoson, Telematics are getting a finance department to handle the day-to-day economy and develop the company’s finance and economic instruments needed for a successful company.

– The fast expansion with an increasing number of clients, new business system and of course the coronavirus – which really is the cherry on top – has unfortunately brought some disorder that needs to be sorted out before the new department have time to take its rightful place in the

organization. By then we have an opportunity to support both project leaders and managers, and to help the development of the company, say Per and Christian.

THE NEW ROLE OF THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT – The pleasant challenge in this work is the opportunity to build a functional financial control from the ground up. The finances at this company have been a bit neglected and we look at a department that’s been part of the strategic work. But it’s necessary to keep a close eye on the financial flows in order to develop a company of this scale, explains Per. – And that’s when it’s exciting to work in finance – when you can deliver analyzes of profitability and get involved and develop various aspects of the business. And of course, the challenge here is to get the company on board so we can get started, says Per.

SUPPORT AND HELP – But a finance department also has a supporting function, adds Per and Christian

Per Wargskog and Christian Ottoson

emphasizes that the essences of a finance department is to help: – We will collaborate with project leaders and the aim is, of course, that we all will work together like a well-oiled machine, says Christian.

The transition to the new Maconomy business system over the last year has not been totally painless, as mentioned, and Per and Christian are working on getting familiar with the system and how it can be used at its best.

– The finance system is coming. When everything is up and running it’ll keep a close watch on the cash flows and how each project is working out financially. That will be an asset to both project leaders and company management. I’ve worked on several systems like this before and it’s always a bit slow at first, says Christian.

– There’s so much more to Maconomy than just financial accounting, there are follow-ups for sales, it’s our company’s business system, says Per.

NOK, SEK, CAD, AUD The fact that Telematics is a multi-national company with subsidiaries in Norway, Canada and Australia gives the finance another dimension.

– We now have a consultant who takes care of the Australian company’s finances and another consultant who takes care of the finance of the Canadian business, but we take care of the Norwegian’s financial affairs here in Partille, says Per. – There’re a few different tax regulations and VAT of course, but

Norway and Sweden have also a lot in common, says Christian.

THE FAMILIAR ATMOSPHERE OF SUCCESS Telematics in Partille is a small and flat organization with relatively few employees.

Even if the company offices are a little depopulated due to the coronavirus, Per and Christian have quickly become a part the company culture.

– It feels very familiarly here, you can sit in the canteen and have a chat with whoever, it’s really nice, says Christian.

– It’s an enormously positive company to come become a part of, adds Per. – Yes, it’s like it’s going a bit too well – we’ve not had to worry much about financial follow-up because the money is just pouring in, Per concludes and laughs.

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 59

CONSAT TELEMATICS

60 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

CONSAT TELEMATICS TEXT THOMAS OTTOSSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

WHAT

DO WE DO THAT OTHERS DON’T DO? In these times when we can’t travel nor meet clients, we have a little more time to reflect on what we’re doing and what is ahead of us. As far as I’m concerned, I think about the amount of work, great people and breathtaking feeling when we’ve managed to win a contract, and then the joy once we’ve delivered a functioning system. It’s fantastic that so many small companies are active in such wildly different locations and undertake such exciting projects.

SO HOW DO WE ACTUALLY DO THAT? Why haven’t our competitors managed to do the same thing?

Clearly there is not an easy answer to this question, because if there were, others would have done the same thing. But a few things have been a prerequisite for our success. The soft values such as our fantastic people and strong and forward-thinking owner who showed us that “faith” is the foundation to build everything on. Another essential condition is that we have lived up to our motto – engineers with a passion for technology. We have always allowed the technology and the system to be the focus of what we do. We haven’t invested in advertising, neat presentations, watertight contracts and clever lawyers. We’ve built our brand on a fantastic delivery.

Another thing which makes us stand out from our competitors is our view on

change. Speed and prioritizing are absolutely central in our business model. We can’t package a product, or even several products which we sell to our clients. There quite simply isn’t any product which exactly fulfils the requirements of a procurement with 300 technical and commercial conditions. So, we can’t do as many others do and construct a function, package it, and then sell it. The model works perfectly well if you make a really specialized function or have thousands of customers, instead we try to supply the best compromise for a client who has many broad and wide conditions with many external dependencies.

Those who work at Telematics have often heard me talking about the fact that we are selling a system, which in itself contains products, but are basically designed to be adaptable. Our business can be compared to Skanska or NCC. Nobody CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 61

CONSAT TELEMATICS

“We have always allowed the technology and the system to be the focus of what we do.”

doubts that they can build a bridge- they’ve built thousands of bridges, but they are not product companies who have a particular item number for a particular motorway bridge which can be ordered on their website. On the other hand, their motorway bridges have lampposts and railings which do have item numbers.

To us it means delivering a new system based on something we’ve already done (several hundred thousand engineer hours) and only need to add a few hundred (or several thousand) more in order to implement it for the customer. From a system point of view, 99.9 percent or perhaps 99.9 percent is ready even before the project starts. Furthermore, in the ideal world, most of the hours laid down will be used on improving the system.

In concrete terms: In 2012 we needed to spend 12,000 hours on two Norwegian projects, we rented a house in Bergen and in principle we had two full-time project leaders for one year. In 2020 we started a much more advanced system out in the country in New South Wales, right in the middle of the pandemic and during the worst forest fires for many years. The sector’s biggest players are still where we were in 2012 and they have even thrown down the gauntlet in the Nordic countries.

Bearing in mind how quickly things have moved and how different we are now as opposed to how we were a few years ago, it’s unbelievably rare that I am contacted by dissatisfied customers. The few times it does happen is normally regarding some detail which has gone wrong or a client is concerned about when services commence. On some rare occasion it’s more serious with maybe a larger problem but we have extremely happy clients overall.

So now you know our secrets. Don’t tell anyone :)

62 CONTEXT / #1 / 2020

CONSAT

congrats!

congrats!

congrats!

• • • • •

Adam Armstrong who had a son on 24/1 Jonas Färdig who had a son on 21/2 John Svensson who had a son on 5/3 Stina Jakobsson who had a son on 20/4 Per Bertilsson who had a son on 2/5

• • • • •

Anna Melin who turned 30 years old on 1/3 Ingrid Bogdanovic who turned 30 years old on 6/3 Mats Bernhardson who turned 60 years old on 16/3 Johannes Ohlson who turned 30 years old on 27/4 Julie Lindgren who turned 40 years old on 28/4

• • • •

Iman Farhanieh who had a son on 29/4 Henrik Grahn who had a son on 30/5 Christoffer Ivarsson who had a daughter on 29/6 Natalie Holm Jägerdal who had a daughter on 13/10

• • • • • • • • •

Henrik Grahn who turned 40 years old on 9/6 Amir Skangic who turned 50 years old on 9/6 Martin Hogander who turned 50 years old on 17/6 Andreas Eklöf who turned 40 years old on 20/6 Henrik Larsson who turned 40 years old on 9/7 Anna Thomsen who turned 30 years old on 28/7 Henrik Sälle who turned 50 years old on 30/10 Mattias Johnsson who turned 50 years old on 11/11 Filip Bertilsson who turned 30 years old on 7/12

CONTEXT / #1 / 2020 63

CAREER

COMPANY 1

This is the ninth year in a row that Consat has been named one of Sweden’s top 100 career companies! No other company in history has managed the feat of being selected nine times, let alone in succession.

The justification for choosing us as a Career

With a familiar company structure and opp-

Company of 2021 is as follows:

ortunities for personal development, Consat

“Consat is amongst one of the employers to have been chosen as a Career Company most times over the years. At an early stage Consat understood the importance of employer branding and how to bring their colleagues into

has created a working environment where all employees can feel safe. Through their strong presence at Sweden’s universities Consat has shown that students and young professionals are warmly welcome.

focus. Even today, Consat continues to deliver

Karriärföretagen, therefore, select Consat to be

excellent employer branding work.

one of Sweden’s Career Companies for 2021.”

www.consat.se