Global Footprint Fibox

GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

Finland’s Fibox, one of the largest enclosure manufacturers in the world, is continuing to strengthen its global footprint, as Felicity Landon reports.

FIBOX thrives on harsh environments. A privately owned Finnish company, it is one of the world’s largest enclosure manufacturers and the market leader in thermoplastic enclosures used for protecting electrical and electronic components.

“We produce everything connected to enclosures and related products and accessories and the focus for us is hostile and demanding environments – i.e. protecting sensitive components against fire, ice, explosion and impact,” says CEO Esa Siljander. “Cabinets and enclosures are our sole focus and we are continually developing new products.”

There is a huge amount of detail involved in creating the solutions Fibox’s customers need. Mr Siljander says: “What we want to do is make difficult into easy for our customers. If you compare us to the multibillion corporations, it’s easy to see the difference. Enclosures might be part of their offering, but they will be one of the 10,000 or 20,000 items they produce, so there is not so much focus.”

Fibox, a privately owned company, is based at Espoo, outside Helsinki. It has three production plants in Finland, and others in Germany, Poland, China and South Korea. Importantly, the company has a multichannel approach to selling its products, supplying manufacturers and customers direct and also selling through distributors. That, says Mr Siljander, is the best way to get to the various markets. In all, Fibox has 10 service centres in Europe, the US, China and South Korea, and distributor partners throughout the rest of the world.

The company’s customers are mainly from a handful of major industry sectors – renewable energy and energy-saving technologies, water and waste water, traffic and transportation, and data networks. It does not supply products to the offshore oil and gas industry, but Fibox products are being used in the demanding onshore and offshore wind energy sector. “Renewable energy overall is a very big and growing sector for us,” says Mr Siljander.

Leading the industry

Fibox has more than 40 years of experience in product development. In the 1960s it introduced the first modular enclosures injection moulded from polycarbonate plastic, kick-starting a new era in electrical panel building. Today its range features more than 800 different standard enclosures made of polycarbonate, ABS, fibreglass and aluminium. Enclosures can therefore be delivered in standard off-the-shelf configurations or customised to exact specifications.

The company is seen as an industry leader in developing both new products and new technologies for moulding thermoplastic enclosures. Its MNX enclosure is the first to use direct injection of the enclosure gasket materials during the body moulding process – this ensures precision moulding of the gasket,

guaranteeing superior enclosure protection ratings. Fibox remains the only manufacturer to apply this technology to enclosures.

Another example of Fibox’s innovative approach is its emphasis on multiple slide technology for mould construction. This is more expensive but provides OEM customers with cost-effective alternatives for modifying standard enclosures to meet their specific needs.

Product development takes two paths. First, Fibox anticipates the needs of the market and develops solutions that will cater for developing and varying needs. Second, it works with customers to develop specific solutions to meet their needs.

Current development work includes a new range of wall-mounted cabinets.

“Our priority is to expand our offering, providing more sizes and designs to cater for a large variety of needs,” says Mr Siljander. “That is in response to our customers. Basically, customers want all their needs met by one supplier rather than by two or three, so we must position ourselves to be able to meet that need.”

Continued expansion

While 2013 will see a strong focus on expanding the product offering, the second important action will be adding more automation in Fibox’s western European

factories, in order to gain more productivity, quality and efficiency, he says.

The company has expanded significantly since the turn of the century, including through the acquisition of Tamplast Oy, a Finnish company specialised in designing high-precision plastic moulds and injection moulding, and then the acquisition of Haloset Team Oy, a company specialising in the design, assembly and manufacture of electrical and electronic control systems.

At present, Europe is the company’s biggest market. “But we are also looking for significant growth in China and the US, both very important markets for us,” says Mr Siljander.

India is set to become another major market. About a year ago, Fibox started the process of setting up a sales operation in India, and eventually the plan is to set up production there as well, he says. Elsewhere, the company has also added a sales operation in Japan.

The most important sources of growth will be continued technological innovation and developing new solutions, and finding new customers and creating solutions for them, he adds.

“Our ambitions are clear. We are striving to be the leading player in our market sector, and we believe we can be that. We have a global footprint now – and we are going to strengthen that footprint.” n