The power of the switch The Switch

THE POWER OF THE SWITCH

Founded in Vantaa, Finland, in 2006 following the collaboration of three industry players, The Switch was built on the promise of serving as an effective platform for the products and services needed by the major companies in the field of renewable energy.

CEO Jukka-Pekka Makinen has been active in the industry since 1986 and has many longstanding relationships with key figures. He told Industry Europe how The Switch has been successful in delivering its promise because The Switch has always been customerfocused. He said, “Our deep experience of the renewable energy industry has allowed us to ensure that we deliver exactly what customers want. By understanding our customers and their challenges we can utilise the advanced technology we have developed to provide better system efficiency. Our customer-based operational model means that we are also willing to create a jointly beneficial business model with our customers.”

Describing itself as a ‘naturally unique company’, The Switch is rapidly pushing forward as the leading force in supplying permanent magnet generators (PMG) and full-power converters (FPC) to make power generation with renewable energy more efficient. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to CEO Jukka-Pekka Makinen to see how this is being achieved.

Advanced and sustainable

The Switch is a supplier of permanent magnet generators (PMG) and full power converters (FPC) to customers worldwide. As the market leader in FPC and the creator and manufac-

turer of the world’s largest direct-drive PMG in 2005, The Switch also offers the world’s widest product range in the field. Mr Makinen continued, “We recently launched our FusionDrive™ range at Husum. FusionDrive™ is a unique example of an intelligently integrated gear and generator combination. We believe this type of layout will be the future of our industry, as it allows compact machines and advanced serviceability to be established in the design. Most of the top turbine manufacturers are giving serious consideration to FusionDrive™, so we are very positive about the future.”

This positivity is also reflected in Mr Makinen’s explanation of The Switch’s scalable production concept. This clever concept is already allowing the company to maximise its rapid growth potential worldwide, whilst protecting the quality and performance of its products and production. He said, “Our scalable production concept is a real differentiator. It allows us to quickly and effectively set up a production site wherever there is demand. This means that we can stay close to the locations where demand is increasing and be wherever the market needs us. Perhaps the most important aspect of this is that we maintain total quality control through our unique Model Factory concept which fully supports our customers to ramp up or down in a flexible manner. We guarantee all aspects of the production, how the technology will be provided and implemented, all the associated capabilities and so on. It is very exciting and very customer-focused.”

Greater global reach

The ever-increasing geographical reach of The Switch certainly benefits from its scalable production concept. As it researches new markets and identifies potential partners, the company is able to move quickly to deliver effective solutions. With offices in nine countries and a growing presence worldwide, The Switch employs sophisticated sales and marketing to ensure it continues to ‘be wherever the market needs us’.

Mr Makinen continued, “We are a very agile company. China has always been and remains an important market for us, particularly as it sees an increase in the understanding of the benefits of renewable energy at a time when its energy consumption is growing rapidly. Denmark and Germany are also key markets. We work with such major players as wind power giant Goldwind and Prokon, amongst others. On the industrial side some of our customers include MAN Turbo and Diesel and the Finnish vacuum pump manufacturer Runtech.”

As the turbine manufacturing industry is relatively small, Mr Makinen appreciates that the majority of important industry players are already well-aware of The Switch and the advantages it offers. Consequently, The Switch’s marketing activities are primarily focused on strengthening its message. He explained how this is achieved, “We regularly attend industry trade fairs and exhibitions and we are active in relevant local marketing in each of our territories. It’s a mainly businessto-business focus regarding wind turbine manufacturers, but we are also keen to start a dialogue with machine builders in the fields of solar, marine and other high-speed applications as we know they could benefit from the advantages offered by The Switch.” Time to make The Switch

The strengthening of The Switch’s message is ably supported by the proven benefits of its product range. Depending on the location of the turbine, adding one of its products can make it up to 8 per cent more effective in terms of energy production per annum. As the company looks forward to the future, it aims to ensure that potential customers are aware of this considerable benefit, both in terms of cost reduction and of the environmental and sustainable advantages of utilising more efficient renewable energy sources. Mr Makinen concluded, “We are actively monitoring opportunities in a wide range of businesses in the global marketplace and we are ready to move quickly when markets open up. The wind business has only been the first opening for us but we know that this is just the start, so we are very excited about the future.” n