Leading the revolution in ‘cleantech’ applications

LEADING THE REVOLUTION

IN ‘CLEANTECH’ APPLICATIONS

Cencorp is a global technology leader in the field of laser and industrial automation solutions. Philip Yorke talked to Iikka Savisalo, the company’s CEO, about its transition from an automation systems solutions provider, to a broader based company that provides ‘cleantech’ applications. The report also includes details of the company’s acquisition of the leading photovoltaic company, Sunweb Solar.

Cencorp Corporation was founded in 1978 and is a leading provider of laser and industrial automation solutions. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Finnish Savcor Group, which is listed on the Helsinki and Australian stock exchanges. Savcor is a global supplier of technology involved in the maintenance of infrastructure, buildings, marine structures and waste water, as well as having industrial assets in the process industries, including mining, power and oil and gas.

Today Cencorp’s corporate offices are located in Mikkeli, Finland, with sales and manufacturing facilities in Finland, China, North America, France and Estonia. The company also has regional sales and service centres in North America, China and Europe.

Today as well as being a technology leader in the supply of laser and industrial automation solutions, Cencorp also produces special components for mobile phones, cameras, laptop computers and other electronic devices.

Transition offers new ‘cleantech’ solutions

Cencorp is known worldwide as a company that specialises in production automation systems and special components for a diverse range of manufacturing and electronics industries. However, in a strategic move to optimise its strengths in laser and automation technology, it is today in transition to become a company that also provides advanced ‘cleantech’ applications. The company’s main objective is to achieve a strong market position as a leading provider of high-quality photovoltaic modules that are locally produced by leveraging its laser and automation technology.

To accelerate this change, in January this year, Cencorp and Sunweb Energy Holding BV (Sunweb Solar) of the Netherlands, completed a transaction in which Cencorp acquired Sunweb’s photovoltaic module business and related pilot production lines, as well as its trademarks and other intellectual property rights. Cencorp’s goal is to build its own dedicated photovoltaic module factory in Mikkeli, Finland, based upon its well-proven engineering and automation know-how. This will result in the most advanced and efficient photovoltaic production plant in the world, taking Cencorp to the forefront of technology leaders in its field. At the time of going to press, Cencorp has already received its first batch of orders for its advanced photovoltaic modules and anticipates sales in the first year to exceed €50 million.

Mr Savisalo said, “We have taken this strategic step to leap-frog the competition and we will be redesigning everything inhouse, so we will end up with a fully auto-

mated, highly efficient facility that will be capable of producing more than 500,000 units per year. Our advanced automation systems play a crucial role in offering big improvements in quality and consistency on which we can build world-beating modules for our clients.

“These are designer-led products which will make them the most desirable on the market. We will be producing these stateof-the-art photovoltaic modules in Finland because, with the high levels of automation involved, labour costs are no longer an issue. Our products can all be produced without the need for manual labour. Furthermore, unlike most of our competitors, our products are lead-free, making them even more attractive to the commercial market.

“We also do the complete technology transfer to our local partners, so that our high-quality modules can be produced close to the locations of our global clients. We have ambitious targets and anticipate a turnover for this sector of more than €200 million by the year 2016. As far as the future is concerned, we will continue to see strong organic growth, but we will keep our eyes open for the right acquisitions should they present themselves.”

Delivering speed, quality and cost efficiency

Cencorp currently operates three distinct centres of excellence: automation applications, laser applications and special components. In its automation applications division, Cencorp’s mission is to offer highperformance automation with consistent quality that benefits its customers through improved efficiency and cost-reduction. Today, Cencorp can offer solutions that include the accomplishment of tasks that are impossible to perform manually to meet challenging client specifications. These challenges arise as products continue to provide more functionality whilst their size continues to decrease. Therefore they become too small to produce without the implementation of high-precision automation technology.

Cencorp’s advanced automation technology offers customers greater assembly reliability, labour savings, assembly yield improvements and savings in floor space as well as the optimisation of production processes.

In laser applications too, Cencorp’s workstations are designed to meet the specific needs of each customer. These high-tech workstations are available as standard units or as custom-built designs, and provide laser marking, laser cutting and laser welding, as well as laser drilling and laser micromachining functions.

At Cencorp’s component production plants in Beijing and Guangzhou the company’s production technologies are designed for high-volume runs to meet the needs of the expanding consumer electronics industry. Cencorp works with the world’s leading brand owners and OEM manufacturing companies, to offer them EMI shielding, RFD and flexible antennas, as well as a diverse range of product decorations. Mr Savisalo added, “Currently we are serving more than 2000 active customers, mainly in the electronics manufacturing sector, and these include the giants of the consumer electronics industry, companies such as Nokia and Ericsson.” n

For further details of Cencorp’s high-tech products and services visit: www.cencorp.com