eLPRess AIMING FOR New TARGeTs TO ReACh The TOP!

Issue 2 2014
MEMBER OF LAGERCRANTZ GROUP
product news
news
ERGOCOM
PAGE 6
New CEO at Elpress
Com
pet
itio
n
Win a
winter
kit
Finance department
Pag
e
Purchasing department
Elpress aiming
for new targets to
reach the top!
Mattias Östman, new Elpress CEO
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Issue 2 2014
"Elpress will be one of the world's
leading organisations for connectors"
He's very familiar with our core business, Elpress' new CEO Mattias Östman has set his sights high for
the company. He has personally played an active part in the incredible development seen by Elpress
over the past few years.
T
he first time Mattias came into
contact Elpress was when he
was doing his degree. In those
days, Elpress awarded scholarships to
students who were studying technical
subjects and doing particularly well.
"Of course, this was a pleasant surprise. I received a phone call not long afterwards, offering me a permanent position in production. And that was how I
began my career at Elpress," he relates.
He was accepted at the Royal Institute
of Technology the following year, and
then came a number of years of study
and degree-related work. As a newly
graduated MSc and MBA, he began looking for jobs in 2003; and contacting Elpress was a natural next step for him.
To reach the top,
you have to
look down first
"I was given a completely new role
within the company, as a project manager for implementation of the new business system."
He has held a number of different roles
within the organisation since then. In his
capacity as product manager, marketing
manager and site manager, he's made a
name for himself as a driven person who
gets things done.
"My ambition is for Elpress to be one
of the world's leading organisations for
connectors. Elpress is aiming for new
targets in order to reach the top. But
to reach the top, we always have to be
aware of our history, learn from our earlier mistakes and make the most of the
Product manager, marketing manager, site manager and now CEO.
Mattias Östman's knowledge and experience from his previous
areas of responsibility will come in very handy in his new position as CEO.
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Wholesalers Nordic
Anders Tångring
Elpress is optimising
its product portfolio
for electrical installers
and power stations
and reviewing our
logistics solutions.
Distributors
Carsten Mathiesen
The interaction
between Elpress and
our distributors is
characterised by a
lot of scope for both
parties to set high
standards. The right
partners communicate the Elpress
system and quality awareness, and
in return we give them the right
platform to succeed.
Global Segments
Jakob Sandwall
Serving segment
customers in the Renewable Energy, Traction, Automotive and
Electrical Machines
segments. Concluding
global agreements
and customising technical solutions
for electrical connections.
Business Development
Andreas Sjöholm
Developing new
business, devising the
right product offers
for customers and
providing commercial and technical
support for our three
business areas and our customers.
Elpress has
incredibly talented
and loyal staff
"Now our sales organisation is becoming even more customer-focused and
dynamic, and it's providing the right support and product ranges to the right target groups."
Mattias Östman suggests that Elpress
has become even better at dealing with
the market over the years.
"Elpress is a more modern, more competitive company nowadays. We've made
a lot of progress, not least as regards marketing. One major success factor is that
we've managed to boost System Elpress
and and developed concepts for working with training and service. Moreover,
we've continued to focus on our work
with global segments so that we can offer the right products to the right target
groups more clearly. The new business
areas will make it even clearer for customers who they should consult within
our organisation," says Mattias.
But no matter who they consult, he
knows they'll receive the best possible
treatment.
"Elpress has incredibly talented and
loyal staff, and to be honest that's the
main reason why I accepted this job," he
says.
Page 3
Lars Tjärnström
JUST A MINUTE
Business areas
knowledge we've gained from our successes," says Mattias.
Elpress will achieve enhanced growth
by means of a broader product range and
local representatives in more locations
throughout the world.
"Essentially, we have to understand our
customers' applications and immerse ourselves in the technical issues so that we
can come up with solutions which allow
us to resolve a problem for the customer.
We're working ever more extensively in
each segment in this way as regards both
products and services".
Jakob Sandwall has been recruited as
the new business area manager for Global
Segments.
Segment manager
Traction
You're the new segment manager for
Traction. Tell us a bit about yourself.
I used to work with railways, I'm
an electrical engineer by training
but I've been working as a project
manager over the past five years,
at companies such as Infranord. In
other words, I'm very familiar with
the processes in the field, and
now I'm looking forward to learning
more about rolling stock – I've not
worked with it all that much so far.
Has your view of the Elpress brand
altered since you took over the job?
Elpress is a brand undergoing
strong growth, with a bright future,
and I was expecting a lot from the
company in terms of both quality
and expertise. These expectations
were already surpassed in my very
first week, when I was given a in
in-depth tour of the company. Not
least, I was impressed by the high
level of technical knowledge which
everyone has, no matter what
their position within the company.
Moreover, people listen with genuine curiosity to what customers
want and want to change. Nothing
is left to chance when it comes to
viewing and attempting to resolve
customers' problems.
What do you think your biggest
challenge will be?
Taking over from Leif Lundberg is
a huge responsibility, and I'm really grateful to him for shadowing
me until the summer. Initially I'll
be dealing with the areas where I
feel most at home, before gradually getting involved in new areas
of responsibility and establishing
contact with customers both old
and new.
www.elpress.net
Issue 2 2014
From left: Aina Höglund, Christina Forsgren, Pia Högström, Sara Sondell, Eva Edlund, Susanne Öberg, Susanne Ulander
and Christine Jonsson. Cecilia Persson, Daniel Forsman and Kicki Viklund are missing from the photo.
taking the next step
The Elpress finance department has undergone a generation shift over the past year.
"Elpress is a modern company in which we now have the scope to take the next step in terms of the
company's support processes," reckons Pia Högström, the new Head of Finance, IT and HR.
"
Wow!"
That was what Pia Högström
thought when she became
more closely acquainted with Elpress.
"An industrial company that's devising concepts unique to customers and
systems that are based on knowledge
and service. This is just the right time
for selling high-quality products globally, in combination with the service
concept. However, in practice few companies have made as much progress as
Elpress," she reckons.
She's worked with high-quality products and services for much of her professional life, including ten years at
KRAV as Head of Group Finance, where
much of her success involved finding
new ways for manufacturers and consumers to communicate.
"The challenge is the same regardless of industry. You have to penetrate
a wide range of products and find the
customers who understand that Elpress
takes responsibility for customer profitability over time, even if the cost is perhaps a bit higher initially. The needs of
our customers and our own production
are so close together that we can quickly find new solutions without losing our
systems expertise. Relative prices are
about to be re-evaluated throughout
the world, so guaranteeing function
over time and buying in-depth knowl-
edge are being valued more and more
highly."
Since Pia Högström took over the position six months ago, an annual plan
has been devised with a view to assuring the quality of deliveries from the
company's supporting processes. First
up will be the introduction of a scanning solution for supplier invoices.
In our group, we have
to make it easier for
others at Elpress to
serve our customers.
"As Elpress is growing, so the numbers
of incoming invoices are increasing. This
is why we're introducing a case management system which will interpret flows
and code invoices. Digital invoice flows
make life easier in a number of ways,
and Elpress in Denmark and Germany
will be using the same solution too.
For me, the important thing now is to
make the most of all the knowledge we
have within the new group. IT support is
good as it naturally involves upgrading
of working practices," she reckons.
There are always new areas to imPage 4
prove, particularly within a growing organisation.
"Traditionally, many companies are
good at setting up targets and following up profitability, but they haven't
made as much progress on following up
results in respect of internal service supplies and customer satisfaction. As an
MBA, I've been working since the 1990s
on quality management systems and
balanced scorecards in both industry
and service production. These are good
internal aids for guaranteeing results in
everything we do. Elpress is a long way
out in front as regards products and production. In our group, we have to make
it easier for others at Elpress to serve
our customers. To do this efficiently, we
have to carry on with the standardisation work that's taking place within the
Elpress group. The IT department is out
in front in this regard," summarises Pia
Högström. In the long run, of course,
customers are the ones who stand to
gain from the improvements we make.
"End products aren't the only thing
that are important to our customers.
Our solutions should improve and simplify their lives. Just as we measure the
reliability of our deliveries to customers
at present, so we should set targets and
follow up in a way which more than represents our customer-oriented working
methods," she says.
product
modifications
Several quality enhancements for V1311, V1311C
E
lpress is constantly working to
develop and improve the quality of its products.
A major initiative was completed recently which involved making our trusty
old hand tool, the V1311 (V1311C), both
more efficient to manufacture and more
reliable to operate. A steel forging that
was difficult to machine has been replaced by a high-strength aluminium
alloy where the pump housing itself can
be completely finished in a single operation in our state-of-the-art multi-operation lathe. Lead times can therefore
be shortened and we can achieve con-
siderably safer processing results. This,
together with a series of other detailed
improvements to this hand tool, will enhance its overall quality. It has also been
made 25% lighter, making the tool more
ergonomic to use. To mark the new generation, the new tools are being called
V1311-A and V1311C-A (the C variant).
The products will retain their previous
E-numbers.
This is one example in a long line of
measures implemented to both adapt
our products to modern manufacturing methods and enhance quality at the
same time.
V1311-A
V1311-A
Improvement of CUT sleeves
F
ollowing requests from our
customers, we've upgraded our
CUT sleeves so that they now
have the same surface treatment as our
other splice sleeves. This means that as
of now, all our CUT sleeves will be tinplated, and not unplated as they were
before. We'll also be heat-treating the
sleeves to make them a bit softer. These
measures will give our customers better
products which are considerably easier
to crimp.
The products affected are:
Elpress designationElpress item number
CUT6
CUT10
CUT16
7303-020400
7303-020500
7303-020600
Trainee programme
– a success
W
hen Elpress was looking for
a production engineer in the
spring, lots of applications
were received – but no applicants were
from Kramfors, where Elpress' core business is based.
"We know from experience that people who have to travel a long way to
work rarely stay in the job long," says
Torbjörn Norell, Head of Production.
He started to eye his talented, loyal
staff in production. Why not invest in
some training for one of these faithful
friends instead?
No sooner said than done. Torbjörn
Norell devised a custom trainee pro-
gramme and ran an internal process to
gauge interest.
"We received a lot of applications for
the position. They all had to complete
conventional recruitment tests, and
that allowed us to single out a production engineer and a production planner," he says.
Mikael Sahlberg jumped at the chance
when the offer was extended to him.
"I've been working here for 30 years,
and this really feels like a new start. I'm
still not really used to sitting in front of
a computer all day long, but I'm finding
the time passes a lot faster," he says.
Much of his training will be taking
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place at head office in Kramfors in the
autumn, but some of the courses have
been outsourced.
A similar arrangement is in place for
Anna Jonsson, who's training to become a production planner after a year
at Elpress.
"I felt I was ready for a challenge, and
I'm pleased Elpress decided to make
the most of in-house potential. This
sends out an important signal to all of
us working here, that there are internal
career paths for us," she says.
www.elpress.net
Issue 2 2014
Start/Stop
product
ft
So
news
p
gri
360° rotation
ty
afe
e
tub
S
Two len
gth
position
s
ergonomic control handle for hydraulic crimp heads
I
n 2012, Elpress began project
work together with a student
studying Industrial Design at
Mid Sweden University. This project involved devising a more ergonomic, userfriendly handle for our crimp heads.
The handle that used to be used with
Elpress portable hydraulic systems has
been in use for several decades. The handle was made from cast metal which was
then lacquered and machined in cutting
machines before external components
were fitted and a hose pack was pressed
on. The finished hose pack with a handle
was then connected to a hydraulic pump
and the required crimp head was fitted
with a thread in the handle.
This solution meant a lot of strain
on operators when used. Moreover, the
typical operator performs a number of
crimping operations during the working
day, which is why the demand for ergonomic working increased.
The main aim of the project was to
develop and improve the ergonomic and
practical criteria for operators with a
view to reducing repetitive strain injury
and increasing efficiency. Offsetting the
handle's centre of gravity gave the results we were looking for; considerably
improved ergonomics.
After a series of prototypes, tests and
analysis, the solution was born: the ER-
CAD images from the development
process.
Lots of sketches and drawings were
produced throughout the project in order to come up with the best solution.
GOCOM handle, which combines ergonomics with flexibility so that users can
work on the basis of the best possible
criteria in all positions. Strain on users
fell by no less than 30%, and even more
in some situations. The symmetrical design means that this handle is suitable
for everyone, no matter whether they're
righthanded or lefthanded. Users don't
need to move their grip when they operate this handle, they can just maintain
a firm grip the whole time.
The Elpress ERGOCOM replaces the
earlier signal cable with wireless communication via Bluetooth. The Elpress
ERGOCOM with wireless communication is supplied with PS710E hydraulic
pumps. For existing users of the PS710E,
a wired version of the ergonomic handle
is available which is called PS710E ERGO.
The wired variant PS710R ERGO is available for the PS710R hydraulic pump.
Wireless communication with
hydraulic pump PS710E
offset centre of gravity = better ergonomics
wireless communication via Bluetooth
flexible – adjustable handle
handle also available with signal cable
Page 6
Good forecasts
for Elpress
The number of products in the portfolio is gradually increasing, as is the amount of copper and
aluminium we receive. This all points to one thing: Elpress is growing.
Nowhere is this more apparent than at the purchasing department in Kramfors.
I
t always starts off with a customer order.
"Every customer order generates a need in production. To be able to
manufacture a new product, we have to
top up our stock of raw materials and
our suppliers have delivery times of six
to eight weeks," says Lars Eriksson, Head
of Purchasing at Elpress.
His working day involves lots of assumptions and forecasts, because Elpress in turn supplies stock goods within ten days and custom products within
six to eight weeks, depending on the
product and the agreement with the
customer.
"Essentially, it's all about guaranteeing
the receipt of goods but keeping stocks as
low as possible and still being able to offer customers reliable deliveries," he says.
How can you successfully achieve such a
balancing act?
"Planning communication. It's all about
teamwork. We hold internal planning
meetings at regular intervals where we
estimate what's going to happen in the
immediate future. We discuss all kinds
of issues here: the market situation, coverage, capacity and availability of raw
materials. All departments have to work
together, and issues have to be communicated throughout the entire organisation," reckons Lars.
He's responsible for primary planning,
with the aim of ensuring that Elpress
always offers the right capacity for the
right things. Specifically, this requires
involvement in the entire flow, from
receipt of raw materials to the delivery
of finished products to customers. He's
also responsible – together with Gunilla
Lindgren and Erik Vallin, his colleagues at
the purchasing department – for keeping tabs on stock levels in the finished
goods warehouse.
In our record year,
2008, we used
715 tonnes of copper
Erik Vallin and Gunilla Lindgren.
Page 7
"Of course, the fact that our core business is centred in one geographical location and that we maintain long-term
partnerships with almost 200 suppliers
does make things easier," he says.
Several key suppliers are actually the
same now as they were more than twenty years ago, when Lars Eriksson started
working at Elpress. But raw material volumes have increased enormously.
"We started documenting raw material volumes back in 1997, and in that year
we used about 270 tonnes of copper.
Last year, we used about 700 tonnes, and
in our record year, 2008, we used about
715 tonnes of copper," he says.
All suppliers hold accreditation to both
environmental and quality standards
such as ISO9000 and ISO14000.
www.elpress.net
Future TRADE FAIRS
25-27 November 2014
Nuremberg, Germany
28-29 January 2015
Verkosto, Finland
Popular stands at
spring and autumn fairs
E
lpress has been involved in a number of
trade fairs all over the world throughout
the year. One recurring theme at all our
trade fairs has been the presentation of System
Elpress to our customers, showing them what the
various system elements involved.
El & Teknik is one of the major Danish trade
fairs and is located in Odense. We presented System Elpress at this fair, along with our range of
bolt connections, which attracted a lot of interest
among visitors.
At CWIEME, Coil and Winding in Berlin, a trade
fair for the Electrical Machines segment, we presented our newly developed aluminium range and
the battery-operated crimp tool PV130L, which
enticed lots of customers to our stand.
Innotrans, another segment fair focusing on
Traction, was held in Berlin in late September,
and this was really successful. There was a huge
amount of interest in System Railbond and Elpress steel cable terminals for aluminium cables,
and we received lots of interesting enquiries to
take back with us.
While Innotrans was taking place, Elpress was
also present at the Wind Energy trade fair in
Hamburg, where we presented our splice sleeves
and bimetal cable terminals which are used in
wind turbine towers, along with the associated
crimp gun PVL1300DUAL.
Answer our four questions correctly for the chance to win a
winter kit consisting of a warm hat, ice scraper and reflective
strip. We'll be giving away three kits to correct entries.
COM
PETITI
ON
QUESTIONS
1. What are the main Global Segments that Elpress works with?
1. Military, Finance, Space Science
X. Transportation, Computer electronics, Pharmaceuticals
2. Renewable Energy, Electrical Machines, Automotive, Traction
2. The new Elpress ergonomic handle ERGOCOM considerably reduces strain on
the user, but by how much?
1. reduces strain by 30%
X. reduces strain by 50%
2. reduces strain by 75%
3. How much copper did Elpress use in 1997?
1. around 700 tonnes of copper
X. around 270 tonnes of copper
2. around 715 tonnes of copper
4. Which of the following is true of Elpress CUT sleeves?
1. the product has been improved because it's now tin-plated and heat-treated
X. the product has been improved because it's now made in a different length
2. the product has been improved because it's now made of aluminium
Send your fax your answers by 30 November to: ELPRESS AB, Box 186, SE-872 24
Kramfors, Sweden. Fax no. +46 612 71 71 51. The correct answers and names of
our winners will be published on our website www.elpress.net on 4 December.
Name
Company
Address
Postal code
Location
Country
Tel.
E-mail
Staff news
This is just
the right time for
selling high-quality
products globally, in
combination with the
service concept.
Manager Traction Segment
Business Area Manager Global Segments
CFO – Finance, HR, IT
Lars Tjärnström
Tel. + 46 612 71 71 54
[email protected]
Jakob Sandwall
Tel. + 46 612 71 71 75
[email protected]
Pia Högström
Tel. + 46 612 71 71 19
[email protected]
Pia Högström
Elpress AB, P.O. Box 186, SE-872 24 KRAMFORS, Sweden. Tel. +46 612 71 71 00, e-mail: [email protected], www.elpress.net
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