Beijer Electronics: People & Technology Connected Leads Industry Innovation
Interview with Kristine Lindberg, CEO of Beijer Electronics, and Yves Li, Sales Director for China Region.
Today, we are embracing a brand-new era of "widespread connectivity." Empowered by new technologies, the connection between devices allows for more transparent and seamless information flow, while the integration of IT and OT makes industries more innovative and efficient.
So, for a company that embraces and champions the concept of "People & Technology Connected" as its corporate philosophy, what innovative value can it bring to the industry? With this question in mind, Control Engineering interviewed Kristine Lindberg, CEO of Beijer Electronics, and Yves Li, Sales Director for the China region, to share insights into Beijer's industry innovation strategy and prospects of this company's core mission of connecting people and technology.
Rooted in the Nordic region, connecting people and technology are two core pillars of value.
With a history spanning over forty years, Beijer Electronics, a company from the Nordic region with its headquarters in Malmö, Sweden, has been a pioneer in industrial automation. Beijer Electronics' enduring presence in industrial markets across the Americas, Europe, and Asia is a testament to its stability and unwavering expertise. With a deep understanding of trends in industrial automation technology and innovation, Beijer Electronics upholds its corporate creed of connecting people and technology.
Kristine Lindberg, CEO of Beijer Electronics, remarked, "We believe that achieving the connection between people and technology implies a dual significance in the relationship between humans and technology.” Under Lindberg's leadership, the company has been committed to developing and providing solutions that seamlessly connect people and technology." Based on this principle, Beijer Electronics focuses on three major innovative areas: visualization, automation, and digitalization. It provides solutions that combine hardware and software capabilities and actively leverage its expertise to transform data into valuable insights.
Kristine Lindberg underscores the importance of technological research and development (R&D) and innovation in maintaining a leading position and staying relevant. Therefore, Beijer Electronics has been progressively increasing its investment in R&D with a specific focus on software development, assuring its audience of its future readiness and adaptability. In her perspective, software capability has become a game-changer for Beijer Electronics, enabling it to truly add value and assist customers in meeting future demands.
Beijer Electronics' successful acquisition of Smart HMI GmbH in Germany last year is a prime example of its innovative strategy. This strategic move has enriched Beijer Electronics' portfolio with a company specializing in web-based visualization software. Smart HMI's WebIQ software platform offers comprehensive functionality for creating industrial web HMIs, making it a forward-looking visualization platform that aligns perfectly with Beijer Electronics' commitment to innovation.
This web-based visualization software offers unique solutions to the common pain points many manufacturing enterprises share. It efficiently integrates IT and OT, providing data visualization support and supplements for MES systems, leading to significant cost savings. Its adaptability is particularly valuable when dealing with various automation systems and devices, each with its own hardware, communication protocols, and programming methods. The software excels in flexible and efficient cross-platform data collection and visualization in these cases.
Beijer Electronics understands that an active talent strategy is a core pillar, just like technological innovation, and is highly valued. Kristine Lindberg has shared, ”We have over 100 dedicated R&D employees, including personnel focusing on proprietary technology and products, as well as professional consultants from different fields. This wealth of talent, combined with our highly skilled and experienced engineering staff, allows us to provide superior technical and application support to our customers at various pre- and post-sales stages, confidently meeting their diverse needs.”
Grounded in the industry, innovating to support the transformation and upgrading of Chinese enterprises.
Based on these two core pillars of value, Beijer Electronics delivers innovative achievements across various industries. Yves Li, the Sales Director of Beijer Electronics in China, explained that in the Chinese market, Beijer Electronics mainly focuses on industries or applications, including the maritime and manufacturing sectors.
As one of Beijer Electronics' traditionally strong target industries, the focus of the maritime industry has gradually shifted from Northern Europe to East Asia in recent years, particularly with China gaining increasing competitive advantages. Beijer Electronics products can effectively meet the evolving needs of this industry. Yves Li cited an example where, in line with the sustainable development strategy focusing on "dual carbon" targets, environmental protection has become a growing concern for customers in the maritime industry. More environmentally friendly ships using green energy are applying Beijer Electronics' products and solutions to support their power management and energy data visualization.
In response to China's vast manufacturing market, Beijer Electronics has made significant progress in emerging fields such as lithium batteries, photovoltaics, and wind power while investing in diverse sectors like food and beverage packaging, pharmaceutical machinery, and intelligent logistics. Yves Li explained that collaborative research and customer development are significant advantages for Beijer Electronics in these industry sectors. The result is innovative outcomes for customers' production lines and equipment, supporting their transformation, upgrading, or efficiency improvement efforts.
For example, in the strategically important emerging industry of semiconductors, Beijer Electronics is actively assisting manufacturers in digitizing their plant management systems to enhance their semiconductor manufacturing yield. Yves Li mentioned that in the past, improving yield for semiconductor manufacturers primarily focused on improving critical process equipment. However, with the industry continuously pursuing excellence, visualizing and effectively running plant management systems are becoming new areas for yield potential. These new areas reflect new case models where Beijer Electronics provides innovative value to its users.
In addition to these key focus industries, Beijer Electronics has unique expertise in applying rugged products. These products can withstand harsh environments, including extreme temperatures and high vibrations, as well as special situations, such as high UV exposure and hazardous areas.
Envisioning the future, depicting a global development landscape with opportunities in China.
Looking ahead, Beijer Electronics is full of confidence and enthusiasm for further deepening its presence in the Chinese market.
As Kristine Lindberg mentioned: "China is the world's second-largest economy, with a vast and expansive automation market, including human-machine interfaces. Facing this continuously expanding market, Beijer Electronics will continue to prioritize human-machine interfaces as a crucial component of our product portfolio. We will continue to invest in our employees, professional capabilities, and technological strength to ensure that we can continuously meet the needs of Chinese customers."
As the head of the China business, Yves Li also sees China's unique significance in Beijer Electronics' future development. He pointed out: "In recent years, we have seen the increasing innovation capabilities of Chinese companies going global. Beijer Electronics can support these innovative Chinese enterprises venturing onto the global stage through close collaboration, agile responsiveness, and global support capabilities in product supply, certification, and compliance. In the future, the demand from emerging industry markets in China will continue to translate into new software functionalities, opening up new horizons for Beijer Electronics' global product innovation."
