Automation
The birth of the Automation unit
For the brand-new Automation unit, 2021 was an eventful year. Having been in the works for some time, the new unit saw the light of day in June, and now combines all of VEO’s automation knowledge under one umbrella. While reorganising and finding the right people for the right roles takes a lot of effort, the benefits of one single automation unit are several:
“Bringing together our automation experience, processes, and tools into one organisation makes us more efficient. Instead of developing our offering for separate needs in separate business units, we can now offer a well-working cross function for all our clients’ needs”, says Mats Warg, Director Automation.
Development work in hybridisation solutions and cyber security
As most of VEO’s deliveries contain automation, the Automation unit holds a strategically important position inside the company, working as “the spider in the web”, as Warg calls it. In 2021, this position led to many interesting development projects, such as hybridisations controls, which facilitate the use of two power sources. Here, VEO’s R&D work included tests and simulations, which will result in complex controls soon to be fitted into pilot projects. In this work, Warg sees plenty of potential:
“There are a lot of possibilities related to hybridisation, which we can build on from a strategic point of view, e.g., in our service-based business, predictive maintenance, and IoT.”
In addition to hybridisation, Warg highlights cyber security as an important theme of development during 2021 in the Automation unit. The unit put internal effort on acquiring the ISO 27001 information security management certificate, but also continued to supply clients with cyber secure solutions.
“Cyber security is a continuous process. Our large clients are fully aware of their needs, and their demands are tough and on the right level. But smaller players, like municipalities, have limited knowledge in this matter. We as a supplier have the responsibility to point out cyber vulnerabilities and offer solutions that might be more expensive but will help clients in the end.”
State-of-the-art R&D put into practice
VEO’s automation successes were several in 2021. Close to VEO’s headquarters in Vaasa, the team worked on building a high-end automation system and a customised control system for Wärtsilä’s new engine testing facility on the Smart Technology Hub campus. The team was also kept busy by another Wärtsilä project in Germany, where a VEO control system was commissioned in a CHP engine power plant.
In Norway, VEO commissioned several of its projects related to hydropower plants in 2021, proving that VEO’s new automation concept for this market works well in practice. This concept includes several new functionalities, such as water level regulations.
Skilled people hard to find
In 2021, VEO strengthened its partner network. Warg emphasises that strong network collaborations are important for having access to the latest solutions and technical support, but also for partnering up with companies that offer high-class engineering in times when skilled engineers are hard to find.
2021 was a hectic year for the Automation unit in many ways, but Warg sees that the biggest challenge of the year was indeed the lack of human resources – a problem, which plagues the entire industry, but becomes increasingly evident when creating a new organisation.
“Our constant challenge is to have the correct amount of people to manage all the tasks that we undertake as a unit. Last year, there were several new client requirements and important delivery deadlines, which we managed to meet. We tend to take these things for granted, but it is our people that stretch and get the job done. I am very proud of my staff; they do a good job and are excellent people.”
