NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 THE INTERVIEW
machine and paying for the air.
If things change, they can stop it
with a couple of months’ notice.
MM: Are you seeing
customer demand
changing in other ways?
AP: In the UK we often
supply a ‘turnkey’ solution to
manufacturers. In many other
countries, Atlas Copco only sells
equipment – we call it selling
boxes. Usually, a customer will
do all the installation, project
management and removal of
the old equipment. In the UK
almost every project we deliver
is turnkey: we have a contracts
team of three people who are
project leaders who are handed
the project when the deal is
closed. It’s their job to order
equipment from the factories,
and subcontract work like the
removal of the old equipment.
More and more customers
expect Atlas Copco to deliver
the full project, whereby we take
responsibility for everything.
MM: Why do you think the
UK market is different from
others in that respect?
AP: It’s probably historical.
Something that is also very, very
common in the UK is working
with facility management
companies. Those companies
will be looking after kitchens,
toilets, ventilation, compressors,
water pumps, cooling systems.
For companies this is a very
efficient way of working – a
project goes to tender to look
after not just all the machinery
but also even things like lights
and fittings. You just sign one
contract with one company and
there’s no headache for you!
You just have one supplier for
everything. If your compressors
need to be serviced, the FM
company deals with Atlas
Copco. We would have a service
contract with the FM company
to serve the compressors
that are owned and on the
manufacturer’s site. I think
that’s why UK companies
prefer to deal with only one
single supplier because that’s
how they do it on the service
side, so why not to do it also
on new project, and leave it to,
say, Atlas Copco to subcontract
everything. It maybe costs a bit
more to do it this way rather
than arranging everything by
themselves, but then it’s less to
worry about.
MM: Are you attracting a
younger workforce now?
AP: Yes, and also more diverse.
If you take our office here,
we have so many different
backgrounds, and it’s a very
diverse company, which is
really nice to see. We are active
participants in the Year in
Industry programme, where
every year, we take on five or
six students. This year, we just
started with what will be our
Generation Five as we call it –
the fifth year since we started
to attract these students.
They contribute so much to
the company. It’s nothing
100
years since Atlas
Copco was first
established in the UK
like moving things or copying papers, they get
given very tangible tasks, and they start to really
contribute to the company straight away.
MM: Is the Fourth Industrial Revolution
impacting the compressor market?
AP: The data that is driving the Fourth Industrial
Revolution has always been available for factories
and end users. Even 20 years ago our controllers
were able to be connected to the control rooms
of factories. All the data is available to them, so
it’s on the factories to be willing to use this data
and really optimise the factory. What has really
changed is wireless connectivity. Our Smart Link
technology allows us to monitor all our assets,
predict breakdowns and plan a much better
service. It also gives us sales leads, based on the
performance of the compressor. If a customer is
running a very old compressor, they may have a
back-up machine, which is not supposed to run a
lot. If the controller notices that the backup has
been running quite a lot over the period of the last
two weeks, it sends a sales lead: something has
clearly changed with the customer. Maybe they
need more air now, maybe something else, but it’s
a fantastic opportunity to visit the customer and
to speak about their needs.
MM: Do you think people take their
compressor for granted, or do they just
see it as a box in the corner?
AP: Nobody likes buying a compressor! It can be
a very boring thing. If I manufactured something,
I would be so much more interested in buying my
production line with all these automation systems
that make the products. But unfortunately to make
it all run, I need this box standing somewhere in
a compressor room. It’s just one of the utilities:
you need water, you need electricity, you need
compressed air. BCAS (the British Compressed
Air Society) is doing a great job of educating the
market on the cost of air and how much even a
small leak can cost. Air does not come for granted,
it has to be produced, and compressors are very
energy-consuming products. There’s still a lot of
education to do, but there’s so much information
out there. Today, you can go online and educate
yourself about compressed air. This means
customers come to us already well-prepared.
Atlas Copco
offers a full
turnkey solution
to customers
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