Ensto and Schréder Group have been working together on lighting for almost four years. Schréder, one of the world's largest outdoor lighting solution providers, has offered a wide range of products to Ensto's customers since 2017, and the products have already been involved in many wonderful projects. As a result of the collaboration, Ensto's portfolio of outdoor lighting products has expanded from park lighting to road, street, urban, sports field, tunnel and accent lighting.
Jukka Tuovinen, Sales Director at Ensto Outdoor Lighting, is pleased, as long-term work and a strong shared will are bearing fruit: Schréder's products are already familiar to customers and visible in the outdoor lighting projects from the design stage onwards. Two strong brands have joined forces to benefit customers.
“Schréder is a great partner because their product range is guaranteed to include a product for every outdoor lighting need, both design and technology-wise. There are traditional street luminaires for historic urban environments, timeless and streamlined outdoor luminaires suitable for all kinds of locations, rounder shapes for Scandinavian taste, and state-of-the-art LED luminaires that can be controlled in various ways.”
Tuovinen says that in addition to Ensto's basic portfolio aimed at the Finnish market, customers will have access to Schréder's entire global product portfolio, if necessary. In addition, it is possible to not only tailor existing products, but also to create custom luminaires, such as the Y-valaisin luminaire designed for the Helsinki city center.
The outdoor lighting segment is evolving and growing all around the world, and the outlook is very positive. Ensto’s Tuovinen describes the current year:
“Even during such a period (the coronavirus pandemic), we have increased our turnover compared to last year. Although we have grown each year, we really have taken a great leap this year! The coronavirus pandemic restricted the movement of people, but since outdoor lighting work is performed outdoors, such work was not affected. We have had both urban street projects and major road projects. In addition to energy efficiency, the main drivers have included improving safety and making spaces more inviting with the aid of outdoor lighting.”
Cities and municipalities also have their work cut out for them in updating old street luminaires to meet the requirements of modern standards. Cost-effectiveness is, of course, an integral part of projects, and it can be reached through LED technology by, for example, optimizing luminaire power, service life and keeping maintenance needs to a minimum. In any case, when outdoor lighting is being updated, the luminaires can be upgraded to modern ones to achieve better lighting result and new solutions give possibilities for control technology without any additional costs – and, what is more, the new features will save energy.
Schréder from Belgium and Ensto from Finland are both international family companies, and the conditions for collaboration have been ideal from the very beginning. Maciek Ciekot, Export Manager at Schréder, agrees:
“The companies share the same values and ownership structure, as well as a genuine desire to offer their customers the best. Combining versatile high-quality products, good security of supply, effective product support, and up-to-date product training with professional design assistance and the understanding of customer needs leads to successful projects and satisfied customers.”
Schréder, like Ensto, has not only a long history as a manufacturer of durable high-quality products, but also their eye on the future, constantly monitoring what is happening in the industry. The product portfolio and the operation as a whole are being developed on the basis of visions related to technical and sustainable development and lighting design. Outdoor lighting is Schréder's main segment, and the focus is reflected in strong knowledge and expertise. Ensto, on the other hand, has decades of experience in customer needs in its own market. The smoothness of the collaboration is reflected in the fact that Ensto now represents Schréder not only in Finland and Estonia, but also in Norway. According to Tuovinen, they are also open for extending the collaboration to other markets.
In Finland, the largest outdoor lighting segment is road lighting. Ensto and Dynniq Finland, a leading supplier of intelligent transport control and surveillance systems and public lighting, have carried out countless projects together over the years. Ismo Heikola, Head of Sales at Dynniq, lists sites for 2020:
“The largest single collaboration project with Ensto was the street lighting renovation for the city of Kauniainen, although the road lighting project for the Klaukkala bypass on Highway 3 was also a major one. A rarer, very interesting project was the provision of lighting for a cemetery in Pori. For that site, we also ordered customized service poles from Ensto. For the City of Turku, we implemented together the lighting surrounding Turku Cathedral, and, for the ELY Centre for Southwest Finland, we carried out a road lighting project in Parkano.”
Heikola praises Schréder's products particularly for their excellent price-quality ratio. According to him, the luminaires are of high quality, elegant, and versatile:
“The luminaires are compact, and their design is timeless. Simply put, they are easy to place in a wide range of environments. Technical features are what they should be, and the IP classes, for example, are sometimes even better than the customer requires! The luminaires are quick and easy to install, as outdoor luminaires are supposed to be.”
The collaboration between Dynniq and Ensto has been smooth and versatile all the way from design to implementation. Ismo Heikola emphasizes the importance of trust:
“I appreciate that we have been informed of the delivery times for the products quickly and that the delivery schedules have been met. As a partner, Ensto is attentive and flexible; the salespersons are very easy to reach and they react quickly to our questions, and we have never been told to look something up online! A great deal of information is available on the products, and it is a huge advantage to us that Ensto has skilled personnel in Finland who provide technical information on, e.g., the installation, service life, and maintenance costs of the luminaires.”
There are plenty of tunnels in Norway, and providing them with lighting is an art form in its own right. A project is currently underway on the west coast of the country to create a new tunnel connection to an area that has previously only been accessible by ferry. Schréder's tunnel lighting will be installed in the tunnel under construction, with product deliveries starting at the end of the year and continuing in 2021. Ensto intends to invest heavily in the Norwegian tunnel segment, the renovation and construction of which the Norwegian State is also investing in.