Visiting Permobil in Timrå
Regner® Editorial Team
Timrä (Sweden) -
16/05/2019
It is not often that one of your potential customers calls to ask you to go and visit their offices. It is even more surprising when the customer in question is a leader in the Complex Technology Rehabilitation segment of the electric wheelchair business. This is exactly what happened on the morning of 10 April when Johan Svedjebrant, director of the Permobil Purchasing Group called us to ask about our REGNER® linear actuators with feedback.Svedjebrant led the engineering team’s value analysis activities which aimed to optimize the strategy of the purchases for his segment.
After a series of conversations, REGNER® was called to a meeting in Timrå, Permobil’s headquarters in Sweden, on 15 May. The reason so many days had passed since the first call and the visit was because there had been an organizational reshuffle at Permobil. After three years, Svedjebrant had left the company and Gabriel Rieger had taken on the position of Purchasing Director for electrical and electromechanical devices.
Rieger is a professional with more than 12 years of experience in positions of responsibility in the purchasing of complex electronic products. His mission was to purchase the best option in terms of quality, service and price for a new project which required high-performance and reliable compact actuators for complete movement in multiple positions.
The project was being carried out thanks to the joint work of two key departments at Permobil, the Purchasing team and the R&D team made up of a whole host of mechanical, electronic and communications engineers.
The meeting was essential both to see first-hand the REGNER® solutions specially designed for electric wheelchairs, and to verify the capabilities of REGNER® in the area of communication protocols for the transmission of information in distributed environments, one of the complex issues of the project.
Surprising and exceeding Permobil's expectations
On an unusually hot day in Timrå, a team of five people from REGNER® arrives at the Permobil facility. The level of expectation is high when Gabriel Rieger receives us in the lobby. He is a friendly person who combines the best of two cultures as contrasting as those of Northern and Southern Europe; on the one hand, the Scandinavian traits of punctuality, organization, order and on the other, a more Mediterranean character with a more relaxed, intimate and empathetic side.
Rieger introduces us to a team of 8 people made up of managers, engineers and technicians who are already waiting for us gathered in a large room, another demonstration of famous Swedish efficiency and punctuality to avoid wasting any time.
Without further delay, the presentations begin with the Swedish company first giving its corporate presentation with a special emphasis on its vision of the future, on the design of chairs that incorporate more complex technology to provide greater security, comfort and reliability to users. Advanced technology electric wheelchairs which, since they are connected, will offer a whole series of advantages to make life much easier for people with reduced mobility.
Then it is the turn of REGNER®. We have made huge efforts in recent years in this sector and the team wants to show off all the technology included in our electronic devices.
For this reason, after giving the corporate presentation, the team has brought with it a test bench for testing the actuators, checking their design, listening to their sound, verifying their speed and also testing other types of electronic components.
The different members of the Permobil team share looks of astonishment as they ask a barrage of questions and check the quality of the different actuators. One of the engineers even takes several photos of our products, having requested permission to do so.
After this first phase, the meeting enters a much more animated second phase. The engineers of both companies exchange information about mechanics, electronics and especially the communications required for the new project.
Our engineers are especially pleased with the words of one of the Permobil team members:
“The Permobil R&D department is convinced that REGNER® high performance electric actuators are the ideal choice for the concepts we are now developing“
Gabriel Rieger
Purchasing Director of Permobil for Electrical Devices
Finally, we get to the end of the meeting with the firm belief that we have surprised and exceeded Permobil’s expectations.
The project has already started. We have demonstrated once again why we are a benchmark in actuator solutions.
