Work outside the cubicle

RESPONSIBLE & SCALABLE TECH

People work in more places than in airconditioned offices. People work in service vans, on forklifts, on top of wind turbines and everyplace in between. They shouldn’t be trying to use electronic devices built for 21 degrees and 35% humidity.

TEXT: DAVID J. CORD

“We create electronic devices for use everywhere outside the normal office space,” explains Stefan Lindau, Country Manager Nordic at Panasonic Connect – Toughbook.

The Panasonic Toughbook range of rugged computers includes laptops, notebooks, handhelds and accessories for non-office environments. They were first introduced in 1996 and have been continually improved over the decades.

Toughbooks have special screens to be usable in direct sunlight. The devices can handle temperatures from -29 to +63 as well as water, dust and sustained micro-vibrations in moving vehicles.

“If you drop a typical laptop the components inside will flex and maybe break,” Lindau explains. “The Toughbook has outside shielding, but what is even more important is that the internal components have been designed and manufactured to absorb and withstand these forces.”

The sturdy and robust construction also yields reliability and longevity. They come with a 3-year warranty and can easily last 5 years or more, even in situations where they are in use 24/7, like in ambulances. By lasting longer they consume fewer resources and are more sustainable.

”Toughbooks have special screens to be usable in direct sunlight. The devices can handle temperatures from -29 to +63 as well as water, dust and sustained microvibrations in moving vehicles,” says Stefan Lindau, Country Manager Nordic at Panasonic Connect – Toughbook.

“We work to keep failure rates low,” Lindau says. “If your device fails, you lose more than time and repair costs. You also lose all that time you could have been productively working and helping your customers. A failure doesn’t just mean more expenses; it means less profits.”

This long-term viewpoint also applies to accessories. Lindau holds up the hefty, elbow-shaped connector for his laptop’s charger.

“This charger is shaped like an L so it is less likely to break if you bump it against something,” he says. “It has been the exact same charger since 2003 and it works in all models. You aren’t forced to buy something new every year or for every device.”

The Panasonic Toughbook’s modularity also helps its lifespan. For example, different ports, readers, extra battery or SSD and on some units heat-seeing cameras could be added to existing devices for new projects with new requirements. Instead of purchasing new devices companies can reconfigure their current stock. And, when a company is finished with their Toughbooks they can securely wipe and resell them, as their long lifespan has given them a thriving second-hand market.

“When customers calculate the total cost and benefits of their devices they understand the value we provide by focusing on the full lifecycle,” says Lindau. | www.toughbook.eu