Context No1 2022 - ENG

Shaping the future

ENTERPRISE

IS ALL ABOUT

building things, and we at Consat are passionate about working together to create solutions consisting of various parts that can be connected like Lego pieces, thanks to our way of working. Creating each new piece makes us grow, and all the pieces are genuinely important.

Let’s take Engineering and IoT as an example. We have built up capabilities based on our solid expertise in developing special-purpose machinery and, above all, our deep understanding of our customers’ business. To this we add our expertise in IoT to create added value for customers with the help of digitalisation. The more customers we meet, the more we realise how unusual it is for colleagues in the industry to take such broad responsibility.

This attitude is common to all our companies. Consat Telematics’ supply commitment spans everything from hardware installation to subsystem integration combined with further development and adaptation in a continuously expanding product portfolio. Customers may have requirements and requests, but at the end of the day what is most important is achieving a well-functioning comprehensive delivery. Consat SES’s strength lies in its ability to understand system perspectives such as what technical measures generate the greatest savings and how to take joint responsibility with our installation partners for the con–struction contract based on trust. Many of SES’s customers have their own organisation for optimising energy efficiency, and it is at this point, if not ear-

EDITORIAL

future together

lier, that it becomes especially clear how much value our deliveries create. Many of Consat Data’s customers choose to fully outsource their IT support. Detailed management and control requires many divisions of responsibility, which takes energy and time – things that are in short supply for most players.

However, performing large assign–ments is not easy and makes high demands on organisation, work processes and individual employees, whose efforts have a direct impact on the overall result in many cases.

If we stop and look at what we’ve achieved together, we can only be incredibly proud and happy. There’s no doubt that we’re creating value and success through partnership – with more to come.

Consat Telematics recently won new contracts in Australia, including with Ventura, one of the country’s largest bus operators with over 500 buses in Melbourne. We’ve landed a contract in the city of Fredricton in eastern Canada, and there’s a distance of over 5,580 km between this customer and British Columbia in western Canada!

Consat Engineering is expanding with more employees and new projects both in Sweden and in India. Our team in Stockholm is developing and delivering installation equipment for Scania’s production units at an impressive rate, and in Partille, we are in the final negotiations regarding one of our biggest machine projects ever!). We also have a wide range of software projects including a telematics system for Actia in, an IoT system for Eberspächer and software integration for Lotus in the UK, among many others.

Consat Data is growing, not least in the events sector. Although there are many organisers in this sector, few of them are able to offer a stable IT environment.

All our companies are affected by component delivery delays and, not least, rising costs. Consat SES, which operates in the construction sector, has been negatively impacted by the industry’s rapid downturn, which has resulted in customers postponing projects at short notice. Meanwhile, there is an increased need to streamline energy use in response to surging energy prices. Some real estate companies have the

muscle power to continue investing. SES has begun expanding its customer base towards sectors such as industry and breweries, where we are now helping essentially sound businesses to cut their energy costs.

It is always difficult to predict the future, but in times like these it is important to keep up the pace, spread risks and, of course, be extra responsive to rapid changes.

Although the transition needs to happen faster, it is driving a need for development in many of the areas where we are active today. Both as a company and for humanity as a whole, it is, quite simply, important to have the courage to keep the momentum going even when the going gets tough.

Or in the words of Mario Andretti, winner of F1, Indycar and Indy 500: “If everything is under control you’re just not going fast enough.”

Thank you for your exceptionally good work.

Martin Wahlgren

For many, this may be the first time you read ConText. ConText is the magazine that takes the time to tell in more detail about our innovative and challenging projects and not least what it is like to work at Consat. Our ambition is to use interesting articles and good visual material to describe and highlight in which contexts Consat operates.

Publisher: Martin Wahlgren

Editor in Chief: Jenny Fredér

Text Editor: Mattias Johnson

Editing Assistant: Gabriella Wendt

Design: Happy Camper Reklambyrå

Graphic Design: Andreas Eklöf

Min 12mm hög

Print: Billes Tryckeri

After working as a consultant at Consat Engineering AB for many years, Frida Williamsson has stepped into a leadership role as technical area manager in Embedded Design. Her ambitions are to strengthen the strong corporate culture that Consat already has and ensure that everyone has the necessary conditions to achieve both the company’s and their own individual goals.

WILLIAMSSON HAS BEEN A CONSULTANT at Consat for eleven years, working on projects at major corporations as well as startup companies. In recent years, she has become increasingly involved in the various working methods employed by teams and has developed a growing interest in leadership and team dynamics. When she was offered the role of technical area manager, she naturally accepted.

“As a consultant at Consat, I’ve seen many different aspects of the work. It’s been an instructive journey that’s prepared me for my new role. For me, it’s important to maintain and strengthen our culture at Consat. Our culture is based on our enjoyment of cooperating, taking care of and helping each other. At Consat we have an innovative streak that is really tangible. We welcome new ideas from employees and do our best to put them into practice.”

She is responsible for Embedded Design, where just over 20 software and electronics engineers work. Their work currently focuses on developing products such as smart lighting, measuring instruments for nuclear power stations and electrification of future vehicles.

“This is an important team for Consat and our business, and I’m proud to be working with them. It’s an excellent team of engineers.”

As technical area manager, Williamsson is responsible both for HR and for marketing services to new and existing customers. Because the majority of her staff work on projects out in the field and only a handful work in-house at Consat, one of her greatest challenges is making sure everyone feels part of Consat.

“Consat should be a workplace where employees are happy and feel they have scope for development and creativity. As technical area manager, I need to be sensitive to employees’ requests and input in order for them to have the best possible conditions to carry out their work and for us to achieve our established goals together,” she says.

About

FRIDA WILLIAMSSON

Age: 39 years

Family: Partner and two daughters

Home: Påvelund

TEXT ANNA LARSSON [BORG O WILLI] PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

TEXT ANNA LARSSON [BORG O WILLI] PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

BEING A CONSULTANT UNLOCKS OPPORTUNITIES

Ingrid Bogdanovic has been a consultant at Consat for five years. She has worked on site at Volvo during this entire period. What is it really like working at a customer’s premises as a consultant?

WHEN BOGDANOVIC graduated from Chalmers University of Technology in 2017 and joined Consat, she got her first consulting assignment after just a month. The customer she was assigned to was no other than the automotive giant Volvo Trucks.

“As a systems engineer, my job entailed working with integration testing and Volvo’s own tools. I tested Volvo’s different systems, performed regression testing and made sure everything was OK. It was particularly satisfying because this gave me the opportunity to learn more about building system rigs.”

Since then, Ingrid has been on parental leave and subsequently returned to Volvo Trucks, this time working with cybersecurity. Although she now works in a different field, she knows many of the staff because of having worked with them on previous assignments.

“Of course it feels a bit different working on long-term consulting assignments since my closest colleagues aren’t the people I work with at Consat. But Consat feels like a secure base to come back to. It’s good to

know that I always have their backing if an unclear situation arises when I’m at a customer’s site,” says Bogdanovic. She adds: “Although I’m an external consultant, I’m treated as part of the team at Volvo and get invited to after-work events and other activities. They make sure consultants aren’t treated any differently to regular employees. We’re all part of the organisation because we all work towards the same goal of delivering high-quality products.”

Bogdanovic spends 99 percent of her time at the customer’s premises, but she occasionally works at Consat’s office. She feels her role as a consultant gives her freedom and choices, two aspects she values in a role. If she became interested in working in a different area, she would have many options as a consultant.

“I chose to work as a consultant because it unlocks opportunities. Right now I’ve found a satisfying job with Volvo that I love, which offers me maximum opportunity for development. My reason for continuing to be a consultant with Consat is that it gives me so much scope for working in different areas or for different clients in the future.”

INGRID BOGDANOVIC About

Training: Degree in Electrotechnology at Chalmers University of Technology, 180 credits.

Assignments while working at Consat: Systems engineer, system rig engineer and currently system tester in the area of cybersecurity.

Key aspects that make the job fun: Being in a team with high expertise and good team spirit.

TEXT ANNA LARSSON [BORG O WILLI] PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

30 YEARS IN TELEMATICS – ROLAND MOBERG TALKS ABOUT THE JOURNEY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT

MOBERG’S TELEMATICS JOURNEY began at Göteborgs Energi, where he worked in the department that designed traffic signals for the Traffic and Public Transport Authority. After a couple of years he decided to embark on further studies at Chalmers University of Technology, but when the time came to do his dissertation project he returned to Göteborgs Energi. He continued working there with public transport solutions.

“They were just about to start a big project to improve the public transport network in the city. At that time there was no wireless communication, so we were tasked with finding technologies that would enable communication between buses and trams.” Moberg recalls.

A solution was arrived at involving underground circuits capable of detecting the public transport while enabling the vehicles to communicate.

THE ROAD TO CONSAT

Before joining Consat Telematics, Moberg worked briefly for Volvo Buses after the vehicle giant acquired the department at Göteborg Energi where he was working. At Volvo Buses, he and his colleagues were tasked with developing a vehicle software system in-house.

“In 2004 Volvo deemed the system to be fully developed and ready to start selling off-the-shelf. So Volvo started looking for a partner to outsource the actual development to. We met with Hogia and Wireless Car before establishing contact with Consat. We met with Consat’s founder Jan-Bertil Johansson. We really clicked with the Consat Group and it seemed a perfect place for us to be because we got to continue working with the product. So on 1 April 2005 our development team moved from Volvo to Consat,” Moberg says.

Roland Moberg has worked in telematics for over 30 years. During this time he has seen public transport become increasingly smart, progressing from simple systems to high-tech solutions. He has been R&D Manager at Consat Telematics since 2005.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TELEMATICS

Looking back on his 30 years in the industry and the development of telematics, he points out the growing requirements of the public and buyers:

“Our work was initially about improving access for public transport. It gradually also became important to give passengers real-time information about buses’ and trams’ actual arrival times. Today, it’s commonplace to have an app on your phone and information displays at bus stops informing passengers of the current status of the service. Meanwhile, it’s become more important for operators to manage the traffic according to the rules of the responsible authority. Otherwise they risk hefty fines.”

The equipment on board buses has become increasingly advanced. Buses today contain equipment worth hundreds of thousands of SEK, such as ticket machines, passenger counters, TV screens and CCTV cameras, as well as the vehicle computer system and the driver terminal. In addition, the system controls bus stop signs, on-board announcements, traffic management applications and much more.

“The technology has constantly improved. About ten years ago, it was far too expensive to carry out exact passenger counts. Only

very few vehicles were equipped with passenger counters and the total number of passengers was estimated based on the results from the few vehicles that had the equipment. Now the technology is so advanced that passengers can even be categorised according to whether they are adults or children and if they have suitcases, wheelchairs, pets or bicycles with them. This means that today we can inform passengers on the display board if the bus is full to capacity,” he explains, and adds:

“When I started working at the Traffic and Public Transport Authority in the 1980s, we had no guidelines to follow and were given a free rein. Today both society and buyers have clear requirements for how public transport should work. It’s been very exciting to be part of this transition.”

“Now the technology is so advanced that passengers can even be categorised according to whether they are adults or children and if they have suitcases, wheelchairs, pets or bicycles with them.”

CONSAT ENGINEERING

TEXT ANNA LARSSON [BORG O WILLI] PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

With solid experience in modern automotive technology, Claes Sernevi has stepped in next to Lars Olsson as Consat’s new Manager sharing the responsibility for Engineering Services. His ambition is to keep the company’s expertise up-to-date while attending to employees’ interests.

SERNEVI WAS AS GOOD as destined to become an engineer. He grew up in a family of engineers in Karlshamn where the latest technology was constantly discussed at the dinner table. And he was no exception:

“Since childhood I’ve been taking things apart – everything from earphones to cycles and mopeds. Nothing bugs me as much as not understanding how something works. I love tackling problems and delving into technological rabbit holes.”

Since graduating in mechanical engineering and product development from Chalmers University of Technology, Sernevi has worked as a consultant in various organisations and constellations. He has primarily focused on heavy and light vehicles, working with both concepts and production. He has been involved in one of Volvo Cars’ self-driving pilot projects and in developing Volvo’s electric trucks.

“I’ve managed to stay at the leading edge of technology, which is where I want to be. Glimpsing the future, shaping society’s direction and making meaningful contributions to a more sustainable world are the things that drive me,” he says.

In January 2022 Sernevi became

Manager Engineering Services at Consat. He describes the role as being a hub for competence in mechanics at the company. His duties involve securing and supplying the necessary resources for customer projects and internal projects.

“I had a similar role in my previous job and enjoy the combination of HR development, business development and building customer relationships. What attracted me to Consat was their understanding that expertise and human resources are what actually builds an organisation,” says Sernevi. He adds:

“As head of consulting, my work isn’t about what I want to do; it’s about what our employees want to do and how they want to develop. Our consultants are the entire basis of our business.”

Right now there’s a strong focus on recruiting new staff. Several machine projects are coming up in the area of product development. Sernevi also works on developing Consat’s machine design expertise and making the company stronger in automation.

“There’s also a huge amount going on in electromobility and battery technology in the Gothenburg region right now. This is a sphere I feel we should also be moving in,” he says.

About

CLAES SERNEVI

Age: 35 years

Family: Married with two children

Home: House in Surte just north of Gothenburg

Hobbies: Mountain biking, cycling, skiing and climbing

TEXT AMY-LEE THOMAS EDITING MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON IMAGE PROCESSING ANDREAS EKLÖF

CONSAT LAUNCHES NEW IOT PLATFORM: NEXT

WANT TO SUPPORT OUR CUSTOMERS’ DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY”

On 1 March, Consat Engineering AB launched Next, a new IoT platform designed in partnership with the Indian company Orahi. “Through Next, our customers can start their digital journey at a reasonable pace but with the shortest possible starting distance,” says Pär Forsberg, Manager IoT & Electrification, Consat Engineering.

WITH OVER 35 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE in embedded software, domain, IT, cloud and IoT, Consat and Orahi (read more about the partnership in a separate article in this magazine) designed their new platform to offer exactly what each individual customer needs, almost regardless of who they are.

There is an enormous need for a simple transition to a world where almost everything is connected and constantly accessible. Very soon it will be more the rule than the exception that every thing and every machine shares information both with users and manufacturers.

It doesn’t have to be hugely complicated. Even simple real-time information about how a small machine or household appliance works, right now and over time, can provide enormous added value.

Next makes it possible for customers to connect their devices and view collected real-time data through a simple web dashboard. Then they can process, sort and refine the information using everything from simple rules to complex artificial intelligence.

“With our platform, customers don’t have to start from scratch. We can quickly build the functionality you need to solve the particular business problems you’re experiencing,” says Forsberg.

“WE

“And what makes our platform particularly unique is the implementation speed. With Next, you can actually digitalise your projects and be up and running with simple functionality in four to six weeks.”

SMALL OR LARGE STEPS WITH THE CUSTOMER IN FOCUS

When developing Next, the goal was to have an agile approach to customer challenges, for instance by offering rapid prototype production (minimal viable product scope (MVP)), in order to get started and deliver functions in the shortest possible time. When simple functionality is in place and everyone can see that it works, you can continue adding functions and really increase the added value. Another aim is to constantly maintain transparency in the contact with customers and build a relationship with a long-term perspective right from the outset.

“We aim to maintain a close collaboration with our customers and support them along the way,” Pär explains.

ALREADY UP AND RUNNING

Although the platform was recently launched, it was successfully pilot tested on clients prior to the launch. Now Consat looks forward to helping more customers.

“We can do this in a simple way; we have the tools, the abilities and the experience. By letting us take care of the digital side, our customers can focus on what they do best while we make their lives a little easier,” Pär concludes.

“With Next, you can actually digitalise your projects and be up and running with simple functionality in four to six weeks.”

TEXT JENNY FREDÉR

GREAT PLACE TO WORK conducts the world’s biggest employee survey. It gives organisations data-driven insights into their culture and provides the world’s only certification of outstanding workplaces. No less than 19.8 million people responded to one of their Trust Index™ surveys last year.

Employee satisfaction alone is not enough to meet their criteria for a good workplace. An organisation must also have high levels of fairness, respect, pride and camaraderie, and the man agement must offer inspiration and information, show ap preciation and care, and develop their employees. Organisations that meet these criteria are awarded Great Place to Work® certification, which is valid for 12 months.

The employee survey is carried out via an email link, and employees are asked to rate their experience at work. They are asked to respond to 60 statements grouped into five categories: credibility, fairness, respect, pride and camaraderie. As the final question, the respondents are asked if, overall, they regard their workplace as a great place to work.

The 60 statements are then computed to measure the degree of trust the employees feel. The resulting value is our Trust Index. To be awarded Great Place to Work certification, an organisation must have a Trust Index™ of at least 70 (on a scale of 0–100). Consat got a Trust Index of 80%, which of course we’re extremely proud of. Now each company will work with the results, address areas where improvements are needed and, above all, maintain their good performance in high-scoring areas.

Together we make Consat better and more successful!

CONSAT ENGINEERING

TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

MOVING AWAY FROM PNEUMATICS IN FACTORIES

Short setup times for small series, small energy losses. Many of Consat Engineering’s industrial clients are requesting electric actuators instead of traditional pneumatic solutions in their production lines and machinery.

MATS BERNHARDSON AND DANIEL CARLSSON have been with Consat for many years and have designed many machines. One change they’ve seen in the past ten years is a gradual transition from push-button pneumatics to electric actuators in customers’ machinery and production lines. This transition has been driven by a supply of suitable electrical actuators in the market, as well as by a demand from customers who need to streamline their production.

AIR MAKES LIGHT WORK

The traditional and typical way of moving, holding, lifting, sorting and stopping products on a factory production line is to use cheap, reliable compressed air cylinders to produce simple movements. Electric servo motors have, in principle, only been used in cases where a job simply can’t be done using compressed air, due to a need for precise movement or positioning. Because air can be compressed, it is not possible to achieve precise movements – at least not with simple, cheap cylinders.

So compressed air has been the cheaper, simpler option, with electric servo motors being more expensive and more complicated from a design perspective.

This is despite the fact that compressed air has always been expensive to produce, and a factory with a large compressed air system loses a lot of energy due to all the tiny leakages that typically occur with compressed air. The benefits have simply outweighed the disadvantages.

“Air cylinders are very small, compact, operationally reliable and simple,” Bernhardson explains.

“And although they’re small, they can deliver enormous power – and the speed can be set from one end position to the other.”

He adds:

“If you want to place a pallet on a pallet conveyor, you simply use an air cylinder: It’s either out or in, and you can achieve a pressure of 200 kg in a large cylinder – and it works at lightning speed if necessary.”

ELECTRICAL POWER? YES PLEASE

But the technology is advancing. Electric actuators and cylinders are getting better and cheaper almost by the year, and when the two solutions are compared, electric actuators are increasingly being chosen. Especially when the customer gets to choose. The ongoing energy cost for compressed air is often a compelling argument.

“There are simpler electric cylinders that work and are controlled like their pneumatic counterparts, and there are also more advanced ones that can be controlled with exact precision. And then there are all-in-one units that include the control electronics, which are otherwise in a separate electrical enclosure,” says Carlsson.

“The choice is largely determined by the application, but many people still want to have the control electronics all together in an electrical enclosure, which is handy both from an operating environment and a servicing perspective.”

CHANGING TRENDS

“It was when we were working with SKF in 2013–14 that I first noticed this customer trend towards electrically powered movement,” says Bernhardson.

“The customer said they didn’t want pneumatics, and they also said in a machine project that they wanted to reduce the compressed air pressure from 6 to 4 bar in a machine to reduce leakage and save energy.

“I think we generally still prefer not to use electric actuators or cylinders for a new machine unless a customer requests it, since at the end of the day it’s easier and cheaper to buy an air system. It’s easy to install, but of course there needs to be a compressed air system in the factory,” Carlsson says.

It’s often also a question of how many simple movements a machine or application needs to perform. A compressed air system requires an air conditioning unit which costs about SEK 5,000, regardless of whether the machine is fitted with one or twenty-five air cylinders. If only one or two movements are needed, pneumatics might not be the cheapest or even the simplest solution, the two colleagues point out.

“And you have more design options with electric operation,” says Carlsson.

“If I only need two positions, I’ll obviously choose the simplest, cheapest solution,

which is often air. But if the customer doesn’t want an air cylinder I have to find an electric equivalent – and they’re available now,” says Bernhardson.

“But I still don’t think there’s an electric alternative that’s quite as simple, cheap, strong and fast as an air cylinder for small movements,” he adds.

Carlsson agrees: “No, you still don’t get exactly the same maximum power or speed from today’s electrical cylinders.”

SIMPLY TOO SIMPLE

But simple isn’t always an advantage. Adjusting the flow in air cylinders in situ using restrictor valves can sound like a simple, practical and beneficial solution, but Bernhardson and Carlsson don’t agree.

“It can actually be a drawback. In real-life situations in the workshop, an operator on one shift might decide to adjust the valve to improve its performance, but then the team on the next shift adjusts it back again – even though we’ve already fine-tuned the machine to perform in a certain way. So the fact that everybody knows how an air cylinder works can actually be a disadvantage, compared with electrical cylinders that need to be adjusted by a programmer,” Bernhardson points out, laughing.

“On the other hand, a broken air cylinder is easy to replace simply by screwing a new one in place, whereas an electric cylinder might need to be reset to zero or parameterised when replacing it, which can be much more complicated,” he says..

“Sometimes you can use a memory card with stored parameters, which can be moved to the replacement unit. That makes replacement a bit easier,” Carlsson interjects.

A COMBINATION IS OFTEN USED

“We made ten assembly machines for SKF a while back. They said they didn’t want compressed air at all, but in the end a few cylinders were used anyway,” says Bernhardson.

“When you have conveyors and pallets to manage, electricity can be a expensive solution. A small air cylinder with a sensor costs maybe SEK 1,500, whereas an electric equivalent costs upwards of SEK 10,000. If 6 to 8 small cylinders are needed, it adds up to a huge expense. It’s a balance between purchase and operational costs,” he points out.

SHORT SETUP TIME WITH ELECTRIC ACTUATORS

Energy savings are important, but probably the biggest and strongest argument for electric actuators is the short setup time – precisely because of the actuator’s precise positioning and electronic control system. Where a line with only pneumatic cylinders requires manual replacement of tools, blocks, adjustment, etc. to handle a specific product, which takes perhaps 30 minutes, an electrically controlled line can, in principle, be prepped just by pressing a button. This is a huge advantage when you’re producing small series of products are produced just-in-time, as opposed to mass-producing goods to store in a warehouse, Bernhardson and Carlsson explain.

CONSAT

TELEMATICS

TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

Consat Telematics has helped to set up five new continuously connected electric ferries in the Oslofjord. Consat’s passenger counting solution keeps track of passenger numbers, while no less than twelve on-board display screens provide passengers with information.

Acouple of years ago, public transport operator Boreal Sjø won a contract to provide new ferry transport in the Oslofjord. Their five brand new electric ferries serving the islands in the Oslofjord mark a step towards the target of making Oslo’s public transport emission-free by 2028.

Providing real-time passenger information is seen as a matter of course in public transport today. Consat Telematics, which dominates the Norwegian market for real-time systems, got the job of connecting the new ferries, which were built at the Sefine Shipyard in Turkey.

As mentioned earlier, the five ferries, Oslofjord I to V, are electrically powered. They are charged up in Aker Brygge in Oslo between journeys, using the same type of “pantograph” that has become standard on electric buses. When the batteries are empty, diesel generators are used as a back-up.

The ferries were designed by the Norwegian company Multi Maritime A/S. They are 35 metres long and have a capacity for 350 passengers.

Joakim Sällberg is a project manager at Consat Telematics. He is in charge of the Consat project that provides the ferries with a solution for passenger counting, passenger information and connection of vessel and weather data to Boreal’s traffic management and office on shore, and to the responsible authority, Ruter, which procures and monitors public transport for Oslo Municipality.

This is not the first time Consat’s system is used on ferries. The system has been in use for many years in the Gothenburg archipelago. However, many things in the Oslofjord project are new. Not least the large amount of data from the vessel that is collected and transferred in real time.

“Each vessel has a large number of sensors that monitor drivetrains, temperatures etc. This information is loaded into Consat’s system via a protocol called Modbus, which we are using for the first time,” explains Sällberg.

“Information is also supplied from a weather station without moving parts, where the wind speed is measured by ultrasound (believe it or not). We also get in-

“Providing realtime passenger information is seen as a matter of course in public transport today. Consat Telematics, which dominates the Norwegian market for realtime systems, got the job of connecting the new ferries.”

CONSAT TELEMATICS

formation from the gangways and about the ferry’s direction of travel – the vessel is symmetrical and doesn’t have a specific bow or stern.” He adds:

“And we have passenger counter sensors installed above each gangway.”

All this data is sent through the Consat system to Ruter or Boreal, who can constantly monitor the status of their vessels.

EVERY PASSENGER IS COUNTED

Although Consat has extensive experience of passenger counting in buses and trams using sensors from various manufacturers, the ferries’ challenging environment and larger dimensions required certain modifications to be made.

“The problems associated with passenger counting in this case were largely due

to the fact that the entrance is so wide – over 2.5 metres – much wider than the doors of a bus or tram,” says Sällberg.

“Prams, bicycles, etc. also need to be detected and classified. At present there is a requirement to distinguish between adults and children, but we also want to be able to detect prams and wheelchairs.

“We previously intended to use two communicating sensors to cover the entire width of the gangway, but the manufacturer we were working with didn’t have the function ready in time so we contacted Hella, a different manufacturer than we had originally planned to use.

“They seem very good and their sensors can cope with the large width. We’ll probably expand our partnership with them going forward. These passenger counter sensors use cameras and visible light, not IR like many other passenger counter sensors,” Sällberg says.

He explains that one of the most important functions associated with automatic passenger counting is that it allows both the operator and authorities to constantly monitor how many people are on board. This can save lives in an emergency situation. Consat has equipped its web application Fleet Studio (see the article on Fleet Studio in this issue of Context) with a display that allows users to constantly track the number of passengers on each ferry.

And as mentioned before, it’s not only the operator and authorities that Consat provides with information.

“Every ferry has twelve information screens, far more than on a bus or tram. We actually had to adapt our system to handle such a large number of screens in a single ‘vehicle’,” laughs Sällberg.

LEARNING CURVE

Although not much new development was needed to adapt the Consat system to the Norwegian electric ferries, many practical problems arose during the project. This was not least because the Turkish shipyard that built the ferries was unaccustomed to installing cables and the type of electrical equipment that Consat’s real time system is

“The problems associated with passenger counting in this case were largely due to the fact that the entrance is so wide –over 2.5 metres – much wider than the doors of a bus or tram.”

“He explains that one of the most important functions associated with automatic passenger counting is that it allows both the operator and authorities to constantly monitor how many people are on board. This can save lives in an emergency situation.”

based on. This meant that both Consat and Sefine Shipyard had to learn on the job while building and installing the system.

“The requirements differed from our on-shore projects,” Sällberg says.

“For example, earth faults have greater consequences on a boat because they cause corrosion, and some of the cables are unusually long – upwards of 80 metres – so we had to keep a check on the cable resistance in a completely different way than for even the largest trams.

“Installing our equipment at a shipyard is also very different to working in a nice, clean bus factory. The shipyard staff weren’t used to installing the type of connectors we use, so we had to modify some of the installations. But it was a great learning experience,” says Sällberg.

Sometimes there were also setbacks in the project. The ferries, which were delivered from Turkey to Norway on the decks of large cargo ships, were delayed.

“Some of the installations weren’t finished before the ferries were delivered to Oslo, so we had to complete them, even after the ferries were commissioned,” Sällberg says.

SPECIAL MARINE FUNCTIONALITY

The project is largely complete at the time of writing, although some planned functionality still remains to be added. And there have also been requests for some interesting marine-specific functions that other Consat customers are likely to be interested in.

“We’ve planned to add manual adjustment of the passenger count,” Sällberg explains.

As an added precaution, the passengers are still being counted by hand until the passenger counter system is trusted to take over completely, and we know there will be times when the numbers need to be adjusted slightly.

“Although the sensor is good, with a specified accuracy of about 99 percent, it can still make mistakes, for instance if an adult is carrying a child. A decksman has to keep a lookout for such situations and ask the captain to make corrections in our interface if needed.

“We’ve also discussed the possibility of checking to make sure the ferry captains don’t drive too fast when approaching the jetty. We could quite easily check this and also issue a warning if a certain speed was exceeded on the way towards the jetty,” he says.

“Earth faults have greater consequences on a boat because they cause corrosion, and some of the cables are unusually long – upwards of 80 metres – so we had to keep a check on the cable resistance in a completely different way than for even the largest trams.”

congrats! congrats! congrats!

• Daniel Carlsson who welcomed a daughter on 10/3

• Emanuel Lundqvist who welcomed a daughter on 4/5

• Victoria Peterson who welcomed a son on 10/6

• Kirill Kravtsov who welcomed a son on 6/9

• Dawid Johansson who turned 50 on 21/3

• Ingemar Carlsson who turned 60 on 29/3

• Patrik Bengtsson who turned 30 on 4/4

• Daniel Almestål who turned 40 on 7/5

• Kenan Pacavar who turned 30 on 26/5

• Emil Brandt who turned 50 on 30/5

• Nicklas Reitz who turned 30 on 17/9

• Martin Olsson who turned 50 on 21/9

• Marika Särnblom who turned 50 on 25/9

• Ian Hostetter who turned 50 on 26/9

• Lulu Cui who turned 30 on 1/12

TEXT AMY-LEE THOMAS PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, ANDREAS EKLÖF

TOGETHER WITH ORAHI, Consat is strengthening its offering to the Swedish market at a time when digitalisation is enabling increasingly advanced solutions. With the joint venture Consat Orahi, Consat can secure steady access to expertise that consolidates the company’s position as one of the leading engineering companies in Sweden.

“Orahi delivers important expertise in the internet of things. We’re also seeing how electrification and digitalisation require more and more of both embedded development and system development in IT. We want to gain even greater access to these areas of expertise to win even more projects in the field,” says Pär Forsberg, Manager IoT & Electrification, Consat Engineering.

LONG EXPERIENCE OF SWEDEN

Orahi, which has its operations in Gurgaon just southwest of the capital region of Delhi, has extensive experience of Sweden and Swedish corporate culture. Its employees and management have backgrounds at large Swedish companies. Consat has had a project-based collaboration with Orahi for over a year.

“The work has included the development of Consat’s new IoT platform, Next. With it, customers can easily start their digital journey, focus on their business needs and create insights, while we manage the technical parts around device connectivity, data management and smart applications. We’ve built a number of customer solutions on the platform, including a system for the operation and maintenance of vehicle chargers and one for predictive maintenance on mobile cooling systems,” says Forsberg.

SECURING SKILLS NEEDS

With the joint venture, the collaboration is being formalised, which guarantees complete deliveries to the market with security and cutting-edge expertise even in large, development-heavy projects.

“This joint venture will make our customers feel confident that skills needs are being met. The skills situation is extremely strained in Sweden. Through Consat Orahi, we will strengthen our delivery capability even in the most demanding projects. Moreover, with their knowledge of the Swedish market, Orahi has a corporate culture that is similar to ours,” says Ragnar Hallgren, Vice President, Consat Engineering.

A CULTURE WHERE PEOPLE CAN GROW

A long-term perspective and a work environment where competence can grow and be utilised are central to the joint venture. That’s why common core values have been crucial from the outset for a functioning collaboration, Hallgren emphasises.

“Consat has a clearly defined corporate culture that we are careful to maintain. It’s about having a good atmosphere, a flat organisation where everyone can have their say so that people can develop. We’ll continue building this culture at Consat Orahi in India,” says Hallgren.

Consat Engineering and Indian Orahi have formed the joint venture Consat Orahi. As a result, Engineering will strengthen its offering in areas such as the internet of things (IoT).

“This joint venture unites excellence and good corporate culture,” comments Ragnar Hallgren, Vice President, Consat Engineering.

CONSAT ENGINEERING

EKLÖF

FROM DRAWING BOARDS TO 3D MODELS

When Dan Gustafsson and Claes Ottosson joined Consat in the 1980s, the company had a small handful of employees and its premises were filled with drawing boards, drawings and a fair amount of cigarette smoke. Today Consat is an international group and its tools are workstations, 3D CAD and 3D printers. And its employees are entitled to wellness allowance. It’s been a long and exciting journey!

TEXT ANNA LARSSON [BORG O WILLI] EDITING MATTIAS JOHNSON

PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, ISTOCK IMAGES IMAGE PROCESSING ANDREAS

CONSAT ENGINEERING

IN 1986, the year Consat was founded, Dan Gustafsson became the company’s fourth employee. Ronald Reagan was in his second term as US president and the average Swede drove a Volvo 240, or a 740 if their finances allowed it. A computer cost the same a good second-hand Volvo 240.

Today, 36 years later and with retirement in sight, Gustafsson can look back on a career packed with engineering experience, primarily from the automotive industry. He has spent most of this time as a consultant at Volvo, constantly at the cutting edge of the engineering profession. “In a purely technical sense there’s been enormous development,” he says.

“When I started at Consat, we used a drawing board and pens. Actually, pencils were used at Volvo, although other companies, such as Ericsson, made India ink drawings. Drawing in ink was almost a profession in its own right. But ink was already on the way out by then,” he recalls. A drawing is a drawing, although standards vary between industries and companies. But the digital tools that have been introduced since then have evolved and

changed significantly over the years. Cadam, CATIA, Autocad… Many solutions – initially extremely expensive and specialised –have come and gone. Some are consigned to history while others live on and continue evolving.

“Consat started working with 2D computer drawing in the early 1980s, but everything was still checked, saved and delivered on paper,” remembers Gustafsson.

“I actually encountered 3D CAD at Volvo even before starting at Consat, and [the CAD software] CATIA with 3D was introduced at Volvo in 1986, so everything wasn’t only drawn on pen and paper,” he says.

“But everything was done in black and white on big tubes (monitors with cathode-ray tubes) and the equipment was really difficult to work with. UNIX stations were exorbitantly expensive, and for a while Consat had a single CATIA station which we all shared.”

SMOKE AND DRAWING BOARDS

Another “old-timer” who was one of Consat’s first employees is Claes Ottosson. A colleague at his previous job had spoken highly about Consat, and shortly after that Claes got a job as one of Consat’s designers.

“When I joined Consat in 1987– or maybe it was1988 – the company had twelve employees and we only worked with industrial design solutions. The office was on Backa Bergögata at Stigs Center. We had seven drawing boards – two in the smoking room and five outside it,” laughs Ottosson.

“One of our colleagues smoked so much that he had to work in

a separate room with another chain smoker,” he recalls.

The large drawings could be copied with an enormous electrostatic printer, and there was a huge drawing board in the middle of the room. Everything in the automotive industry was drawn on a 1:1 scale, including large trucks. The chassis drawings could be enormous.

“The vehicle was sectioned every hundred millimetres and the cross sections were drawn separately, as if the vehicle had been sliced from end to end at ten centimetre intervals. The model builder with the task of making the vehicle in clay based the model on each cross section in the drawing to ensure absolute precision,” Ottosson and Gustafsson explain.

LIZARDS AND LIGHT PENS

Ottosson also recalls the early CAD workstations.

“Today you can sit at a screen without feeling discomfort. But the screens back then were a different matter. You got practically blinded by this big, thick screen with white lines shining straight in your face. If you worked too much at a computer in those days, you started looking a bit like monitor lizard, all gnarled and scaly,” he jokes.

“And the first workstations had a light pen that you had to click on the screen with, which meant you had to sit really close. I don’t think that was very healthy either,” adds Gustafsson with a smile.

A drawing board seems appealing by comparison.

“When you stand opposite or next to each other, you can talk to each other and maintain contact while drawing. That’s not as

“The large drawings could be copied with an enormous electrostatic printer, and there was a huge drawing board in the middle of the room. Everything in the automotive industry was drawn on a 1:1 scale, including large trucks. The chassis drawings could be enormous.”

easy when everyone’s huddled over their computers,” Ottosson observes.

A MIX OF 3D MODELS AND PAPER

“Volvo started doing certain things in 3D CAD in the late 1980s, but you still couldn’t send a 3D model to a supplier. You created the 3D model, then you chose a view to create a specific drawing. Then you set the dimensions in a different program and printed a paper copy of the drawing, which you sent to the supplier,” says Gustafsson.

“Consat switched completely to working on the computer in the 1990s. Volvo used 3D technology early on, of course, but when I was at FlexLink in 1995 we were still drawing in 2D in Autocad on ordinary PCs,” says Ottosson.

MOVING IN STEP WITH TECHNOLOGY

Of course, the huge technical advances mean that the work has become more precise. Today, Consat’s engineers can easily send a 3D model to customers and suppliers over the Internet and show exactly what the product will look like and how it will work.

But while the tools have improved, the products that are designed, such as vehicles, have become increasingly complex.

Gustafsson’s work gradually changed from designing engines to designing vehicle batteries. In 2009, he was working on a project to examine solutions for what were then the electric vehicles of the future when Consat and another consulting firm were contracted by Volvo to design a fully electric C30.

In the last decade, he has increasingly switched to working as a project manager.

“These days I serve as a communication link between the customer’s designers and our designers at Consat,” he explains.

“The work is still technical but the role also requires you to be a ‘people person’, which I definitely am. So you could say that the tools, vehicles and I have all developed enormously over the years,” he says with a smile.

During his decades at Consat, Ottosson has mainly worked with process development, both as a designer and a project manager. What he enjoys most is problem solving, the actual heart of the job.

Although a lot has changed in the industry and at the company, many things remain the same:

“Our niche in engineering is still relatively similar. Everything has evolved of course – we have better engines and control systems – but a nut is a nut and a bolt is a bolt, so the basics are still very much the same,” says Ottosson.

Although the company has grown from a small, young consulting firm to the group Consat is today, Ottosson and Gustafsson both agree that the company has succeeded in maintaining its original culture.

“The helpful, open, family atmosphere is firmly established here. Although many of us are out working with customers, we always have our Consat family to return to,” says Gustafsson.

“While the tools have improved, the products that are designed, such as vehicles, have become increasingly complex.”

TEXT AMY-LEE THOMAS PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

Consat expands to Stockholm –

CTS SOLUTION TO TRANSDEV

Consat Telematics deepens its partnership with Stockholm-based Transdev. In late summer, the transport operator went live with Consat’s solution, CTS, which has been adapted to cover requirements regarding on-board systems and traffic management

“We’re delighted that Transdev chose us as a partner for the traffic contracts in Stockholm and are looking forward to the collaboration,” says Oscar Rosenstam, Product Manager, Consat Telematics.

THE TRANSPORT SECTOR is undergoing a paradigm shift. What used to be primarily about transporting people from A to B is today characterised by high IT requirements. Given this change, transport operator Transdev has sought new solutions to meet the requirements of SL (Stockholm Public Transport Authority) in Stockholm. Previously, SL installed its own equipment in the buses to cover its needs. This is no longer the case, and bus operators are now responsible for providing the corresponding information from the buses. The parties initiated their partnership shortly after Consat Telematics launched its innovative solution last November, and the services went live in August. This delivery will be the first of CTS’s new web-based driver interfaces that can be displayed on screens controlled by third parties. “As customers impose higher technical requirements, transport operators need to maintain high quality; CTS is part of the chain that delivers the data that SL requests. As suppliers we have worked with this type of data stream for decades, while these are new requirements for bus operators,” says Oscar Rosenstam.

Even if technical requirements are changing, it is always passengers’ experience that is at the heart of public transport.

“It’s extremely important for us to have full control of our service deliveries to clients. Here we’re seeing, among other things, that the monitoring services in CTS together with Transdev’s real-time platform help us get more information right down to the component level in the buses, while also enabling fast, efficient troubleshooting in the event of malfunction. It can give us an even better service for our passengers,” says Adam Fall, CIO at Transdev.

AN INNOVATIVE SOLUTION

Consat Telematics’ solution suits players on both the client and operation side. It is scalable in both size and functionality, with many different interfaces that make it adaptable to the customer’s existing platforms both on board the veichle and in the back end. The fact that Transdev is now starting to use Consat’s solution is a milestone for the telematics company, which has not previously provided its CTS system to the Stockholm region.

“We’re very excited to see how the delivery will be received by Transdev. The project also includes on-demand traffic, which is a very exciting area in public transport and something that is being introduced in several of our markets. We’re really looking forward to developing a solution for it together with Transdev,” says Rosenstam.

“It’s fabulous to work with Transdev. They’ve got many enthusiastic people there and it really feels like we’re building something cool together.”

CONSAT BRASIL

TEXT AMY LEE THOMAS PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, ADOBE STOCK 3D-IMAGE PROCESSING ANDREAS EKLÖF

CONSAT CONTRIBUTES TO CLEANER, SMARTER PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN BRAZIL

In late 2021, Consat continued its expansion journey by establishing operations in South America through the launch of Consat Brasil Ltda with its head office in the metropolis of São Paolo. Statistics from Renavan (National Register of Motor Vehicles) show that there are over a million diesel-powered buses in Brazil, something that Consat wants to change.

“There’s great potential for change, and we at Consat look forward to being part of the journey,” says Esbjörn Lif, Sales & Marketing Manager, Consat Brasil Ltda.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT TAKES HIGH PRIORITY on the societal agenda today, and more and more cities are investing in their infrastructure to increase accessibility for citizens and improve the environment by reducing the number of diesel vehicles on roads. Consat’s core business is to develop, deploy and maintain state-of-the-art public transport systems for vehicle manufacturers, public transport operators and public transport authorities.

“Our timing for establishing Consat in Brazil is perfect as the country has recently begun making the journey towards electrifying its public transport. As a forerunner in innovative, smart solutions for electrified public transport, Consat will be an attractive partner for players in the Brazilian public transport market. We’re a few years ahead of the local competition thanks to our experience of smart solutions for electric buses in Scandinavia, Canada and Australia,” Lif points out. He continues:

“Needless to say, a population of over 200 million and the large number of buses in the country result in significant negative climate impact. The introduction of electric buses will contribute to reducing CO2 emissions, noise and negative impact on human health.”

ONE IN FIVE BUSES TO BE ELECTRIFIED

Shortly after Consat launched its venture in Brazil, the company contacted Leandro Sodré, who has worked in the Brazilian bus industry for over 20 years. Sodré and Lif began penetrating the market in the first half of 2022. As a result of this, the company now sells its systems to the bus manufacturer Eletra, which makes electric buses with 100 percent Brazilian components. The mayor of São Paolo recently set a target for 20 percent of the city’s buses to be electrified by 2024, and Consat wants to contribute to meeting this target.

“This is a project that’s in line with the times. Transitioning away from fossil-fuelled transport is a necessary step towards long-term climate sustainability. We’re delighted that our solution has been received so favourably. It feels like the Brazilian authorities have realised the necessity to overhaul public transport to contribute to a better climate. Electrification has moved forward worldwide and Brazil must keep up with this development,” says Lif.

BRASIL

CONSAT

ENGINEERING

IN-DEPTH TESTING

When a number of large electrical enclosures are installed on the sea bed at a depth of 1,000 metres in an enormous natural gas field, it’s essential to know that they’ll work – for a long time. Once they’re in place you can’t make repairs or modifications, and hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake.

Consat Engineering spent several weeks in the summer of 2022 performing costly testing to verify the calculations carried out by our Netgroup colleagues at FS Dynamics regarding the temperature development and environment in these electrical enclosures. A job with “NASA-level” requirements.

TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, ISTOCK IMAGES ILLUSTRATION ANDREAS EKLÖF

THIS IS YET ANOTHER STORY that confirms how Netgroup – a group of technology companies that collaborate in order to take on big jobs for big clients – can generate good jobs for its members, who have mutually complementary skills and expertise.

This time it was Consat who got an exciting job from our colleagues at the calculation company FS Dynamics –which in turn had obtained an exciting job from Aker Solutions of Norway, a company with billions of NOK in sales and 14,000 employees, which develops and manufactures oil and natural gas extraction technology. This technology is largely located on the sea bed, one of the most demanding and unforgiving environments imaginable.

In this project, Aker Solutions delivers equipment to Chevron, which is building a compressor station in an enormous gas field off the coast of Australia.

Martin Hogander at Consat Engineering describes the compressor station as ‘the size of Ullevi stadium’.

Installing the compressor station on the sea bed makes it possible to maximise the efficiency of the gas production. It minimises losses when transporting the gas to the surface, which results in big financial and environmental benefits.

MODELLING BACKED BY PRACTICAL TESTS

For Consat, the project involved verifying FS Dynamics’ theoretical model of the temperature development and inter-

CONSAT ENGINEERING

nal environment in a number of multi-storey underwater electrical enclosures to be installed at a depth of just over 1,000 metres in the natural gas field’s compressor stations.

Each of these electrical enclosures (or “electrical tanks”) contains powerful motor control electronics for the natural gas compressors, as well as various other control electronics.

Motor control in this power class generates significant energy losses in the form of heat, even with the best technology currently available, and the heat needs to be closely and accurately monitored when such costly equipment is installed on the sea bed. As mentioned earlier, once it’s installed there, nothing can be done to fix faults or irregularities. Once in place, the enclosures will never be opened or brought back to the surface, so they need to work for their entire planned lifetime. This means the project has similar requirements to a space project.

The fact that the enclosures will be filled with dry nitrogen adds to their high-tech nature. The electronics heat the nitrogen, which in turn transfers the heat to the inside of the enclosures, which contain a heat sink. The sturdy steel wall of the enclosure then transports the heat out to the cold sea bed.

Backed by Consat’s practical tests, FS Dynamics can be absolutely sure that their theoretical calculation model is accurate and that they can mathematically model exactly what will happen inside the full-scale electrical enclosures under varying loads. This in turn enables FS Dynamics’ client, Aker Solutions, to build a perfectly dimensioned electrical enclosure, which their client, Chevron, will be very happy about.

BIG TEST ON A SMALL SCALE

Martin Hogander and Lars-Åke Johansson at Consat Engineering are real veterans at the company, and were entrusted with completing the project.

There were initially some issues with organisation, before it became clear that this unexpectedly demanding project called for senior designers like Hogander and Johansson. Once they were on board and tackled the problems, things really took off.

“We felt like it was us against the world. We said, ‘Now let’s go for it,’” says Hogander.

“There were no specs... the tank size, the input power. We had to work it all out as we went along.”

And time was very scarce. FS Dynamics needed results, quickly.

“I’ve never experienced a schedule like that. It felt like they were calling us every two hours,” Hogander says.

The start was shaky for a while. All parts of the test had to be discussed and decided, and it soon became clear that the requirements were so high that the planned budget for the project would need to be increased manifold.

“We quickly realised we couldn’t do this for a fixed price – an extremely costly project would suffer if we cut corners in the wrong places,” Johansson explains.

“We felt like it was us against the world. We said, ‘Now let’s go for it.’”

Martin Hogander

Lars-Åke Johansson

CONSAT ENGINEERING

STRONG FOCUS ON TEMPERATURE

It was defined during discussions with FS Dynamics exactly how the scaled down “electrical enclosure” for the test would be designed and cooled in order for the theoretical models to get exactly the right data for the verification process. A constant temperature in the outer shell was absolutely crucial. An ice-cold water jacket was used to simulate the surrounding sea (see the pictures to the side).

“For a while we considered using a solution to achieve a stable temperature with active components, but that would have been far to expensive, even for this project,” says Johansson. The water for the water jacket – or actually water jackets since the enclosure was divided into two parts – was kept at a constant temperature by continuously melting ice in large open tanks. This was a simple, physical, self-regulating method of temperature control.

Ordinary submersible pumps delivered a controlled flow of ice-cold wa-

ter from the tanks, through the water jackets and back again. Carefully specified insulation round the tanks minimised external temperature impact.

“To calculate the number of litres of water delivered per minute by each pump in a real application, we tested them individually by pumping water into a 200L oil drum suspended on a hanging scale at the same height as the receptacle used in the test, for 30 seconds. This produced a realistic and exact flow value,” the two colleagues explain.

It also turned out that the two pumps delivered almost exactly the same water flow.

The ice melting method worked well, although vast amounts of ice were used during the test period – 5 metric tons (!). Hogander and Johansson carried the ice in sacks from a freezer container outside the workshop and topped up the tanks as the ice melted in the summer heat.

“The melting ice in the tanks made the water temperature in the system

self-regulating as long as ice remained in the tanks,” Johansson explains. The water in the water jackets stayed stable at 0.5 degrees Celsius.

“The temperature doesn’t have to be exactly the same as in the actual marine environment in order for the test to work, but it does need to be stable,” adds Hogander.

“Of course we logged the temperatures, and they never rose above 0.7 degrees,” says Johansson.

EXACTLY THE RIGHT PAINT

For practical reasons, the tank needed to be divided into two parts. It was made of stainless steel exactly like the full-scale “electrical enclosure”. The same heat sinks were installed on the inside and it was coated with a paint with carefully adapted properties. Everything was done to make the test as realistic as possible.

“We put the two halves of the tank on rails to facilitate assembly and handling. The tank was designed by us. There was talk about designing the

“To calculate the number of litres of water delivered a minute by each pump in a real application, we tested them individually by pumping water into a 200L oil drum suspended on a hanging scale at the same height as the receptacle used in the test, for 30 seconds. This produced a realistic and exact flow value.”

opening like the door of a bank vault, but in the end we decided to put the parts on rails and it worked very well,” says Hogander.

“The paint used in the tank had to have specific conductivity and emissivity, so we had to send it to the RISE [research institute] for testing,” he adds.

And they needed to know the exact thickness of the layers of paint sprayed on the inside of the tank.

“Paint thickness gauges capable of measuring paint on stainless steel are unusual, but the people who painted the tank in Tidaholm had one, so they came here to do the measuring after the paint had cured thoroughly,” Hogander says.

“I made a drawing of exactly where we measured the paint thickness… we had to document absolutely everything.”

AIR INSTEAD OF NITROGEN

In the initial discussions with FS Dynamics, there were plans to have a realistic test tank filled with nitrogen. However, the safety aspects – nitrogen is invisible and risks causing suffocation because people think they’re breathing air – would have required Consat’s workshop to be converted for this purpose. So for this and other practical reasons, the tank was filled with dry air instead, which proved to work very well.

“We used large bags of silicon to dry the air in the tank. This produced equivalent air circulation and characteristics as the dry nitrogen in the real electrical enclosures,” explains Hogander.

“And we constantly monitored the air environment in the tank – relative

humidity and temperature,” adds Johansson.

“We handled the overpressure and underpressure in the tank by using two facing non-return valves.” says Hogander.

ARTIFICIAL HEAT LOSS

To simulate the power losses in the full-scale electrical enclosures, purpose-built aluminium cubes of different sizes containing heating elements were installed at six different levels in the tank.

FS Dynamics specified exactly how the cubes should be designed and positioned. The cubes were made from aluminium, which was given a black anodised finish in order to emit heat in a strictly controlled way. Thermally conductive paste between the heating elements in the cube and the actual aluminium cubes ensured controlled heat emission.

Hogander and Johansson had to order a certain type of heat-resistant but insulating plastic from the United Kingdom to make spacers in order to fit the cubes so that that they were thermally insulated from the cut-out panels used to install the heating elements and sensors in the tank. This was necessary to prevent the test results from being distorted by heat from the actual mounting panels.

“We gave FS Dynamics the drawing of the spacer so they could calculate the amount of heat conducted through the plastic, and it was a factor 100 so nothing serious,” says Johansson.

For precise, stable control of the emitted power in each of the heating elements installed at six levels in the

“ Once in place, the enclosures will never be opened or brought back to the surface, so they need to work for their entire planned lifetime. This means the project has similar requirements to a space project.”

tank, Johansson chose to use traditional rheostats (wirewound variable resistors). They provided an even, precisely controllable current.

“To enable the input power to be monitored exactly, it couldn’t be controlled with a triac (semiconductor control). Instead we had to use old-fashioned rheostats,” he explains.

The heating elements at each level were parallel connected, and a sturdy knob was used at each level for adjusting the power manually.

“The analogue control was surprisingly accurate. The resistance of the resistor changes when it heats up, so we needed to finely adjust the rheostats once they had been heated [by the current]. The settling time for each individual test was 3.5 hours,” says Johansson.

CAREFUL MEASUREMENT

Of course it was important to use reliable temperature sensors for the test.

Considering the tight schedule, Johansson and Hogander opted for the most fail-safe choice.

“The temperature sensors we chose were specifically selected for extreme precision,” Hogander says.

First the sensors were fitted with metal radiation shields to prevent the heat radiation from distorting the readings (these are the slitted sleeves seen in many of the pictures in this article), but this quickly proved a bad idea.

“We initially installed radiation shields. But this didn’t work because the radiation shields themselves heated up and radiated heat towards the sensors, and they also obstructed the air flow around the sensors. So the shields had to be removed,” says Johansson.

FS Dynamics calculated the air flow around the radiation shields and confirmed that the warm air was circulating around the shields even though the slits were close to the sensor tips

(see pictures), so it wasn’t heating the sensors as intended.

Without radiation shields and with the sensors thermally insulated from the mounting panels, the measured values improved significantly. But theory and practice still didn’t completely coincide.

What was missing was the exact positions of each sensor in the tank.

“I measured all the sensors’ exact positions, and then FS Dynamics could see greater conformity with their model,” Johansson explains.

“Simply put, theory and practice coincided.”

In hindsight this test series showed that the expensive, specially selected sensors were actually too good.

“The calibrated sensors we had chosen were, in fact, not necessary, because the fluctuations in the system were a factor 10 greater than the sensor precision,” says Johansson.

“They considered this a normal way of working, but we’d never encountered anything like it. They’d say, stop! where’s the risk analysis!? … But we’re only switching on a water pump, we’d reply. We weren’t allowed to start until we’d performed the risk analysis specifying everything that could happen while the pump was running.”

“We measured to an accuracy of a tenth of a degree, whereas the fluctuation was in whole degrees.”

All the sensors – carefully numbered with their exact position and direction in the tank – were connected to rented data loggers for the subsequent test series.

“We rented the loggers because buying new ones would have been far too expensive,” says Hogander.

Finally everything was ready for the tests.

TEN TEST CASES

FS Dynamics had specified ten separate test cases – different power settings for the six levels of the heating elements.

“A test might be carried out as follows: Use maximum power at the bottom level and no power at all the levels above it, or medium power at all levels… etc.,” Johansson says.

“It took three and a half hours before the system was stable and the results of each test could be logged.”

Johansson and Hogander kept a continuous check of the amount of ice in the tanks, the water jacket temperature and the relative humidity in the tank.

They sent all the measured data from the ten tests, which they compared to their theoretical model. The reality coincided very well with the theoretical model and showed that it was completely correct.

DOCUMENTATION AT A HIGHER LEVEL

An aspect of the project that Hogander and Johansson were not prepared for was the extreme requirement to document every tiny detail and to perform risk analyses of every stage of the work. It came as something of a shock. With their off-shore operations, Aker Solutions understandably focuses strongly on HSE (Health and Safety En-

vironment), from the initial concept right through to delivery of the products. HSE is included in everything the company does to prevent people getting injured at their own premises or the premises of their customers or suppliers.

Hogander and Johansson weren’t only required to document drawings and hardware specifications. There were also requirements for test pressurisation, material certificates and data sheets showing the cables’ insulation and thermal conduction properties. The non-return valves limiting the pressure in the tank needed to be classified and precise to allow their function to be verified.

“They considered this a normal way of working, but we’d never encountered anything like it. They’d say, stop! where’s the risk analysis!? … But we’re only switching on a water pump, we’d reply. We weren’t allowed to start until

we’d performed the risk analysis specifying everything that could happen while the pump was running.

“Every part of the work required a risk analysis – even carrying bags of ice up the steps to the water tanks,” says Hogander.

“They had to supply us with templates and documents, and they thought we were very primitive… but things started getting better once they realised we had everything under control and were even ahead of schedule,” he says.

“No matter what question they asked, we immediately had the answer.”

MONEY IS TIME

Perhaps the toughest aspect of the entire project was the tight schedule.

“We were actually really stressed,” says Hogander.

“They said, ‘If you don’t get finished, you’ll have to work during your holidays!’ That added extra pressure,” he says.

“Our contact with the subcontractors got very intense. They had to work double shifts when the schedule was tight.”

It happened several times that Hogander and Johansson had to pay extra to get their jobs prioritised, but it was worth it.

“Aker Solutions and FS Dynamics appreciated that we were quick. They wanted a small plastic cap to put on the sensors. We went to a subcontractor who said, hmm, it’s Friday and we’re busy… But we said, what if cost is no object? And that did the trick. We had a new test ready the following Monday! They were impressed by that,” Hogander says.

“It’s very satisfying to work on a project that so clearly prioritises quality over cost,” he adds.

“But working without specs was less fun,” Johansson points out.

“The hardware proved more expensive than they [Aker Solutions] expected, but the analysis cost less – and in the end they were delighted! During a physical meeting they said, in front of the representatives from Chevron, that we’d done an amazing job and they were really satisfied,” says Hogander proudly.

“They said, ‘the parts and design are of the same high quality as the electrical enclosures we’re installing on the sea bed.’

“It’s actually the same quality that we deliver to SKF and other customers. The only difference is the documentation and all the risk analyses,” says Johansson with a smile.

CONSAT ENGINEERING

“During a physical meeting they said, in front of the representatives from Chevron, that we’d done an amazing job and they were really satisfied.”

JENNY FREDÉR

ANDREAS EKLÖF

Lindholmen Open Day 2022 Open2022 Days

THIS YEAR’S LINDHOLMEN OPEN DAY was a fantastic event. After two years of being held online, Gågatan at Lindholmen Science Park came to life again and Älvrummet was packed with wonderful seminars all day. The theme of the event was Innovation – the way to a sustainable society!

Orvar Hurtig, Amir Skangic and Ulrika Lin held a seminar on DATA BASED DEPOT

CHARGING – the smart sustainable city described in a small context.

At our booth we presented our Geiser greywater heat exchanger, which attracted keen interest.

CDE was there with us presenting the workplace of the future. We demonstrated how a transport controller can sit and work with correct ergonomics, sound and lighting that adapts to your comfort. The Consat Telematics public transport system was shown on the screens at the workplace.

In addition, Martin Wahlgren presented the Collaborator of the Year award to Fredrik Sandblom from Zenseact.

TEXT

PHOTO

AXEL BERNHARDSON

MATS BERNHARDSON ILLUSTRATION ISTOCK IMAGES

European Dragon Boat CHAMPIONSHIPS Banyoles 2022

MANY OF YOU Many of you have no doubt heard about – and perhaps even took part in – the Dragon Boat Festival in Gothenburg last year, where teams and companies competed in a big race on the canal outside Feskekyrkan. Interestingly enough, there’s also a more serious side to the sport where people compete in races of different distances in 10-person or 20-person dragon boats.

The European Dragon Boat Championships took place in Banyoles, Spain on 1–4 September. Ten countries competed for the titles in various classes. The race distances were 200 m, 500 m and 2,000 m. The races are held on a buoyed course. The 200 m and 500 m races are held on straight courses, while the 2,000 m race takes place on an oval course marked by buoys which the the contestants must navigate round.

Sweden did well, taking home five medals. One silver and one bronze in the U24 class, two bronze, and Sweden also successfully defended its gold medal in the 200 m mixed class.

I have been doing dragon boat racing since autumn 2018, and this was my first international championship. The preparation consists of training on the water and in the gym. Training camps are held in various places in Sweden about 6–7 times a year. The sport is very small in Sweden, with only 200–300 active participants, but it’s big in other parts of the world.

TEXT

PHOTO

CONSAT

TELEMATICS

TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, ADOBE STOCK IMAGE PROCESSING ANDREAS EKLÖF ILLUSTRATION ANDREAS EKLÖF

Fleet

Studio:

THE BIRTH OF A STELLAR APP

From a hobby project to a function-packed but modern and user-friendly web application. Fleet Studio is Consat Telematics’ “Swiss army knife”; it can be used in everything from mobile phones to wall-mounted giant screens.

AS THE GREY EMINENCE Mr. Dryden said in the blockbuster movie Lawrence of Arabia: “Big things have small beginnings.” This truism often applies to the product company Consat Telematics, where numerous smart functions and solutions have been born over the years in the form of small experimental ideas and private projects created outside working hours by developers who are passionate about their work.

In case you’re unfamiliar with this Consat company, here is some information: Consat Telematics develops and supplies systems for vehicle management, passenger information and traffic management in the public transport sector for a large number of customers worldwide.

And when a veteran employee at Consat Telematics, Torbjörn Bäckström, started putting together a modular software platform for applications with a web interface in May 2017 in his free time, he sowed the first seed for a project

that has since grown to become Consat Telematics’ latest application, Fleet Studio.

At the time, Bäckström merely viewed it as a fun open-source project that everyone could use to build their own larger, modular web applications, after he had provided the basic building blocks.

He continued to create code for his small project during spare moments, until one day a client of Telematics’ requested a web-based version of the traffic information function in the company’s large traffic management application, Traffic Studio. Did Consat by any chance have such a function handy?

Bäckström heard about this, thought, “hmm – how difficult can that be?”, went home and built the function, based on the platform he had already started working on. He’d actually already been working a bit on a solution, so it was a bit like those cookery programmes where things are pre-

pared in advance... so you can just pop them in the oven and, hey presto, they’re ready.

When Bäckström presented the result at the office a short time later, it was warmly received and soon became a public Telematics product, or at least a public customer-specific product.

The company took charge of launching the application, which Bäckström had chosen to call A.T.O.M (Advanced Traffic Operations Management), in the product catalogue and developing it into a platform for future functionality.

Telematics’ UX designer Karl Bane worked on refining the user experience and the graphics, and Magnus Janbro, another developer at Telematics, finished building the product and productified it. It was beginning to take shape.

REAL TIME INFORMATION ON VIDEO WALL

One thing that can be solved with relatively simple web applications is “dashboards” displaying key information and values in a format that is often suited to being displayed on a wall of screens. Think NASA’s large video wall in Houston, although perhaps slightly smaller and simpler.

So Bäckström set to work on yet another hobby project alongside his ordinary Telematics projects, which involved displaying information from a public transport system in A.T.O.M. on a “dashboard”, using large graphs to show how many buses are operating on the roads at any given time, how many are running on schedule, how many are late etc., and later displaying passenger count data using the same graphic method.

Bane fine-tuned the graphics, and the APC Dashboard (Automatic Passenger Counting) was soon an official Telematics product and was supplied to one of the company’s Norwegian clients. Telematics also built – this time as an official project – a similar A.T.O.M. dashboard to monitor statistics regarding traffic information data, which was sent to a client in Australia using the standard SIRI format.

A.T.O.M.-IC POWER? YES PLEASE

A good software developer is curious and enterprising, and Bäckström knew that A.T.O.M. was capable of more than producing traffic information and displaying simple graphs on dashboards. He also wanted to learn about WebGL, a way to use a web browsing

“Telematics appointed a team exclusively dedicated to A.T.O.M, and soon its name was changed to Fleet Studio to fit in with the company’s already established Traffic Studio application.”

CONSAT TELEMATICS

One of the first tasks the new application had to perform was to display real-time passenger count information in a display suitable for large video walls.

APC Dashboard enables Consat customers with passenger counters in their vehicles to continuously monitor the number of passengers in the traffic system… and not least, the number of passengers travelling in vehicles that are operating on schedule.

device’s integrated graphics processor to perform calculations and quickly render graphics in the browser. This is a technology used in many browser games. Why shouldn’t it be possible to regard a traffic management application with maps updated in real time, moving vehicle symbols, changing list views, etc. in the same way as a computer game and use WebGL?

So Bäckström and Bane, who had been involved all along in developing the graphics- and user-related elements, proceeded to build, piece by piece, a key building block in the tools needed in order to create functions for real-time traffic monitoring and traffic management.

Bäckström also had to rebuild many of the underlying functions used in Telematics’ ordinary traffic manage-

ment application, Traffic Studio, so that they would work in A.T.O.M. In the summer of 2020, he and Bane rolled out a visually attractive, clear and powerful map function and a real-time updated list of all vehicles in operation in a large public transport system. An impressive achievement in a web application.

Yet another success story was born, and like when a talent scout discovers a promising band with a potential hit, A.T.O.M. was now allocated more resources by its “record company” Telematics and given a lot more gigs. It now seemed appropriate to adapt its name in line with Telematics’ other applications.

Telematics appointed a team exclusively dedicated to A.T.O.M, and soon its name was changed to Fleet Studio to fit in with the company’s already

established Traffic Studio application.

Markus Ingvarsson, a graduate of Chalmers University of Technology who had been working part-time at Telematics for three years, joined the team almost immediately, as did Lars Larsson, an experienced colleague closely involved in developing Traffic Studio over the years.

Bane reworked the entire user interface including menus, search functions, lists and detail views… Fleet Studio was increasingly becoming a finished platform, including on the outside, ready for developing most types of functionality Telematics’ customers could possibly want – in web format.

More and more work was also dedicated to creating the best possible user experience on small phone screens.

FLEET MANAGEMENT

Fleet Management provides all the information that an operator, in this case a company that primarily operates buses in a public transport system, needs in their daily operations. This includes practical information such as the vehicle’s use, wear, consumption, faults and servicing. Consat Telematics’ connected vehicles enable bus operators to constantly monitor all this information without needing to go around checking each vehicle. Consat’s Fleet Management application gives users simple, flexible interfaces for these functions.

LIFE AFTER SILVERLIGHT

So what would Fleet Studio’s main task be? Events across the Atlantic would soon make this question easy to answer, at least in the short term: Microsoft opted to stop developing and supporting the Silverlight browser add-on. Silverlight has not been supported by modern browsers since October 2021. This posed a fast-growing problem for Telematics, as many years earlier the company had developed the extensive Silverlight browser application Consat Fleet Management. Now all the functionality enjoyed by Consat Fleet Management’s many users around the world would disappear in a puff of smoke.

A replacement had to be found, and there are no prizes for guessing its name.

FLEET MANAGEMENT IN FOCUS

Amir Skangic is product owner at Consat Telematics. His job includes limiting and ordering much of the functionality from the development teams, which is constantly being expanded in Telematics’ various systems and solutions based on customer needs.

“This started as Torbjörn’s project, where he explored new technologies,” says Skangic.

“Torbjörn and other developers have done this before, experimenting with building things alongside their regular work, which have later evolved into functions and products.

“It’s great to get ideas like this. A developer often experiments with things for a good reason, maybe because a client has requested it or we have discussed a need for it.

“Above all, we had a problem that needed solving quickly: We needed –and still need – to develop an appropriate replacement application for the old Consat Fleet Management,” he explains.

“So a little over a year ago, Telematics adopted Torbjörn’s project to apply the things that needed to be moved from the old to the new platform. And it was at some point during this process that the name Fleet Studio was born.

“It becomes our application when it uses Telematics’ source code. The whole team has dedicated a lot of time to making this a really useful platform. The “fleet” part of the name was largely chosen to signal to old Fleet Management customers that the new application is intended as a replacement, even though Fleet Studio was conceived

from the outset do other things as well. “We didn’t want to just move the old functionality over – after all, it’s 8–10 years old – but there were many excellent functions for handling vehicle data that we were able to recycle,” says Skangic.

“Existing clients who have mainly used Consat Fleet Management for controlling vehicle systems and service, such as STM (Société de transport de Montréal), don’t want to see many changes made to the function; in principle, they want Fleet Studio to copy the content of the old Consat Fleet Management application.”

This means that careful consideration needs to be given to what is copied, what is created from scratch and what is improved on to make as many people as possible happy.

For example, Fleet Studio has already been given a new view/report for monitoring vehicle data and sensors that all users of the old application will recognise. This is a report that is highly popular with many bus operators.

“We’ve taken everything we felt was good in the old Fleet Studio (although that process isn’t complete yet). However, Consat Fleet Management didn’t support electric buses, a function that is obviously needed in Fleet Studio,” Skangic says.

The new electric bus functionality has a problem that actually also existed with the old diesel buses: bus manufacturers are often reluctant to provide real-time information on the vehicle’s drivetrains, which is essential for good monitoring.

“But with the transition to electric

buses, requirements are increasingly being imposed for things like charging management, which opens up opportunities for us. The chargers give us data on how much the buses charge each time, and of course we know where they drive. So this enables us to calculate their energy consumption, regardless of how much information the bus manufacturer chooses to share with external systems about their consumption,” says Skangic with a smile.

CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS

BECOME CUSTOMER BENEFITS

“What’s interesting, and often problematic, about Fleet Management is the type of data we are able to access, which obviously determines which functions we can offer,” Skangic explains.

TEAM FLEET STUDIO

AMIR SKANGIC

Consat Telematics’ product owner has worked in various roles at the company since the spring of 2005.

TORBJÖRN BÄCKSTRÖM

Bäckström is a real veteran at Consat Telematics. He has worked on almost all parts of the system since 1991, long before Telematics became Telematics.

KARL BANE

Bane is Consat Telematics’ most senior UX designer and joined the company in 2006. He developed Telematics’ driver interface and the passenger information displays for bus stops and all vehicle types.

MARKUS INGVARSSON

Ingvarsson is relatively new to Consat Telematics in this group, but is already a highly committed developer who plays an important driving role. You can read his story from the Angular developer conference in Salt Lake City in this issue of Context.

LARS LARSSON

Larsson has worked at Telematics since 2010 and has brought enormous experience of the company’s traffic management application, Traffic Studio, and the older fleet management application, Consat Fleet Management, to the Fleet Studio team.

CONSAT TELEMATICS

“Bus manufacturers often don’t want to share their drivetrain information. But this can be solved by applying the right pressure from the right sources.

“If customers – our customers, who are also the bus manufacturers’ customers –demand that bus manufacturers provide real-time information on consumption, battery status, etc., we can access data that enables us to do so much more for those customers, which ultimately benefits everyone.”

MORE THAN FLEETS

Despite its name, Fleet Studio is a very flexible application, and there are plans to add several of the functions that currently require customers to install Consat’s big traffic management application, Traffic Studio, in their workstations.

For example, bus operators, an important customer group for Consat Telematics, can benefit greatly from having an online traffic management application that can be used on a phone in an emergency situation.

“We wanted to include certain functions and tools, such as bus charging, in both Traffic Studio and Fleet Studio, so that users of both applications can access them,” Skangic says.

Besides the added work of developing functions in parallel in two different applications, this type of duplication makes extra demands both on the underlying basic functions as well as on the user interfaces in the two applications.

“Having the same functionality in two applications is something that has to be managed by the [development] teams to ensure the functions are the same,” Skangic points out.

“The objective isn’t to completely replace

Traffic Studio. It should be possible to carry out certain Traffic Studio functions in Fleet Studio, but not everything. Certain customers want to be able to do certain specific things on their phone.

“But in the end, what we add to Fleet Studio will be determined by what customers ask for,” he says.

GATHERING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

At the time of writing, the first live versions of Fleet Studio have reached customers and the team are eagerly awaiting the user feedback that is so crucial for Telematics’ product development.

“It’s being tested by certain customers, and we’ve received feedback from customers such as STM in Canada and Boreal in Norway. We’ll gradually start rolling the application out to users,” says Skangic.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Although the “framework” is close to being ready – at least on the outside – the team are adding a fairly constant stream of new function views, reports and special features to Fleet Studio.

Just like with its “older brother”, Traffic Studio, the functions available in the program can be varied to suit different customers and users. This means that Fleet Studio can be relatively complex for one user but extremely simple and scaled back for another.

Normally, a real time view or a report is produced in what could be described as a production cycle, from function specifications for a graphic mock-up or sketch to a functioning part of the application. Then we go on to the next function (although small tweaks and improvements are continuously being made everywhere in Fleet Studio).

Designing a new function or view is seldom a linear process. There are usually several modifications and discussions regarding details before everything is perfected and ready to roll out to customers. And when customers get back with feedback and requests, we’re always ready to make improvements.

Consat Telematics works with Agile development in short sprints – three-week periods – an approach where continuous, frequent improvement is a natural part of day-to-day work.

Moreover, because the developers have access to existing customers’ historic use of the database information, they can see which data is used the most. This has been an important tool for determining which functions should be moved first from the old Fleet Management application to the new Fleet Studio.

Markus Ingvarsson and Karl Bane

CONSAT TELEMATICS

THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Markus Ingvarsson, who has spent the past year working full time on Fleet Studio, explains how the team normally goes about developing a new function:

“We usually ask Karl to create a mock-up showing how it will work for the user. Then, based on the mock-up, the team discusses what we want to add or remove, which functions should be included in an initial version, and what might be added in later versions,” he says.

“We ensure that customer needs are met, that the user experience is good, and that the developer experience is also good so that the [program] architecture will be viable in the long term.

“We make sure to develop it in line with the functionality in Karl’s mock-up, while also aiming to expand our platform library so that we can deliver a strong web application with a good design.

“Moreover, we produce quite a lot of app functions in-house instead of buying them ready-made. This has many advantages but it also takes time, which naturally affects how quickly we can develop things.”

AN APP FUNCTION FROM START TO FINISH: DRIVER COACHING

The Driver Coaching report in Fleet Studio is a relatively new view/report that may be of particular interest if you want greater insight into the development process. Its predecessor in the old Consat Fleet Management app had certain shortcomings, which makes the improvement process particularly evident.

The idea is that this report should enable the user to see and compare driving styles and the resulting fuel/energy consumption for all the bus drivers in the organisation. It should also indicate what aspects of a driver’s driving style (if any) require coaching or improvement.

“In terms of driver coaching, there was plenty of potential for improving on the old solution,” Skangic says.

“The old report was difficult to interpret, with many numbers and confusing tables. It also had a relatively strong focus on diesel fuel consumption.”

But knowing what doesn’t work well doesn’t necessarily mean you know what the right solution is and what would be a good tool for encouraging bus drivers to drive smoothly and energy-efficiently. That’s the problem with this frequently requested function. There are almost as many approaches to driver coaching as there are suppliers in the industry.

“We aim to speak to customers as often as we can. And if you ask five customers how driver coaching should work, you’ll get five different answers. So it’s not that simple,” sighs Skangic.

“Even from the same customer, different people might want different things.

“So we’ve tried to build on what we’re really good at: knowing where and when a vehicle has driven a certain route in order to make fair comparisons between drivers.”

The basic information we have access to is various events in the vehicle that are triggered when the driver brakes, accelerates or turns sharply – plus energy consumption, which is continuously monitored, regardless of what fuel the vehicle uses. The vehicle systems save and report all this information and also calculate reference values (average values) for each route and each time period during a calendar day.

The driver’s driving is compared with

“Consat Telematics works with Agile development in short sprints – three-week periods –an approach where continuous, frequent improvement is a natural part of day-to-day work.”

the reference values, and the results show how other drivers have driven along exactly the same stretch in equivalent traffic conditions. So if all the drivers brake sharply on a certain stretch, it is probably not the fault of the driver but due to the traffic situation. In such cases, the comparison with the average value will not penalise a driver who has behaved in the same way as everyone else.

Developer Markus Ingvarsson and interface designer Karl Bane collaborated particularly closely when developing this function.

In the summer of 2022, Ingvarsson was examining large quantities of real data from different customer systems to see how driver coaching information should be processed and presented.

“I looked at how often events such as abrupt breaking or turning on bends happen in practice. Where do they occur? And how do they relate to evaluating good or bad driving?” he says.

To make the information easy to grasp and use, it was decided that it would be presented collectively as two simple numerical values: one for energy consumption and one for passenger comfort. These values are often interrelated – if you drive very jerkily, there is a large risk of using a lot of energy.

In both cases, the values were calculated by comparing the reference values (average values) for each stretch.

“There’s such an enormous amount of data that the big challenge is how to present it in an appealing and effective way. It’s often as much a question of what not to show as what to highlight and display in each individual view,” Ingvarsson explains.

“Amir talked a lot about this at the beginning: that we shouldn’t have a report with loads of unclear numbers –there should be relatively few columns with numbers that are easy to grasp.

“But of course there are different ways to use the reference values and give ratings to the drivers’ performance in a way that is clear. We initially envisaged a more complex rating system.” he says.

Bane produced mock-ups, and Ingvarsson built the function based on these to test how it would work in prac-

CONSAT TELEMATICS

MOCK-UP –BETWEEN DRAWING AND FINISHED PRODUCT

New functions in the software application often start with a mock-up – one or several unfinished application views that provide a good picture of how the finished application will work, but not necessarily how it will look. The mock-up can be used as a basis for discussions, both between the developers and with customers and managers.

tice. But after trying it out in practice, they realised that the rating system, which was designed to produce both positive and negative values, was difficult to understand. It needed to be revisited.

“We discussed it all again and arrived at a relatively simple, easy-to-understand model: If you drive better than or equal to the reference value (the average value for the route at a given time) the driving performance is rated as OK, whereas if you drive worse than the reference value, it’s rated as not OK,” says Ingvarsson.

This means that a driver’s rating is simply based on how often he or she is equal to or better than the average value – a percentage of the total number of routes he or she has driven.

“We’ve assumed that the ambition is for the group to aim to drive in similar ways, and that the function should help everyone to drive in more or less the same way, not that everyone should drive perfectly and get negative

CONSAT TELEMATICS

points every time they do something that isn’t perfect.

“We felt that this new rating method provided a good, clear overview of how the drivers’ performance compared with other drivers. And we also added a detail view that allows users to gain more in-depth information and feedback, examine how the driver performed and see various driving events such as sharp braking,” he explains.

An interesting requirement regarding the view/report in the application is that the driver coaching should be planned from the outset in such a way that individual drivers can log in to find out what their driving was like. Of course, this affected the design.

“It’s hard to say yet how successful we’ve been since the customers have so far only had time to play around a bit with the function. We’re eagerly awaiting their feedback,” says Ingvarsson.

DESIGN –FROM MOCK-UP TO USER EXPERIENCE

The user interface plays a central role in the Fleet Studio application, not least because the expected users are so varied. Fleet Studio must, basically, be as simple as possible to use. This requirement is slightly lower for many of Telematics’ other interfaces, which are often used by trained experts.

Bane has spent more than fifteen years designing the interfaces that drivers, passengers and other system users need to optimally harness the system’s power.

His work in the Fleet Studio team includes many aspects: designing new functions and concepts based on the user experience, visually and interactively sim-

CONSAT TELEMATICS

plifying and refining the functions jointly developed by the team, and programming the actual interface in the application.

Bane is almost always involved from start to finish when a function is designed, and often has a driving role in the development process.

“There are a variety of reasons why I might design a mock-up for a Fleet Studio function. It could be to meet a requirement imposed during a procurement for a function we don’t have or an upgrade of an existing function, perhaps at the request of a customer, or there might be a new function that I want to sell to the team and the company,” he says.

“The trends we notice in the market also influence our development work; we might need to change the direction of a function. A good example of this is the rapid transition to electric buses, which has required us to revise functions and reports to ensure a product’s success.

“Constantly considering how things can be done better and smarter is part of the job,” he points out.

“When you work in a creative profession, the [thought] process never stops, whether you’re at work or taking a shower in the morning. Mock-ups, analyses and function testing are carried out in parallel with the work that has actually been ordered. Solutions also go through several phases that can’t be seen in the final product but result in a vast “library” of thoughts. This library might not be very tidily organised, but when the right ‘index’ comes in handy in another context, you definitely know it,” says Bane with a smile.

“And new creative solutions and ideas are constantly coming up that you simply

have to get out of your system,” he says.

“Of course function development is a team effort where the technical conditions often determine what you can do in practice, whether it’s about screen size, viewing angles, environment or something else. We discuss, build and test things and we often have to adjust our visions and ambitions to achieve optimal results.

“Our own ambitions and the need to always stay abreast with the hottest new trends is always a challenge, even early in a product’s development. And you must never forget that existing products have to maintain the same standard and feel in all respects.

“To maintain consistency in Fleet Studio, we use a framework that we’ve developed ourselves to manage menus and dynamic content. So a new report or function maintains the same standard as the existing one because the framework itself decides how it should look and work.

“It’s a huge challenge to design for such diverse viewing and interaction environments as a small phone screen and large video walls.

“This is something that emerged when our products were converted to HTML. Previously, nearly everything we made was created for a specific screen size or hardware. But now there’s a clear trend for things to be dynamic and work seamlessly regardless of where you are and what device you choose to use, whether it’s an iPad, phone, computer, etc. There are established methods where you work according to the “mobile first” principle and then continue developing for larger sized areas, to ensure that all the functions are able to work on all platforms,” he says.

As mentioned before, the functions that have already been designed in Fleet Studio are largely driven by the need to replace an old application. This means we have a customer base to work from when the functions are moved to and improved in Fleet Studio.

“Most of the improvements we’ve introduced are based on feedback from our Fleet Management users. Of course we also weigh in the fact that Fleet Studio, as an HTML application, can now be used by a larger target group than the earlier Fleet Management products,” Bane points out.

There are universal goals and requirements to meet in an application as flexible as Fleet Studio.

“KPI values must be easily overviewable, you have to be able to use the full function on your mobile phone or tablet, the amount of data must be slim, and even a non-expert user, such as a bus driver, must easily be able to log in and analyse their driving performance.”

LIMITATIONS DRIVE SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

Consat Telematics’ customer functions outside vehicles can, from one perspective, be divided between things that are managed by the back end/central system and live on servers underground somewhere, and things that are done by the application on the user’s computer or phone. A specific user function can utilise these elements to varying degrees depending on its design.

An interesting detail if you compare the Traffic Studio computer app with the Fleet Studio web application is that the Fleet Studio developers drive the development of the back end part of the system to a greater extent because it is harder to put data-intensive functions into the web application.

“In Traffic Studio it can be a little too easy to do things in the application. This means the functions often end up there, when they should probably be in the back end,” explains product owner Amir Skangic.

“When an existing function in Traffic Studio later needs to be duplicated in Fleet Studio, it’s problematic if the back end part is not designed to work well with the more limited web application,” he says.

A result of Telematics’ work with Fleet Studio is that much of the development that goes on behind closed doors, which sometimes used to be deprioritised because it was less noticeable, is now getting an extra boost, which benefits the entire system.

Let there be (THE RIGHT) LIGHT!

The Swedish company Heliospectra is an expert in LED horticulture lighting. Consat is an expert in projects, product development and production adaptation. By outsourcing its entire development process to Consat, Heliospectra can get the products it needs to conquer new, challenging markets.

AS SO OFTEN HAPPENS, it all started with a relatively limited consulting assignment.

In the summer of 2020, Consat AB’s CEO Martin Wahlgren and Consat Engineering’s Vice President Ragnar Hallgren visited the Gothenburg company Heliospectra, which needed help with product development. It was an ordinary meeting with a prospective customer.

Heliospectra was already in discussions with a couple of other engi-

CONSAT ENGINEERING

TEXT MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON / HELIOSPECTRA

Christoffer Lindvall

neering companies, but Consat’s reputation and stated focus on innovation won the company management over. Consat landed the job of assisting Heliospectra’s development department with the completion of a couple of problematic development projects.

“We set to work in the autumn of 2020. We initially worked with Heliospectra’s development department, but they were undergoing organisational changes. Several of their developers left fairly soon,” Hallgren recalls.

“It was a complex job to get to grips with. We needed to bring in senior people [to the project] because a big transition was under way.

“When we came into the picture, a couple of projects were ongoing that we were involved in completing. Since then we’ve also started new projects.”

The job included project management, product development and production development, as well as mechanics, electronics and software development. Consat’s broad expertise paid off here. For various reasons, the management decided to gradually dismantle its own development department and eventually outsourced all of its development work to Consat. This partnership model can be optimal for a small company like Heliospectra.

WIN-WIN SITUATION

“Heliospectra now has about 15 employees consisting exclusively of product owners, company management and marketing staff, while Consat provides two, three or up to eight employees depending on the development needs at any given time,” explains Hallgren.

Ragnar Hallgren

CONSAT ENGINEERING

“Having the possibility to reduce or increase resources according to current needs makes this type of partnership very efficient. And Consat’s long project management experience, knowledgeable staff and resources add muscle to the work.”

A STRONG, FLEXIBLE TEAM

In other words, Consat can vary its involvement and resources to suit current development needs.

“When I stepped in, there was a lot of focus on the software in the control system. But now the focus is more on embedded systems and hardware,” explains Christoffer Lindvall, who could be described as Consat’s main project manager for Heliospectra.

“Right now the Consat team includes myself, Aron [Lander] and Claes [Filander],” he says.

At the time of writing, Heliospectra is in the process of planning new development projects and is focusing on sales as well as testing of new products at growers’ facilities.

“We have lots of tests and pilot projects under way in Central Europe and Denmark.

Heliospectra has chosen the suppliers, customers and producers for these tests,” says Lindvall.

KNOWLEDGE OF LIGHT AND PLANTS

Heliospectra, established in Gothenburg in 2006, differs from almost all other manufacturers of grow lights, as Hallgren points out.

“Other manufacturers have a background in the lighting industry, whereas Heliospectra started out as a project at Chalmers University of Technology to examine what type of light different indoor plants require for optimal growth, primarily focusing on the transition from traditional filament bulbs to LED lights. The project looked at how different LED lights affect a plant’s growth and quality. The possibility of controlling the LED lights in different ways has also opened up opportunities for tailoring and optimising the lighting over time,” he explains.

“In other words, the company’s strength doesn’t lie in the light itself –there are only minor differences between different products on the market – but in the way the lights are controlled. There are a lot more parameters involved than just switching the lights on and off.

“It’s to do with the way different wavelengths affect the plants. For example, applying more red light towards the end of day can make lettuce a little redder. And the growth characteristics can also be altered. Applying more blue light during certain periods can make plants taller,” says Lindvall.

“And customised LED fixtures need to be produced to control the light in exactly the right way, with LEDs that emit the correct wavelengths.”

COMMUNICATIVE LIGHTING

With traditional HPS lights, the light levels are easily controlled by varying the voltage. But this type of LED light needs to be controlled separately from the power supply. This can result in significant costs for cables and installation. The solution is wireless connection.

“Consat’s development team has designed a wireless system for con-

trolling the light fixtures. Operationally reliable radio modules in each fixture create a network where a master control computer can control hundreds of separate light fixtures in a large greenhouse,” Lindvall explains.

“The grower can then use a simple app to adjust the light levels and wavelengths throughout the day and the growing cycle.”

Sensors detect exposure to sunlight so the lighting can automatically be increased when the sun is covered by clouds.

“The ‘brain’ in the system is an industrial PC with a Linux operating system. They had developed a first generation of the solution themselves. Then Consat stepped in with a team that designed the second generation of HelioCORE, today’s control system.

“So we have different products, the most advanced of which allows us to mix different LEDs to balance the light wavelengths, schedule light changes, etc. Then there are other products that allow the customer to choose the LED type in order to adapt the lighting to a specific plant, for example tomatoes. That type of light fixture is cheaper, of course,” says Lindvall.

Today’s product range is a mix of

“We recently showed a customer how they could cut their energy use by roughly 70% – and that was without smartcontrol technology that adapts the lighting to a lower electricity price and adjusts it in real time to changing levels of sunlight.”

new and old products, and of hardware and software.

“The light fixtures and control equipment are produced in Sweden, Poland and China. Heliospectra had built up quite a large inventory of parts before the pandemic. This allowed them to continue producing the more advanced lights that are built in Sweden, while many other producers were experiencing supply problems,” Lindvall relates.

TURBULENT MARKET

Knowledge of lights and horticulture are the company’s strongest trump card. And it is thanks to this knowledge that they are leaders in advanced light fixtures with a spectral distribution and intensity that can be controlled precisely, primarily for teaching and research in horticulture, where requirements are high. Heliospectra’s basic concept is to be able to understand and customise the growing environment of individual customers and create lighting products that are optimal for each job.

“Of course there are other companies that optimise the growing environment, but they are consultants who don’t produce their own products,” explains Hallgren.

The company has customers around

the world, but is now also focusing strongly on the food production industry, which is facing greater cost pressure. This calls for products that are not only technically optimal but also practical and good value.

“Heliospectra started out as a typical innovation company where practical aspects were not always given top priority. The first products they developed were probably not created with production directly in mind,” says Hallgren.

“Part of our job, besides developing products, has been to adapt the products for production,” he adds.

“It’s important for Heliospectra to position themselves in the market now that the trend is moving towards LED, and this is particularly urgent considering the current high electricity prices,” Hallgren and Lindvall both emphasise.

The price of electricity is high, and the old-fashioned HPS (High Pressure Sodium) bulbs that most growers use are very power-intensive. Growers also have very small margins. Buying thousands of costly LED fixtures is not necessarily an option, let alone an IT system for light control. Yet this is the direction development must take to enable growers in northern Europe to grow crops that require a lot of light.

Short transport routes also make a strong argument for local cultivation, considering the high transport costs and the risk of supply disruptions in times of crisis, Hallgren points out.

It’s a bit of a catch 22 for the industry.

“The market is fairly turbulent at present. We’ve even heard tomato growers in Denmark say they can’t afford to grow produce this winter due to high energy prices and energy consumption,” says Lindvall.

“This means that growers who use traditional filament bulbs have a great need to switch to energy-efficient LED lights. Yet many are financially stretched and can’t afford to invest very much, even though LED lighting is energy-efficient and highly effective for cultivation,” he adds.

“It’s very easy to demonstrate the higher efficiency of LED lights compared with the old HPS lights. We recently showed a customer how they could cut their energy use by roughly 70% – and that was without smart control technology that adapts the lighting to a lower electricity price and adjusts it in real time to changing levels of sunlight,” says Lindvall.

TEXT ANNA LARSSON [BORG O WILLI] PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

Consat has been working from Stockholm since 2006. With an expanding organisation, the Group currently has three subsidiaries operating in the Swedish capital. Håkan Kroksmyr from Engineering, Jörgen Svensson from Data and Ian Hostetter from SES discuss what is going on in the region.

WHEN HÅKAN KROKSMYR BECAME Business Unit Manager at Consat Engineering’s Stockholm office in 2008, he was the company’s third employee in the region. He explains how the organisation rests on dual foundations: traditional consulting work and in-house activities.

“Our consultants here in Stockholm work with mechanics and software for the local industry. We also have an in-house workshop where we build production equipment such as operating tools, automatic assembly lines and more. Over the years we have supplied over 450 tools to Scania, for example. They are by far our largest customer,” says Kroksmyr.

In addition to Consat Engineering, Consat SES and Consat Data are also established in Stockholm. Consat SES works with the same type of projects as in Gothenburg –except with a focus on customers on the Swedish east coast.

“We’re currently in the process of making the Farsta Centrum shopping centre more energy-efficient. We recently finished working on the Kringlan shopping centre in Södertälje, where we succeeded in reducing energy consumption by 61 percent,” says Ian Hostetter, CEO of Consat SES.

Consat Data merged with an IT company that was already established in Stockholm.

This was done to meet the needs and requirements of both new and existing customers.

“Thanks to my old company, we already had an ongoing business and customers in the Stockholm region, which we

have now added to Consat Data’s customer base,” explains Jörgen Svensson, Regional Manager at Consat Data.

“We provide IT support for day-to-day operations, networks and cloud services, to name a few areas. With this expansion over the regions, we are building greater stability for our customers and hope to show future customers that we are outstanding. We excel at IT support, as our existing customers will attest to.

The three subsidiaries share an office in Solna and support each other in various projects.

“The idea is that we at Consat Data should be able to support other Consat companies in projects where there is a need for IT support,” says Svensson.

And collaboration doesn’t just take place between our companies, but also between the Gothenburg office and the Stockholm office. By cooperating and helping each other in various customer projects, the companies can pool their expertise and find new business opportunities.

“Our customers are extremely busy and have great need for our services. That’s why we’re all focusing on recruiting new staff and expanding our knowledge and expertise. We at Consat Engineering need more staff in mechanics and production, and we also need to become stronger in software and electrification. We’re looking to recruit many roles ranging from mechanical development engineers to project managers and UX designers. Consat SES and Consat Data also need to expand and are seeking new staff. The aim is to gradually reflect the Gothenburg office as far as possible,” says Kroksmyr.

“By cooperating and helping each other in various customer projects, the companies can pool their expertise and find new business opportunities.”

BRIEF FACTS ABOUT CONSAT’S STOCKHOLM OFFICE:

Consat Engineering has had an office in Stockholm since 2006. Consat SES and Consat Data have also been established in Stockholm since 2021. The three companies share an office in Arenastaden in Solna.

CONSAT ENGINEERING

CONTRACT WINNERS IN EMOB

THE TRANSITION TO electrified vehicles calls for much development, and at a time when everyone in the industry is facing similar challenges, it’s difficult to find the right expertise.

In early spring of 2022, Volvo Group Purchasing put out a request for three suppliers to help implement major electrification projects in an area known as EMOB.

In the course of our strategic work in Netgroup, we have realised the importance of having members capable of delivering high quality from countries such as India. The start-up of our Consat Orahi Joint Venture could not have been better timed.

Before the summer, following a lengthy evaluation process, Netgroup had the honour of being the only Swedish company among the three suppliers selected.

Together with Netgroup’s management, Ragnar Hallgren and Orvar Hurtig did a fabulous job of credibly presenting and demonstrating our competence during the selection process.

The first projects are starting up and Claes Sernevi and Ragnar Hallgren have been given the role of coordinating and developing this project deal, which spans a wide range of fields from mechanics and embedded systems to IT.

TEXT MARTIN WAHLGREN PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON IMAGE PROCESSING ANDREAS EKLÖF

CONSAT ENGINEERING

TEXT AMY-LEE THOMAS PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

Meet Consat Telematics’ new CEO

PÄR THURESSON

In early May we introduced Consat Telematics’ new CEO, Pär Thuresson. With his strong technical experience in several industries and flair for logical thinking, Thuresson is a welcome addition to the Consat Group.

“I’m delighted to be part of Consat. The pool of knowledge the company possesses means we have excellent potential for continuing our growth journey,” he says.

About

PÄR THURESSON

Age: 58 years

Family: sons Rickard 27 and Wilmer 22 and partner Marie

Lives in: Redbergsplatsen and in Lund

Interests: running and cycling too much according to Marie, outdoor life on all forms of water (hot, cold and frozen)

PÄR

THURESSON HAS

STEPPED INTO THE ROLE as the new CEO of Consat Telematics. During his career he has held several senior executive positions in global organisations, most recently as Senior Vice President at GN Hearing. Now he is expected to contribute to developing Consat Telematics’ offering. After graduating in engineering with a major in electronics, he began his career at Saab Combitech 1988. After twelve years at Saab it was time for both a new millennium and a new workplace. Thuresson joined Sony Ericsson (Sony), where he took part in the success journey that saw the company go from selling ten million to a hundred million phones in 2008–2009. During his career, Thuresson has felt driven to learn more about new technology and business models, while his interest in leadership has grown ever since his first job as project manager at Saab.

“I haven’t changed jobs very many times, but in the places where I’ve worked I’ve been active in various departments, which has taught me a huge amount. It’s incredibly inspiring to learn about new industries and business models,” he says.

“During all these years that I’ve been involved in developing innovative solutions for different markets, I’ve realised the importance of staying focused and understanding one’s customers. This is something I bring to my new role at Consat.”

AN OFFERING IN LINE WITH THE TIMES

Every week, Thuresson commutes from Skåne to his office in Gothenburg. He spends his free time with his family and friends. He has a passion for exercise and spending time in nature, both in the forest and by the sea. When asked what appealed to him about Consat, he replies that Consat Telematics’ offer of efficient, environmentally friendly public transport to develop smart urban environments is something he looks forward to developing further in his new role as CEO.

“Our offering is in line with the times. Telematics is a highly innovationand technology-driven company, like the rest of the Group. That’s what’s brought Consat to the strong position we enjoy today,” Thuresson says, before concluding:

“It will be incredibly exciting to be part of this journey. What I look forward to most is continuing to grow the company together with the team and my colleagues, and continuing to develop innovative solutions that enable us to maintain our market-leading position in the industry.”

AConsatSESonenergysupply: QUESTIONOF FREEDOM

ConsatSESisreducingenergy technicalconsumptioninSwedishbuildingsthrough measures.Thecompany’sCEO colleaguesIanHostettertalksabouthowheandhis arehelpingtodistribute it’sSweden’selectricityconsumptionwhere reallyneeded.

TEXT ANNA LARSSON [BORG O WILLI] PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, MATT MILTON [ UNSPLASH]

Consat Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) consists of a team of nine people with a strong ambition to improve the world.They work on making existingbuildingsmoreefficientthroughtechnical tersolutions.Theyhavedevelopedtheirowngreywaheat exchanger, Geiser ™. They are building the protein factories of the future in the form of insect farms. Consat SES saved 24,966,391 kWh between January 2015 and November 2021.

...A QUESTION OF FREEDOM

AN UNCERTAIN MARKET, a climate crisis and an increasingly electrified society. These are a few of the reasons why energy use in Sweden needs to become more efficient. In 2009, Consat’s subsidiary Consat Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) was founded. Three years later, Hostetter stepped in and put a focus on energy reduction in buildings. In 2017, he took over as CEO

this business area became SES’s main focus. With technical solutions

streamline energy use – without compromising the benefits – Consat SES enables property owners to make financial profits while making a positive difference to the climate and Sweden’s energy distribution.

“Energy resources can be seen as one big pot. If we can streamline energy consumption at one end, this eases the overall burden regardless of which energy type was saved. It’s no coincidence that the prices of oil, electricity and district heating are interrelated,” says Hostetter.

WORKING FROM A SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

Consat SES’s goal is to create changes that can generate more benefit with less resources. But because every building is unique, a one size fits all solution doesn’t exist.

“We’re working from a system perspective and examining all the disciplines that affect a building’s net operation to ensure we harness the building’s full potential,” he explains.

To optimise buildings’ energy use, Hostetter and his colleagues follow a number of steps when starting a new project. The first step is a feasibility study. This involves reviewing the building’s existing installations and preparing an action plan, an energy forecast and an investment budget as a concrete basis for making decisions. After this they act as an contractor and carry out the measures recommended in the feasibility study. Finally, they follow up on the results for two years after the installation have been carried out in order to optimise the buildings.

“We monitor the energy use and take responsibility for our system solutions. This provides us with concrete feedback on our ideas and installations. It also means the operational staff get a gradual hand-over from us,

DID YOU KNOW…

“With technical solutions that streamline energy use – without compromising the benefits – Consat SES enables property owners to make financial profits while making a positive difference to the climate and Sweden’s energy distribution.”

when

that

which will enable them to continue running the buildings competently after we have handed them over.”

MEANINGFUL WORK

Thanks to their work method, the projects carried out by Consat SES have resulted in an average energy reduction of 50 percent. This means reduced costs and less maintenance for the property owners. It also eases the strain on Swedish electrical grids.

“Focusing on maximising profit actually makes a company less likely to maximise their profit. It’s a demoralising, short-term approach that constantly deflects focus from the core activities. I’d even go so far as to say that it inhibits innovation and progress. This approach to running a business belongs more in the 1980s than the present day,” says Hostetter.

“At Consat SES, our driving force and focus is to create benefit. Energy rationalisation has always been something positive and a step in the right direction, but today the issue of energy has also gained value from a moral and security policy perspective. Working to make Sweden more selfsufficient in electricity has become not just a sustainability goal but a mission. Never before have we been so motivated at what we do.”

TEXT ESKIL BLOHMÉ [MY NEWS DESK] PHOTO ANDREAS EKLÖF, ADOBE STOCK

Dissertation shows:

WHY MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE

CONNECTED

What value can IoT create in Life Science? Engineering students

Kristoffer Wallin and John Mikael Randelin from Chalmers University of Technology examined this in their dissertation project at Consat during the spring. The results show that there is great value in implementing IoT in Life Science – but first some challenges need to be surmounted.

WHAT IS YOUR DISSERTATION ABOUT?

Consat has developed an IoT platform that has already been used in various sectors. Our aim was to contribute knowledge regarding value and challenges that could arise when it is used in Life Science. In our work, we aimed to answer the following questions: “What economic and social value can be created by integrating IoT in Life Science?” and “What challenges does IoT face in the area of Life Science?”. IoT in Life Science is a fairly broad area which can include everything from connecting a pacemaker or a flash glucose monitor to an X-ray generator to using a morphsuit to evaluate movement patterns.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO DO YOUR DISSERTATION AT CONSAT?

We found Ulrika Lin’s contact details in a catalogue from Chalmers’ career fair, which Consat had taken part in. We contacted her and she told us about Consat and the opportunities for doing our disser-

tation at her department. After that the decision was easy. Ulrika also helped us find a good topic for the project and acted as our supervisor during the spring.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE DOING YOUR DISSERTATION AT CONSAT?

The whole project went very well. We got a lot of support from our supervisor and other staff at Consat. Because we chose a qualitative analysis method that involved interviews, it was invaluable to have such ready access to people with the right expertise at Consat and among the company’s contacts. Consat really deserves praise for the way they helped us find a relevant topic that was of interest to both parties.

WHAT CONCLUSIONS DID YOU REACH –IS THERE ANY VALUE IN IMPLEMENTING IOT IN LIFE SCIENCE?

IoT has potential to create enormous value in Life Science. Connected medical equipment makes it possible to get real time feed-

Kristoffer to the left and John to the right

CONSAT

back which can be extremely useful when establishing a diagnosis or evaluating data. It also creates opportunities to make better diagnoses remotely, so it can be a way to achieve more equal health care that is less dependent on physical location than it is today. It is reassuring for patients to know that the equipment is connected and will raise an alert if an irregularity is detected, either in their body or in the hardware used.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?

There are several challenges, including technical ones. Above all, Life Science is a strictly regulated sector where players must meet high requirements. From a hardware perspective, requirements are also imposed on batteries and sensors, which often need to be quite small and must always be operationally reliable. The internet connection must also be reliable and work under all circumstances. For example, if a diabetes patient loses connection and can’t track their blood sugar level, the situation could be life-threatening. Then there’s the question of data processing: all data must be stored and processed securely and protected from cyber attacks. Another type of challenge is that this sector is fairly conservative; health care is dominated by staff who are quite traditional in their ways of working and slow to embrace technical advances. However, we’re con-vinced that the advantages of connecting medical equipment greatly outweigh the disadvantages, as long is it’s done carefully.

“It also creates opportunities to make better diagnoses remotely, so it can be a way to achieve more equal health care that is less dependent on physical location than it is today.”

MICHAEL .

Michael Klarin, 31 (Engineering Services)

Has previously worked at SKF and Volvo as a technician, industrial electrician, maintenance engineer and automation engineer. Lives in Bergsjön and has a girlfriend. Hobbies: Music and sports (including climbing, golf and disc golf). Works with autonomous logistics robots at Flexqube.

Niklas Reitz, 30 (Telematics/Supply Chain)

Has previously worked at Onemed AB. Lives in Hisings Kärra with his partner and three children. Hobbies: Sports. Watches a lot of sport (especially football and padel). Works with logistics/warehouse (Supply Chain).

FRIENDS

NOOR .

Noor Ameen, 29

(Engineering/Stockholm)

Has previously worked at Sigma Industry and Afry. Originally from Skåne, now lives in Sollentuna with his wife. Hobbies: Basketball, nature, food, strength training, programming, video games, drawing. Works as an engineering consultant, provides support for construction of life science department in Stockholm. His first assignment was to design a camera laser device for inspecting surface evenness. Now aiming for a position as a process engineer.

Lars-Göran ”Lollen” Järelöv, 59 (Consat AB/Finance)

Has worked at Göteborgs Orienthus, PF Concept Scandinavia AB, Cross Sportswear AB, Thomas Shirt Co AB, R Franchetti AB and Bohusbanken (Danske Bank). Lives in Askim, married with two grown-up children. Hobbies: Sports (mainly roller skiing, cross-country skiing and road cycling), choral singing. Supports GAIS football club. Works as Deputy CFO.

Filip Strömgren, 36 (Sustainable Energy Systems)

Has worked at Riksbyggen, Viessmann and E.ON. Lives in Härryda with his wife and their dog and cat. Hobbies: Football, golf, fishing, travelling. Responsible for Geiser greywater heat exchangers.

NIKLAS . FILIP . DANIEL . LARS-GÖRAN. MAGNUS . SOFIE .

Daniel Almestål, 40 (Engineering/Life Science)

Has worked at DCG Nordic, Saybolt Sweden and Vitrolife. Lives in Bohus with his wife and son. Hobbies: Cycling, skiing, electric cars. Works as Associate Laboratory Specialist at Mölnlycke Health Care.

Magnus Andersson, 51 (Engineering)

Has worked at Ericsson and Toyota Material Handling. Lives in Långedrag with his wife and two teenage children. Hobbies: The family’s dog and boat, his motorbike, downhill skiing, cooking. Mainly works with sales/solution design in our IoT offering.

Sofie Strand, 32 (Engineering/Stockholm)

Has previously worked at Exeger Operations. Lives in Farsta. Hobbies: Reading, painting, kayaking, playing board games, spending time with friends and family and more.

Mechanical design engineer at Scania (Truck Chassis Development, RTLA).

TEXT EGEN/MATTIAS JOHNSON PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, PRAVEEN KUMAR

proudly present our new FRIENDS

FRIDA .

Frida Grothérus, 26 (Engineering Services)

Recently graduated in industrial design engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. Lives in Guldheden. Hobbies: Climbing, dance, skiing, outdoor activities. Works on design projects for SKF and Tebrito.

NIKLAS .

Niklas Görrel, 27 (Engineering/Test Development, Systems & Project Management)

Joins us from SAAB Surveillance where he worked as a quality assurance and testing engineer. Lives in Lunden, Gothenburg. Hobbies: Running, adventures. Working on a project at Micropower in Krokslätt as part of the test and verification team. The company creates modular lithium-ion batteries and associated chargers and system solutions.

JOHAN .

OSCAR .

Johan

Kinell, 28 (Sustainable Energy Systems)

Newly graduated civil engineer in Mechanical Engineering with a master’s degree in sustainable energy systems. Worked at SKF and Volvo Cars. Lives in Bagaregården, Gothenburg. Interests: Playing the guitar, outdoor activities and badminton. Works as an Energy System Engineer.

Oscar Nilsson, 28 (Engineering/Stockholm)

Has previously worked at Exeger where he drew and designed industrial production machinery. Lives with his partner in Södermalm in Stockholm.

Hobbies: Bouldering, MTB, slalom skiing, playing guitar, going to the gym. Working on several assignments developing various designs for clients.

ALFRED . ERIK . ELENA.

Alfred Lundin, 25 (Sustainable Energy Systems)

Consat is his first full-time job. Lives in Gamlestaden. Hobbies: Chess, sports, cooking. Works as an energy systems engineer.

Erik Åström, 29 (Engineering Services)

Has worked at Etteplan Sweden AB. Lives in Gamlestaden. Hobbies: CAD drawing and 3D printing of various small and large things, singing and music, socialising with friends and family. His first assignment will be at FlexLink.

Elena Gorciacov, 21 (Engineering/Stockholm)

Has previously worked at OKQ8, ABB and Infocare. Lives in Nacka, Jarlaberg. Hobbies: Computer games and music. Her first assignment was a dissertation project: “Wound analysis and detection using a camera and Python”.

PIA . JENNY . SOFIE .

Pia Roy, 51 (Engineering/Life Science)

Has worked at Semcon, Inuheat and Mölnlycke Health Care. Lives in Kungsbacka with her husband and two daughters. Hobbies: Gardening, her greenhouse, good food and drink, spending time in nature (walking and mushroom picking). Works as R&D lead at Wellspect Health Care.

Jenny Pettersson, 40 (Engineering Services)

Joins us from LUE Engineering. Lives in Majorna. Hobbies: Repainting furniture. Is currently at the Partille office waiting for an assignment.

Sofie Bäverstrand, 40 (Engineering/IT & Mobility)

Has previously worked as a quality technician at Andrénplast. Lives in Olofstorp with her husband, two children and grown-up stepchild. Hobbies: Creating things. Also dreams of making a comeback in weight lifting championships. Is currently at the Lindholmen office waiting for an assignment.

ADMIRA . JOAKIM .

Selena

van der Horst, 24 (Engineering/Test Development, Systems & Project Management)

Newly graduated from Chalmers University of Technology. Bachelor’s degree in mechatronics, master’s degree in biomedical engineering. Dissertation project on developing a prosthetic leg. Lives in Gothenburg. Hobbies: Socialising with friends, running, cycling, swimming, climbing and much more. Works with EXPRO.

Admira Kajdic, 38 (Engineering)

Has worked at Manpower, Intenso Teknikrekrytering and ABF Jobb. Lives in Hisingen, Gothenburg. Hobbies: Working out, photography, cycling. Works with recruitment, aims to find the smartest and friendliest engineers in the market.

SELENA . MOHAMED .

JESPER .

Jesper Nihlén, 50 (Telematics/Research & Development)

Joins us from Saab Group IT, previously worked at Västtrafik and Else. Lives in Örgryte, married with three teenage children. Hobbies: Sailing, running, mountain biking, reading. Works as Support and Service Manager.

HARISH.

Harish Singh, 28 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked as a computer engineer at LTI Pune India. Lives in Gurugram, India. Hobbies: reading, playing video games. Current work involves assisting Eberspächer in their digital transformation.

DANIEL .

Daniel Tench, 31 (Consat Australia)

Has previously worked at Luminator as support engineer. Lives in Brisbane, Australia with his wife and their 1-year-old son Arlo. Hobbies: football, video games. Currently works with system supplies including setup and testing of hardware.

Joakim Widell, 30 (Engineering/IT & Mobility)

Did his dissertation project/internship at Consat. Lives in Högsbo in Gothenburg, has a girlfriend. Hobbies: Playing music, tennis, esports, reading, board games. Has had a few in-house projects and is waiting for a client project.

Mohamed Nasik Shafi, 24 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously had an internship at Moving Walls. Lives in Gurugram, India. Hobbies: Badminton. Currently working on the Wennström project, connected charging stations to facilitate service.

VIRKIN .

Virkin Malla, 48 (Consat Orahi/India)

Previously worked as a consultant on various assignments. Lives in New Delhi, India with husband and son. Interests: travelling, watching series and reading books. Working on setting up the office in Gurgaon to be able to deliver IT services.

NIVEDITA. RAVI . ANDERS .

Nivedita Katheria, 32 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at HCL and Home Credit. Lives in New Delhi, India. Hobbies: travelling, cooking, watching films. Currently Human Resources Manager at Consat Orahi.

Ravi Kumar Verma, 33 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at Milton Exhibits Private Ltd in finance. Lives in Faridabad, India with his wife and two sons. Hobbies: music, travelling. Currently works with accounting and finance at Consat Orahi.

Anders Eriksson, 56 (Engineering/Embedded Design)

Employed for the third time at Consat. Has also worked at Roj Electrotex in Biella, Italy (on loan from Aros Electronics), Alps Electric, Mecel, Arcam and Evolabel. Lives in Mölnlycke with his wife, teenage son and dog. Hobbies: Cycling, tour skating, motorhoming, hiking in the Italian Alps. Project at Volvo Powertrain, BC1, working with the platform software used in all ECUs.

proudly present our new FRIENDS

AMIT .

GAURAV .

Gaurav Nattanmai Ganesh, 25 (Engineering/Embedded Design)

Has previously worked with software and electronics at Qrtech AB. Lives in Gothenburg. Hobbies: hiking, working out, watching and playing football and cricket with friends. Plays chess in a club and often takes part in district tournaments. Current work involves synchronising signals for the client’s new solution.

SAKSHAM .

Saksham Arora, 28 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at KVH Media Group in India and Mass General Brigham in Boston, USA. Lives in New Delhi, India. Hobbies: listening to music, playing video games. Currently works as a front end software developer.

Amit

Kumar, 34 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked as QA lead at VVDN Technologies. 10 years of experience as a software developer. Lives in Gurgaon, India with his wife and two children. Hobbies: cricket, football, spending time with his family. Currently works on the Eberspächer project with thermal management.

Hemant Kumar, 34 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at Plabro, Times Internet, Dineout, Infosys. Lives with his wife in New Delhi, India. Hobbies: watching Netflix, writing poetry. Currently works with IoT and helping take clients to the next level.

Jean-Francois Audet, 52 (Consat Canada)

Has previously worked as a bus sales rep. Lives in Lévis, QC with his wife. Has three daughters and three grandchildren. Hobbies: breeding Boxers, diving when the water is warm. Currently learning his new role as a project manager. Getting to know clients at their premises.

Maniraj Singh Ranawat, 24 (Consat Orahi/India)

Newly graduated. Lives in Gurugram, India, comes from Udaipur. Hobbies: loves exploring places, cycling to unknown places. Playing games with friends. Currently works as a QA engineer for the Wennström project for their charging management system.

RAVIJA .

Ravija Arora, 31 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked in electronics and embedded systems. Lives in Gurugram, India with her husband and daughter.

Hobbies: enjoys playing with her daughter and pets. Enjoys singing and watching films. Works on the Eberspächer gateway project, where we’re working on a gateway capable of collecting CAN data from a vehicle and transferring it to the server using NATS technology.

ADHIRAJ . ALI . MELANIE .

Adhiraj Elley, 44 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked with SAAS product startups, from concept to solution. Lives in Gurgaon, India. Hobbies: exploring different cultures through food, books and music. Loves travelling as often as possible. Involved in developing the thermal management platform for Eberspächer and the EV charging management system for Wennström.

Ali

Salik, 26 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at Tata Consulting Services as a software developer. Lives in Lucknow, India. Hobbies: singing, basketball, drawing. Deals with the back end aspects of the WeSense application, such as the ticket management system for chargers in the event of faults or notifying service technicians about what went wrong and which charger/connector is faulty.

Melanie Sanchez, 38 (Engineering/Test Development, Systems & Project Management)

Has previously worked as technical lead at Nokia in the Philippines. Lives in Manila and in Gothenburg. Lives in Gothenburg with her husband. Hobbies: travelling, loves exploring new cities and places. Plans a trip every year. Enjoys taking photographs of many places. Currently works as a test engineer at Ascom. Manual and automated testing of Android devices.

HEMANT .

JEAN-FRANCOIS . MANIRAJ.

Steve Smith, 57 (Consat Canada)

Has previously worked as a project manager in industry, in both commercial and residential construction. Lives in Sudbury, Ontario with his wife. Has three sons, one daughter and three grandchildren. Hobbies: sports, camping, boating and travelling. Currently works as a project manager for clients in Ontario.

SUJIT . SMRITI .

Sujit Kumar Singh, 37 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at Q3 Technologies. Lives in Gurgaon, India with his wife. Hobbies: cooking, playing cricket, listening to music. Currently working on the Eberspächer and Wennström projects.

Smriti Sharma, 26 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at Flack India. Lives in Gurugram, India. Hobbies: dance, painting. Currently working on the Eberspächer project.

VARUN .

STEVE . ANJALI .

Varun Arora, 49 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked in IoT at NIIT, Mangalam Ventures. Lives in Faridabad, India with his wife and son. Hobbies: sports, music, travelling. Working on building up Consat Orahi’s operations with capability to deliver IoT and IT services for Consat clients.

VASU .

Vasu Sharma, 33 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at SAS Institute Pvt. Ltd. Lives in Gurugram, India with his wife. Hobbies: reading, technology, cars. Currently working on setting up a data analytics team for Consat Orahi clients.

Anjali Sharma, 29 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at MyLoanCare Ventures. Lives in Gurugram, India. Hobbies: travelling, exploring the Internet, listening to music. Currently works with recruitment in projects.

ARUN.

Arun Bhati, 47 (Consat Orahi/India)

Has previously worked at Phonon and Ericsson. Lives in Gurgaon, India with his wife and daughter. Hobbies: studying history and the world’s languages. Building Consat Orahi’s operations with capability to deliver IoT and IT services for Consat clients.

MICHELLE .

Michelle Tradle, 22 (Consat Orahi/India)

Got her first job in working life with the job at Consat Orahi. Lives in New Delhi, India. Interests: music and singing. Now working with HR issues and recruitment for Consat Orahi.

SAMEER .

Sameer Khanna, 42 (Consat Orahi/India)

Founder and COO of Orahi, previously worked at Ericsson, Huawei and Cisco TAC. Lives in New Delhi with wife and three month old baby. Interests: apart from IoT, passionate about photography and super foods. Now working with the overall responsibility for IoT projects within Consat Orahi.

VINAY.

Vinay Dhar, 52 (Consat Engineering – IoT)

Has previously worked for Ericsson, among others. ICT professional with over 20 years of successful international leadership experience. Lives in Stockholm with his wife. Has two daughters who are currently studying in London and in Cyprus. Hobbies: cooking traditional Kashmiri food, sports (cricket, badminton, squash, golf), travelling, exploring new cultures. Working on setting up JV Consat Orahi and building the team. Business development to build a funnel for IoT and digital transformation.

Hampus Martinsson has been working on his dissertation project at Consat since January. He’s doing a master’s degree in Communication Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology and his dissertation focuses on evaluating safety systems for IoT platforms.

“Consat have been extremely supportive. I’ve learned an enormous amount and am really pleased with my dissertation,” says Martinsson.

“Quite simply, if someone has enough time and determination, all information on a platform can be accessed.”

CONSAT

TEXT AMY-LEE THOMAS PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

Student Hampus Martinsson talks about his DISSERTATION PROJECT AT CONSAT

WHAT IS YOUR DISSERTATION ABOUT?

I’ve been examining the hardware for an IoT platform that Consat plans to start using. This examination involves looking for possible ways of penetrating the hardware for the purpose of hacking it, in order to expose sensitive information and gain control of the platform. What I’ve concluded is that all hardware is vulnerable in one way or another if the hacker is persistent enough. Considering this, it’s important to evaluate what information is on the device and how great the damage would be if it were disclosed. If it includes sensitive data such as medical records, bank account numbers or passwords, it’s important to consider where this information should be stored.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO DO YOUR DISSERTATION PROJECT AT CONSAT?

During my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, I did my thesis project at Consat and got a really good impression of the company. My thesis partner and I had a basic idea to create a GPS route and then have a tractor drive along it independently. We built a prototype with a radio-controlled car and created GPS coordinates, and then the car drove along the route on its own. It was a fun and rewarding learning experience. Consat gave us fabulous support and supervision throughout the project.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN THIS SPRING AT CONSAT?

I focused a lot on cybersecurity in my dissertation, and one thing I’ve learned is that all types of hardware are hackable in one way or another. Quite simply, if someone has enough time and determination, all information on a platform can be accessed.

WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE WHEN WORKING ON YOUR DISSERTATION?

Doing the dissertation project on my own was one of the biggest challenges, and definitely the hardest. I had to learn a huge number of things very quickly. There was a lot to tackle at once, but it was necessary to produce a good dissertation.

WHAT WILL YOU DO AFTER GRADUATING?

First I’ll defend my dissertation at Chalmers in July and present my work. I’ll also present my dissertation at Consat. After that my studies will be finished and I’ll start working at Volvo Cars as a developer. It will be fantastic to finally enter professional life and leave my studies behind me.

WHAT WILL YOU TAKE AWAY WITH YOU FROM YOUR TIME AT CONSAT?

Above all, new knowledge. Above all in programming, which is something I’ll continue working with in my new role at Volvo Cars. Overall, I’ve learned a huge amount and met incredibly talented and skilled people. That’s something I’ll take away with me.

Consat initiates partnership with Stiftelsen IFS

Consat is proud to announce that the company is initiating a partnership with the foundation Stiftelsen IFS. The idea behind the partnership is to contribute to the foundation’s important work and promote entrepreneurship and innovation among foreign individuals operating in Sweden.

“We’re delighted that a company like Consat is opting to work with us. It will be very exciting to see where the partnership takes us in the future,” comments Rafael Bermejo, founder of Stiftelsen IFS.

STIFTELSEN IFS INTRODUCED THE ÅRETS NYBYGGARE (Pioneer of the Year) prize 23 years ago. The purpose of the prize is to recognise successful entrepreneurs with a foreign background who operate in Sweden and contribute to prosperity. The nominations are assessed on the following criteria: economic development, strategic orientation, entrepreneurship, market impact, personal influence and innovation. In autumn 2021, IFS invited Consat to a nomination dinner where the company learned more about the foundation and its work. The partnership started shortly after this.

“Consat is fantastic to work with. Among other things, they will help us with our marketing. We’ve discussed various possibilities for conducting our collaboration, and expect it to take shape gradually,” says Bermejo.

“It’s extremely important to show the market that entrepreneurs with a foreign background, in purely financial terms, are hugely beneficial for Sweden. This group recruits about five times more diversely than its industry colleagues, so it’s not just about labour policy but also industry policy.”

A PRIZE WITH THE KING AS PATRON

When the Årets Nybyggare prize was introduced in 1999, it was presented by Queen Silvia. The following year it was decided that King Carl XVI Gustaf would become patron of the prize, and he has been ever since. With the prize, IFS aims to show that it is possible to succeed in Sweden, and also aims to reduce marginalisation and highlight the benefits that diversity bring to Swedish society – values shared by Consat.

“It is fabulous that Consat will be our partner, as they are a company at the leading edge of innovation and development. Their values are very similar to ours. There are really no boundaries in technology,” says Bermejo. He concludes:

“We look forward to continuing working with the foundation and the prize. This work is crucial, and is about Sweden’s future development. By showcasing good examples of entrepreneurship, we can combat prejudice and marginalisation.”

TEXT AMY-LEE THOMAS PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON

PILGRIMMAGE TO UTAH

TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION, we need to go back a few years. It’s about a year and a half now since I graduated. But on 6 February 2018 I was a second year student at Chalmers University of Technology browsing the company booths at CHARM (Chalmers Student Union’s career fair). At the career fair I met Magnus Ohlsson at a large booth in Kårhuset, the student union building. We had exchanged a few sentences at the previous year’s CHARM, but no more than that. Anyway, we recognised each other and started chatting about Consat, computer engineering and all sorts of other things. When I expressed an interest in statistics and data, Magnus told me there was a division at Consat that built IT solutions for public transport. He gave me Roland Moberg’s phone number and suggested I call him to discuss my ideas.

Before I knew it, the apple trees were blossoming, my second year at Chalmers was over and I was in Partille doing a summer job as a software developer at Consat Telematics. Robban, our project manager in Canada, said during my first week how lucky I’d been to get a job there during just my second year at university, and I couldn’t disagree with him. The summer job led to a part time job, which continued during my third, fourth and fifth years at Chalmers. During these three incredibly rewarding years, I had the opportunity to develop and make contributions as a developer. All this would never have been possible without all my wonderful colleagues and the unstinting support of my mentor, Lars Larsson, who I have had the privilege of working with during all my years at Consat.

Consat is always ready to give responsibility to those who want it. It wasn’t long before I joined the team as one of the main developers of Fleet Studio, our web application for traffic and fleet management, where I got to implement a web application end-to-end and influence the development process and the end product. I’ve taken part in product meetings, demonstrated products I’ve built, both internally and externally, and, above all, I’ve written code.

My Uber arrived at The Grand America Hotel shortly after lunch. I checked in, rode to floor 20 on the fastest lift, strolled into my room and sat down on a sofa adorned with a Victorian style pattern. How had I ended up at ng-conf 2022 in Salt Lake City?

TEXT MARKUS INGVARSSON

PHOTO MARKUS INGVARSSON, DIEGO MENDOZA, THISISENGINEERING RAENG [ UNSPLASH]

In spring of 2022, society started opening up again after two years of the Covid pandemic. By then I’d been working full-time as a full stack developer at Consat Telematics for almost a year and was developing fleet management functions in Fleet Studio. While walking past Roland’s office one day, I was hastily asked, “How would you like to go to ng-conf?”. To give the uninitiated a bit of background, ng-conf is the world’s biggest conference for Angular, a TypeScript-based framework used to build web applications, which we also use to build our user interface in Fleet Studio. My other mentor, Tobbe, had heard they were planning to resume the conference after the pandemic lockdowns and had mentioned it to Roland as an opportunity for our team to deepen our knowledge of Angular. Not much beats being part of a team like that. But back to Salt Lake City: The workshops started on Monday morning. We spent two days covering everything from building enterprise applications with micro frontends and module federation to advanced reactive JavaScript. The atmosphere was electric and discussions rang through the rooms and corridors, not least from the developers on the Angular team themselves, who were also there. I even got to directly ask Jessica Janiuk, who is responsible for animations at Angular, how we should manage reactive animations in our tables (!).

The conference started on the Wednesday. First on stage were Angular’s three giants Sarah Drasner, Minko Gechev and Madleina Scheidegger with an Angular Team Keynote where they discussed Angular’s history and the framework’s immediate future. After this, Cisco’s Lara Newsom spoke about code smells, Auth0’s Alisa Duncan talked about security in Angular and no other than Shai Reznik discussed test driven development. The lecturers were outstanding, delivering knowledge of the highest quality. Many developers from the NgRx team were also there giving talks, which was extremely interesting and informative since we at Consat frequently use their state management library in Fleet Studio.

On Thursday, former Spotify developer Craig Spence talked about advanced typing in TypeScript, Miško Hevery discussed his web framework Qwik, and Cisco’s Eric Slack and Michael Madsen spoke about Nx, an advanced building system that supports Angular. Nx’s strong presence at the conference inspired me to find out more, and I saw opportunities for us as a company to use their tools.

On Friday, I visited the gym briefly prior to breakfast, before the final day of lectures. Angular’s DevRels Mark Thompson and Emma Twersky started the morning with a Community Keynote. Then Mike Ryan from the NgRx team spoke about Component Stores (something we’ve now started using), and later Dylan Hunn from the Angular team discussed strictly typed forms. The conference ended with an Angular Q&A session where the whole team answered questions about Angular and potential future improvements to the framework.

It was a hugely rewarding conference where I got to meet and discuss best practices with the highly competent and welcoming Angular community. But this was just one of the countless privileges of being at Consat. It’s a luxury to have managers and mentors who are so invested in the company and in my personal development.

I’ve never been prevented from taking on new challenges at Consat. On the contrary, I’ve been asked if I needed tools or support to help solve challenges in the best way possible. I’ve had the freedom to be creative in my solutions and try methods such as density-based clustering for vehicle grouping and machine learning for driver coaching.

If I were to try to end this article with a few wise words for engineering students –after all, I was recently there myself – it would be to find a company that shares your enthusiasm for whatever you’re passionate about. It was almost a shock to realise what fun professional life could be. So finish your thesis, go out into the world and find your Consat!

“I even got to directly ask Jessica Janiuk, who is responsible for animations at Angular, how we should manage reactive animations in our tables (!)”

CONSAT

TEXT JENNY FREDÉR PHOTO MATTIAS JOHNSON, ANDREAS EKLÖF, KARRIÄRFÖRETAGEN

CONSAT AWARDED FOR BEST ACTIVITIES IN EMPLOYER BRANDING

THE BIG CAREER DAY 2022 kicked off on 6 October. Karriärföretagen invited guests to a mingling event and dinner at Norra Latin in Stockholm. We were nominated for Best Activities in Employer Branding. In its statement, the jury described us as “An employer that has created clear, strong results through innovative and creative activities in the area of employer branding”.

So what is employer branding?

Employer branding is a way to influence how people perceive your employer brand. An employer brand reflects how prospective, current and previous employees perceive you as an employer. In other words it affects your reputation as an employer, like it or not. Of course you have the possibility to influence this image, which is where employer branding comes in. Employer branding is the method you use to build your employer brand.

Employer branding is about building all the steps of the employee journey – attraction, recruitment, development, retention and separation. These steps include various elements such as talent management, employee engagement and corporate culture. All these elements are key to creating a stronger employer brand, which is the aim of employer branding.

Martin Wahlgren, Andreas Eklöf and Mattias Johnson attended the event, and we weren’t just nominated – we won the award! Martin and Andreas had the honour of receiving the award on the main stage.

Consat owes its success to its talented and passionate employees, so the award was really won by everyone at Consat.

We are incredibly proud to be recognised for the best activities in employer branding, an area that we are especially passionate about.

JENNY FREDÉR

ISTOCK

FOR THE 11TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR!

KARRIÄRFÖRETAGEN (Career Companies) is an award for employers who offer unique career and development opportunities to new graduates and young employees a few years into their careers. Karriärföretagen aims to make it easier for graduates and young professionals in Sweden to find their next employer, and to reward successful employer branding efforts.

The Jury’s statement: “Consat’s journey of success continues. Their employer brand is unique and it is no coincidence that Consat is a leader in its industry. Consat has an exceptional corporate culture that guarantees a secure, exciting career. At Consat, colleagues get freedom, flexibility and infinite development opportunities. Consat has an exceptionally high presence at career fairs. Their investment in young talent is impressive and inspiring.”

TEXT

PHOTO

Consat named Karriärföretag (Career Company) 2023 –

TEXT JENNY FREDÉR PHOTO JENNY FREDER

MEMBERSHIP OF CSR VÄSTSVERIGE

CSR IS A SUSTAINABILITY NETWORK funded by the business sector. They offer a wide range of opportunities for knowledge development and exchange of expertise and organise activities focusing on how organisations can promote sustainability strategically and systematically.

CSR teaches a process that organisations can use to manage their sustainability work, and the method also supports longterm, value-creating sustainability efforts.

We held a series of three half-day workshops during the spring, where we explored key concepts and identified how our own organisation, based on our specific conditions, can work in a structured way to find links between business and social responsibility.

The purpose of the CSR workshops is to gain greater knowledge and practical tools to facilitate the development of our business. Based on our existing business model, we explore how we can generate added value from a financial, environmental and social perspective.

We were given homework to do between the workshops, and afterwards we continued working to promote sustainability as part of each company’s strategic plan.

It was very valuable to have Karin Karedal and Anna Simmons from CSR there supporting us in the process of making our work more concrete and defining suitable ways forward.

Of course this is a broad area where we can’t tackle everything, however much we’d like to. Each company has selected the Sustainable Development Goals where it can make a concrete difference.

LOTS OF FAIRS...

...LOTS OF FAIRS

recovers the heat from shower water

Don’t waste energy!

Did you know that half of all the energy used in new multi-apartment buildings is used to heat up warm tap water? Energy that is then flushed down the drain without any heat recovery. For the environment, the wallet and for future generations, it’s time to stop it!

Contact us for a demo: Filip Strömgren +46 31-303 48 38 www.consat.com/sustainable-energy-systems/