Create your business unit in a successful enterprise

On 18 December 2009, four Eurostar trains with over 2000 passengers got stuck in the Euro Tunnel. The cause of this breakdown was that due to weather conditions in England and France. Condensation had formed on the train electronics, and the electric locomotives failed.

Figure 1: It should all go well underneath the Channel.

According to Tesla, one vehicle fire occurs every 205,000,000 kilometres driven. It's about ten times lower than for combustion engines, but the negative headlines are hurting electromobility. Most electric cars burn because high currents generate heat when the batteries are discharged.  

Figure 2: Seldom, but bad for the press. Picture Source: Brock Archer's Youtube Channel

Upbeat

Mr Green (CEO) and Mr Edge (Head of Marketing) welcome you into a new, clean, modern-looking building. Mr Green tells you, somewhat modestly, "Unfortunately, the furniture is not all there yet. And there is still a construction site outside. Please pardon the noise". A spirit of optimism is in the air. Behind the modesty, however, lies a success story. The products of Electro Sec can be found wherever something can - but must not - go wrong from an electronic point of view. The company's products ensure that:

- Electric cars don't burn when it's hot.
- Trains run in bad weather.
- Train infrastructure supplies power in high winds.
- Data centres maintain operations under heavy loads.
- Telecommunications work in wet climates.
- Wind turbines produce power, withstanding heavy vibrations.

The main product of Electro Sec is a system that connects electronic building kits. As the name suggests, an electronic building kit is a box containing delicate electronics. The electronics need constant heat, constant atmospheric pressure, low humidity, and so forth. The kit protects the electronics. However, a building kit is an element of an overall system and must be connected.

Two examples

Train: the locomotive's control system must be connected to the drive and ensure proper power and signal transmission. If the connection between the two kits, exposed to constant vibration and various climatic conditions, allows moisture to pass through, the train will stop.  

Figure 3: Use of Electro Sec's product in train manufacturing.

Data Center: A data centre draws power from the utility and routes it to power distribution stations, distributing the power to the low-voltage level. If adverse environmental conditions (like heat, moisture, etc.) cause a fault, the data centre will fail.  

Figure 4: Use of Electro Sec's product in the construction of data centres.

In general terms, the Electro Sec thus provides the connection between two electronic building blocks and ensures that the connection works despite an adverse environment:
 

Figure 5: Generalisation of the field of application.

The connection is provided by the Electro Sec in such a way that it is primarily "solution-oriented". Producing a train, you need a different connection than building another type of train. And again, the requirements differ for data centres. Electro Sec, therefore, works closely with the customer's engineers right from the start. They integrate the wishes - from the technical requirements to the assembly requirements in the later construction process to the worldwide logistical organisation in maintenance. In this way, Electro Sec has cost leadership in the market in terms of "total costs of ownership" - but not in the individual connecting element. Keywords are: Quality. Solution orientation. Worldwide supply chains. Process reliability. Low cost of ownership. Convenience for all involved - from the engineer to the fitter to maintenance.

Building on success: Your new business unit

You speak to Mr Green and Mr Edge.

Mr Edge: "We are very electro-oriented at the moment. There are other applications there." He adds, "Our technology - protection from gas, water, heat vibration, sound and fire. I'm sure that can be applied elsewhere. There is a lot of potentials. But we are so stuck in electronics with our own 'mindset' that we don't see potentials left and right. You must be creative. You have to think outside our organisation to do that."

You ask them to give an example.

Mr Green: "We were once at a trade fair - our typical sales channel. A gentleman from the Medtech industry came to our stand. He was looking for a solution on how to transport cold from one kit to another. His system relied on superconducting properties of materials, which needed to be cooled to -263°C. And we were able to help him. Here, too, the rule was: connect two construction kits and keep the environmental conditions in the kit constant. Constant means: the desired gas mixture remains in the kit, humidity is constant, heat is controlled, vibration is attenuated, the kit is soundproof and possibly also fireproof. As you see, in that case, it wasn't about electronics. "
You make a note of the solution you are looking for:
 

Figure 6: The solution

If you find some of these "use cases" yourself and assess their competitiveness positively, then you can go straight to building a new business unit. Become the manager of another success story.
Read in the learning materials how you can find other competitive use cases. Challenge your coach as the coach is going to challenge you, too!

The steps
- Log in.
- Start the case.
- Accept the NDA.
- Study the learning materials.
- Talk to your coach in a kick-off. The coach shows you a presentation of the initial situation and creates a plan for solving the problem.
- In most cases, this is followed by further discussions with the coach or our client.
- Then you submit the solution.
- You receive a certificate that gives your CV a unique selling point.
- If successful: you are commissioned to build up a new area of business.