The Nordic region: early-adaptors with drive for innovation

Since 2003 Jyrki Löf has been active in the Scandinavian retail fuel business focusing specifically on the LED lighting and price sign sector. Currently he is Business Development Director at Bever Innovations, operating across Scandinavia, Baltics and Poland markets. In his own words, Jyrki talked about what he finds so fascinating about the geographical markets he works in.

Lighting up the future

In Northern Europe we love technology. As consumers, Scandinavians generally are early adopters, with the Nordics boasting the highest internet and mobile phone penetration in Europe. As creators, the Nordic countries were at the epicentre of the mobile telephone boom in the nineties courtesy of Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson and to this day the Nordics region is home to tech giants including music streaming service Spotify, elevators and escalators KONE, audio distribution platform SoundCloud, Mobile Game developer Supercell, payment solutions provider Klarna, and Angry Birds developer, Rovio Entertainment amongst many others.

It comes as little surprise that this drive for innovation has translated into other industries, including fuel retail. The popularity of unmanned sites in the Nordic and Baltic states meant that when I first started working in the industry with FLS Finland, almost 20 years ago, automatic price change was already standard in the region. It was several years before this spread to other parts of Europe.

Today, technological developments have made it even easier for the region’s tech-orientated customers to run and maintain unmanned sites remotely. In my role as Business Development Director for Bever Innovations, covering Scandinavia, Baltics and Poland I am proud, as a self-professed tech lover, to be able to introduce our clients to the very latest in lighting technology. Our smart ‘EOS Technology’ connects all devices on a forecourt in a wireless network. This technology is integrated into Bever’s LED products and it can also be added to any other device in the network, which means site operators can manage their devices, equipment and processes on the forecourt using one simple application. The benefits include saving energy, improving safety and predicting maintenance.

Reducing carbon emissions

This early-adopter approach has seen the region become a world leader when it comes to electric vehicles. Electric cars accounted for a 44.3% share of Norway’s new car sales in January, according to data from the Norwegian Road Federation, as the country seeks to phase out the sale of combustion engines by 2025.

The Nordic region is keen to set an example to the rest of the world when it comes to taking action on climate change and as such our customers in the region want to know what we are doing to support this. Over the last 10 years we have reduced over 590.000 TCO2 with the energy saving benefits of our LED lighting. Our LED Under Canopy Illumination ‘Luci Series’ features multiple sensors that adapt the lighting to suit the conditions on the forecourt. Motion and daylight sensors ensure lighting is only on when it is required, meaning energy consumption is kept as low as possible without compromising on safety. In a region that features unmanned sites in remote locations this can present a safety issue so it is essential that customers feel safe and welcomed on to the forecourt. Once the forecourt is empty the lights are dimmed to conserve energy – which is particularly important during the long hours of darkness experienced in the region during the winter months.

And it’s not just the carbon emissions when the lights are onsite, customers are interested to know about what happens to the lights before they receive them. As a company it is always in our minds and in 2009, the European Commission officially recognised Bever Innovations as a ‘GreenLight Endorser‘ for its efforts in the field of energy-efficient lighting.

Facing the elements

The Nordic and Baltic regions are renowned for their icy winter weather and it is important to ensure our products can withstand the elements. Our lighting works well in all conditions, including extreme colds and looks great against a snowy backdrop.

The reduction of carbon emissions is important but the main thing our customers want to be assured of is the quality of the product. This is particularly important in Northern Europe where labour costs are high should anything go wrong. We have a real focus on quality and with products in over 100 countries around the globe we have developed a reputation as a manufacturer of high quality lighting and LED price sign solutions. This is taken even further with the predictive maintenance feature of the EOS Technology, which allows maintenance to be planned before failure occurs – reducing down time and optimising the performance of the site.

As technology continues to evolve we are continually working with our customers to find out what it is they need next. It is a never-ending process.

Innovation is in our name and we will continue to strive to bring something new to the industry and be at the forefront of technological developments.