Merinova’s Morning Coffee Guest series once again offered timely morning discussion on Friday, 16 January, as Martti Taimisto from ABB Smart Power visited Merinova. With a long career at ABB, Taimisto guided the conversation into the world of low-voltage products, the challenges of product development and standardisation, and current issues in global business.
ABB Smart Power
ABB Smart Power is the global market leader in low-voltage switchgear products. The Vaasa factory is one of ABB’s key production sites and is globally responsible for the manufacturing, product development, sales, and marketing of switchgear products. The factory employs over 300 people, and ABB operates only a few similar facilities worldwide.
The Vaasa factory manufactures, among other products, load break switches, changeover switches, safety switches, enclosed switches, and switch fuses. These products are widely used in applications such as solar power and backup power solutions, data centres, securing industrial power supply, and energy generation and transmission systems.
Switchgear products play a critical role in electrical energy management: they allow, block, or isolate the flow of electric current, protect equipment from overloads and short circuits, and enable the safe connection of backup power supplies.
Around the Coffee Table
During the morning, Martti Taimisto also shared insights into his career path at ABB, where he has worked in various roles in product development, manufacturing, and leadership. Three years ago, his career led him to take responsibility for global product certification and standardisation of ABB’s low-voltage products, including the certification of breakers, contactors, and switches, as well as product standardisation.
The discussion highlighted several key realities of global business:
🔹 Intense cost competition and efficiency requirements
🔹 Increasing regulation and country-specific requirements
🔹 The importance of certification and maintaining up-to-date certification information
🔹 Challenges of standardisation in rapidly evolving markets
🔹 The impact of EU directives on product development, including specific delays in European standardisation work
🔹 Sustainability considerations: material choices, lifecycle aspects, and environmental conditions
The discussion also emphasised Finland’s strong role in development activities, with expertise extending beyond production to product development, testing, and certification. During the session, the idea emerged that standardisation knowledge should be more strongly integrated into engineering education, enabling future professionals to better understand the requirements of global markets.
Warm thanks to Martti Taimisto for his visit and for an open and highly professional discussion!