February 9, 2021
Serial production in the wind industry only started in 1979 and this means that this nascent industry is only now starting to mature unlike for example the automotive industry where the first assembly line was put in place more than 100 years ago. As the wind industry matures, the implementation of standards become relevant and feasible for a number of reasons including the need to identify cost savings across the entire value chain. Panticon has actively contributed to standardization in the wind industry.
In a relatively new industry where the products are still undergoing a rapid transformation, intellectual property rights and patents play a very important role as industry stakeholders compete fiercely through advancement of the technology and related services. In the wind industry, an area where competing firms can agree to work together and standardize across the supply chain is that of transport, lifting, and handling equipment.
This supporting equipment is considered to be of less strategic importance and over the past decade, Panticon Managing Partner Thomas Poulsen through is PhD endeavours as well as Panticon through our involvement with clients have helped drive forward standardization within this important field. Essentially a part of the extended transport, logistics, and shipping scope of work, a lot of money is spent to engineer, design, and manufacture transport, lifting, and handling equipment. And if such equipment could be used across makes and models instead of being bespoke and unique for each wind turbine available in the market, costs could be reduced across the value chain. The transport, lifting, and handling equipment will be transported to the site along with the wind farm component to which it belongs. However, keeping track of the equipment and getting it back to the point of manufacture is often a challenging and daunting task that involves a reverse logistics chain and very different processes when it comes to for example customs clearance. Panticon supported the creation of a common approach to resolve some of these challenges faced. In this recording from a recent Summit where Panticon was a Summit Partner, you can get more familiar with the topic.