ESAB, a global supplier of welding consumables and equipment, has started offering Weld Cloud, a connected welding solution. This innovative solution allows enterprises and welding services companies to better monitor and optimize the performance of their welding equipment, increase quality and develop new customer services. ESAB chose Tele2 because of its end-to-end understanding of ESAB’s strategic goals and proactive partner go-to-market program. With Weld Cloud, ESAB anticipates lowering operating costs and increasing revenue with new services offerings.
ESAB is a supplier of exceptional welding equipment, ancillary support services and consumables – the raw materials used during the welding process. ESAB supplies an extensive range of products for some of the world’s largest enterprises as well as do-it-yourself, at-home solutions. With 8700 employees worldwide and annual revenue of USD2.3 billion in FY2014, this 110 year old company remains a global leader in its sector.
The welding business is competitive and the best manufacturers like ESAB are always innovating to improve product quality and performance while bringing new welding-related services to customers.
To innovate, ESAB decided to create Weld Cloud, a connected welding solution, to help ESAB’s customers better use their welding equipment, more easily track welding operations and stream-line the welding process. With a connected solution, ESAB would better understand usage characteristics of its equipment and provide customers with hands-on support in optimizing equipment performance and consumables usage. But ESAB needed reliable, secure, global connectivity for its equipment so it could leverage the data it would be collecting.
Tele2 IoT provides the tools
So ESAB turned to Tele2 for a managed IoT connectivity solution. This Tele2 solution affords ESAB an easy way to build connectivity into its welding product line wherever the products are deployed worldwide.
In addition, Tele2 offers ESAB partner go-to-market services in the conceptualization, testing, deployment and ongoing management of IoT solutions. “Tele2 brings a tangible vision to the project and helps execute the solution by bringing in the right partners,” says Anders Lindh, Director of Strategy, ESAB.
ESAB had several choices of IoT partners, but chose Tele2 because of its proactive partner go-to-market program, attention to customer details and its end-to-end understanding of ESAB’s strategic goals. According to Lindh, “Tele2 takes a very clear position in the market so you don’t get conflict with other partners.”
ESAB’s Weld Cloud increases customer lifetime value
ESAB’s board of directors has highlighted the Weld Cloud initiative as highly strategic, offering ESAB the opportunity to create long-term competitive differentiation for its business. ESAB anticipates being able to lower operating and development costs while increasing revenue through its unique services offerings.
Thinking further into the future ESAB expects that autonomous systems, connectivity and powerful data analytics could revolutionize welding. Working with partners like Tele2, ESAB is focusing on these types of innovations to lead the welding equipment and services market with its customers and partners.