Delivering cutting-edge products and services to customers is crucial in this digital age. Read on to find out why Wärtsilä’s acquisition of Finnish technology company, Eniram, spells good news.
“Digitalisation is the next major shift that will define the future of the marine industry,” says Ville Rimali, Integration Manager at Wärtsilä. “Nobody knows exactly what the consequences will be, but we can be sure it’s the next megatrend,” he notes.
He believes Eniram is one of the few companies that has correctly predicted the progress of digitalization of marine market.
“Eniram has been incredibly successful at establishing itself as a leading provider of digital services to the marine industry,” explains Rimali. “Its solution enables operators to optimize the way their ships are used and deliver significant energy savings – which is hugely important in a sector where the number one operating cost is fuel.”
Its technologies are used by small and large shipping companies on many different vessel types – from cruise liners to LNG carriers and container ships. This puts Eniram in an ideal position to lead the marine industry into the digital future together with Wärtsilä and makes the acquisition of the company, a good choice.
“Eniram’s focus is operational optimization and fuel savings, while Wärtsilä uses digital solutions to optimize maintenance. When we bundle them together, it creates a very nice overall package for the marine industry,” says Rimali, who is leading the work to ensure a smooth integration process for both companies.
Although Eniram became part of Wärtsilä on 1 July 2016, the company has carried on operating as an independent business entity under the newly established Digitalisation unit in Wärtsilä and will continue to do so in the near future. This is largely due to Eniram’s business culture.
“With 12 years of operations under its belt and 90 employees, Eniram is not really a start-up, but its culture shares a lot of elements with the start-up mentality,” says Rimali.
To maintain the start-up mentality and apply it to the way in which digital services are developed at Wärtsilä, Eniram is under the acquisition by Wärtsilä through a so-called reverse integration process.
Instead of incorporating Eniram’s 90 employees into Wärtsilä’s structure, some of Wärtsilä’s digital developers have been assimilated into Eniram. So far, about 30 Wärtsilä software developers have joined their new colleagues at Eniram.
“At Eniram, transparency and information sharing are key values. When information is shared, employees understand the big picture and how their work impacts it. This ensures that everyone is able to make the right decisions quickly in their customer interactions,” he explains, adding that a regular employee satisfaction survey seeks out employee feedback on different topics.
There are plenty of elements in the way of working at the Eniram office that would add value to the entire Wärtsilä organization. The non-hierarchical structure, and a flexible, agile way of working, which benefits both customers and employees, to name a few. Rimali says one of the main features of Eniram’s success is its close cooperation with customers during the product development process.
“When Eniram creates a service, it starts by finding a customer that is willing to buy it and then develops it alongside the customer. This ensures market support from the outset,” he explains.
In the future, the digital offerings of the two companies will be combined into one complete digital package.
What helps is the fact that Eniram’s products are a good complement to Wärtsilä’s portfolio. Its user-friendly intelligence-based solutions range from single onboard applications to comprehensive fleet analysis systems. A quick look at its two main product families – Eniram Solutions and Eniram SkyLight – will tell you why.
Eniram Solutions is made up of a series of onboard products:
Eniram Trim enables crewmembers to maintain optimum trim for reduced fuel consumption
Eniram Engine helps them use the engines in the most efficient way.
Eniram Speed calculates the exact Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) to ensure just-in-time arrival with maximum fuel efficiency.
Eniram Performance tracks and analyses the overall efficiency of the vessel.
Eniram SkyLight is an innovative, next-generation commercial performance-monitoring tool that is more advanced than the existing Eniram Solutions, and offers vastly improved performance reporting compared with manual reporting.
And lastly, Eniram Fleet and Eniram Analytics are both used by vessel operators on shore to monitor, analyze and manage vessel performance to ensure optimum operational efficiency.
Packaging this broad range of offering into Wärtsilä’s service agreements is bound to create significant business opportunities in the future. While Eniram’s technology will allow Wärtsilä to create a fully integrated digital marine offering, resulting in more business for large-scale marine and offshore service agreements, Wärtsilä’s global presence will open up new markets for Eniram.
“By welcoming Eniram into our Wärtsilä family, we’re combining its cutting-edge knowledge and technology with Wärtsilä’s leading global market position. We believe this will create an opportunity for us not only to be part of – but perhaps even to take the lead in the marine industry’s digital transition,” Rimali concludes.
Note: Eniram was established in 2005, with its main location in Helsinki.
