Text: Robin Johansson Photos: Smarteq Wireless AB

Thomas Valtonen, business area manager for Automotive, you are currently in Brazil where you have done well with your latest investment, tell us more.
Yes, our Brazilian venture has been successful. We have been working in the Brazilian market since 2004 on a smaller scale for the aftermarket to supply hidden antennas for the automotive industry. Prior to issuing insurance cover, or to provide a lower premium, some insurance companies have the requirement that cars have a hidden “tracking" system installed so that a vehicle can be tracked down in the event of theft, and this has contributed to our success.

At the end of 2008, when the world economic crisis struck like a bomb, we chose to continue to develop the market in the hope that the crisis would not be so long-term and in order that the take-off runway would be as short as possible once the turnaround was upon us. We were all convinced that the turnaround would come, the question was just when. The strategy we chose was to be aggressive in South America and in particular in Brazil, as over the years we have seen a huge potential in the country and learned that a new law would be introduced. The VTS (Vehicle Tracking System) means that all vehicles in the country must, from a certain date, have a tracking device, which in turn means a need for antennas. Our expertise, and to certain extent our head start, was so significant that Continental, a company that operates as a Tier 1 supplier in the automotive industry, chose Smarteq as its supplier, and consequently we have now become one of Continental´s global first choices among antenna suppliers. Continental is an important customer for us. In Brazil alone Continental has customers such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, MAN and others, and by means of our location in Brazil we can continuously support their engineers with our antenna expertise, and also optimize their solutions for future vehicle programs.

Does this mean that South America is one of your most important markets?
Yes, absolutely - in addition to supplying Volkswagen and Continental, Smarteq is first choice among suppliers to Scania and Volvo Trucks. The two together have over 50% of the Brazilian truck market, so YES! - South America is very important to us.

What markets do you see as your future markets?
Definitely our home market Sweden. I think it is important that we together safeguard our technical expertise in our country and help each other. My personal opinion is that I cannot understand why, for example, the city of Södertälje or Gothenburg chooses to purchase buses for public transport which are not manufactured in the country or even in their district. Is that caring about what´s best for the country?

In Sweden the automotive industry has strong traditions, and we must take care of it in the best possible way to avoid getting into a situation where we are selling off everything so that both development and production are moved to other countries. What has happened to our defense industry, where the Swedish Armed Forces was the largest customer and could thus stimulate new development so that we had world leaders and attractive products to sell to other countries? What are we left with now?

In my opinion the automotive industry now has a brighter outlook than it has had for a long time what with the return of Saab, the increased production at Volvo and Scania, and the exciting future for Volvo Cars. Apart from Sweden, we also consider Asia, Europe and South America as our future markets.

Tell me more about the past year. How is it that you have taken market share while others have had it really tough?
I can start by telling you that we have also noticed the recession, we have cut down on costs by streamlining while at the same time we have “trimmed" the organization - so we have certainly had it tough too! There are actually several reasons that we have managed so well in taking market share. But to highlight one thing as the main reason that we have succeeded so well is that we have kept the sales force and our development department intact despite reductions in staffing levels. Customers demand Face2Face meetings even more now than before - sales cycles from quotation to order have become significantly shorter, and this in turn requires an organization that can multi-task and give quick answers that often require extensive technical expertise as customers themselves are cutting back on their resources.

What lessons do you take with you from the crisis in the automotive industry?
I think that customers have noticed the importance of having good suppliers who can supply a whole package, while being very flexible at the same time. It will be more important than ever for us all to do things right from the start in our projects in order to save time and costs by being efficient and innovative. The automotive industry is a very cost-conscious industry and there is a requirement for continuous improvement in the form of streamlining in order to keep costs down.

According to many commentators the automotive industry has undergone a paradigm shift in the recent past and the focus is now on fuel-efficient cars with low environmental impact. How has this affected you?
At Smarteq we have always been very environmentally conscious and at an early stage we sourced lead-free components where possible, we thought about how to transport our goods, and so on. But if we look to the design of cars in the future we can see a clear trend towards smaller and compact vehicles with a tough, yet aerodynamic, design. In which case, which car designer would want to add a “lump" on the roof called an “antenna" if the possibility existed to build these antennas in the car? In many cases this saves weight and results in better aerodynamics with lower wind resistance and correspondingly lower fuel consumption, but without forgetting that the car has a more attractive design without a mass of antenna rods and shark fins.

You have been nominated as antenna supplier for an electric hybrid sports car in the US; do antenna systems look any different in a hybrid or electric car compared to a conventional vehicle?
Both yes and no. The electromagnetic interference is much higher in comparison with a regular car, which means that the antenna itself needs to be designed to function optimally for the frequencies it will transmit and receive on. While at the same time it is desirable to avoid interference due to EMC.

How do you see the future, what will be important to you?
We are very positive about the future market because the need for antennas will grow in this increasingly wireless world we live in what with new systems constantly being introduced, such as 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) for example, while at the same time more and more different systems are being integrated into vehicles. This in turn will place greater demands on the car manufacturers to involve antenna suppliers in their projects at an early design stage in order to achieve the best possible performance and sealing for the hidden antennas.

Give us a glimpse into the future, what will Smarteq look like in 2015?
If we just look at the automotive segment we have grown a lot and have offices and production facilities in the important growth areas of the world, in particular Brazil. Smarteq will be a leader in the future of antenna technology. When customers talk about having a built-in antenna they won´t ask for a built-in antenna, they´ll be asking for a Smarteq antenna. Europe is becoming very exciting with its rollout of E-call (Emergency Call) in around 2014, and this will require several complex built-in antennas in each vehicle, as well as external antennas, which is to our advantage.