Globally, orders rose around 20% compared to the previous year, strongly driven by the Middle Eastern market, which is rewarding the efforts and investments made by Efacec in recent years.
Additionally, 2016 saw new markets open up, including the Russian market, with the supply of secondary distribution (compact switchgear), and the Algerian market reopened with the supply of modular switchgear for secondary distribution.
Several opportunities arose in the renewable energy field to supply photovoltaic substations (PVs) in the European market, driven by EU directives, and in the Latin American and African markets. Some of the opportunities identified translated into orders in 2016, particularly in Portugal and Holland. With the emphasis on renewable energies, transformer substation solutions for wind and solar energy produced at the factory in Spain and the opening of a new factory in India to boost the supply of components and semifinished products at global level were also important milestones in 2016.
In Eastern Europe, the AMT Business Unit focused all operations on the Czech Republic, and all business in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Polond, Bulgaria and Romania was conducted from there.
In the Portuguese market, the AMT Business Unit continues to be a market leader and in 2016 it was selected by EDP Distribuição to supply 180 units of its new product – Revac (vacuum recloser, developed for overhead line management), demonstrating the national distributor’s recognition of Efacec’s technical capacity.
The AMT Business Unit also boosted its presence and visibility in the market by taking part in several events and trade fairs in the sector, such as CIRED 2016 in Helsinki and European Utility Week in Barcelona, which enabled Efacec to position itself as a world player that is recognized in the field.
In 2016, the means of production in Portugal were also enhanced with the construction of new high-voltage laboratories for carrying out final product inspectionsand cross-cutting lean manufacturing projects were launched with the aim of boosting competitiveness and agility in global markets.
The year 2016 also saw extensive investment in R&D with the construction of new high-voltage laboratories for carrying out tests to support the development of new products and the certification of new high rated primary distribution products (in the Normacel range – 17.5kV – 3150A/4000A and in the Qbn7 range – 2500A), thereby helping open up new markets.
The AMT Business Unit received a delegation from DEWA – Dubai Electricity and Water Authority to certify a factory with the aim of supplying primary distribution equipment from the Normacel range for Dubai’s electricity distribution grid. Certification of the factory was completed successfully, and orders are expected to be received in 2017.
The following noteworthy events also took place in 2016:
- Organizational restructuring with the aim of focusing on supervision of the overall supply chain, the development of industrial processes, continuous improvement across all AMT industrial units and technology R&D, launching the foundations for sustained medium and long-term growth;
- Efacec expanded its presence in the Middle Eastern market through its partner in Qatar, ITCC – Imperial Trading & Contracting Company, concluding an order to supply primary distribution units (from the Normacel range) to Kahramaa – Qatar Electricity and Water Corporation. The equipment included in this contract, which is of a highly complex technical nature, will be manufactured at the Arroteia facility and the first consignment is foreseen for October 2017, with a total of 2,200 Normacel units over a period of 3 years.
