The official name of Escarmat is now Escarmat Oy. Previously, the official name was Oy Escarmat Ltd.
The name was changed for clarity, as this way it can be found in various company listings under the letter ‘E’.
Rittal Oy is a German family-owned company that is a technology leader in the manufacturing of industrial and IT products. The company’s main products are switch cabinets and cooling solutions. Rittal and Escarmat have been collaborating for 30 years, since the establishment of Escarmat.
Pasi Kinnunen, Product Manager at Rittal, has been the contact person for Escarmat since 1997.
– Working with Escarmat has been open and straightforward from the beginning. Rittal and Escarmat are in contact almost daily, says Kinnunen.
Rittal supplies Escarmat with a wide range of components such as switch cabinets and enclosures. Thanks to the close collaboration, Escarmat’s customers receive the best technical and cost-effective solution.
– If necessary, we also provide technical support in selecting products, although Escarmat has a good understanding of various components and their practical application. Sometimes I am amazed at how well Escarmat knows Rittal’s products, says Kinnunen.
Kinnunen mentions Rittal equally benefits from the collaboration; especially visiting Escarmat’s production is invaluable because then Rittal receives feedback on the products directly from skilled installers.
According to Kinnunen, the partnership with Escarmat is valuable for Rittal. He does not define it solely in terms of turnover but also as deepening personal relationships over decades.
– Collaboration does not culminate only in me or one person at Escarmat. We stay in touch with purchasing, sales, design, and production. Communication mostly relates to monitoring delivery times, pricing, and defining products.
Although Escarmat has grown significantly over 30 years, Kinnunen does not see that working with Escarmat has changed significantly. Volumes have increased, but the basic work remains the same.
– I hope that our good cooperation continues in the same manner for the next 30 years, summarizes Kinnunen.
Do you want to know more about collaboration with Escarmat? Read about Escarmat´s collaboration with Ab Solving Oy.
The year 2024 marks Escarmat’s 30th anniversary. Escarmat, a manufacturer of electrical and automation cabinets, was founded in 1994, and since then, the company has grown steadily. Today, Escarmat operates from two locations and has 120 employees.
Escarmat is celebrating its anniversary with various activities. The celebratory year will be visible within the company, as well as in external marketing communications and events. This year, the focus will particularly highlight the company’s history and its personnel.
The most prominent change for Escarmat is the rebranding and change of the logo. The company’s old logo has been in use since the 1990s, so the anniversary presents a great opportunity to update the brand.
– We are a renewing and forward-looking company. We possess high-level expertise, so we want our outward appearance to truly reflect who we are. The brand image must correspond to the company’s operations, says CEO and co-owner Kari Olkinuora.
The new brand look and logo will be immediately put into use.
The anniversary marks a significant milestone for Escarmat and its staff. Escarmat’s co-owners, Kari Olkinuora and Mikael Mäkinen, continue their work at Escarmat. They express pride in the 30-year-old company but emphasize that success hasn’t come on its own.
– The success of the company doesn’t solely depend on the owners but also on the customers and the people. The secret to our longevity lies in great customers and all those individuals who have worked at Escarmat over the years. We’ve managed to maintain the trust of our customers. Each Escarmat member has contributed and will continue to contribute towards this, sums up Olkinuora.
Escarmat’s new corporate symbol consists of a mark and a wordmark. The logo was entirely redesigned to make the difference from the old one evident.
The departure idea and design language are propelled by electrical energy. This notion was transformed into a more symbolic representation and amalgamated. The symbol combines the angularity and toughness of the industry with roundness and humanity, the Escarmat family.
The graphic elements support and reinforce the company’s ideology and are a crucial part of its visual identity. In the graphic elements, the plus signs represent a positive employer and workplace, while the arrows signify looking forward.
The red color in the corporate symbol pays homage to the company’s history and the old logo.
Watch the video about new logo below!
Escarmat is a manufacturer of industrial automation cabinets and control cabinets. Our services also include design and installation support.
Established in 1994, we bring nearly 30 years of experience to the industry. Our annual turnover is approximately 18 million euros.
Escarmat operates from two locations: Vikby industrial area in Mustasaari and Strömberg Park in Vaasa. We have a total floor area of approximately 4600 square meters.
With these facilities, Escarmat has the capacity to execute large projects requiring precision and expertise. Our current spaces allow for significant expansion of our turnover.
Employing over 100 professionals, Escarmat’s competitive advantage lies in its skilled workforce. Our product is a service concept encompassing technical specification, production-supporting design, material procurement, assembly, inspection and logistics.
The key element in every stage of this service concept is human expertise. One-third of our capable staff has been with the company for over a decade, bringing technical proficiency through years of experience.
Escarmat’s cabinets are utilized worldwide in power plants, ships, and various machinery. Our clients include international energy companies, as well as equipment and machinery manufacturers.
Long-standing client relationships demonstrate our team’s ability to support customers with technical expertise. We regularly assess customer satisfaction and refine our operations based on feedback.
Escarmat’s mission is to operate with quality, reliability, and customer-centricity. Our vision is to be a respected and valued cabinet manufacturer, offering the best workplace in the Ostrobothnia region. Our values encompass employee well-being, respect, flexibility, high quality, and commitment.
Read more about our customer AB Solving Oy.
Escarmat participated for the first time in an evaluation that measured the company’s performance in terms of sustainability. The assessment was carried out by EcoVadis. EcoVadis is a fully independent, international body that has assessed tens of thousands of companies across the world.
Escarmat received a score of 57/100 from this assessment. This means that it is within the top 25% in its sector and received a silver medal. Joni Syrjälä, Quality Manager at Escarmat, is very pleased with the result.
– Our goal was to achieve the industry average, but the result was much better, Syrjälä says.
The categories assessed were the environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. No new practices are allowed to be developed ahead of the assessment, which ensures a realistic result.
– This external evaluation allows us to prove to our partners that we are truly acting in a sustainable way. This is also proof to our employees and job applicants that we act responsibly.
Escarmat scored highest in the theme of labour and human rights. The evaluation looked closely at factors related to the well-being of employees.
– It came as no surprise to us that we were so successful in this particular area. At Escarmat, employee well-being, respect and appreciation are values embedded in our strategy. We invest in them constantly, as this score shows.
According to Syrjälä, partners today want to know about a company’s values in more detail in order to have a better overall understanding of its practices. Partners no longer make purchases on the basis of price alone – corporate responsibility also carries weight. But it is not just about business, as it is equally important to demonstrate responsibility to employees. After all, there is currently a severe shortage of workers. People these days think much more carefully about the kind of company they want to work for.
– Especially young people put great weight on working for a responsible employer. Employees also want to invest in their own well-being. Because work is a big part of life, people want it to be meaningful and they want to make a difference. This sustainability ranking proves the cornerstones of our work to jobseekers.
In future, EcoVadis will perform a sustainability assessment for Escarmat on an annual basis. Syrjälä reveals that Escarmat will aim for the gold medal next, because it is important to always aim higher.
– This was our first evaluation and an excellent starting point for further development. We received valuable feedback from it and are now ready to systematically drive the different aspects of sustainable development forward, Syrjälä concludes.
Read more about our quality.
Escarmat also holds the following certificates:
Quality is one of the most important parts of our brand and the reason why our customers trust us year after year. Now we ask our Quality Engineer, Rutuja Walimbe, what kind of job she does and what she thinks about Escarmat´s quality.
I am Rutuja Walimbe and I work as a Quality Engineer.
My job mainly includes creating and maintaining the quality-related documents. One of our quality motives is to abide by the regulations of various conflict minerals and hazardous materials under EU REACH, RoHS and IHM, so I have been working on collecting these declarations from our suppliers.
Moreover, I also participate in quality audits and quality planning that is conducted in cooperation with our customers. During the audits and quality meetings, we come across different suggestions and improvement ideas and we make sure to act upon them.
Theoretically, quality is simply conforming to customer requirements; however, in a broader sense, every element of an organization contributes towards achieving the objectives of organizational quality management. For example, in addition to doing the work right, a worker’s discipline to work or staff’s ability to communicate efficiently also helps to reduce mistakes which in turn leads to better quality.
Every company is working towards growth and the secret to growth is customer satisfaction. Thus, delivering good quality products and services plays an integral part in customer satisfaction which in turn helps the company to grow.
When everyone in an organization function altogether to the best of their abilities, the resultant is the best product in the market. Mistakes are a part and parcel of every work but abiding to our tagline ‘Makes every piece works together’, each of Escarmat’s employee works in a way that mistakes are avoided and if at all they occur, they are handled as efficiently as possible.
We are continuously improving our processes to make them as efficient as possible. Thus, for every new project, we collaborate with our customers to develop different quality assurance plans such as PQAP (Project Quality Assurance Plan), FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis), and Control plans. Moreover, we also use analytical tools such as 8D reports and 5-Why.
Quality defines the brand – and this is especially true in case of Escarmat. At Escarmat, quality is not only visible on the shop floor but all throughout the organization. To remain up to date on quality standards, we are certified for ISO 9001:2016, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018. As a result, in addition to providing good quality products, we are also being responsible towards the environment and looking after our employees’ health and safety.
Quality being embedded in our values; we are striving to provide the best of the best to our customers. However, quality is a never-ending process. There is always room for improvement and what keeps us going is the will to improve ourselves.
Providing the best quality with honesty and integrity is a central thought of Escarmat which is what I like the most. One of the best things is that everyone here is open to new ideas, so I never feel afraid to speak my mind or ask any questions.
Additionally, since our business is spread around the world, I love that I get to meet people from different cultures and traditions. And now that our business is growing so well, I look forward to new opportunities and the challenges that may come with it.
Mychrome Ltd is a company specialized in manufacturing nailing machines and production lines for pallets. The company operates from Maalahti. Mychrome has collaborated with Escarmat since 2015 and altogether they have completed 119 projects.
CEO Peter Piispanen says that Escarmat designs and manufacturers electric cabinets for the nailing machines.
– We wanted to have a partner, who is capable to supply big cabinets. When we started to build our nailing machine, I contacted Escarmat and we were able to come up with a deal right away.
Piispanen says that every production line manufactured by Mychrome is different. This means that Escarmat must have a great know-how too.
– We give them the initial data from which Escarmat does the design for the electrical cabinets, drawings, and manufacturing. Usually this is enough for them to complete the order and we do not have to intervene with the project. We can trust to Escarmat, they will do what they promise to do.
Mychrome’s nailing machines and production lines are exported around the globe, for example, to the Nordic countries, Germany, Poland, the United States and Taiwan. The work is project like, and the machines are customized to fit the customers space, budget, and the type of pallet they are manufacturing. In most cases a new project starts from the base of an old one. Usually, the old project directs the way for the new one.
Now the component shortage is making deliveries challenging. According to Piispanen Escarmat suggests alternative components and suppliers if the desired parts are impossible to get. Some parts can be installed afterwards, if needed.
– Despite COVID-19 and the component shortage Escarmat has stayed on the schedule and on budget. If there have been any delays, Escarmat has informed us in time, and we have been able to decide together, how to prioritize the manufacturing of the cabinets. We are very keen on staying on the schedule and making the end customers happy.
Mychrome is pleased with Escarmat’s service and quality. Piispanen describes Escarmat’s attitude as excited and joyful. The quality of their doing shows a real interest towards their own and towards customer’s work. Escarmat also helps when the things get rough.
– Once upon a time we had a situation in which the cabinets were delivered without monitors. Escarmat got them via back order, and they spontaneously suggested that they could deliver the monitors to us with their own car. This allowed us to test the cabinets in time, which was important to us.
Mychrome is a fast-growing business. They have already sold their capacity till the spring of 2023.
– There is not a replacement for the pallets, so our nailing machines are still much needed. In other words, there is also a huge demand for the electric cabinets. A joint product development might be something we could consider in the future, Piispanen ponders.
Industries worldwide suffer from component shortage. The shortage extends delivery times and stretches project schedules. Jani Katajamäki, Escarmat’s Supervisor of Customed Projects, says that schedules are planned with the project manager and the designer in the start of every project and the schedules are updated throughout the project.
– At first, we go through the schedule and check the availability of the needed components. We do a thorough research of any obstacles that could delay the project. By doing this we can promise a very realistic schedule to the customer. We update the schedule as we go and constantly inform the customer of possible changes.
According to Katajamäki, the products are delivered in approximately 10 weeks. To make sure that delivery times hold, Escarmat has come up with new ways for saving time. Katajamäki shares five different ways for keeping projects on schedule even during a component shortage.
Escarmat is engaging in custom projects more and more because customers trust that they deliver what is promised. If the components needed for the product are not available or the delivery time is too long, Escarmat suggests using alternative components. The components are never changed to alternatives before consulting the customer.
– We always ask the designer for their opinion on changing the components. Designers also provide good ideas for how to stick to the schedule.
According to Katajamäki, Escarmat is very aware of the obligations the customer has for the end customers. If challenges come up in the wiring it is openly communicated to the customer and the schedule is updated together.
– We operate beside the customer during the process. They have the knowledge of the products and the power to decide, how the end products turn out.
In some cases, Escarmat saves time by ordering the needed components before receiving the official order.
– For example, last week a customer said that they need an extra part for a switchgear. The part was needed as soon as possible, so we ordered the components and made the extra part before the order was confirmed. Escarmat took a slight risk on this, but we have collaborated with our customers for decades. Therefore, we trust each other and can proceed before receiving official orders.
One way to save time is to install the missing components afterwards. Cabinets are made as ready as possible and delivered to the customer. The missing components are installed immediately after their arrival.
– Some cabinets can be delivered to the customer even if they are a bit incomplete if the missing components can be easily installed afterwards. For example, meters and plug relays are components that can be installed afterwards.
In some cases, a substitute component can be used in the product, and it can be replaced with the original one afterwards.
– We have replaced FX relays with substitute relays during testing. The substitute relays cannot withstand real use but can be used during the testing period and in early stages. This is an example of how we have stayed on schedule during the component shortage.
Katajamäki hints that 1-2 days can be taken off the delivery time by giving Escarmat the possibility to take care of the deliveries also outside the Vaasa region. Escarmat has agreed with its key customers that the company can use their contract number and to order deliveries.
Katajamäki confirms that the quality of Escarmat is outstanding despite the component shortage. Long experience helps to readapt to changing situations.
– Our personnel are highly competent, and they can adapt their work methods and help customers in any situations they might face. We go to great lengths to ensure that our mechanics can proudly say: “I made this”.
Heikki Haapanen has started as Escarmat’s Export and Sales Manager. In his new role, Haapanen will, for example, plan a strategy to promote the company’s exports and be responsible for its implementation. In addition, he acts as Escarmat’s primary point of contact for new contacts related to the export trade, as well as for quotation requests.
Haapanen has worked at Escarmat since 2012. For the past five years, he has served as the company’s Sales Manager.
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Escarmat is a full-service automation supplier offering flexible subcontracting and project manufacturing of switchboards, automation cabinets, and control cabinets to various industries. We also offer tailor-made, comprehensive turnkey solutions.
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Escarmat Oy
Vikbyn teollisuusalue
Hirvenpolku 3
65520 HELSINGBY
Strömberg Park
Virtaviiva 11 P
65320 VAASA
+358 10 583 5700
