Eaton’s strategic focus of innovation, growth in emerging markets, and a broad business mix has helped to generate strong financial performance, even as world markets adjust to periods of slower global growth, and 2011 has been a year of record sales and profits.  And with a 100-year heritage of innovation, Eaton draws on its global strength in power management, to help its customers control cost and reduce their energy requirements.

Eaton’s energy saving technologies span across all sectors of its business and none more so than its electrical business. “We believe that power management is one of the biggest trends over the next 25 years as energy continues to become more costly to find, refine or use, and Eaton will continue to build momentum for a number of our most impactful technologies that help our customers manage the rising cost of energy” says Stefan Buerki, Eaton’s New Zealand General Manager and Global Telecoms Product Line leader for the telecom solutions business. Eaton’s telecom solutions business fits within the Power Quality Division of Eaton’s electrical sector - providing telecom power solutions and associated products and services to the telecommunications and other critical power industries in over 100 countries.

Eaton’s electrical business in New Zealand has traditionally been a telecom power systems design house for its local and global markets and manufacturing was moved to its now proprietary manufacturing facilities in China, several years ago. Recently however, significant growth in its local NZ telecom business has come about through R&D innovation of its roadside cabinet product for broadband expansion projects throughout the country where manufacturing has been done locally. In the largest project of its kind to date in New Zealand - Telecom NZ’s “broadband fiber to the curb” project - Eaton provided 3,500 of its high-tech cabinets and integrated its own compact and high-efficiency telecom power systems and communications, with telecom equipment that connects local neighborhood copper phone lines to the national fiber network – making Eaton a true solutions provider.

Eaton roadside cabinet innovations included world-beating operating efficiency (e.g. heat management), and environmental features like noise control and low footprint that make it competitive with larger, but less flexible manufacturers globally, and poised for further growth.

The business in New Zealand was purchased by Eaton in 2004. Being part of the global Eaton Corporation not only enhances its local capability to produce smarter energy systems for customers, but ensures greater competitiveness through global and local manufacturing flexibility, with highest standards including ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. And Eaton’s strong heritage also includes doing business right. “Our goal is to achieve great results, guided by fundamental values” says Buerki. Eaton operations around the world adhere to one set of standards for policies such as ethics, human resource and business practices, quality, greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption and waste treatment, and a recognized commitment to corporate responsibility wherever it operates in the world.

Provided by Fraser Taylor,
Marketing Specialist, Eaton Industries Company,
Eaton Corporation, Electrical Sector

Having established a strong presence in Europe while expanding into the rapidly growing Asian and North American markets for renewable energy, we are now the second largest supplier of photovoltaic inverters in the world.  To serve new and existing geographies, we recently opened manufacturing and R&D Facilities in Phoenix, Arizona and Shenzhen, China, and are adding sales and service locations throughout the globe.  In 2011 we posted revenue of $1.02B and EBITDA of $217M with over 3,000 employees worldwide.

The Renewable Energy Business Unit offers the broadest product portfolio for the solar and wind energy markets.  With products ranging from 300 Watt micro-inverters to utility scale liquid cooled 1.4 MW inverters, Power-One brings the highest technology including dual Multi-Power Point Tracking and industry leading efficiency to maximize energy harvesting.  Many of the Power-One inverters are modular systems allowing shortened mean-time-to- repair through inverter module field replacement.  Supporting the uptime of the solar generation sites, is the Power-One global service team that offers training, installation and commissioning, and preventative maintenance, in addition to service repair.

The Power Business Unit’s energy-efficient conversion and management solutions power a wide range of applications including: routers, switches, data storage and servers, wireless communication equipment and custom solutions.  Power-One is one of only a few companies with the product breadth to support every step in the refinement of utility-grade AC into the various DC voltages required to power high-availability infrastructure systems at the site, system and semiconductor levels. 

We launched our first renewable energy products in 2006 and continue to bring new products to market.  Power-One holds 180 active patents.  Our evolution into a tier-one, world class global supplier has been facilitated by a complement of strategies and milestones, including our goals to:

• Support global customers and local markets with strategically –located manufacturing and R&D facilities.
• Consistently invest in R&D to provide industry-leading energy efficiencies and breakthrough solutions, such as our digital power technology.
• Continually improve the key attributes required to grow our business with strategic customer and distributors.
• Pursue fast-growth markets:  digital power, Platinum technology, and alternative energy.

For more information about Power-One and career opportunities, please visit www.power-one.com.

Provided by by Chavonne Yee,
Director, Product Management,
Power-One, Renewable Energy Solutions, LLC

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