Good framework for development

The employees at Schneider Electric in Kolding have 19 different nationalities; showing that by attracting the right competences, it is possible to develop without relocating.

Lorries packed with products used to roll off the premises every day. Now it is ideas, solutions and development that are the daily deliveries from the company, Schneider Electric in Kolding.

“We are a good example of how it is possible to develop and change radically without needing to relocate,” says Morten Støvring, employee with the company since 1987 and Managing Director for the past 16 years.

Schneider Electric is a global specialist in energy control systems and automation with a turnover of over 25 billion Euros (2015), 144,000 employees and a headquarters in Paris. I 2007, Schneider Electric acquired the American company, APC, which ten years previously had purchased Silcon in Kolding. Now one of Schneider Electric’s leading sharpest development divisions, the company was established 60 years ago as a manufacturing company in Kolding.

“We are now a large engineering and software company with 200 employees fully focussed on creating new ideas and production development for the rest of the company. We have taken out 70 patents over the last 15-20 years,” says Morten Støvring.

The location in Denmark’s triangle area has played a central role in this transformation.

“Our owners know that the triangle area is something special. We are part of a global group, so a development division like ours can, in principal, be located anywhere. We are here because our owners feel that this is where we can grow and continue to develop. We attract a steady flow of relevant, qualified personnel from all around us. There are jobs for their spouses, good schools for their children and beautiful natural surroundings, all of which are important when attracting the right people,” says Morten Støvring.

Denmark’s triangle area’s excellent infrastructure with good motorways and proximity to an airport is also important:

“We have international owners and an international customer base. We book between 2,500 and 3,000 overnight stays for our guests every year, and we use restaurants and cultural sites all the time. Our surroundings have to be able to live up to our needs; the triangle area does that – and that is why we belong here,” says Morten Støvring.