Trust, Collaboration and Scalability: The Building Blocks of Successful Partnerships

Reflection #1: You’ll never walk alone

First and foremost, it is my contention that the landscape of industrial automation has become so complex that a single supplier can no longer deliver everything on its own. Speed, innovation, industry insight and scalability have become such key concepts in any business case that it is almost impossible to shoulder the burden alone.

That is why we at OMRON have a strategy of letting skilled partners complement us in areas where they are even more skilled than we are. We divide our partners into two categories: Innovation Network Partners – system integrators and machine-builders – and then our distributors whom we refer to as Strategic Partners. Having strong partnerships with dedicated skills – be it within specific technologies, certain industries or project management – means that we as an automation supplier can instead focus our energy on constantly cultivating our core business: Integrated automation.

I think this recent hospital project in Norway is a prime example of how we, together with our partners AFRY, Roeq and Dimalog as well as local SI partner ACS succeeded in delivering a high-tech solution based on autonomous mobile robots – exactly by pooling OMRON’s knowledge of robot technology and automation with the respective competencies of our partners.

Reflection #2: From supplier to co-creator

There was a time when delivering a solution to a customer was a relatively simple process characterised by a transaction of knowledge or technology between supplier and customer. That is no longer the case.

Many deliveries in today's industry are extremely complex projects where the value chain is no longer linear, but rather a complex ecosystem of partners, suppliers and client or end-user where everyone – also the client – becomes co-creators rather than just suppliers or end-user.  

In that sense, the success of the project is not only defined by the raw transaction of either knowledge or physical goods – but also by the level of collaboration between the parties involved.

Reflection #3: It’s all about trust

Following on from the above: If there is one thing that characterises a successful partnership, in my view it is the small but important word ‘trust’. Trust in terms of being open with each other about our own strengths and weaknesses. Trust in relation to daring to invite the other party into one's strategic engine room and talk openly about both strategic opportunities, challenges and things to come. In short, an OMRON partner should feel like an extension of our business – and vice versa.

And then we can talk all we want about innovation and cool cash and “what's in it for me” – but if there is no open and honest relationship between us and our partners, we will never deliver on our innovation promise.

Reflection #4: Start local, go global

Scalability may be a bad word to some, but in my view converting local success cases into global success cases is one of our industry's greatest untapped potentials. Implicitly: If we have successfully completed a project in collaboration with a local partner here in the Nordic region, we should always explore whether this solution can be reused and possibly scaled up in other markets. This could be locally here in the Nordic region, but also in a more global context. The fact of the matter is that even if the solution is designed for a customer in Linköping, there will most likely be similar customers in Copenhagen, Helsinki or Stuttgart who need exactly the same solution – or at least a related variant.

In such cases, we and our supplier should join forces and investigate whether there is a basis for taking the solution to market. Ultimately, this should benefit us, our partner and, not least, the customer, as the customer will get a tried and tested solution, thereby reducing the risk they are taking.

Reflection #5: Partnerships are what the world needs

Unfortunately, we live in a world that is in dire need of innovative solutions in areas such as climate, energy and health. At the same time, the world is currently characterised by mistrust and turbulence, the likes of which we have probably not seen since the Cold War.

But, to conclude on a somewhat optimistic note: In many ways, partnerships like the ones I have descried above, are one of the solutions to the challenges we face – both as an industry and as a society. It is precisely by working more closely together, exchanging ideas and knowledge, and building trust that we pave the way for a better and more innovative world. Contact us for more information