Reflections on 2018

As the calendar year comes to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on what the year has brought our way.

For the majority of 2018, we’ve been busy with our integration process with Yaskawa Europe (YEU) and becoming a more integral part of that organization as the new Yaskawa Environmental Energy (YEE) division.

As you have seen, our external appearance is now more similar to that of YEU. This was an awaited and natural transition for us to become more a part of the global family. Still as YEE, we’ll continue to have that spark of orange energy that made The Switch a unique player in our chosen markets from our start.

During the year, we also worked hard to plan and implement our new organizational structure of working in three business units, each with its own leadership: wind, marine and turbo/industry. And for each unit, we’ve been able to stabilize the business and grow our potential with new opportunities.

Although trade wars and geopolitical tensions have been mounting and changing our business environment, we are ready to learn to navigate in this new world. Just as our journey throughout our company’s history has been very eventful but successful, I’m confident we will find our way.

There are countless bright signs on the horizon in the markets we have chosen. And these markets are riding on even more support from global megatrends.

Take wind power, for example, which is now recognized by the general press to be the cheapest way to build new energy capacity. Zero-carbon emissions is no longer an issue raised at large global forums like COP24 – but rather is an issue that individuals, cities, states and even companies are willing to commit to for a better, cleaner world: California, Stockholm, Maersk, Google, Tesla Motors, IKEA… just to name a few.

Today, people are choosing how to consume energy and also the way they want their electricity produced.

This is exactly the foundation on which The Switch was built. And as we move forward as Yaskawa Environmental Energy, we’ll be turning this up another level in our focus on electrifying the world with ultimate efficiency.

Wishing you a peaceful Holiday Season with much fun, joy and warmth!

J-P