Teltonika makes IoT easy!
Lithuania´s flagship company relies on Ersa HOTFLOW reflow technology
In 1998 Teltonika started as a start-up to make the Internet of Things big – today the Lithuanian company develops and implements smart IoT solutions worldwide. With 1,500 customers and over seven million devices sold, Teltonika has an impressive record after two decades – the backbone is Teltonika electronics manufacturing, actively supported by system supplier Ersa since 2017.
In a European comparison, Lithuania (2.8 million inhabitants) is in the digital fast lane – with an average download speed of 30.8 Mbit/s, the Lithuanian LTE mobile radio network is among the top ten in Europe. Good conditions for IoT, which is gaining ground worldwide both industrially and privately. Teltonika provides smart solutions for vehicle tracking, person tracking and networks. The breakthrough came with a fleet management system, today Teltonika with its products developed and manufactured in Lithuania sets worldwide market trends in vehicle networking and network solutions. A powerful team of 750 employees (600 in Lithuania) drives the development towards “easy IoT”. In 2018 this led to a turnover of 59 million Euro, ten percent of which was invested in research & development. The Teltonika plans extend far beyond the Baltic States – in addition to a leading position in Europe, the Lithuanians want to open up further markets such as Asia or America. The target for the financial year 2018: 75 million Euro or around 30% growth!
The Teltonika range comprises four business segments: GPS technology, specially developed and produced for fleet management, car rental companies, taxi companies, commercial vehicles and car or eScooter sharing, networking products such as mobile routers, projects in the field of original design manufacturing (contract manufacturing for other companies on a large scale) as well as extensive EMS services. “IoT is an incredibly creative market – it develops applications that give people time and space for others. And we at Teltonika develop the products that make life easier for the user as ‘easy key to IoT’,” says Simas Rutkauskas. In vehicle tracking, for example, the company relies on on-board diagnostic (OBD) sockets available in all vehicles – firmware updates can thus be initiated digitally without any assembly effort.
More output with more machines
Back to Teltonika electronics production: Strategically, the management wants to keep the production team at the same level and generate more output with more machines. Teltonika will increase its workforce in the areas of sales, research & development and technical support. In addition to the existing sales offices in Pakistan and Dubai, the targeted expansion of the corporate network includes further offices in Chile, India, Canada and Singapore – and additional Teltonika production sites. Everything could be manufactured in Lithuania, but this would lead to problems with import duties and less proximity to customers. “We think it´s clever to raise production here in Lithuania and move it to other countries by copy & paste in order to be close to the customer – this also makes markets like Brazil and Argentina tangible,” says the Teltonika vice president.
Productivity increase of 25 percent
Teltonika pays particular attention to a high value per hour for each employee – an important productivity factor. Last year, the company´s sales climbed by twelve percent, while productivity increased by a whopping 25 percent! The three installed Ersa HOTFLOW reflow soldering systems (two HOTFLOW 4/20, one HOTFLOW 4/14) certainly contributed to this. With process lengths of 4.4 m and 5.9 m the Ersa HOTFLOWs cover all applications with highest throughput in highest soldering quality.
Initial inquiry via info@ersa.de
The first contact between Teltonika and Ersa goes back to the beginning of 2017, when plans for expansion were defined in Lithuania – at that time the guarantee date of the existing equipment was exceeded. A Google query was started and Ersa was quickly the main player in the soldering business. A first request for a reflow oven, which contained the specifications for five Teltonika highrunner products, went digitally to info@ersa.de. Prompt feedback from Ersa sales team, direct communication started in March. The responsible Ersa Area Sales Manager and the Scandinavia representative travelled to Vilnius to specify the project.
Another meeting took place in May at the SMT fair – half an hour was enough to close a deal. It was about presumably 15 reflow systems that Teltonika wanted to order in the near future. The first soldering system was already installed in June – Teltonika decided not to visit an Ersa application center. “If I don´t trust the leading player in the market, who will I trust? In addition, our products are not too complex to manufacture. Nevertheless, our decision was the right one – as our significantly increased productivity rate proves,” says Simas Rutkauskas. In the meantime, three Ersa HOTFLOW reflow soldering systems have been seamlessly integrated into the Teltonika production, and production takes place in two and a half shifts over four days – the machine operators use the fifth day for training or advanced training in order to always be up to date. Wherever Teltonika opens further production sites in the future, the worldwide Ersa sales and service network is happy to provide support!
Teltonika in numbers:
- Founded in 1998
- Locations: Lithuania, additional sales offices in China, Dubai, India, Indonesia, Canada, Pakistan, Belarus
- Turnover 2018: 59 million Euro
- Employees: 750 (Lithuania: 600)
Picture above: Latest addition to Teltonika production: Ersa HOTFLOW 4/14