Insta multidisciplinary technology company

Lapp Automaatio and Insta have been working together for nearly 20 years. The solid foundation of this long-standing partnership is product quality, but an equally significant role is played by mutual respect between the parties.

Insta is a true multidisciplinary operator. The family-owned company, founded over 60 years ago, operates in the fields of industry, defense, cybersecurity, and software development. Its end customers range from public sector organizations to the marine industry, energy companies, mining industry, and almost everything in between.

"From Lapp Automaatio’s perspective, Insta manufactures various automation cabinets and electromechanical assemblies. They are a unique customer for us in the sense that they have an extremely broad customer base, which means we also end up being involved with many different end customers," says Ossi Welling, Sales Engineer at Lapp Automaatio.

Large inventory helps overcome logistical challenges

The past few years have impacted nearly all industries and changed working methods. As a result of the pandemic, Teams, phone calls, and emails replaced face-to-face meetings, and the global component shortage has brought its own challenges, especially for the electronics sector.

Due to the component shortage, delivery times have lengthened across almost all product categories in both consumer and B2B markets. Lapp Automaatio has worked to keep delivery times as short as possible, and its Hyvinkää warehouse stocks over 20,000 product items ready for immediate dispatch.

"More than half of the products can be shipped the same or next day. There’s plenty of stock in Germany, but there’s a shortage of freight drivers. Brexit removed a huge number of drivers from the roads, and delivery times have therefore stretched to a couple of weeks," Welling notes.

"For the first time in my career, we’ve encountered such widespread delivery issues due to material shortages, but we’ve usually received products from Lapp Automaatio with good delivery times. Almost everyone else has delivery times that are all over the place," praises Kari Kivimäki, Project Manager at Insta.

Cables at the Core

The most significant product group that Lapp Automaatio supplies to Insta is cables. Cables may sound like a simple catalog purchase, but things are not always as straightforward as they seem. Often, experts from Insta and Lapp Automaatio work together to find a cable solution that meets the end customer’s requirements.

"Cables have different requirements. In the Nordic countries, the criteria are much stricter than, for example, in Central Europe. In practice, this means that Central European manufacturers cannot always adapt to our standards," says Kivimäki.

During his long career, Kivimäki has been involved in various projects, including pulp mills, power plants, and the food, mining, and petrochemical industries. Regardless of the industry, he sticks to one product.

"If the customer doesn’t absolutely require something else, I always order thermocouple cables from Lapp Automaatio. They are used for measurements at high temperatures, and the product is simply good," Kivimäki says.

"In addition to cables, we also supply Insta with PR electronics signal converters, which differ quite a lot from cables as a product. As an additional service, we sell parameterization for the converters, and typically the devices are ordered pre-configured. We also deliver a report of their settings along with the converters," Welling explains.

Chemistry is Everything

Such a long partnership would not be possible without seamless personal chemistry. Both Lapp Automaatio and Insta experts are satisfied with the collaboration and praise each other sincerely.

"Insta is approachable for a company of its size. People are remembered as good personalities. Humor thrives and creates a positive atmosphere on both sides," Welling notes.

Welling considers Insta’s openness and willingness to share information a significant factor that sets it apart from many other players in the industry.

"They are open to the options we offer and present them to their end customers if they consider our proposal good. They don’t blindly proceed with a product list they happen to have," Welling says.

Kivimäki reminds us that the final product choice is made by their customer.

"We can guide the customer within limits based on our good experiences. It’s important to remember that if a factory is being built over a couple of years, the selected cables must remain in use for decades after the factory is completed," Kivimäki says.

A long partnership has built mutual trust.

"You have to understand that sometimes it’s not possible to deliver within the desired schedule for one reason or another. A partnership where both sides try to maximize financial gain doesn’t work. Lapp Automaatio is a reliable partner," Kivimäki concludes.