Interview spotlight: Anna Marie Damgaard Kristensen & Ernest Fuller, Focon Electronic Systems ApS

Anna Marie Damgaard Kristensen, Sales and Program Director, Focon Electronic Systems ApS

What products and solutions can Focon Electronic Systems offer the European urban public transport marketplace?

Focon offers a broad range of passenger information system solutions designed for the rail industry. Our products and solutions embody the highest quality standards that leading customers have come to expect from top-end solution suppliers. Our unique software and hardware solutions allow operators to satisfy passenger expectations for accurate and timely information while being mindful of the needs of the operator for flexibility, reliability and affordability, especially over the lifetime of the solutions.

Our systems are based on the IMAGINE platform – our newest offering which combines standard solutions built on reliable proven technologies with a scalable and configurable architecture.

Anna Marie Damgaard Kristensen, Sales and Program Director, Focon Electronic Systems ApS

What recent European projects have Focon Electronic Systems been involved with? Who are your customers?

Our customers are OEM car-builders, maintenance companies, metro operators and major transit authorities, i.e. London Underground, Deutsche Bahn, SNCF and many others. We have numerous projects in progress, so mentioning them all would be too time consuming. However, we can highlight 2 or 3 specific projects.

We have recently been involved in supplying equipment to the VLU project in London, and are working closely with the local transit authorities to incorporate new customer-required functionality in existing systems. Also, in southern Sweden, passengers enjoy the infotainment systems offered as part of a standard system for the Alstom Coradia Nordic platform. In revenue operations, these
systems allow the operator to offer information, news and advertising as a pleasant distraction for passengers on their daily commute.

How important is it for Focon Electronic Systems to attend industry trade shows and what can visitors expect to see/learn from visiting your company stand?

Trade show attendance is absolutely necessary for a company such as ours. We pride ourselves on being very responsive to the end customer’s needs. Attendance at these events allows us to map industry trends and the future requirements of our customers through dialogue with some of the industry’s most visionary people – to be able to offer the right solutions for the future.

Visitors to our stand meet Focon representatives from sales and development to discuss future needs, compare the solutions we currently offer with their own requirements, but maybe most importantly we discuss how we can tailor our solution to meet almost any requirement.

What sets Focon Electronic Systems apart from its competitors?

We build our solutions with off-sets in the market and having the future in mind. We use what we call “customer-voice”. The customer for us is not only the train builder as one would believe. We see all the stakeholders in the industry, especially the operators and passengers who actually use the trains and our systems, as our customer. We build bridges over different needs and interest and integrate this in our system so it becomes a ‘win4all’ solution.

And how do you to that?

Faced with apparently conflicting challenges within the supply chain, we believe that offering scalable, customisable, standardised solutions is the only way forward to reach this ‘win4all’ solution. Standardising by a ‘standard block principal’ does not only offer proven products but also cost advantage and scalability over time. All-in-all, what sets us apart is our new approach to the market – smart solutions and smart logistic and taking off-set in the operator and passenger needs.

What is Focon Electronic Systems vision for the future?

We have a very clear vision for the future… Focon will offer such attractive solutions that customers will automatically think Imagine when specifying new projects. Imagine – Focon systems installed on a broad base of trains serving satisfied customers and meeting the passenger information expectations of the future. Imagine – the future is IP-based; the future is Focon.

Contact Focon:

Focon Electronic Systems ApS
Damvang 2
DK-6400 Sønderborg
Phone: +45 7342 2525
Fax: +45 73 42 25 01
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.focon.dk