The flexible supply chain: A competitive advantage for wind energy OEMs

The demand for wind-powered energy is growing. Investment in renewable power sources is overtaking investment in traditional energy generation and in many regions around the world, wind and solar power are providing the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). At the same time, the proliferation of smart devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) is driving better energy control and management, providing new insights and business opportunities across the value chain. 

There are many reasons for wind power’s appeal: it’s sustainable; wind turbines are a clean energy source; and unlike traditional energy sources, wind power has no fuel cost, making it very price competitive.

Despite these advantages, wind power OEMs face a number of challenges. They need to build reliable products at a competitive cost, while meeting local regulatory, content and safety requirements. They must plan for massive demand volatility on existing projects, while in parallel bidding on projects many years in advance at committed pricing. And they must continuously innovate and get new products to market quickly to maintain a competitive edge.

In this rapidly evolving and dynamic market, OEMs are facing pressure to lower the overall cost of operations while ensuring product reliability and speed-to-market are maintained. In response, they are assessing core and non-core activities, leading to new supply chain and outsourcing models.

Celestica has 25 years of experience in delivering strategic supply chain solutions for the world’s best brands. With more than a decade of experience in renewable energy, we understand the market and supply chain challenges OEMs are facing.  We help wind power leaders build right-sized, sustainable supply chains that deliver a competitive advantage.

Here are some of the ways Celestica is helping our customers think bigger and reach further to unlock the potential in their business.  

Think Bigger with Regionalized Solutions

Increasing demand, evolving technology and government legislations are driving the emergence of new growth markets. Wind OEMs looking to capitalize on these opportunities and expand quickly in new markets have leveraged our global network to handle production in Celestica’s in-region facilities. This allows OEMs to ramp up quickly without a large up-front capital and workforce investment, while benefitting from Celestica’s deep operational experience, and investments in globally integrated quality management and IT solutions.

We recently worked with a leading wind energy OEM to successfully regionalize and launch a program in our Mexico Center of Excellence in record time. Leveraging our market insight and proven Lean operating model, we worked in close collaboration with the customer to meet their aggressive launch and cost reduction objectives while driving significant product quality and test yield improvements. The customer was delighted with the outcome.

Reach Further to Unlock Long-Term Strategic Value

Even as wind energy leaders are thinking bigger and taking bold steps to meet their growth objectives, other industries are reaching further to drive not just immediate cost and speed benefits, but long-term strategic operations solutions that reinvent their supply chain models.

Using an accelerated supply chain transformation model, these solutions enable significant balance sheet benefits and year-over-year cost benefits without impacting continuity of supply or customer commitments – making the supply chain much more resilient to disruption. This enables OEMs to offload non-competitive manufacturing operations and inventory, and focus their energy and capital on accelerating innovation.  

Address the Full Product Lifecycle

Celestica drives value through the complete product lifecycle. We offer product development and design solutions – leveraging our product, market and technical experts as an extension of our customers’ teams to solve technical challenges, and meet market and safety requirements. We help our customers manage long-term product continuity through value engineering solutions, reliability and ruggedization programs, and fulfillment, logistics and after-market services.

The wind energy market continues to grow as demand for clean, renewable energy increases around the world. Celestica works closely with wind energy OEMs to help them unlock additional value and establish sustainable growth. We enable customers to optimize their supply chains, drive lower operational and inventory costs, and accelerate innovation.

At Celestica, we’re dedicated to helping our customers deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions that power a more sustainable future.

Learn more about our Smart Energy Solutions or view a larger version of The Flexible Supply Chain Infographic