Built to last: Bjørn Eldar Petersen on leading ENRX

Tell us about your journey to become CEO of ENRX. What drew you to it, and what did you set out to build when you stepped in? 
I started at Kongsberg Automotive back in 1990, right after finishing my education, and ended up staying twenty years. I moved through a lot of roles there and also spent some years living in China being responsible for operations.

Fourteen years later, I have no plans to leave. For me this is the most exciting company in Norway. It's about working with people across the world who all have to deliver and to be among the best at what they do. 

Every company makes a defining strategic choice about what it will, and won't, be. What was that choice for ENRX?
The clearest example for us has been staying close to our core, which is the heating side of induction technology. Every time we've stuck to that defining strategic choice, the company has kept climbing, even with the normal ups and downs. The times we've drifted have been the times it has cost us.

So that's the choice we have made. Stick to the core business and build on it, and if we're going to develop something that isn't close to that core, it must be done separately, with its own financing and its own time and energy.

What's the biggest change happening in your industry right now?
The biggest change right now is geopolitical. You can't rely on globalisation working the way it used to. It will probably continue, but how you manage it is different now.
 

You must think about both your supply chain and where you produce, closer to your markets, because it's too high a risk to bet on everything working the way it did before.

Every business is cyclical, but the pace has changed. Things move so much faster now that you must be ready to react quickly, and that puts real demands on you and the organisation to keep adjusting to a new reality all the time.

 

What are the earliest signs so far that the ENRX strategy is working?
What's been confirmed for us, time and again, is that when we work systematically with the core business, our performance lifts to new levels. We've maintained and even built our market position through downturns, and we come back stronger after every one of them. I take that as real confirmation that we have a strong position.

Beyond the financial results, there are other signs ENRX is a company built to last. On the warranty side, we have very few cases. Our products have a long service life, and our service offerings give customers extremely high uptime on processes that aren't even core to their own business. That combination, extreme uptime and long product lifespan, is hard to match.

We also put more resources than our competitors into developing products for our customers and taking them further. When it comes to the bigger innovations, we're consistently ahead of the curve. That's built us a unique position where we can command a premium in the market for it. 

Arendals Fossekompani is a long-term, active owner. What does that kind of support make possible for ENRX?
It makes it possible for us to spend very little time on the financial side, which is a great relief. Having a stable, secure owner who's there when things are going well, and just as importantly when things get tough, means we can focus on what we're best at instead of spending our time squaring things away financially.

AFK has also evolved into an owner with more active involvement in its portfolio companies, and I see that as a positive. Getting anything done takes time-consuming work, and having an owner with both a financial and a development-oriented perspective pushes us to keep setting the next goals.



About ENRX:
Leveraging decades of experience, ENRX is a global leader in industrial induction heating solutions, serving industries including automotive, tube and pipe, renewable energy, electrotechnical appliances and HVAC. ENRX’s solutions help customers improve efficiency and precision while reducing energy consumption.