Powerpack Industries: getting to know our distributor network

Saft batteries and systems are used by thousands of customers across the globe.

An extensive network of trusted partners is essential to reach and support this many businesses, and the local knowledge and expertise of these local distributors helps Saft meet needs of an ever-growing customer base.

We spoke to Peter Tan, Sales & Business Development Manager at Powerpack Industries, to discuss their relationship with Saft, and the trends they are seeing in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market.

Let’s go back to the very start, how did Powerpack Industries grow to where it is today?

Powerpack Industries Pte Ltd was founded in 1991, and we have since established ourselves as a reputable and reliable portable power solutions provider in the region. Today, we have grown and are not only stockist for Saft cells, but we also customize battery packs, assemble and test in accordance to Saft’s best practices. We have also established a network around the region to reach the customers with localized services.

Besides Singapore, where we are based, we are also active in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, using local dealers to help provide our localized support and service and use our vast inventory to help shorten lead times and fulfil urgent demands.

How did your relationship with Saft first come about?

The founder, Mr. Hwang Yian Hwee, was the Saft Regional Sales Manager between 1990 and 1997. When Saft re-structured and needed a local partner, Mr. Hwang was approached by Saft to have Powerpack become its exclusive distributor. So, Powerpack is very much the extension of Saft’s organizational culture and values for customers around the region.

How does the Saft range add value to what you can offer your customers?

Saft covers three chemistries of primary cells, thereby covering a wide spread of the applications our customers develop. Then there are products like Saft’s MP Li-ion cells, positioned above the more commonly-used 18650 cells, which provides a niche offer for certain high-end applications. But I think the most valuable asset of Saft is its brand, which represents reliability, quality and safety.

What sort of trends are you seeing in what your customers are looking for in their batteries?

I think IIoT is gaining a lot of traction and Saft is doing a great job in moving in this direction. A big issue for us is the proliferation of Chinese brands in the region, with their very low cost enticing a lot of new customers from the IIoT market to ‘try’ them – and some emerging developers don’t have the in-house experience to understand the value that a Saft product brings in terms of quality and true value for money.

Due to the geo-political tension and ongoing trade-war between US and China, we are starting to see a rise in defense spending and the migration of production houses from China to South East Asia and that means there are some growing or potential markets coming to the region.

Singapore has a reputation for being at the forefront of smart city thinking and IoT adoption – is that something that you see from your customers?

Singapore is definitely in the forefront of smart city thinking. However, a lot of focus here is on the software development side of things. Many of the hardware applications are outsourced to other countries in the region where there are lower production costs. At the end of the day, a good application software can only be useful if executed by reliable hardware and I think lack of hardware development might be holding Singapore back from ‘smarting’ the city even faster.

Are there other IoT trends that you’re seeing in the region?

I see IoT applications for what we call the ‘silver generation’ – people over 60 years old - as a specific need for the region. The South East Asia region senior population will reach 20.3% by 2050. That will mean a huge demand for IoT solutions to address their well-being, and especially for health care. Lightweight, safe and easy to use batteries are going to be essential to support this development as more and more applications are deployed for this.

You must see quite a lot of interesting use cases of Saft cells across a wide range of clients.

Definitely! One unexpected application we’ve seen is where battery packs assembled by Powerpack (with Saft cells) are used on portable manual grass-cutting sensors. The sensor is worn by the worker at waist level to detect the height of the grass after cutting. It is being used for areas where robot cutters are not viable.

And what’s on the horizon for Powerpack?

We are currently focused on two key initiatives. The first is to build up our suite of local partners to adequately address the growing defense market. The second is to really help some of our newer customers to recognize the value of a quality product, rather than being enticed by pricing alone. It helps that we can be so confident in the high standards of Saft products and our own technical expertise.