What is the Smart Technology Hub

Wärtsilä is building the Smart Technology Hub, a new integrated centre of research, product development and production, in Vaskiluoto, Vaasa. The Smart Technology Hub is the latest tangible step in Wärtsilä’s vision of smart shipping and a smart energy sector. The Hub will implement both visions of Smart Marine Ecosystem and a 100% renewable energy future by linking different marine and energy business lines including lifecycle to maximise customer value proposition.  

The Hub will be unique in its field, enabling more agile, more efficient testing and product development of solutions for the maritime, oil & gas industries, as well as new energy systems. The Hub will be one uniform agile testing facility linking together various Centres of Excellence to improve product and solution development by maximising synergies. In this way we are able to effectively put to use all of the know-how we have in Wärtsilä all over the globe.

As a part of the project, Wärtsilä is investing 83 million euros in modern testing and production technology for the Hub. The total investment in the Smart Technology Hub will be in the region of 230 million euros, consisting of office and factory buildings, logistics and infrastructure. As of 2021, all of Wärtsilä’s functions and personnel in central Vaasa will be moved to the new Hub, along with the logistics and maintenance workshop operations from Runsor, Vaasa. 

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Factory of the Future

The Smart Technology Hub will be a factory of the future where flexible manufacturing systems and robotics will play a key part.  The Hub will also act as an integral part of Wärtsilä´s ecosystem of additive manufacturing. Advanced and flexible manufacturing processes will be applied in order to be able to adapt to the constantly changing market requirements while at the same time securing efficiency.

Data analytics will also play a significant part in the Hub enabling data to be turned into insights and new businesses using digital twins and big data analysis. The collected data will be used to maximise lifecycle value proposition through continuous chain of critical data from the supply chain. This is continuous business development with no end point.

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Environmentally Friendly Building

The Smart Technology Hub itself will be an environmentally friendly building. The solar panels that will be placed on the Hub’s roof produce clean and renewable energy for the building, and the excessive heat that the building produces is recovered and stored.

The Hub is, at the same time, linked to the grid, and all the electricity produced during test runs is fed to the grid. Our offerings are therefore not only sustainable as such, but they are also developed inside a sustainable building.

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Ecosystem of Collaboration

The Smart Technology Hub will be an ecosystem of collaboration functioning locally and globally. This ecosystem consists of companies, start-ups, organisations and academia collaborating to ensure future sustainable societies. In the Smart Partner Campus research and product development is done together with Wärtsilä’s customers and suppliers, start-ups in the sector, and universities.

Furthermore, the Port of Vaasa connects the Hub with different parts of the world. With weekly calls, WALLENIUS SOL connects Vaasa with the Belgian ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge and furthermore ship the ready-made engines southbound from Wärtsilä to its customers worldwide.

Wasaline’s new ferry between Vaasa and Umeå will be installed with Wärtsilä´s products and solutions and it will be one of the most environmentally friendly passenger vessels in the world. It will also act as a floating test laboratory for the Smart Technology Hub.

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