Smart Wires Powers a Smarter Grid for a Greener Future
Jabil’s World-Class Supply Chain, Value-Added Engineering and Scalable Product Industrialization Help Advance Flexible, Efficient Delivery of Electricity Worldwide
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DOWNLOADIt’s a real lives-in-the-balance situation: world energy usage will swell by 50% by 2050, but a warming planet has challenged most sectors of society to be carbon neutral by 2035.
As electricity demand continues to grow, utilities must grapple with an aging electrical grid to deliver dependable capacity — increasingly from renewables — without missing a beat. The need to provide peak power with security and resilience will only intensify as electric vehicles (EVs), Internet of Things (IoT) devices and rising economies intensify the load on the grid.
So what’s a planet to do? The answer certainly isn’t to build more lines. Instead, Smart Wires is championing the ability to divert electricity instantly to unused lines while enabling real-time digital control of power flows. “We are transforming how power grids around the world are planned and operated,” explains Marie Hayden, Chief Engineer of Smart Wires, a Silicon Valley-based developer of grid-optimized solutions. “Our diverse teams work all around the world united by a vision to develop a highly efficient electricity grid for a cleaner planet.”
Challenges
- Cost pressures to deliver products affordably as energy market grapples with aging, inefficient electrical grid prone to bottlenecks and renewables push
- Need for strong supply chain partner with global reach to compete with large, multinational competitors
- Highly-complex products requiring manufacturing collaboration and processes to expedite innovation while meeting rigorous safety and reliability requirements
Solution
- Jabil’s global supply chain reach created new sourcing avenues for custom electromechanical components to reduce cost and market risk
- Jabil’s proven design and manufacturing excellence enabled Smart Wires to compete on a global scale while expediting delivery of highly reliable, quality products
- Jabil and Smart Wires’ onsite collaboration with engineering and R&D led to better products and faster innovation
Benefits
- Multiple products deployed quickly and safely with others in development—continually reducing product cost with each iteration while improving manufacturability
- Proven agility to manage capacity surges led to global recognition as one of the three most important transmission grid innovations of the decade, according to the World Economic Forum
- Growth-oriented partnership positions both companies for new market applications for clean energy, leading to a greener future
As electricity demand continues to grow, utilities must grapple with an aging electrical grid to deliver dependable capacity — increasingly from renewables — without missing a beat. Smart Wires is championing the ability to divert electricity instantly to unused lines while enabling real-time digital control of power flows. “We are transforming how power grids around the world are planned and operated,” explains Marie Hayden, Chief Engineer of Smart Wires, a Silicon Valley-based developer of grid-optimized solutions. “Our diverse teams work all around the world united by a vision to develop a highly efficient electricity grid for a cleaner planet.”
Picking the right suppliers from reliability and sustainability perspectives can be daunting. Thanks to the impressive reach of Jabil’s global supply chain, Smart Wires leverages a wider selection of suppliers than previously accessible, including companies across the U.S. as well as in Asia and Latin America. “When global supply chains were rocked by disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were grateful to have an experienced partner like Jabil help manage those challenges; the team has been great in working around those issues,” recalls Hayden.
Partnering with Jabil also ensures Smart Wires can source and qualify complex mechanicals that can be difficult to attain but are crucial to product industrialization. Jabil’s quality processes and ability to build to exact specifications ensures that when the company takes control of a safety-approved design, strict standards are fully maintained.
“Jabil’s wealth of experience enables us to take ideas from concept through product design, supply chain development and into volume production so much faster than we could otherwise.”
With Jabil as its trusted partner, Smart Wires stands ready to make clean energy affordable. Three models have debuted across two product lines. “We manufactured more products in the first three months of 2020 than we made in the history of the company,” asserts George. “And that’s directly because of our relationship with Jabil.”
A close cultural alignment between Jabil and Smart Wires stands out as a driving force that continues to propel development of new product designs and phased rollouts. “Both company cultures are anchored by innovation, an overarching customer focus and respect for the environment,” says Beard. “I get really excited when I look to the future and what it means for Smart Wires, Jabil and the world.”
The world is taking notice. Smart Wires’ impact on clean energy has been recognized by The World Economic Forum, which lauded the company’s technology as one of the three most important transmission grid innovations of the decade. Smart Wires also was named a 2020 Technology Pioneer poised to have a significant impact on business and society and a 2021 Global Cleantech 100 Company for leading the way to a decarbonized, digitized and resource-efficient reality.
“The future of Smart Wires is product innovation,” says George. “Jabil is helping us continue to drive down the cost of our products with each iteration, which allows the grid to be more efficient at a better value proposition while improving the manufacturability of our products very early in the process.”
Cohesive teamwork will let Smart Wires make the grid more efficient and its products more affordable for markets worldwide—leading to a new level of grid efficiency and greener power. “It’s truly amazing that we have helped customers take advantage of something they already have to be more efficient and have a smaller impact on the environment,” says Beard. “It just makes you feel good at the end of the day.”
To strengthen its presence nationwide while positioning the company for strong momentum across key growth markets, Smart Wires recently announced a new corporate headquarters in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. “The uniqueness of our products, combined with Jabil’s manufacturing and supply chain expertise, gives us a strong competitive edge.”
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