At the heart of JCDecaux’s success lies the durability of its billboard. This is why reliable inverter technology was at the top of the shopping list of this world-leading outdoor advertising group. Now V7 inverters are at work behind the scenes in streets all over the world.
JCDecaux is number two worldwide in outdoor advertising and operates more than 700,000 advertising displays in 3,400 cities across 48 countries. Part of the company’s success is due to focusing its attention on the qualitative aspects of display media. It revolutionized the market with its new-generation scrolling panels with their back illumination and modern lines.

Quality and reliability

Another factor in JCDecaux’s success has been the consistent use of leading designers to ensure that its products display advertiser’s messages to maximum effect. And it was for reasons of quality and reliability that JCDecaux turned to Omron for inverters to use with two of its new products. Mr Nicolas Maes, responsible for the automation part of the technical studies at JCDecaux’s assembly site is positive about this point. “We cannot envisage any failure at any time. Our business is to supply excellency to our customers, and this 100% efficiency has to be found in the products our partners supply. In our panels and columns, there is absolutely no room for a breakdown.” That is simply why Sysdrive J7 and Varispeed V7 inverters were chosen to drive the motor that makes scrolling of the advertisement possible for the CIP (City Information Panel) and Senior® panels, respectively. The company argued that time is money and advertisers were not prepared to pay for time when panels were not scrolling.

Harsh weather

A further consideration in choice of equipment was the extremely hot and cold interior temperatures of the panels during seasonal extremes. Panel placement is frequently in exposed places with high visibility and no consideration can be given to heat and shade. In such cases, equipment is required to perform equally well outside of the normal operating limits. Mr Maes adds: “When you have to deal with panels placed at more than 10 m height, there is no hesitation, you immediately turn to reliable and robust products. Moreover, since our panels are being installed everywhere in the world, we can best deal with Omron, who is capable of supplying products that will have a long service life at any location.

On top of that, Omron and JCDecaux have always communicated effectively on the possible improvement of panel motorization”. Who says durability is an old-fashioned argument?

Cramped space

As the space inside the advertising panels is very limited, the compactness of the inverters was another important factor. Both the Sysdrive J7 (and old version 3G3JV) and Varispeed V7 (and old version 3G3MV) inverters are very compact and measure less than 68 mm wide x 128 mm high x 131 mm deep. Their small size and compact form was in line with JCDecaux’ needs when they chose Omron eight years ago.

Mr Maes looks positively towards the future, with Omron at his side, and mentions the valuable know-how and experience of the group: “Once you experience the efficiency of the partner, you know that they can support you with expertise, with quality products and service. So far, we have acquired no less than 35,000 Omron products and they proved they were up to it. I feel confident to advertise our mutual trust.”