President Obama toured the North Carolina facilities of Finnish frequency converter company Vacon on Wednesday. Obama was accompanied by US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz.
"We were privileged and honoured to welcome President Obama to Vacon," said Dan Isaksson, vice president of R&D at Vacon, one of the hosts of the visit. "We arranged a tour at our R&D lab, demonstrating how Vacon is actively involved in making the world and our way of living more sustainable in terms of energy efficiency."
Vacon connects with new institute
According to the New York Times, Obama announced the creation of a high-tech manufacturing institute in North Carolina, aimed at creating highly-paid jobs. North Carolina State University leads a number of universities and companies that established the institute.
The institute will use semiconductor technology to develop a new generation of energy-efficient devices for cars, industrial motors, and consumer electronics.
The newspaper notes that at Vacon, Obama seemed to be most interested in which of the components were made in the US.
Headquartered in Finland, Vacon is the biggest company in the world that focuses solely on AC drives, which are used to control the speed of electric motors to maximise energy efficiency.