A Tribute to Sibylle and TYRI Lights

When I started at TYRI as Area Sales Manager for Central Europe in 2013, I faced a challenge from the very first day: neither our company nor our brand was well known among Central European machine manufacturers. They were aware that Swedish products in general are of high quality, but for TYRI, it required a clear marketing effort. From that day, the journey with TYRI has been both educational and fascinating to be a part of.

Sibylle Naumann Edgren – who now looks forward to learning new things such as repairing and making things at home, hiking, and – well, there is so much I want to do now.

My name is Sibylle Naumann Edgren, and I come from Germany. I am an export sales professional, accustomed to business-to-business, and I have always enjoyed cold calling. Many salespeople dislike it, but I like challenges. It takes careful thought and strong argumentation skills to succeed in a call where the recipient doesn’t know who you are. When I saw how my Swedish colleagues successfully sold work lights in the Scandinavian market, I was impressed and decided to adopt the same approach in Central Europe. The focus is not on selling lamps, but on selling lighting solutions that work, with a strong element of consulting. The machine manufacturers I spoke with during my visits found our way of working innovative, and I would say they have learned a lot since I first joined TYRI.

There is a constant battle between price and quality, especially in the Central European market. My first real experience of this was realising in my early years that LED lamps, compared to halogen, were significantly more expensive. At that time, as now, machine manufacturers were very cautious about switching to a new technology that initially cost more. More and more low-priced Asian lamps started appearing on the market, and many customers chose price over lighting technology and quality. It turned out to be a costly lesson, with issues such as radio interference, heat problems, cracked brackets, and – not least – poor light quality. … Today, making the case is simpler, even though Asian products in many places still dominate the market. There is still a considerable lack of knowledge about lighting technology at many levels, but we do our best to educate, demonstrate, and argue that quality always wins in the long run over cheaper, inferior products.

What strengthens our case in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe is the shortage of qualified labour. In Scandinavia, good work lighting is seen as highly important because employees have the right to influence the “design of their workplace.” We know that this is not the case in many other countries, but the conditions for a machine operator must still be right if an employer expects productivity: in other words, the lighting must be good enough for the operator to perform their work efficiently and safely. Today, as employers in many European countries are struggling to find qualified labour in certain sectors, it is more important than ever to provide good working conditions and a safe environment.

TYRI has made great progress in Central Europe showing that high-quality work lighting matters, and we are now seen as a supplier that provides reliable, effective products. This is clear, for example, at Bauma, Agritechnica, and other trade fairs where farmers, machine operators, and truck drivers come to our stand and tell us how well our products work and how satisfied they are. That’s when I know we have succeeded.

I also want to give great credit to Kjell Ljungström, one of our two founders, our “light guru,” and my mentor. Kjell has taught me so much about lighting technology and how to think.

After nearly 13 years at the company, I will retire in September and hand over the baton with great confidence to my successor, Ulrich Frye. I hope he will be as happy at TYRI as I have been all these years.

Ulrich Takes the Baton

Ulrich Frye is new area sales manager for Central Europe.

For a year, Ulrich Frye has worked alongside Sibylle. The transfer of knowledge between them has been designed to feel seamless for customers and to ensure that Ulrich feels fully prepared when he takes over responsibility for sales in the Central European market. Now, as Sibylle soon leaves TYRI, we wanted to check in with Ulrich. Is he ready to take the baton?

Like Sibylle, Ulrich is from Germany, but he studied mechanical engineering in Australia and began his career there. For nine years, Australia was his home, but in 2011 he moved to Sweden to study Industrial Engineering and Management at Chalmers University. After another period back in Australia, he returned to Sweden to begin working at TYRI.

Thanks to previous roles, Ulrich has gained extensive experience in the German and Central European markets within business-to-business. However, lighting is new to him, and the time with Sibylle has been highly educational.

“It has been a privilege to spend such a long time working side by side with Sibylle – learning the products, the customers, and the industry. In my world, this is completely unique. I have never heard of another company offering a one-year handover like this. It shows just how much TYRI values the expertise within the company and the people who work here. I am really looking forward to taking the baton now and stepping into the role of Sales Manager for Central Europe,” says Ulrich Frye.

The German-speaking markets, and Germany in particular, differ quite a lot from Scandinavia, Ulrich notes:

“The case and reasoning we present may be the same, but companies in Germany often look very different. There are many medium-sized industrial firms, which form the backbone of the German economy. They are often family-owned with strong structures, where the next generation is raised into the company. They can work with a long-term horizon beyond quarterly reports, with more humanity and a core value of enjoying the workplace. This makes it absolutely essential to build relationships on a personal level.”

During their time together, Sibylle and Ulrich have built up these relationships, and Ulrich has had the opportunity to get to know the customers and how they work. But Ulrich’s mission is not just to maintain existing business – he is determined to continue developing TYRI’s presence in Central Europe.

“TYRI is in a clear expansion phase with new products and business areas. I want to build new relationships, create bigger opportunities, and make sure TYRI continues to grow its market share. That’s my mission, and I am really looking forward to it,” concludes Ulrich Frye.

Want to get in contact with Ulrich? Go to the contact page or connect with him on LinkedIn