Hello all! I was walking up the streets of a small town in southwest Finland on a grey day in January 1999. I was on my way to the industrial area where my first real workplace was located. I was going to join a factory’s logistics development team while, at the same time, working towards my Master’s thesis with the aim of graduating before the new millennium.
During the first few days, I got familiar with three other students who were, just like myself, in the final stages of their studies. During the following several months, this group of enthusiastic young men full of energy and confidence was focused on re-engineering the production and logistics processes of a factory - towards a more agile way of operating. Buzz words like mass customization, integrated and transparent Demand Supply Network, configuration to order and more were flowing in the discussions, not only during office hours, but also in our free time - even when enjoying the heat and steam of Finnish sauna.
It was a great feeling for a newcomer to play a part in implementing strategic DSN initiatives in a global company and to see the impact of well-planned and deployed changes in practice at the shop floor level. This period set the scene for my career, as it got me really inspired in process development. The most important thing I accomplished during that year, was not the first project or even the University degree however, but the friendship with three gentlemen that has lasted all the way to this day. After the pandemic, I look forward our next get together trip somewhere in Europe.
Throughout my career, I have been given opportunities to work in various areas - from factory level operations and logistics to R&D programs and sales. In the early part of my career, I concentrated on leading different kinds of manufacturing and logistics related development projects in both factory and R&D environments as a project manager and team leader. I learned how the decisions made during the product development phase influenced manufacturing, DSN and sales process efficiency. I also gained experience managing product data and thousands of product variants accurately to ensure quality in demand supply planning, sales, and delivery processes.
After several years of working in the area of logistics, I got the chance to expand my experience in product marketing and sales. First, I worked very closely with a customer operating in Europe, was made responsible for one of their product categories and later for multiple sales units across the globe as a global go-to-market program manager ensuring successful solution launches and sales around the world. To me, this time highlighted the importance of understanding the needs of different customer segments and markets upon which you are able to target your service offering as well as sales and marketing efforts.
Before joining Midagon, I was working in IT consulting on the ERP system vendor’s side as a project/program manager and helped numerous manufacturing and construction companies in streamlining and increasing the performance of their key processes. This allowed me to gain experience of how IT systems and technology can streamline processes in different environments as well as a thorough understanding of some key processes such as sales, purchasing, manufacturing and inventory management. I also learned how important - as a project manager - it is to engage everyone from both the vendor and customer side in ERP transformation projects and to work as a “unified” group towards a common goal.
On top of numerous client ERP projects, I had the opportunity to lead various internal R&D projects to develop new services and capabilities. I was also given the chance to develop ERP project delivery models and support my project manager colleagues in their customer projects as PMO, bringing people together in the pursuit of mutual goals.
As the father of a 5-year-old boy, I spend most of my free time with my family. We try to spend as much time as possible outdoors - hiking, skating, playing football and doing different kinds of activities in our summer place. In my own time, I enjoy mountain biking, jogging and alpine skiing in the winter times. A couple of times in a year I pack a backpack, take the grubbing saw and head to our small wood lot for forestry activities. It’s amazing how hard physical work in the middle of the forest enables one to forget about everyday duties, at last for a few hours. This summer, after a few years, I look forward to going to as many rock concerts as possible and enjoying live music - perhaps from a front row spot. 😊
Since I joined Midagon, I have felt very much welcomed. I am very happy to be a part of Midagon’s team full of extremely competent and experienced colleagues – and great personalities. I look forward to utilizing my experience from industrial process development related roles and leading ERP transformation projects in the future. Although many years, a couple of decades in fact, have elapsed from my first project, I am still as enthusiastic today as I was back then in helping organisations to improve their business processes.
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