Sanna Suokas is motivated by the thought that her work makes customers' everyday lives smoother and their production more efficient. As a grading specialist she gets to combine precision and problem-solving with people-centred work in commissioning projects.
Sanna Suokas started at Finnos as a grading specialist in commissioning projects only a few weeks ago, but she has already got a good feel for her new role. Her interest in Finnos did not arise overnight, though. The company had been on her radar since her student days.
"I had already noted Finnos as an interesting company during my studies. When I saw the open position for a grading specialist, I sent in my application straight away."
Before moving to Finnos, Sanna worked at Versowood as a grader and supervisor trainee. There she became familiar with the everyday reality of the sawmill industry, its pace and its demands. That background has given her a solid foundation to build on, and now at Finnos this expertise is combined with training and customer work.
"In this role I get to make use of my earlier work experience in training and customer work. Working as a trainer has been meaningful and inspiring for me, and in this position I get to guide customers in using their new equipment."
Sanna's first day at Finnos was spent assembling computers and getting to know the systems. She works at the Mikkeli office, where the team consists of three people. Because the group had already met before Sanna officially started, the threshold for starting the new job was lower.
"It was nice to start work with familiar people, and it is easy to ask for help. The welcome at Finnos has been warm from the very beginning, and I have been especially delighted by all the messages from other Finnos people."
There have been no real surprises during the first weeks, but a positive thing has been how open and approachable the atmosphere is. Communication with team members and other Finnos people flows smoothly, and the new employee has been brought fully on board from day one.
Onboarding has been intensive but rewarding. Sanna has already taken part in a few commissionings, where theory turns into practice. The commissionings have left a particularly strong impression, because there you can see concretely how a large project progresses step by step at the customer's site.
"The commissionings have been the most interesting part so far. That is where you learn the equipment best, and it is great to get to meet customers."
There is plenty to learn, and getting to grips with the various programs and systems has made sure the work is never dull. Sanna has gradually got involved in hands-on tasks, and she boldly takes on whatever comes her way.
The small Mikkeli team offers a close-knit community, but Finnos people across Finland and internationally have been part of everyday life from the start.
"The atmosphere is open. It feels like you can ask anyone for help, and you get in touch with others quickly."
This reinforces the feeling that although the work can be technically challenging and there is a lot to learn, nobody is left on their own.
Sanna is looking forward to the coming months. One of them is especially exciting: a new project around the board scanner, where she gets to be involved right from the start of the project.
"It is great to be able to follow a project from its launch onwards. And although learning everything new is meaningful, I would especially like to develop in programming. That would certainly be useful in commissioning projects."
Sanna sees her own role as directly supporting Finnos's goals through customer work.
"At Finnos we want to make customers smile and competitors sweat. I want to be the professional who is easy for the customer to work with and with whom the project ends in smiles, on both sides."
Sanna carries a notebook with her in which she writes down work matters by hand. Each new workplace has accumulated its own notebook, and there is already quite a collection of them in her cupboards. She has at least given up the paper calendar, but handwriting stays. It is her way of structuring things.
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