Introducing our experts: Jouni Leskinen, engineer

Simetek has developed a lot over the years. Jouni Leskinen has worked at Simetek for twenty years, and has seen the company go through different phases while working in a couple of different roles.

Leskinen is a qualified sheet metal worker and at Simetek he works in maintenance and installation. He is responsible for lead burning, a field which has rather few specialists in Finland nowadays.

“Previously, I was a machinist at Simetek. But I found engineering work more enjoyable, as there is more variation in my workday.”

Leskinen learnt machining from a senior foreman at his previous job at Kuuslahden Konepaja. In addition to Kuuslahden Konepaja, he also worked at Savema.

According to Leskinen, Simetek has more commissions from all over Finland now than it did in previous years. He doesn’t feel the need to travel that much anymore, and is happy to carry out maintenance work at Yara, near Simetek.

“I’d rather let the younger ones go travelling,” Leskinen laughs.

You need to be sure of what you’re doing on site

Leskinen mainly services belt, drag chain and material conveyors, containers, and piping. He likes being able to make old things as good as new, and to see the results of his work. The most important thing about work is managing safety.

“It’s easy to hurt yourself or others if you aren’t careful on a work site. Luckily, Simetek invests in safety and emphasises that we need to be sure of what we’re doing.”

Employees are often assigned certain areas on site so that everyone is sure to be familiar with that area’s processes and can work with them. For gig work, Leskinen finds it’s a challenge to learn the house rules, as every company has their own slightly different operating culture.

“We always carry out preparations for work sites so that the workers are informed of what they’re doing. It’s also important to know what machinery we need with us, so that we don’t just drive all the way to Kittilä with just a welding machine and an angle grinder and then realise when we get there that we need a lot more.”

The company tries to finish maintenance and installation work as much as possible in the shop so that only assembly needs to be carried out on site.

Simetek has a great atmosphere

Leskinen describes the atmosphere at Simetek as good; there are shared wellbeing at work days and fishing competitions, and all of his colleagues get on well with one another.

Leskinen, who has seen Simetek go through numerous phases, has watched the company pass down through generations, and finds this positive. Even though change always requires growth, operations have moved forward, and Leskinen says they are constantly improving.

“Nowadays there is more interaction than before, but times have changed of course. We aren’t living in the same world anymore.”

In his free time, Leskinen relaxes with fishing and sports. Last winter he racked up a thousand kilometres skiing.