New customer-oriented attacking power at Tasowheel Systems

Mikko Kinnunen, M.Sc. (Eng.), was appointed vice president at Tasowheel Systems starting from 1 August 2017. He wants to take the company forward through cooperation and openness throughout the line.

Mikko Kinnunen is an experienced team player. Having played as a centre in ice hockey and floorball rinks, he believes that seamless cooperation also yields the best results in business life.

To Kinnunen, who worked for more than 12 years at Valmet Automation, Tasowheel Systems was an interesting company, as it provided the possibility to see a field he was already familiar with from a new perspective, as a different kind of activity and in a unique corporate culture. After having worked as a chief procurement officer, it was also important to have a new kind of position in the field.

“I wanted to return to working with customers, to sales work”, Kinnunen says, explaining his choice of new tasks.

As an earlier Tasowheel Systems customer, Kinnunen can bring the valuable customer voice to the company’s strategy meetings. Compared with Valmet’s huge marketing machinery and strict processes, Tasowheel is an agile company where things proceed faster and more flexibly. However, with a smaller budget, customers’ knowledge of the company needs to be built efficiently and systematically, on a solid foundation. In fact, Kinnunen sees stronger marketing of the company’s own competences and refining the main points of communication from the customer’s perspective as important areas to develop.

“We must build our approach on our own strengths and distinguish ourselves from the competition in a way customers find interesting.”

To the fresh vice president, Tasowheel looks pretty much the same as earlier through the eyes of customers. There have been no big surprises to discover within the walls, and Kinnunen appreciates his new employer for its transparency and fluency in doing business. A genuine spirit of getting things done is clearly visible, and it was quick for the newcomer to start with the work.

“It was easy to come here. The atmosphere is open and interactive.”

Kinnunen sees the greatest opportunities for Tasowheel Systems in a suitable combination of traditions and new cornerstones. There is still a lot to develop for the company in the paper industry, but alongside it, new areas will be needed, such as health technology, where a company with a customer-oriented approach has great opportunities to grow together with its customers.