New Outotec CEO concerned over increasing unemployment in engineering sector

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Pertti Korhonen, the newly-elected CEO of Outotec, a global provider of process solutions, technologies and services for the mining and metallurgical industries, is worried about the future of the engineering industries in Finland.
      Korhonen, 48 will commence his stint at the head of Outotec at the turn of the year, on the retirement of the current CEO Tapani Mäkinen.
      Korhonen served on Nokia's Group Executive Board from 2002-2006 and worked as Nokia's Chief Technology from 2004-2006, before becoming CEO of the Oulu-based Elektrobit, a firm providing solutions, products and services for the automotive and wireless industries.
     
“Finland’s political leadership lacks understanding of what is happening to heavy industry. Production and product development are continually moved to countries where costs are cheaper. Next spring’s unemployment figures scare me already”, Korhonen says.
      Korhonen is a supporter of the German model, in which the government takes part in compensating the workers for their lowered level of income due to the reduction of production.
     
“In Germany the unemployment figures have not got out of hand, because of the practiced Kurzarbeit system. This means that the businesses can quite flexibly reduce the working hours and the state compensates the employees for part of the lost income.”
      The system’s downside is its high cost to the state.
      Still, Korhonen sees the intervention by the state authorities as a better option than the permanent loss of jobs to countries of cheap labour.
      “I am genuinely afraid that those jobs that are now lost from the Finnish engineering industries will never come back. People say that the inevitable structural change cannot be slowed down, but in my view it can still be controlled.”
     
Outotec, which separated from the steel company Outokumpu three years ago, is an industry leader.
      It has one machine shop employing a staff of around 150 in the town of Outokumpu in Eastern Finland.
      Korhonen sees new potential openings for the Finnish industries within the mining branch, where Outotec sells a lot of its technology.
      “We have plenty of mineral reserves, not all of which have even been located yet. The new law on mining should not impede mining business activities. The mining permission process should not be made so troublesome that it scares investors away. But of course the principles of sustainable development also have to be taken into account”, says Korhonen.
     
The sustainable development aspect and the prevention of climate change have opened up new growth prospects for Outotec.
      This is because the company is focusing on technologies that save energy and protect the environment.
      What is characteristic of the firm, the annual net sales of which are in the region of EUR 1.2 billion, is that industrial patents form a central part of its assets.
      According to its own announcement, Outotec is in possession of nearly 2,700 national patents.
      A third of the firm’s 2,500 employees have a higher academic degree.


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