As of October 24th, Juha Mäkelä has been appointed Business Unit Director of Co-Engineering’s Vaasa unit. Mäkelä is in charge of daily activities in the Vaasa area, including sales, customer relationship management and human resource management.
One of the most important elements of Mäkelä’s new position is managing employee relations. Mäkelä will be closely and carefully listening to employee needs. Maintaining a close connection is especially important in settings like Co-Engineering’s where employees work in separate projects. Mäkelä’s objective is to make sure employees feel a sense of belonging to Co-Engineering no matter the project they are working on.
“We strive to outline the continuity of customer commissions or transitioning into a new one in a way that gives employees as much influence on their future tasks as possible. Our strength is professionals who are highly competent and content in their respective fields. This kind of an environment is brilliant for a design engineer: they quickly gain experience of different customers. At the same time, it creates an even bigger need for high-quality management. Workplace well-being is important to me personally. I want our employees to genuinely enjoy working with us.”
Managing and growing customer relationships is another important area of Mäkelä’s role. The company’s customer interface requires a person that is in active communication with customers and understands their needs both in terms of their current situation and their future. At the same time, customers are provided with an easily accessible contact at Co-Engineering.
Understanding the requirements of Co-Engineering’s business is one of Mäkelä’s strengths. His work is also supported by his personality traits. In previous roles, Mäkelä has been commended for, for example, his trustworthiness.
“I can be stern when needed, but I am also talkative and have good conversational skills. My goal is to support the communication between engineers and customers.”
A strong background in resource management and supervisory work
Mäkelä is transitioning to Co-Engineering from Etteplan. The expertise gained in his previous roles includes technical expertise, supervisory skills and company resource management skills.
“At Etteplan, I worked as Area Manager for six years. My career advanced from the employee level to middle management. I also worked as Project Manager in customer projects. Before, I worked as Team Leader and as Project Manager in design and delivery projects for special elevators.”
Mäkelä graduated as Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and Production Technology in 2010. After his graduation, Mäkelä worked in power plant construction and commissioning projects.
“I majored in project studies, which meant that on-site work was a natural choice. I spent longer periods in, for example, Argentina and Bora Bora. After it was time to start a family, I chose to move on from travel work.”
Co-Engineering provides genuine influencing opportunities
Mäkelä was mainly drawn to Co-Engineering because of the influencing opportunities he saw within the company. He believes that Co-Engineering’s strength is the combination of a sturdy local brand and an agile organization. Mäkelä feels that at Co-Engineering, things can be done in a way that is sensible and appropriate for the situation at hand.
“When working in a flexible, professional company like Co-Engineering, I feel that I will have a chance to genuinely affect the company’s operations as well as it’s future and the steps that need to be taken to get there. I find it incredible that an opportunity like this presented itself locally. Stars were truly aligned when Co-Engineering happened to be in the need of a guy like me.”
Mäkelä spends his free time with this family and with his recently-adopted sailing hobby. “I started sailing last year. I do not have my own boat – I rent one and attend Wednesday races with the owner. Sailing is a fine-tuned activity – everyone has to do their part meticulously. A race is a two-hour period where I do not have time to think about anything else.”