5 minute read
Who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one
A living legend. That is Kimmo Paakkunainen, who as Service Manager travels all around the world to serve Kesla’s customers. “I’m proud to be a Kesla employee. The most important thing in work is to do things right and to be honest,” he sums up his principles.
The title of this story is a Japanese proverb. It is about love, and Paakkunainen’s 37 years at Kesla also speak of love for the work. On the last of May in 1983, Kimmo Paakkunainen from Kesälahti received a comprehensive school leaving certificate. On the first of June, he started work at Kesla’s factory in Kesälahti. “As a farmer’s son, I had a lot of experience with machines. While in school, I had also done practical training at Kesla. When I was offered a chance for an apprenticeship, I started studying to be a mechanic.
The apprenticeship training also involved theoretical studies, which were organised in Valkeakoski. That is where Paakkunainen also met his future wife.
The work as a mechanic was varied, ranging from plant maintenance to machine repairs and from tool manufacture to machining. In 1999, Paakkunainen was appointed Service Manager. Among Kesla’s products, he is mainly responsible for harvesters and forest cranes, but in practice Paakkunainen has mastered the entire Kesla product range. As Service Manager, he is used to shuttling quickly through many time zones. “After two or three days at home, I didn’t always quite know what time the cuckoo clock would call.”
Learning from Donald Duck
Installation in Indonesia. Kimmo Paakkunainen (back right) and Aki Juvonen (second on the left).
More than 70% of Kesla’s turnover comes from exports, and the logging sites are often far away. In May 2019, Kimmo Paakkunainen visited Japan for the 40th time. His trips to the country began in 2005, when the Japanese found Kesla to be the best partner for harvesting timber in challenging mountain forests. On Paakkunainen’s first trip to Japan, he happened to buy a Donald Duck pocketbook at the airport as a souvenir for his son. By coincidence, the pocketbook was Japan-themed. Konnichiwa, dōmo arigatō gozaimasu, mata ashita – in Japanese “good day”, “thank you for the meeting” and “see you tomorrow”. “It turned out to be a pretty good dictionary for me. When I got to Japan, I knew the local greet- ings, swords and such!” Since then, his language skills have further improved, for example, by studying business English. Paakkunainen’s adaptation to different cultures is accelerated by his social nature and desire to learn new things. He enjoys conversations with different people. But whatever the country or continent, patience is needed. Trust does not build itself; it requires work in listening to customers.
March of the machines
When Kimmo Paakkunainen arrives at a new export destination to train machine operators, it may well be that the group has never even seen a forest machine. In many parts of the world, the mechanisation of forest harvesting is only just beginning. “We’re talking about countries where a labour is cheap and plentiful. Just as in Finland back in the day, mechanisation will progress, but it will take time.
The replacement of axe and chainsaw with a Kesla harvester can be accelerated with the help of example. Paakkunainen tells of an African tea plantation where they harvest tens of thousands of cubic metres of wood per year for drying the tea leaves.
Paakkunainen is looking forward to an upcoming trip to Vietnam, where Kesla harvester heads have already been shipped. "The installation site will be in the ‘jungle’, to harvest wood for the local pulp mill. I know that the nearest hydraulic hose manufacturer is about four hours of travel from there. It is bound to be an interesting trip!"
A service attitude
Kimmo Paakkunainen’s stories from around the world highlight the importance of listening to the customer. “My job is also about technical development, the utilisation of feedback from customers. For example, we can say that the Japanese have taught us about many details. They prioritise details and top quality in many places.” It is also noteworthy that once strong trust has been built, customers rely on Kesla’s expertise in increasingly large entities and also in base machine choices. No matter what the time zone of the customer who has questions, Paakkunainen is only a WhatsApp message away.
A souvenir of malaria
Paakkunainen knocks on wood and says that thankfully, there have been no serious mishaps on his trips around the globe. “I have been in all kinds of places and travelled by all kinds of vehicles, eaten this and that. Never even a stomach bug.” Not until Paakkunainen’s second business trip to Kenya, where he was bitten by a malaria-transmitting mosquito. Unaware of the infection, he had time to return home for three days and leave on his next business trip to South America. Then he was struck by a high fever, despite the fact that his malaria medication had once again been handled properly. Paakkunainen sought help at a private clinic. After some searching, they found a local medical professional who had served on a peacekeeping mission in the Congo and was able to do a reliable malaria test.
Kimmo Paakkunainen (in the cab) and Janne Häyrynen (right) have gone on many trips together.
After a few days in the hospital, a flight ban and some rest, Paakkunainen was able to return to Finland. The wretched infection has been tack-led, at least for the time being, although complete certainty will only come with time. Kimmo Paakkunainen’s globe-trotting has not been discouraged by the malaria experience. The Japanese have a great proverb to describe his perseverance:
Paakkunainen’s palms have inspired respect for both their size and strength.
A man and his hands
When Kimmo Paakkunainen greets others, he shakes their hand – as we Finns usually do. He also did so in Japan, but soon discovered that his hands inspired respect and even wonder. The size of his palm and the strength of his grip were such that the hosts then offered their hands enthusiastically to be shaken – especially those who had not experienced the greeting before. On one trip, the Japanese hosts had come up with a different activity for Paakkunainen. They had invited the local master of arm wrestling, against whom the Kesla man was to compete. Paakkunainen won.
