Karoliina Joensuu

From day one, I have felt right at home, almost as if I had been with the company for much longer. A key reason for this is how open people here are to change.

My first months have only strengthened my belief that the restructuring of Elomatic’s organization through the Industry unit is perfectly aligned with shifts happening at the customer interface. Traditional industry boundaries are fading, and the new unit has successfully unified all our industry-specific engineering skills – just as our customers are breaking down silos in their own industries.

This new structure allows us to tackle challenges from a more competence-driven perspective. At the same time, the four strategic focus areas of the Industry unit have generated strong interest among our customers.

Our key focus areas are Biomaterials Processing, Power-to-X, Food, Feed & Fertilizer, and Product Development – all backed by our vast engineering skills and strong expertise in technical analysis, including both structural analysis and fluid dynamics.

I believe these areas have been chosen wisely, as they build on Finland’s existing strengths while also offering significant value internationally. At the same time, they align with the growing demand for domestic expertise in the Finnish market.

Elomatic’s strong strategic goal of driving international growth with sustainable values really appealed to me. I am excited about the opportunity to develop new ways to package our expertise to better meet the needs of today’s customers.

The sheer depth of expertise at Elomatic has been a pleasant surprise. We have incredibly advanced knowledge across many areas. Another surprise is the breadth of our capabilities. The expertise within the Industry unit spans a remarkably wide range, creating a truly unique combination. This also opens up great opportunities to leverage our expertise across different business units.

For example, at the Pharma–Industry interface, we see applications in the cleanroom sector, while at the Marine–Industry interface, we are focusing on ports, new fuel types, and alternative energy sources. We can bring knowledge that has traditionally been applied on land into the marine sector more and more.

My background provides me with a solid understanding of both industrial investments as well as operation and maintenance, which is invaluable in this role. It allows me to approach challenges from a customer-centric perspective. Additionally, I have gained experience in navigating cross-industry transformations and possess a deep understanding of major industrial megatrends, including the energy transition and broader sustainability challenges.

They are closely connected. Safety risks, whether from climate change or geopolitical factors, require proactive preparedness. Extreme weather events linked to climate change highlight this need, while the situation in Ukraine shows that military preparedness is part of a unified strategy for addressing various threats. Both the green transition and security preparedness are driving forces of innovation.

What is noteworthy is that the green transition requires the rapid adoption of new technologies to replace unsustainable production methods. However, the unfamiliarity with these processes and limited experience with the technologies makes it difficult to identify potential risks.

The most important factor is building expertise; high-quality, responsible design is essential. When working with technologies that still have unknown aspects, it is crucial to incorporate multiple perspectives into the design process and to ensure safety is integrated from the beginning.

I am particularly excited about the development of flexibility in the energy sector. We have witnessed a massive shift in energy production, moving from fossil-based sources to an increasing reliance on wind and solar energy. As a result, our dependency on the availability of these renewable sources has grown, which raises questions about how industrial energy consumption – particularly electricity usage – can be adapted to fit this new production structure and especially the volatility of these sources.

A good example of this flexibility in action came the winter before last, when concerns over electricity availability led to significant adjustments in consumption patterns, especially in the industrial sector. This demonstrated our capacity for flexibility, and I am particularly curious about how actively we can harness this potential. After all, no industrial production process is independent of energy; some form of energy is essential in every step of production.

Take hydrogen-based production projects as an example. The processes are still quite new, especially at the scale they are being designed today, and they involve interesting interfaces when it comes to energy. Hydrogen production is very energy-intensive process, which ties it directly to flexibility. I am particularly interested in how production of hydrogen or its derivatives can adapt to fluctuations in electricity production.

Also, a significant amount of heat is generated, which should be effectively utilized. District heating is an excellent method for distributing this waste heat, and it also supports the circular economy model.

Understanding customer needs and their business environment is crucial, as is our ability to respond effectively with our expertise, whether it be technical know-how or our approach to design.

I also see our operations becoming much more international. We already have strong design expertise in Poland and are looking to expand our presence there in the local market. Additionally, we are working on projects in the Baltics and aim to further strengthen our position there. Furthermore, Elomatic’s Marine business unit has a significant presence in Canada, providing us with an exciting opportunity to leverage an established platform.

It would be developing greater flexibility in electricity consumption, particularly within the industrial sector. The volatility of renewable energy production makes it essential for consumption to be flexible. The current structure of the electricity market and price determination already create strong incentives for this.