Indeed I can report that it was truly exciting to work for ATA the first 15 years, then pursue a career elsewhere for another 15 years, and then return to ATA. It is really interesting to learn what has changed and what has not.
Information technology is at completely new level, naturally. Also, production technology has evolved thanks to 5-axis machining and other new technologies. And thanks to the owners, huge investments have been made in new equipment and premises. I have seen that not all owners plough the profits back into their companies.
It is a great pleasure for me to learn how much ATA’s human resources have developed: very strong teams in Sales, Engineering, Production, and Quality. I feel honored to work with such colleagues.
I have been blessed to gain experience in various engineering businesses. After leaving ATA, I was selling truly high-end metal components out of powder metallurgical materials and tool steels – very expensive items. Then I went to the other extreme and sold bulk steel plates and steel fabrications. Recently I was dealing in automated lift truck systems, which is a growing field of engineering combining equipment and IT. To sell pretty complex systems, each time to new customers, means really using your brains. Now what I need to do is to match my experience to the present situation and bring it up in a coaching manner.
“I’m thrilled about the opportunities ATA has nowadays with its advanced technologies and our great team in charge of them.”
During these last ten months back at ATA, I have also noticed many things are unchanged. Customers are still the same loyal ones, plus some new. About half of the personnel was familiar to me. The fundamentals of gearing remain, probably forever, the same. Every day I’m getting a déjà vu, when I see familiar faces, names, drawings and products. I get that nice warm nostalgic feeling.
I’m also thrilled about the opportunities ATA has nowadays with its advanced technologies and our great team in charge of them. There is just no mechanical power transmission component which ATA couldn’t produce. Also, our modern equipment and tooling enables machining of very tough and hard materials. We offer an extremely wide product portfolio. Very exciting – for an engineer.
Certainly, we realize that offering everything to everybody is not good business. That´s why we are defining our services as products which are attractive, easy to purchase, and smooth to process. It’s truly inspiring for me to participate in various development projects at ATA. I can combine my experience from ATA and the five other companies I have worked for. During our productizing project we are creating well-defined product packages. At the Hannover Messe in April, we will launch some really interesting new products, many of them combine physical product with services. Very exciting – for everybody.
Pentti Hallila, ATA’s Sales Manager
His hobbies include fishing, singing in a choir & trying to stay fit.