It did feel bitter. But it doesn’t help to stay bitter forever. This is how Heikki Juntunen describes his feelings as he talks about his family-owned company, which has extracted peat for nearly 50 years. “Of course we knew that peat extraction would end one day, and we had started branching out into other fields. But we were surprised that the end came so suddenly.”
Team Juntunen, owned by Heikki and Mari Juntunen, is a diverse company. In addition to working in peat extraction, they make fuel deliveries by truck to power plants and other facilities, transport pallets and repair and overhaul equipment at their own workshop.
Peat has been their most important source of business, and peat extraction is still part of their work, even if they have already scrapped some of their equipment. “We had to reinvent ourselves,” says Heikki Juntunen. “But we’re making good progress. Our work volume right now is very good.”
Wood transport has been an important area of development that Juntunen has been expanding in the past few years. This is a point where Metsä Group’s and Team Juntunen’s interests align. Metsä is building a bioproduct mill in Kemi, which will increase the use of wood in Northern Finland, so the company needs partnerships with transport operators. Team Juntunen, which operates out of Rantsila in Siikalatva, can provide these services.
A different world
Team Juntunen employs about 25 people, some of whom are very experienced drivers. Even so, hopping from a peat lorry to a timber lorry is not an easy task, as it is a transition that requires training. “The world of wood transport is completely different. Operating the crane and loading the lorry are entirely new skills. The industry has its own information channels, and you also have to understand scales and learn how to use software,” says Juntunen.
Metsä Group wants to support its partners so that they can grow. The company’s Pro Kuljettaja project has been active for nearly two years, and its goal is to get new drivers for wood harvesting and wood transport. It is a cooperation network that provides support for recruitment. The network includes training companies, TE Offices and ELY Centres.
Previously, two people from Team Juntunen have participated in the Pro Kuljettaja project. They participated in leadership and HR work training for entrepreneurs organised through the project.
This inspired Team Juntunen to create their own training project for their personnel based on a similar model. The ELY Centre of Northern Ostrobothnia also became interested, and the trainer chosen for the project was SmaViso’s Arto Kärkkäinen, who is also part of the Pro Kuljettaja team.
In October, five of Team Juntunen’s employees began their timber lorry driver training. The ELY Centre pays for about 70 per cent of the training. The training includes theory portions as well as practical training. “SmaViso also delivered a simulator to Team Juntunen’s facilities, which makes the training a lot easier,” says Juntunen.
Team Juntunen has previously also trained its employees to work in wood transport, but the road has been “long and difficult”. In practice, the employees were only training for their new tasks by doing them. Work productivity was low at the start, and the expensive lorries were also not being used to their full potential.
“I’d wake up at 2 a.m. to a phone call asking for technical support. But we always managed. The actual learning happened by doing, through repetition. Now they’re professionals and we can be proud of them.”
Welcome to the forest
The Pro Kuljettaja project was established to provide support for Metsä Group’s partner companies’ recruitment efforts. The goal of the project is to train 300 new professionals for wood harvesting and transport. “So far, the issue has been that even if work was being offered, it wasn’t always visible on public recruitment platforms,“ says Ilkka Köntti, Project Manager at Metsä Group.
Köntti’s working group developed a solution: the Tervetuloa metsään (“Welcome to the forest”) website, which showcases some of Metsä Group’s contract entrepreneurs in Northern Finland, as well as professional training for those who are interested in the industry. “We want to encourage people who like working with forests and machinery, like young people, people who are changing careers or have recently graduated, everyone who’s interested in the industry. There’s work in the forest, and we are offering the additional training you need.”
Köntti says that operating forest machines and timber lorries is challenging work. Many people who are interested in it might have appropriate basic training, but they usually need additional training to become the kind of professional that a contract entrepreneur needs.
Working with forest machines also offers benefits: the opportunity to have a good salary and independent work. “Generally, our industry’s employment benefits are in good shape. The salaries are competitive. Entrepreneurs want to keep all of their capable employees happy,” says Köntti.
It also bears mentioning that the forest sector is a stable employer, and according to studies, Metsä Group is an attractive partner for contracts and business. Heikki Juntunen believes that it is a good idea for Team Juntunen to seek growth in wood transport operations. “We see opportunities for growth here. The biggest factor in our region is the upcoming bioproduct mill in Kemi.”
This article was published in issue 4/2022 of Metsä Group’s Viesti magazine.
Text Ilkka Luukkonen
Photo Sini Pirnes