Peter Hietalahti’s commitment and development pays off over 18 years at Fortaco

“From the shop floor to the top floor” is an often-exaggerated expression to suggest someone started at the bottom of an organization. But it’s literally true with Peter Hietalahti, whose first job at Fortaco was sweeping the factory floor and cleaning cabin windows. It was 2006, he had just completed his obligatory service in the Finnish Air Force, and he was casting about for something to do. So he answered an advertisement in the newspaper.

Of course, sweeping floors and cleaning cabin windows wasn’t the main job, but it was a way to witness up close how the Kurikka production line worked. He was soon assembling forklift cabins and then forest crane cabins, too.

Hietalahti liked the cabin business and wanted to learn more. He enrolled in the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences to study engineering. But he stayed on at the factory, rising at 5 a.m., arriving at the factory at 6, finishing his shift at 2 p.m., and then going to school until 9 p.m., after which he drove 80 kilometers to his home in Nummijärvi. It was a four-year-long test of his commitment to his profession, not to mention a course in night driving on sometimes icy roads.

Good things tend to happen to Hietalahti in May. He was promoted to Production Planner at Fortaco in May 2012, and finished his engineering degree one year later on his 27th birthday in May 2013. In 2014, an organizational change meant production planners took on more customer communication responsibilities, making Hietalahti the main customer contact for handling cabin orders, and his assembly-line background was a benefit. “When pricing a job, I understand the production process, how parts are placed, how the line moves, and it makes estimating assembly costs a lot easier.”  

But there was no end to Hietalahti’s curiosity about manufacturing. In 2017, he enrolled in a Masters of Engineering program and graduated in 2019. In 2021, he joined Tomi Metsä-Ketelä’s team as a Sales Engineer. “My main job was strategic communications with the customer. If they had a question, they contacted me.” He was also tasked with updating cabin prices to reflect the costs of cabin materials, and verifying that the labor calculations were correct. “Sometimes a customer requests changes, and we need a new offer. Or we have new options or model changes. To account for changes in component prices, we usually agree with the customer to update prices once per year.”

Working in Metsä-Ketelä’s team, Hietalahti learned the nuances of pricing and negotiations. In May 2024, he started as an Account Manager. “I’m now taking the next step with responsibility for areas where I previously did background or support work,” he says. “In recent years, rapid cost inflation has caused tough situations and tough  negotiations.” In a way, his job is like a top-level diplomat’s: Sometimes he has to deliver bad news but still make everyone happy. “Fortunately, customers are professionals and they understand the challenges, even if they don’t always like hearing the news. But the process is more than just prices, and it’s very satisfying work when everybody gets a solution that works for them.”

The month of May seems to hold some magic for Hietalahti. Since May is when his academic degrees and professional promotions have come, he has the habit of calling these his “birthday gifts.” But it’s clear no one is gifting him anything. He’s earned every bit of it through hard work and commitment.