THROUGH ISLET BINOCULARS: JANNE NAHKURI, SAP APPLICATION OWNER, ABB
We live in Helsinki with my wife and dog. We have a grown-up son studying in Turku. In my spare time I exercise a lot outdoors with our dog.
What kind of organization do you work for and what is your role there?
I work for ABB Drives unit which manufactures AC drives (variable frequency drives). ABB Drives employs approximately 1300 people in Finland and approximately 6000 globally. We operate in 80 countries. The Finnish Drives unit co-operates closely in SAP development i.e. with US, German and Singapore. I work as SAP Application Owner and are in charge of SAP operations and organizing SAP development at Drives in Finland.
Recently, Drives unit and Motors and Generators unit were merged into a new Motion Business Unit. The fusion naturally serves the big picture. The AC drives manufactured by Drives unit are used to control the rotational speed of the electric motors produced by Motors unit which can cut the engine’s power consumption by up to 50 percent.
To which direction is your field developing?
We are living exciting times as electricity consumption is increasing and yet at the same time emissions should be cut. As much as one third of the world’s electricity consumption is spent to run electric motors. Huge savings can be achieved by using AC drives. This is a great opportunity for both ABB and the whole manufacturing industry. In 2015, ABB Drives’ AC drive pool saved 490 TWh of electricity globally, equivalent to electricity consumption of 120 million households and prevented 410 million tons of CO2 emissions. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 90 million passenger cars.
What is your organization’s key message to its stakeholders and customers?
The customer and quality are at the heart of all activities. ABB makes huge investments in quality. For example, employee training emphasizes Lean Six Sigma training. Quality management, systematic continuous strategic development and improvement of products, services and processes are essential part of our business. Responsibility is also one of the ABB-wide values and it is strongly emphasized right from the start when a new person starts at ABB.
How does your organization retain top talents and what makes your organization a great place to work?
ABB offers responsibility but is also supportive. The industry is interesting and lively. There is constant evolution going on. Interesting and challenging tasks can always be found in-house and there is a strong focus on improving one’s skills.
What is the best part of your work?
The extent of my field makes this role interesting. When you work with SAP, things are fluctuating and there are challenges every day. You constantly learn new things. I have now worked for this company for about 1,5 years and there is still a huge amount of new things to learn what is motivating. Even though I am working in IT, and what is so special about it, is that the practical work and production are in the same building hence you see in practice what for SAP is being developed. It is not all just transactions and coding, but the work becomes concrete when being close to the production.
How would you describe the partnership with ISLET?
The cooperation with ISLET has always worked well. I have been cooperating long time with ISLET also in my previous role and I have always been pleased with our collaboration. Isletters are capable and open-minded people with whom it’s easy to work together.
Motto
Measure twice, cut once.
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