Ata Gears was founded in 1937 and specialises in the design, production, and sales of customised spiral bevel gears. From its headquarters in Tampere, Finland, the company delivers high-quality gears to the marine, vehicle, and heavy-engineering industries across the globe.
Antti Kontiainen, President of Ata Gears, stepped into his role three years ago, but has worked with industrial machinery for his entire career. He caught up with The CEO Magazine to discuss the value of close working relationships and the bright future that lies ahead for Ata Gears.
The CEO Magazine: Can you give our readers an overview of your professional background leading up to and including your current position?
Antti: I have a Master of Science degree and my first working place was at Wärtsilä Diesel. Then I continued on to Metso Paper, which produced paper machines, and also spent a year and a half in the USA with Metso Paper. I came back to Finland and was managing director for AK-Tehdas. Later, I was working in Rautaruukki, a Finnish steel company and, after that, I came to Ata Gears. I have been working in the Finnish metal industry all my working life, in both big and small corporations.
Throughout your time with the organisation, what have been the greatest challenges youve faced?
In a way, I would say that weve been quite lucky in our bevel-gear business since were still in quite a good position where we can develop and we can invest, and thats very positive for this type of industry. One thing that weve been really focused on is better overall service and what this service means for our customers.