Custom-made metal from Parikkala to Uruguay

Karjalan Konepaja has been successful for over three decades. CEO Simo Salminen is looking for a successor to his company.

The forest or metal industries have not been doing very well in the southeastern corner in recent years. Nor have many SMEs since the border was closed. However, others are doing well and are thriving, such as the medium-heavy metal industry Karjalan Konepaja in Parikkala.

The solid company was founded in 1993 and employs approximately 45 people in two locations. The business cycle has fluctuated, but the order book has remained good.

Now, however, the company is at a turning point: the CEO Simo Salminen is looking for a successor who would continue the company's development and controlled growth.

– I personally wish I could take some time off. I'm old enough to need younger people, 71-year-old Salminen says bluntly.

Karjalan Konepaja is for sale, but it is important to Salminen that the operations are transferred safely to responsible hands.

– I hope that someone can be found who will take responsibility so that the operations continue and develop further. There are full opportunities for controlled growth here. That would be the best option for the company to move forward and for the personnel to continue to have jobs, Salminen describes.

The Karjalan Konepaja group consists of two units: the head office and production plant in Parikkala and the subsidiary Panelia Terästyö Oy in Harjavalta. The company's success has been widely recognized: the group's Harjavalta unit received the 2025 Business Award from the City of Harjavalta. Previously, the company has received the Parikkala Municipality Business Award and the South Karelia Provincial Business Award.

Looking to the future, Salminen's goal is controlled growth.

– I don't expect any big leaps, I don't think it's sensible. But as a motorcyclist, I say: if you're not involved in the development, someone will overtake you from the side. You have to stay ahead!

Five decades of experience as an entrepreneur and leader have taught him, above all, the importance of perseverance and collaboration.

– One person cannot make a company successful, it takes more people. The importance of unity and cooperation has only become more important over the years, Salminen states.

Comprehensive service from start to finish of the project

Karjalan Konepaja is a welding custom machine shop that does not have its own products. The company specializes in project-based investment projects in industry.

– We strive to serve the customer from start to finish – we design, manufacture, surface treat, transport and install. The project is only complete when the product has been installed and handed over, the CEO explains the company's operating model.

The workshop's customers are mainly large industrial companies, and its area of ​​operation covers the whole of Finland. Sometimes the projects also extend abroad. One of the workshop's most special projects was a pipe bridge project delivered to a UPM factory in Uruguay.

– It was quite an exotic and challenging project. Special transports of large pieces left here and were loaded in Kotka. Then they went by water to Uruguay, the journey took three months.

The grid company Fingrid has recently employed a significant amount of machinery. Fingrid moved three of its backup power plant gas turbines from Western Finland to Huutokoski in Joroinen.

– The project has been keeping us busy for the second year. We dismantled three turbines: one in Vaasa and two in Pori. We refurbished about 100 tons of their structural components in Harjavalta and manufactured 200 tons of new stuff here in Parikkala. Then we installed them in the new power plant that Fingrid built in Huutokoski, Salminen says.

According to the CEO, the competitive advantage of Karjalan Konepaja is its comprehensive service and professional staff.

– Over the years, we have managed to manage things in a way that has left customers with a positive impression. Of course, we also have a lot of experience in the field. But still, there is never really enough work here. There are always either too many orders at once or too few, he laughs.

Responding to peaks in demand is made easier by the fact that the machine shop in Harjavalta, in addition to its permanent staff, has employees who work as private entrepreneurs when needed. According to Salminen, this helps ensure that there is no need to lay off staff during quieter times.

Flexibility and skilled personnel are the keys to success

Personnel retention at Karjalan Konepaja is exceptionally good.

– We have long careers. The turnover rate is really low, which is a good thing. In the past years, no one really left us, but now we have started to see retirements, the company director says.

The company has invested in workplace well-being in many ways: staff are offered swimming passes, gym benefits, massages and medical insurance.

– We strive to ensure that the team enjoys themselves and that their working capacity and stamina are maintained. The staff appreciate these benefits and they do pay for themselves for the employer.

However, the challenge is finding competent staff – the same problem plagues other players in the industry.

– We are actually constantly looking for people. Parikkala is a good place, but it is still so far from Lappeenranta, Imatra and, for example, Savonlinna that not everyone is ready to make that journey every day, Salminen admits.

One solution is to organize your own training, which is once again being considered by the company.

– Sometimes in the early stages of the company, we organized our own recruitment training. We looked for people who already had some background, and we gave them further training. That's how we managed to hire a few people and they stayed with us. That could be an option now too, the CEO muses.

Salminen also hopes that society would improve basic education so that companies would not have to start their own training from scratch.

– I think young people should receive a basic starting point from society, which can be fine-tuned in companies. When projects have tight schedules, there are no resources to start from scratch with employees.

The workshop manager is nostalgic for the past in the sense that he would like to bring back the old technical training and teaching of drawing to the industry.

– Technicians were key in work management and project tasks. Those with higher education are not necessarily eager to apply for jobs on construction sites these days. Almost any task requires the ability to read drawings, without it, nothing can be done. This is where training should be sharpened; digital skills do not replace technical drawing skills, the veteran engineer emphasizes.

KEHY supported for over 20 years

Konepaja's long-term supporter, Imatran Seudun Kehitysyhtiö, can assist in recruiting and training new employees. KEHY is responsible for advising start-up and operating companies in the municipalities of Imatra, Rautjärvi, Ruokolahti and Parikkala, as well as implementing and financing economic policy projects.

KEHY has been with Karjalan Konepaja for over 20 years and is now also supporting a possible change of CEO.

– We have collaborated with KEHY for a long time. We have participated in their training courses and various events. We have also had many useful discussions about developing business activities.

Salminen finds KEHY's ​​role in networking and creating contacts particularly valuable.

– KEHY has acted as a hub for networks in many places. Contacts with authorities have probably been the best things, Salminen emphasizes.

Networking is the responsibility of the CEO, whose workdays start early in the morning and end late at night. A typical workday can include a variety of things: contract calculations, sales meetings, administrative matters, and site coordination.

– Everything really starts with calculations, which are needed in many places. Sometimes costs, materials and work are calculated, and sometimes installations, transport, lifting and cranes are calculated, Salminen describes.

He admits that he has very little free time. When he does have time, the business manager relaxes by fishing, boating, or working on motor vehicles.

– Motorsports are close to my heart – I have competed on a motorcycle, and I also have a rally car in my garage. I haven't really been driving much lately, but I have to have all the equipment in my garage in case I have the time. People close to me have said that I am an insurance company's dream customer, because I have to have all the equipment, the speed freak laughs.

Simo Salminen's roots are in Harjavalta, where he lived until he finished high school. He studied mechanical engineering in Turku, after which his career began in a machine shop in Satakunta.

– I was first a steel structure designer there, then I moved to the calculation side and the quotation calculation. Later I worked as a sales manager and was responsible for the steel structure department, the man recalls.

Challenges of recent years – from corona to material shortages

Salminen has seen all kinds of things in his long career, but the challenges of recent years stand out as the coronavirus pandemic, which permanently changed the business environment.

– Corona changed things and reduced a lot of movement. On the other hand, corona also brought remote work opportunities, which have become part of everyday life. There are quite a few things and meetings that can be handled remotely.

After Corona, a series of other problems came: the war in Ukraine, material price fluctuations and availability problems. In 2021-2022, the price of steel almost doubled during the construction of the Kemi pulp mill project.

– When these are fixed contracts and the price of steel material suddenly almost doubled – it was a drastic thing. In this industry, offers are binding, and you can't get any clauses in them. The situation in Kemi was really difficult, companies were going bankrupt there and there were big discussions about what to do and how to proceed. It was a pretty cold affair, and there was no room for humanity there, reveals Salminen.

But competition for contracts has become tougher across the industry as a whole. Times are still challenging in construction.

– Competition is tough. It has changed significantly in recent years. Previously, domestic projects were competed among domestic suppliers. Now the world is completely open – even if the project is in Finland, it is still international competition, the CEO reminds.

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