The mining industry strengthens Lapland’s business network and entices new businesses to the area. Telatek Service, which has created a business unit in Kittilä, appreciates the closeness of their bigger customers, functional connections and easy networking.
The Lappish share in the sectors of metal ore quarrying, and mining services, is more than 40 per cent of the industry’s entire volume in Finland, making the mining industry a significant sector and employer in Lapland. Lapland’s mines are located in Kittilä, Sodankylä and Kemi.
The mines also create a network around themselves since services are purchased for the mining industry as subcontracts from local or Lappish companies. For example, the Finnish company, Telatek Service Oy, was established in Kittilä in 2014. The location was selected on the basis of mining customers: Agnico Eagle’s Suurikuusikko Mine, which is Europe’s largest gold mine, is located in Kittilä, and Finland’s largest open-pit mine in terms of production volume, Boliden Kevitsa Nickel and Copper Mine, is located in Sodankylä.
A service that considers customer needs
Telatek Group is a leading Finnish producer of industrial maintenance and machinery workshop services, which was founded in 1977. In addition to Kittilä, the Group has business units in Raahe, Naantali, Nokia, Porvoo and Taivalkoski. Telatek Service’s turnover in 2020 was approximately ten million euros, and the company employs one hundred people.
Telatek’s business unit in Kittilä mainly focuses on serving mining customers and the mechanical maintenance of mining equipment. Since expanding its services and acquiring new business premises, the unit’s operations have grown enormously.
– We have developed and expanded our service range with particular consideration to our mining customers’ needs, explains Pasi Nyberg, Kittilä’s Business Unit Manager.
The unit carries out repairs of mining production equipment and mobile equipment, servicing of pumps and hydraulic cylinders, and hydraulic hose installations.
– As a result of the growth, we also have the need to significantly increase the number of employees, Nyberg states.
The coronavirus crisis also had an impact on the Finnish industry last year. For example, Telatek Service had consignments postponed and cancelled last spring. Managing Director, Juha Iiponen, explains that the company suffered from the exceptional year’s consequences to some extent, but these disruptions had been overcome. Kittilä’s business unit did not face significant changes in terms of workflow.
Strong network and functional connections
In addition to mining operators, Kittilä’s business unit customers include, e.g. earthmoving companies and the region’s other technical service users. Cooperation networks were quickly developed once operations were initiated.
– A network is naturally formed when a company is set up in an area close to the customers, says Iiponen about the development of cooperation and customer accounts in Lapland.
As Telatek’s service operations expanded in Lapland, the unit moved to new business premises in Kittilä in June. With the new spatial solutions, the aim is to serve customers even more diversely.
– Our customers have a clear need to acquire local, high-quality services. In all perspectives, it is wiser and more efficient to produce services close to the customer, Iiponen states.
The new appropriate hall spaces are located in the vicinity of Kittilä Airport. The premises’ location is in the close vicinity of excellent transport connections: the nearby airport, highways and Finnish border ensure functional connections. Iiponen states that good transport connections are one of Kittilä’s factors of attractiveness and one reason for Telatek to be placed in Kittilä.
– Here, we are also able to serve other local customers in addition to mining operators efficiently, explains Nyberg about the location of the new business premises.