The Uusimaa region has a long tradition of metal refining, starting from ironworks in the 17th century when Finland was under Swedish rule. Drawing on these traditional strengths and know-how, Taipuu Monex Oy was founded in 1982. The company was able to quickly deliver its manufactured components to large Finnish engineering companies, and the company grew rapidly. Two years ago, the company celebrated its 30th anniversary. Although the atmosphere at the party was high, management began to see difficulties in the future. In metalworking, energy consumption is high and electricity prices were at record highs, customers no longer ordered as much because their customers reduced their investments, and general uncertainty increased as interest rates rose.
In autumn 2022, the company’s founder Risto stepped down from day-to-day operations and his daughter Auli became CEO. Following in his father’s footsteps, he had graduated as Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering 7 years earlier and then progressed in his career to become a R&D manager for a large traditional mechanical engineering company. Even though Auli had lived her whole life breathing the air of Taipuu Monex Oy and spent all her holidays working for the company during her school and student days, she was still facing something new in many ways. How to take the company forward?
Auli participated in a webinar on sustainable business. She had often wondered what kind of planet she and her generation would leave to their children, after all, she herself had 3-year-old twins. Her thoughts had always been that she can’t do anything as an individual. After the webinar, he thought that even the company that has just come under her leadership can do a lot, and the webinar also talked about how sustainable business can also be profitable. Auli thought that sustainable business could secure both the future of the company his father founded and give a good and lasting legacy to the twins.
Inspired by this, Auli began to study more. There were many questions, but fewer answers. One by one, answers began to emerge. What is sustainable business? Simply doing business without having a negative impact on the environment, stakeholders or society at large. Doing good by solving social and environmental problems and, at the same time, well-being in the form of economic gain. Could these really be combined, Auli wondered. So what could my company do? Where to start? Could she get the company’s employees involved? Auli decided to try and at this time the company’s new direction had been decided.
First of all, Auli decided to find out how her company affects the environment, people and stakeholders and, on the other hand, how these affect the company’s business. She went through the entire operation of the company and identified what was essential financially or in terms of impact, or perhaps both. This allowed her to identify the most significant impacts and prioritise the three most relevant ones, which he would begin to examine in more detail.
The TOP3 things were: reducing waste, increasing energy efficiency and increasing responsibility in raw material sourcing and the supply chain. Auli decided to include these in the company’s strategy and make them the values that guide the entire company’s operations. Together with the management team, they examined the current state of these impacts and defined the goals they wanted to achieve in 2027.
Auli was quite sure that the new values and goals, which were also included as part of personal bonuses the employees, would certainly gain resistance. Since these will surely also have an impact on the company’s products and thus on customers, it was essential to involve the sales team. In the end, however, it would be sales that would have to justify the changes to customers.
Together with the management team, Auli decided to organise responsibility training for the whole personnel. The training emphasized everyone’s role in the change. The management team participated in training sessions that actively sought new operating models. All proposals were reviewed by a group of people and evaluated and rewarded anyway, because bringing forward new ideas was extremely important in changing operating methods and committing personnel.
Together with the purchasing and sales managers, Auli contacted suppliers and customers. Suppliers were involved in brainstorming new ways of working together, and changes to products and deliveries were discussed with customers. And once the customers had had their say, it was time for the sourcing team to have the negotiations with suppliers. At the same time, the production team brainstormed ideas for their own production in line with sustainability goals: more efficient use of energy and less waste. For this process, Taipuu Monex’s personnel received praise from both customers and suppliers: they were able to develop their operations themselves, everyone achieved cost savings and customer relationships gained a whole new, deeper dimension.
Even though customers had been included in the change process, sales were still sceptical about how the changes would affect sales figures, or whether customers would still buy as before. However, customers had considered Taipuu Monex to be one of the few pioneers. This gave Auli and the Sales Director the idea that responsibility could be turned into a competitive advantage and thus differentiate themselves from competitors. After talking together with sales, they decided to completely reshape the entire sales and customer communication highlighting sustainability in the message. Taipuu Monex was not the first in their industry, but they decided that they would lead this development and thus secure the future of the company.
The salespeople had to learn new sales pitches and arguments, and sales stagnated at first. But when they realized how to link sustainability to their customers’ own sustainability goals, they were able to show how Taipuu Monex can meet their customers’ operational, financial and sustainability goals. The rest is history.
Last month, Auli was interviewed in the nation’s number one financial magazine with the headline “Taipuu Monex bent itself into a new form.” In the article, Auli was able to list the biggest benefits of the change:
“In energy-intensive production, even a small improvement in energy efficiency saves costs. We were also surprised at how much we were able to improve our operations. In addition, we were able to reduce the amount of waste generated by production. Nothing goes to the landfill anymore. Both are all nicely reflected in the energy and waste bills.
In sales, we were able to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and customers started ordering larger series from us more regularly. Old customers have also returned to us, and we got new customers. They believed in our change and had struggled to find a subcontractor that could meet their sustainability needs.
The employees began to feel proud of the work done and the company they worked for. At the coffee table, they no longer talk about the employer, but about our company. A small change, but it means a lot to me. We continue to develop new ideas, and the company is experiencing a boom in innovation and nice growth. We have had to hire more people, but even that has become easier as the company’s reputation has improved, and our team has really recommended us as a workplace.
As an SME, EU directives do not apply to us so immediately and hard, but after all this, we are well equipped to respond to future regulation. Yes, we are very positive about the future. There are a lot of question marks, but we believe that today we are more resilient to risks. In addition, the new business opportunities of the future seem much greater than the threats.”
Last week, Auli participated in the same webinar series as where the story began. She was asked for advice for others who were thinking about the same change. In Auli’s words, “Start by analysing your actions. Add the essential impacts to the strategy and focus on just a few. Involve the whole company – this is not just a matter for management, but for everyone. Collaborate with suppliers and customers. Define objectives and monitor their implementation. Believe in your vision. Then you are convincing.”
At the end of the webinar, Auli summed up the process. “It was a long and tough journey, but we got it done. Or we’ve never reached the finish line, but we’ve got off to a good start and we know we’ve done the right things. Let’s continue on that basis.” What would you change, or would you change anything? “Well, if anything, I wouldn’t do this again alone. I would bring in someone who knows business and sustainability and can combine them into competitiveness.”
