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2023 in the rearview mirror: A year of achievements and learnings

As we bid farewell to 2023, it's time to embark on a journey down memory lane and celebrate the milestones that defined our year. In this special edition of our newsletter, we present the "2023 Yearly Recap," a comprehensive overview of the triumphs, challenges, and growth that shaped the past twelve months.

Engaging with customers

A recent customer value day near Stockholm, Sweden was a great opportunity to build relationships and develop a greater understanding of our customers’ needs and aspirations.

I was honoured to be involved as a moderator, which involved looking after customers. Most of them joined us from Europe, including the Nordics, Germany and Italy but some customers came from as far as Australia.

The event gathered around 100 people together at a hotel, with a relaxed atmosphere and an agenda that focused on the future of the steel industry. In the past, we’ve hosted this type of event every two years but because of the pandemic, this was the first gathering since 2019. As a result, all attendees were in good spirits, looking to make up for lost time. The agenda included discussions about the future, for example by exchanging ideas about how to work more sustainably and taking inspiration from each other. Our experts also shared updates on developments such as the hydrogen plant at our Hofors mill, while speakers from Volvo shared details about their own sustainability program.

Overall, the event was a great opportunity to focus on the future for a low-emission industry and the need to find greener and more circular ways of working.

Developing our young professionals network

As a member of our Young Professionals program, I’ve also been expanding my network inside Ovako during 2023. The program covers a group of around 20 people from across the business who have been meeting every few months at different sites. We represent all of Ovako’s sites, as well as people in technical, commercial and business functions.

Not only do we get the opportunity to see different aspects of the business and build relationships with colleagues, but we also participate in training sessions. A highlight of every event is a session with top management, where we get to hear their views on strategy and share our views with them.

The program will help us to retain talent by building links and keeping brains inside the company. Ultimately, stronger internal networks will enable us to support customers better.

Getting out and about to trade shows

Trade shows have been another important networking opportunity for me this year. They make it possible to meet multiple customers within a short period, while also seeing and hearing about the latest industry news.

I’ve attended three fairs throughout 2023 covering specific industrial segments and have found that people are really keen to meet up in person after the travel restrictions of the pandemic.

My role is to represent the Imatra mill by meeting our sales units and customers to understand their needs and sharing prices for steel bars, as well as for services such as heat treatment and peeling.

I then take that knowledge back and have the task of balancing capacity in the mill the best possible way together with the team.”