Mr. Petri Leppänen sees “the physical beginning” for the world’s most reliable bevel gears. He has been working at the ATA Gears raw materials storage for a praiseworthy 24 years and is on the front line for trusted ATA Gears quality and quality control.
Making sure that the raw materials arrive at the storage facility exactly as ordered is what Petri’s job is all about In his work, Petri sees the ”whole circle”, since the Pälkäne storage facility also functions as an interim depot for items in transit to customers around the world.
In addition to supervising the storage facility, Petri’s duties include the first actual work stage carried out at ATA Gears, sawing to measure. This job calls for super accuracy, any error in sawing would cause problems for the machinist at the turning stage. And there’s just no room for wrongly sawed pieces. That would be a waste of metal and incur excess cost. The diameter of the steel pieces Petri handles ranges between 40 and 610 mm, meaning that such a work stage can take up from one minute to 1.5 hours, depending on not only on the size but also on the material of the piece being cut. Some raw materials are trickier and more time-consuming to machine due to their high-strength and hardness characteristics. The pieces to be machined vary a lot and call for high concentration.
Petri’s work also involves sawing and labelling test pieces for classification societies and research and development. As Petri likes to point out: ”The quality of gears translates into safety in the application environment, for example on board ships. This is an issue never to be neglected, so materials are constantly tested.
Consistent quality, the right dimensions and keeping up with the schedules are Petri’s responsibility, so a keen eye and a meticulous nature are needed – and that’s Petri through and through – for the benefit of ATA Gears and its customers.