Thorough retraining and carefully planned specialization took Ari Syväjärvi 15 years ago from the footwear industry to working in the metal industry. He currently works at ATA Gears’ tooth finishing and is rightly proud of that responsibility. “The contact pattern and mounting distances of the gear are most important,” Ari declares and continues: “I recall how ATA Gears’ former Quality Manager always said that tooth finishing is the most critical step in the whole process. It ensures that the contact pattern is in the right place first time and stored in machine memory to be replicated time and again.”
A great way to work – hands on and with a computer
According to Ari, the best thing about his job is the variety – that it includes several work phases. ”I like to work with my hands, and it feels great when you get it just right with the contact patterns of a challenging piece,” Ari describes his work. ”Next time, when a similar piece comes to you and the contact pattern works out well at the first attempt, you know that your work has not been in vain.”
It is the ATA Gears’ customer who takes care of the final mounting, but when the gears have been paired and the contact pattern found and tested, the customer has less to do. ”The tolerances are tight, but we make sure the contact patterns are exactly as requested,” Ari says proudly.
Learn it hands on
Hard toothing, HPG toothing, tooth finishing…It goes by many names the common denominator being that you really only learn the profession hands on. ”Vocational schools don’t even have machines like ours,” Ari Syväjärvi points out. ”And the support from experienced colleagues, that’s vital,” he sums up.