ATA Gears’ new CEO Petri Rantamaa is no newbie
When invited to become CEO, Managing Director at ATA Gears at the beginning of April this year, Petri Rantamaa had some reservations: “With three small kids, do I have the time required to take care of all those responsibilities?” A familiar face, Petri is already well known at ATA, having worked several years for ATA’s financial department. That is also why he was well aware of what he was taking on and that Ms. Hanna Miettinen, Petri’s predecessor for almost seven years, had also done a great job consolidating ATA Gears’ position among the power transmission elite in the world. “It’s a very strong tradition of being very careful in all sorts of expenditure. These days though, it is also an important part of our strategy to invest – in people, machinery and even new production facilities. We always want to concentrate on improving the quality of our products and customer relationships. I don’t really think there is any limit in that.”
Now Petri wholeheartedly welcomes the opportunity to actually meet and get to know as many of ATA´s customers, suppliers and other stakeholders as possible in the near future. Being the CEO puts things in an entirely new perspective. You really have to know all the functions in the company, including those which may not be so obvious but which are still crucial for successful operation and also for the wellbeing of all the people working for the company. “My days are currently filled with interesting conversations. Learning to allocate my time and delegating some of the things that I used to do myself is also a requirement of the job, but it is great fun and a wonderful learning opportunity.”