Encouraging young talent

And the award goes to… machinist Elias Forsström

The Jaakko Mäkinen Award, named after one of ATA Gears’ founders, has been presented at ATA Gears since 1992. The purpose of the award is to mark the continuity of the company and to offer encouragement, ensuring that the most motivated people know that their work is truly appreciated and encouraging them to continue to give their best input.

This year marked the 33rd time the scholarship was awarded, and the recipient was machinist Elias Forsström. As stated in the award’s official criteria, Elias has ‘shown flexibility with working hours, kept his workstation clean, and learned to accomplish a wide range of tasks. He is also genuinely interested in his work, actively develops his role, and consistently delivers results of high quality and quantity’. What more can you ask for?

A more detailed description reveals that with his 5-axle machining centre, the DMU 200, Elias has succeeded in making the handling of especially larger work pieces faster and more efficient. Once again, it becomes clear that the work of a machinist today is quite different from what it used to be — nowadays it is essentially programming, meaning the creation of machining programs.

Before joining ATA

Elias has now worked at ATA for a year and a half. He joined the company after completing the machinist training program at TAKK (Tampere Adult Education Centre). First he was a summer employee, then he achieved permanent employment status. Before his studies, Elias spent three years working as a process operator and developer of dry-distillation technology at a biochar plant. So for him studying at TAKK and transferring to ATA was therefore a significant career move. “Of course, resigning from my previous job was a big and rather scary decision. It was a major change, but it turned out to be exactly the right one for me,” Elias explains.

An open and encouraging work atmosphere

In his early days with ATA, machinists Jari Piili and Mikko Pöllänen mentored Elias. The training took place on the FMS system, which uses the same methods as Elias’s current ‘own’ machine, the DMU. “For my personal development and for the development work I’ve done, the excellent introduction I have received, for example, to the use of the PowerMill CAM software has been crucial. However, I also believe in the willingness to learn more and better understand various machining methods,” Elias declares. “Overall, the atmosphere at ATA is very encouraging, flexible working hours offer freedom, and independent work is supported in every way — as long as good work pieces are produced.”