New AFT Service Center in Varkaus

Made in Finland Last update 2021/01/11


Original article written by Leif Lindberg published in Paperi Ja Puu - Creating Bioeconomy, Dec 2020, pg 72 (Finnish)

Aikawa Fiber Technologies Oy (AFT) is expanding its aftermarket services by building a new customer service center at its Varkaus plant. The new Service Center will give AFT more space to develop its customer support and equipment maintenance business, expanding its product offerings and providing its production facility with room to grow.

“We need to be close to our customers, and that’s where we are. AFT operates in North America, Asia and Europe - and we are now strengthening our product maintenance services and product sales, especially in Europe”, says Risto Weckroth from AFT.

Delivery times in the industry have been shortened and expectations have increased. The changing trend is illustrated by the requirements of eco-conscious customers that equipment deliveries take place by means other than by air.

 “Of course we have so far been able to serve our European customers well, but our expanding equipment and service portfolio needs additional personnel and production facilities.  From the customer's point of view, both quality management and delivery reliability will improve.”

The recent conversion of paper machines to board machines has shaped AFT's equipment offerings. These customer investments have required larger AFT screens, which made the production facility at the Varkaus plant cramped. In addition, stock preparation products need an increasingly faster and logistically straightforward journey for European customers, now made possible by the new assembly line.

The Service Center will also house new material surface treatment technology. This latest product development investment extends the life of spare parts.

According to AFT, the new investment will include enhanced personnel skills and training. As customers increasingly focus on their own core competencies, technology partners need to invest in more extensive expertise in the areas of process functionality, maintenance and spare parts deliveries.

AFT sees that in order to secure customer relationships, they need to provide more services that support their customers’ core processes, creating a comprehensive partnership throughout the lifecycle of new equipment, spare parts deliveries, maintenance and equipment upgrades.

 “As experts, we need to be able to provide better services in areas where we are strong. In the first phase, a service group will be selected from current production staff, which will be trained to implement customer services both in-house and at customer premises. As the business grows, the group will be strengthened with additional staff”, says Jarkko Naumanen, Director of the Service Center.

Equipment assembly, testing, trial operation and maintenance tasks require a new kind of expertise.  In addition to the full maintenance needs of screen products, refiners are also increasingly part of the company's product range. In addition, POM products will be tested in Varkaus in the future.

 

New AFT Service Center in Varkaus

Janne Andberg, Timo Koivisto and Risto Weckroth - AFT

 

"AFT operates in North America, Asia and Europe - and we are now strengthening our product maintenance services and product sales, especially in Europe” - Risto Weckroth