Finnish Metso opens SSC in Lithuania
6/1/2020
Metso, a leading Finish minerals and process technology company, recently launched a business service centre in Vilnius. The company is steadily increasing its Lithuanian team and is planning to start employing process automation.
Ilkka Metsola, head of Metso’s business service centre, stated that Vilnius was chosen because of a strong culture of service centres supporting international companies. Moreover, he said that Vilnius was also recommended by colleagues and customers, including the Finnish steel giant Outokumpu. “We had been looking for a site in several European countries, including Poland and Estonia. The scales were weighted in favour of Vilnius due to the presence of very good service centre ecosystem and availability of experienced and motivated employees”, Mr Metsola explained. “We started operations in Lithuania in October, soon after the company was founded (UAB Metso Lithuania, registered in September). First, we took care of the office and other formal affairs, hired and trained the first employees. In November, we appointed Ilona Antonovičiūtė as the head of the centre and now we are revving up. Currently, there are about 50 specialists of finance, accounting, and logistics working at our centre. We expect the number to grow by the end of the year and we will continue our recruitments in 2020”, says Anne Rantanen, head of external communications at Metso. “Our long-term objective in Lithuania is to grow, especially, seeing that initial investment in the premises, personnel, legal matters, marketing etc. have already been made and they were substantial”, Mr Metsola adds. 101 Companies Short-Listed for the 8th annual "CEE Business Services Awards", set for the 29-30th January, 2020 at Hotel Intercontinental in Warsaw.
Full Short-List of 101 companies. More than 300 guests are expected from more than 55 Shared Services firms that have well-established or new Shared Services centres in central eastern Europe. The 2-days of 3 conferences features 37+ Speakers and Panelists. The evening Awards Gala is an excellent peer-to-peer networking event for the region's top Business Services firms. Pre-Day (29th January) Conferences: “HR in BSC Forum" Agenda. “CEE RPA/Process Automation Workshop" Agenda: Summit Agenda (30th January). Jury Members. FINAL SHORT-LIST of COMPANIES: Most “Dynamically Developing” City – CEE:
Most Vibrant Workplace – CEE:
Most Vibrant Workplace – Poland:
Top Robotics Implementation of the Year:
New-entrant BSC of the Year:
Business Services Firm of the Year – Baltics:
Business Services Firm of the Year – Hungary:
Business Services Firm of the Year – CEE:
Business Services Firm of the Year – Poland:
Top Financial Services BSC Firm of the Year (CEE):
Best Services Provider – pan-European (BPO):
Top Digital Services Provider – CEE:
Top Digital Services Provider – Poland:
Top Employer Branding Initiative – CEE:
Top Employer Branding Initiative – Poland:
Top CSR Initiative of the Year – CEE:
Top CSR Initiative of the Year – Poland:
Top BSC HR Director of the Year:
Business Centre Manager of the Year – SSC – CEE:
Business Centre Manager of the Year – SSC – Poland:
Paper giant UPM aims to cut costs and capacity in the face of declining demand for printing paper.
Forest products firm UPM has confirmed that it is permanently shutting down one of the three production lines at its Rauma, Finland paper mill, making 179 employees jobless. At the same time, the company is cutting 41 service centre positions in Tampere, moving their jobs to lower-cost Poland. UPM announced earlier that it planned to decommission the massive paper machine, which has been in service since 1971, two years after the mill opened. Of the 179 people handed pink slips, 159 were permanent and 20 temporary employees. They represent roughly a quarter of UPM's staff in Rauma, which now includes 520 permanent workers. "We have focused on finding socially acceptable solutions for the employees affected with the clear intention to diminish the impact of this closure,” says Anu Ahola, Senior Vice President at UPM Communication Papers, who adds that "the consultation process was fair, open and constructive at all times". UPM blames the shutdown on declining demand for graphic paper as more customers read periodicals in electronic form. The move will slash UPM's capacity for SC magazine paper production by 265,000 tons annually. UPM also announced that it is closing a service centre in Tampere, moving operations to a new centre being set up in Wrocław. The 41 employees made redundant in Pirkanmaa are being offered the opportunity to move to Poland next year. UPM has more than 900 workers in Tampere. Computer Generated Solutions (CGS) Romania announced expansion with a new center in the city of Constanta, eastern Romania, following a major investment. The 7th location of the company in Romania will reach about 600 employees within three years and will serve projects in the financial, technical, sales and customer service area.
"The growth of the business over the last year has led to the need to increase the number of employees. Thus, the opening of a new CGS center on the local market came as a natural step, and the choice of the city of Constanta was determined by the high availability on the labor market, considering that we will need about 600 employees in the next three years, but also we need to be close to Bucharest," said Vladimir Sterescu, country manager of CGS Romania. According to him, Constanta was a city avoided by Computer Generated Solutions, and not only, in the last 10 years because the labor market had a strong seasonal characteristic. Young people, a segment targeted by the company, prefer seasonal jobs, often on the grey market, in Constanta. In recent years, however, the context has changed, and the labor market in Constanta has been regulated and the share of the grey market has diminished. Thus, the prospect of being employed in a company such as CGS Romania, where job stability is ensured, is a growing advantage. Connections, a leader in the digital transformation market in Romania, estimates for the end of 2019 a turnover of approximately 7 million US dollars, up 25% from the previous year.
“For us, 2019 was a construction year, we focused on investments. The key points were achieved: strengthening the intelligent automation division, the expansion plan on international markets (Middle East, Southeast Asia), strengthening partnerships with technology providers and increasing the company’s turnover. 2020 will be a key year for Connections. We will rearrange the way we deliver services, in a more agile and efficient way. We estimate a 9 million US dollars worth turnover, more than 350 employees and a customer structure that will tilt the balance in favor of external markets”, explains Bogdan Florea, founder of Connections and ANIS Vice President. The most dynamic business lines of the company were represented by software development and support services for the IT infrastructure, the largest investments in technology came from industries such as insurance, banks and utilities, and Connections managed to increase the number of its external customers in 2019 with up to 40%. “Organic growth in an ever-changing global market brings both strategic and operational challenges. Entering new markets involves challenges related to cultural differences, but also to the speed of absorption of the progress generated by technology companies. Since this year, in some areas, we have started to become technology providers ourselves, which has added an increased degree of complexity. From a customer perspective, 2019 has been a fantastic adaptation year. Further, the challenges of the client companies are in the area of accepting the need to redesign business processes to meet the fourth industrial revolution – Industry 4.0, ”adds Bogdan Florea, founder of Connections. For 2020 Connections Romania targets complex digital transformation projects, based on new technologies, such as RPA, artificial intelligence and big data, together with the modeling of business processes. At the same time, Connections will continue the technology generation projects in the area of finance and digital transportation. ABOUT CONNECTIONS Connections is a leader on the digital transformation market in Romania, with 300 employees, offices in Bulgaria, Serbia and plans for global expansion. The company specializes in Intelligent Automation, IT Infrastructure Support, Digital Business Process Management and Software Development On Demand. Finnish Metso opens SSC in Lithuania
6/1/2020
Metso, a leading Finish minerals and process technology company, recently launched a business service centre in Vilnius. The company is steadily increasing its Lithuanian team and is planning to start employing process automation.
Ilkka Metsola, head of Metso’s business service centre, stated that Vilnius was chosen because of a strong culture of service centres supporting international companies. Moreover, he said that Vilnius was also recommended by colleagues and customers, including the Finnish steel giant Outokumpu. “We had been looking for a site in several European countries, including Poland and Estonia. The scales were weighted in favour of Vilnius due to the presence of very good service centre ecosystem and availability of experienced and motivated employees”, Mr Metsola explained. “We started operations in Lithuania in October, soon after the company was founded (UAB Metso Lithuania, registered in September). First, we took care of the office and other formal affairs, hired and trained the first employees. In November, we appointed Ilona Antonovičiūtė as the head of the centre and now we are revving up. Currently, there are about 50 specialists of finance, accounting, and logistics working at our centre. We expect the number to grow by the end of the year and we will continue our recruitments in 2020”, says Anne Rantanen, head of external communications at Metso. “Our long-term objective in Lithuania is to grow, especially, seeing that initial investment in the premises, personnel, legal matters, marketing etc. have already been made and they were substantial”, Mr Metsola adds. |
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