Change is inevitable. But effecting change for the better can be one of the hardest things to accomplish. However, it is the only way to success and to true leadership.

Outokumpu has announced that its goal is to become the leader in the stainless steel business – the undisputed number one. On October 23, 2006, we witnessed a momentous milestone, when Outokumpu posted the best quarterly operating profit in the company history. The result was definitely aided by the market conditions, but it was also a sign that we have made the right decisions on our path toward our goal. These decisions are now showing effect.

We have mapped our path with a few carefully chosen initiatives. They have to do with operational excellence – excellence both in production and in commercial operations. The excellence programs are powerful tools that will achieve positive change in our company.

We are not on uncharted roads in these initiatives but learn from tried and true programs that have hailed world leaders to success in their respected businesses.

Our production excellence program has to do with improving quality, reducing throughput times, minimizing waste and increasing the overall reliability of our production operations. This lays the basis for commercial excellence.

Our commercial excellence program has to do with turning the company around to become more customer oriented and, as a result, the industry benchmark in customer relations.

Taking one step at a time, we are building excellence block by block, believing that small effluents will eventually combine into a powerful stream. Our financial performance points the way, and the effects of the programs should start showing much more effect from 2007 onwards.

The foundations of our success are not, however, dependent on efficient operations alone but on motivated people who carry out those operations. We have initiated a strategic leadership program to truly make the change happen through the right motivation of our people. We have defined our desired leadership principles that cover all aspects of managerial work, and we have translated these principles into concrete behavior models. The models will be cascaded throughout the company to secure the success of our excellence programs.

We believe that the basis of true leadership is not hierarchy but earning the trust and respect of our people. In the same line of thinking, we believe that the key to achieving our goal, to become the undisputed number one in stainless, is earning the trust and respect of our customers through all-pervasive customer orientation.

Juha Rantanen
CEO