I first met with Outokumpu in 1981, on arriving from Italy to spend some months as a trainee at the company’s Tornio Works in Finland. I was in my late teens, the stainless steel operation was young at the time, and for me this first meeting was both exciting and marked by promise. Our shared path has seen Outokumpu grow to be a top stainless steel company, envisioning to become the undisputed Number One in stainless.

Today Outokumpu is at an extremely important stage on the company’s path. Our position to pursue our vision is strong, but a number of challenges make it imperative for us to secure a more stable business model. The foremost of these challenges are the recent volatility of raw material prices and changes in the Asian supply situation. Our response is spelled out in our new phase of strategy implementation, designed to bring us more stability.

Importantly, this strategy phase will be making us increasingly responsive to our end-user customers, while we are seeking a more steady relationship with our distributor customers. So not only are we strengthening Outokumpu, to help us reach our financial targets, our strategic direction also marks a new phase in our relations with our key stakeholder group – the customers.

In that, our direction underscores a vital cornerstone for us to become Number One: we seek to achieve that vision by putting the customer in the heart of everything that we do, to become the industry benchmark in managing customer relations. Being Number One involves not only providing our customers with the best stainless products, but doing so in a manner that these products best serve their needs. It involves bringing to the market stainless products and services that answer many of our customers’ challenges and, ultimately, products that answer many of society’s challenges in putting development on a more sustainable course.

To be able to fulfill our promise to customers, we crucially need the support of our people. People are another vital cornerstone for us to become the leader in stainless steel. It is only through the best people – people who are inspired, who achieve ambitious targets, and who create winning teams – that we can secure our direction. Therefore we seek to recruit the best talent, while constantly developing our employees, to build our future.

Looking back at Tornio Works 26 years ago, and what spurred me on then, the same makings are now helping us to become the most attractive employer: excitement and promise. Those makings will motivate talented men and women of today to become leaders of tomorrow. Outokumpu meets many of their expectations, including exciting products, challenging tasks in bringing those products to users, and dynamic, global business.

Outokumpu’s strive to achieve our vision promises value to all our stakeholders, from employees to owners. That strive means that we will be a rewarding partner to all of them in the years to come.´

Andrea Gatti
Executive Vice President – Commercial Operations