The journey from a summer job to a manager position started in 2009 when Joonas Hynönen applied for a summer job at VEO. Nowadays after 14 years, he works as a Process Development and Quality Manager at VEO, developing company-wide processes and sharing his passion for process development.

Joonas began his electrical power engineering studies in Mikkeli but changed later to University of Applied Sciences in Vaasa. When the summer 2009 was approaching it was time for him to look for a summer job. Joonas got selected to VEO and during the summer vacancy he worked in Wärtsilä projects alongside VEO’s engineers.

“I had an amazing mentor during my summer job. He was so patient while teaching me. Even though members of my team were busy they always found time to guide me. I learnt more little by little and got more independent in my job. The whole team was full of wonderful people and we have stayed in contact ever since.”

PASSIONATE ABOUT PROCESS DEVELOPMENT

After the summer job Joonas continued as an hourly-paid employee while studying. Also, he completed his thesis for VEO. After the graduation in 2010, he started to work full-time as a project engineer and continued in the same team. During this time, Joonas got familiar with engineering work, and he had more and more time to think what he was truly passionate about.

“I was extremely motivated to develop engineering work and how to make it easier. I realised there is a lot of potential for further development in different interfaces. I had a huge drive to develop processes and make them work seamlessly – and I still have.”

In 2018 Joonas’ position changed from an Engineer to a Development Manager and in 2019 he started in his current role as a Process Development and Quality Manager.
“At the moment, I help different teams to develop their processes. When someone comes up with an idea what should be changed, I want to offer my help immediately. VEO is full of top-level talents, and on top of that they all have great personalities. It is a privilege to work with all of them, especially with those who share the same drive to bring this company forward.”

WORK-LIFE BALANCE IS CRUCIAL

As the best memories during his career Joonas mentions work trips with colleagues and group activities, like VEO’s billiard tournament.
“We have had such a good time during those work trips abroad. When you work together for the same project for a couple of weeks far away from home, you get to know each other well.”

Summer holidays Joonas always spends with his family in Portugal. The balance between work and free time is extremely important to him.
“For me one way to relax is making wood crafts. Also, my morning routine; a workout, a cold shower and warm porridge, that keeps me going.”

NEW INSIGHTS FROM LEAN PHILOSOPHY

“I found Lean philosophy in 2015, and still today my future goals are highly related to this way of thinking. Lean philosophy is based on the idea that the development always starts from human beings. First you teach and train people and their way of thinking and after that they are able to develop processes which create our products and services. My goal for the future is to get as many people as possible at VEO interested in developing processes and join me on this journey.”