At a time when Finnish handcraftsmanship is becoming increasingly rare, Insta has systematically expanded its cabinet manufacturing operations. With a strong focus on quality, good partnerships, customer orientation, speed and flexibility, the manufacturing business continuously develops its production.
Insta’s manufacturing business has steadily improved its results year after year. To quote Sales Manager Ilari Lilja, cabinets are delivered for ski lifts, paper machines, concentrators, mines, sawmills, ships, cranes, fire engines, water treatment plants, pumping stations, nuclear power plants, factories, airports, trains, swimming pools and even oil rigs. The unit delivers cabinets around the world, whether the destination is Europe, North America or Eastern Europe.
Having reached its 20-year milestone, the unit is Finland’s leading manufacturer of customized automation cabinets and today employs 100 people in two locations. Over the years, the expanding customer base and increasingly diverse operations and product portfolio have required not only long-term effort but also successful acquisitions.
Let’s take a moment to go back to where it all began.
One computer and a fax machine
“When I started working here, there was one computer and a fax machine. Back then, you could get much further with a screwdriver. Today, there are a lot more things that require a computer. Of course, the basic work itself hasn’t really changed. The components have evolved somewhat and look more modern, but the basic principle is largely the same,” recalls Mikko Koskinen, a long-time cabinet manufacturing professional who currently works as a supervisor at Insta’s Muurame location.
Koskinen calculates that he has now spent 24 years working in cabinet manufacturing. He mainly notices the passage of time when he remembers that some of his current colleagues had not even been born when he started.
Koskinen’s path to what was then Pantek Automaatio began after he completed his military service in 1997. The Municipality of Muurame, which worked with Pantek, approached him and offered him work as an installer, and his planned break after military service ended up lasting only a week or two. Six months later, he already had a permanent position.
After working at Pantek for a couple of years, Koskinen moved into a testing role. The Tampere-based company now known as Insta Group, then called Instrumentointi Oy, was already on a growth path at the time and was expanding its range of industrial automation services. In November 2000, Instrumentointi Oy acquired Pantek’s shares, and Koskinen became an Insta employee.
In addition to Muurame, Pantek operated in Vantaa, where its activities focused not only on manufacturing but also on the engineering and turnkey delivery of automation projects.
“The Pantek acquisition was largely related not only to the company’s strong cabinet manufacturing model, but also to its successful turnkey delivery model. The close symbiosis between cabinet manufacturing and turnkey deliveries inherited from Pantek can still be seen at Insta today and continues to contribute to the success of turnkey deliveries,” says Jyri Stenberg, Director of Sales and Customer Relations at Insta’s Intelligent Industry business.
Trust and open dialogue form the foundation of partnership
In 2002, the manufacturing business took its next significant step. Metso Automation Networks Oy, now Valmet, signed a cooperation agreement with Pantek for the manufacturing of automation cabinets. The manufacturing business established its Tampere location in Sarankulma, in premises that had once served as a badminton hall.
“When we discontinued our own cabinet manufacturing operations in the late 1990s, it took some time for the operations to find a new direction. The natural next step was to start cooperating with Pantek,” explains Petri Raiskila, Supply Chain Engineer at Valmet, who has had a long career with the company.
“And the cooperation has clearly worked well, considering how long it has lasted. As a company, we fundamentally look for something deeper than a conventional subcontracting relationship. We seek a partnership based on mutual trust and the ability to discuss matters openly. It is also important for us to receive feedback on our components, documentation and manufacturability in general,” Raiskila says.
Raiskila reflects on how enormously the world has changed over the past 20 years. Products and facilities have evolved. While the operations may once have resembled “manufacturing in a garage,” today they must meet high standards for environmental performance, global competitiveness and professional quality. Documents can be shared digitally through portals and cloud services. At the same time, some good practices from the past have also been retained.
“Sometimes you miss the ‘good old days’. Insta is a familiar and reliable partner, and over the years we have pulled off all kinds of extraordinary things together when time has been tight. After all, urgency is always present in the project world,” Raiskila recalls.
Situations can change rapidly. That is why resources and orders need to be managed well.
“Flexibility and the ability to move quickly are important. Sometimes situations arise where manufacturing is already underway and you need to be able to stop and even make a complete U-turn. Not every company is capable of that. I would say that Insta is good and strong in this respect,” Raiskila emphasizes.
“Insta is a trusted and dependable partner that delivers consistent quality, and any problems that have arisen have been resolved in a constructive spirit.”
From Pantek to Insta Automation
Pantek’s Vantaa office continued to focus on engineering and turnkey deliveries, while the manufacturing operations were centralized in Muurame and Tampere. The next change took place in 2005, when Pantek Automaatio changed its name to Insta Automation Oy. The company became responsible for all industrial automation operations, and the automation installation business known as Automatiikka-Asentajat was also transferred under it. A year later, Instrumentointi Oy became the more concise Insta Group.
In autumn 2007, a new group of 17 electrical installers, electronics installers, IT installers, cabinet manufacturing professionals and automation installers moved to Sarankulma. Insta Automation had acquired the manufacturing business of Taminstall Oy. The production facilities were redesigned to improve logistics and serve the needs of both companies, while enabling better management of inventory and workload fluctuations as well as improved customer service.
The third acquisition took place in 2018, when Insta Group acquired the shares of Tampereen Automaatiosähkö Oy, a company specializing in industrial electrical and automation installations and machine automation projects. Operating nationwide, TAS, like Insta Automation, provided automation and process electrical installations, cabinet manufacturing services and engineering services. As a result, new professionals joined several units.
Customer orientation is deeply rooted in the way we work
Today, a 3D printer hums away in the Muurame production hall, and the number of computers has increased considerably. As production volumes and the number of employees have grown, the location has moved a couple of times. The current premises are spacious enough, comfortable, well lit and tidy. Operations are continuously developed according to Lean principles, which has improved not only productivity but also the meaningfulness of the work.
Mikko Koskinen continued working as a tester for around 20 years until he was appointed supervisor two or three years ago.
“At that point, my role changed so completely that I found a whole new level of interest and motivation in the work,” he recalls.Although wiring work has changed over the years as components and solutions have evolved and become more intelligent, professional expertise and competence are about more than simply understanding the technology.“
It’s not just about building the cabinet, but about understanding the drawings and the customer. We need to know how to come up with the right solutions, including solutions that the customer may not have thought of designing themselves,” emphasizes Matti Tuominen, the current Vice President of the manufacturing business.
“Our personnel understand customer orientation from every angle. The fact that we are doing this work for the customer is deeply ingrained in the way we work.”
Koskinen agrees:
“Our starting point is always the customer’s needs, not what would be the quickest or easiest way to do something. We are not looking for quick wins, and although things may sometimes take more time, it pays off in the long run.”