Sudden landing at Science Park [2.2.2010]

The storms of the global economy threw the hero of this month to Turku Science Park. The global economic recession forced AGA to move its liquefied gas plant from Uusikaupunki to Porvoo, but Kai Munukka, plant manager, landed after the turmoil safely at Turku Science Park Oy.

Kai Munukka started in Uusikaupunki as plant manager of the Esso liquefied gas bottling plant in 2007. The two years he spent managing the plant turned out to be eventful.

– I worked as a transport manager at Esso in Helsinki for seven years before moving to Uusikaupunki. In Uusikaupunki I actually worked for three different employers. First Esso Oy Ab was sold to St1 which, after a while, sold its liquefied gas business to AGA, Mr Munukka explains.

Soon it was AGA's turn to announce that its liquefied gas operations would be reorganised: the plant in Uusikaupunki would be closed down and the operations concentrated in Porvoo. Mr Munukka probably could have continued to work for AGA somewhere else, but as a father of two small children he did not want to move.

– I started looking for a new job last spring. I applied for probably 5 or 6 vacancies, and got invited to interviews. I only applied for jobs which I believed I would enjoy and imagined I could get, Mr Munukka says.

Finally Turku Science Park Oy took the bait. Mr Munukka points out that he was lucky compared with many others who have lost their jobs due to the recession: he did not have to get used to the everyday life of an unemployed person.

Mr Munukka quit his work at AGA on the last Friday of October and started in his new job at Turku Science Park already on the first Monday of November.

Responsible for the safety of LogiCity

Turku Science Park hired Mr Munukka to participate in the implementation of ELLO, a project for developing the competitiveness of the Southern Finland transport corridor.

The pilot project for ELLO is LogiCity, a logistics cluster to be built in the immediate vicinity of Turku Airport.

– A large area has been reserved for logistics services at Turku Airport; it will be developed into a huge logistics centre. Similar centres are also being built elsewhere in Southern Finland, for example in the Vuosaari harbour in Helsinki as well as in Kerava and Lahti, Mr Munukka says.

He is responsible for drawing up a plan for safety issues in a logistics centre like LogiCity. His recommendation regarding safety in the area is closely linked with the marketing of the Southern Finland transport corridor.

– ELLO is based on a marketing campaign with which Finland aims to grab a share, as large as possible, of the Russian transit traffic. We are seeking competitive advantage in relation to Baltic transport corridors. Finland can offer reliability and safety, something that the Baltic states may not be able to deliver quite as well as Finland.

– It is my task to describe why Finland in practice is safer than other countries, Mr Munukka chuckles.

In terms of possible threats to a logistics chain, many of us probably come to think of the currently common phenomenon of terrorism, but according to Mr Munukka in Finnish conditions the work mainly consists of ordinary crime prevention. It is a question of reliability: about how much and how probable it is that goods disappear along the transportation chain.

From a safety perspective, crucial factors include guarding, access control and use of RFID technology, i.e. radio-frequency identification methods (RFID tags).

Turku Science Park is a good place to work

It is easy to see why Turku Science Park considered Mr Munukka right for the job: considering his former duties as transport manager at Esso, he has extensive experience in transport logistics and safety operations.

– Safety thinking has come a long way in the oil sector. For instance, Esso developed its safety policies in co-operation with other oil companies and the Finnish Oil and Gas Federation. Many other fields do not have this kind of safety-related co-operation between organisations.

– One of my tasks will certainly be to test similar types of co-operation within this project," Mr Munukka says.

The two-and-a-half year project has only just begun for Mr Munukka. He says that he has spent the first three months gathering information and trying to identify all of the factors that the LogiCity safety project may in reality involve. In addition, he has visited target companies and other operators in the logistics sector to represent the project.

Mr Munukka says that he enjoys working on his project. Gradually he has also got used to working at Turku Science Park Oy.

– Everything is fine. I only have positive things to say. The atmosphere seems to be good here, Mr Munukka praises.

KAI MUNUKKA

- Born in Lahti on 19 January 1967 - Completed his Master of Science in logistics degree at the Lappeenranta University of Technology in 1996 - Warehouse Manager at Lahti Logistics Oy from 1998-1999 - Transport Manager at Esso from 1999-2007 - Plant Manager of the liquefied gas bottling plant in Uusikaupunki from 2007-2009 for three different employers (Esso, St1 and AGA) - Does exercise to stay fit, works on his house and spends time with his three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son