Europe’s industrial future

There was a period of time when many companies decided to move their production to low-cost countries in an attempt to cut back on labor costs. Now, however, technical innovations such as automation, robotics, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalization have revolutionized industrial production, and the direction has changed.
“There’s now a window of opportunity. For example, China has only just now started to modernize its production, and the advantage that the region’s cheap labor provided before has been eaten up”, states Jukka Ropponen, CEO of Roima Intelligence Oy.
As a result of globalization, the product development, manufacturing, warehouses and markets of a company might all be located in different countries. Value chains have become more diverse. Management of data and the efficiency of operations at all stages of production have become competitive advantages for industrial companies.
This is where Roima Intelligence comes in. The company helps its customers maximize efficiency in all operations, from product planning, manufacturing and quality control to warehousing and logistics. Roima’s software have been developed together with the customers to meet real-life needs.

Roima Intelligence was established in 2014. The first step was to acquire companies in the field with suitable software for the needs of industrial production and of retail and wholesale – to speed up the entire order-supply chain. Roima has over 40 years of experience in enhancing industrial processes, and now the solutions can be found under one Roima brand.
Roima’s 200 employees form a multicultural work community, as competence and expertise have also been acquired from outside the borders of Finland. The company has expanded internationally and grown with its customers. Roima has customers all over the world and offices in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. From Sweden, the company has also got investors and reinforcement to the company’s management team and board of directors.

“We definitely still have opportunities for growth in Finland, but Sweden has up to three times more industrial production.”
The Uusikaupunki car plant is one of Roima Intelligence’s over 300 customers and clearly shows that with good solutions, industrial production in Finland can indeed be efficient and profitable. Roima Intelligence takes care of the entire production control, production planning and intralogistics at the car plant.

Jukka Ropponen is a passionate advocate of European industry. The strengths of European manufacturing are transparency and responsibility. As part of responsibility, increasing the efficiency of operations is also an ecological solution.
“Through more efficient manufacturing, companies can reduce their heat and water consumption and the amount of waste. This is better both for the environment and for the company’s financial result.”
Evidence of energy saving solutions exists. For example, Roima Intelligence managed to reduce the water consumption of one of its customers by 20 percent. The system developed to monitor water consumption prevents overwashing of products and automatically responds to changes in production.
Roima’s customers have also managed to saved energy in their warehouses, where algorithms are used to ensure that products are always stored in optimal places. This helps to prevent unnecessary movement in the warehouse.
The industry is in a position to make a difference in the fight against climate change. The closer production is to the European consumers, the less emissions will be released in transportation. Ropponen encourages industrial manufacturing companies to modernize their production methods to improve both their financial result and the quality of operations.
“Let’s not turn Europe into a museum for the manufacturing industry; let’s keep local manufacturing competitive. This goal motivates me and our entire staff every day”, Ropponen summarizes.