Purchasing Manager Kyösti Janatuinen

Kyösti Janatuinen was studying IT when, in the summer of 1993, he came to knock on Genelec’s door, asking for summer job. The arrangement continued over five summers and Janatuinen became highly familiar with the whole production process, from delivery to assembly and from different phases of electronics production to product testing.

His permanent role with Genelec began in 1998, when Janatuinen was asked to help the production manager by purchasing materials. He started to ask different questions: Are there enough materials in production? Is the quality good enough? Where do we purchase the materials? After a few years, all the purchasing for production was shifted to the first full-time buyer at Genelec.

“It was quite a puzzle! Going through the different phases of production was indeed useful for me in the beginning,” he says.

The purchasing manager contacts the subcontractors and is in charge of competitive bidding, purchase contracts, complaints and, in part, audits: He liaises with subcontractors to ensure that their actions are in line with their contracts, and that quality thresholds are met. Genelec has hundreds of material suppliers, around half of whom supply standard materials, with the other half providing specialist items as specified by Genelec’s own R&D department.

“R&D is constantly producing new technical innovations to improve the products, sometimes in an amazing level of detail. This means that both purchasing and suppliers need to answer tough questions. One might think that things could be done in a simpler way but we do them the Genelec way,” Janatuinen grins.

He appreciates his versatile job. A wide range of materials are produced using different methods and purchased from different suppliers. There are also challenges with the technical suitability and performance of the materials. Suppliers in different countries have different working cultures and you need to understand them. Either you adapt to them or try to shape them so that cooperation is possible.

“The level of domestic materials is very high in our products. We purchase local, if it can be done reasonably and cost-effectively,” Janatuinen explains.

Sustainability is taken into account in the choice of supplier, including the packing of the incoming goods and delivered products, the different materials and freight. Priorities include the minimising of waste, recycling, making cycling to work an appealing choice, energy saving initiatives and more.

“This is a work place where challenges just keep coming. We consistently aim to do things better everywhere in the company. We concentrate on the details so that everything is connected to our values and vision. The whole chain from the supplier to the customer – products, service, planning how different functions work, the way we do things and execute the plans, how people commit to their work, sustainability. The whole is the sum of its parts, and maybe even in a slightly odd way a special whole: Genelec.”