Job rotation

Jere works as a department supervisor at Corex Finland. He has been working at Corex’s Imatra plant since 2007.

Corex’s Imatra mill manufactures cores for Stora Enso’s Imatra mills, one of the world’s largest consumer board mills. Jere worked as a shift supervisor for four coating lines.

Coating machines improve the barrier properties of paperboard to meet the requirements of various food packaging applications, such as liquid packaging. One of the new aspects of the job was that the shift supervisor for the coating machines is responsible for four machine lines in three different buildings. Corex’s Imatra plant operates in the same building as two coating machine lines.

The coating machine process is also more complex and requires expertise. The process was new to Jere, but on the other hand, the work itself shares many similar features.

– Both jobs involve maintenance and problem-solving. To some extent, the maintenance processes are similar. However, there is more technology at the Stora Enso plant and the equipment fleet is larger, so everything there was new and exciting.

Jere has always been interested in technology, and the job rotation gave him the chance to learn new things. The biggest benefit of the rotation, however, was managing a group of people he had never met before. Jere didn’t know any of his teammates, of whom there were more than twenty.

“I was met by a professional and friendly group, and everyone welcomed me warmly,” he says gratefully.

Jere had worked as a production worker at Corex’s Imatra plant for nine years before becoming a department foreman in 2016. As a result, he had become very familiar with both the people and the process. In that sense, too, the job rotation brought a welcome change to his daily routine.

At Stora Enso, Jere worked three shifts, each lasting 12 hours. Jere hadn’t worked shifts in nearly 10 years.

– The night shifts in particular made me nervous—I wondered how I’d get used to them.

In the end, the first six months went well, and Jere had no problems with stamina or sleep. The job rotation refreshed his understanding of shift work and its associated challenges.

“For example, during the last few hours of the night shift, you can’t expect an employee to be as alert as they are during the day. On the other hand, a professional knows how to handle their tasks even when they aren’t at their most alert.”

For others considering a job rotation, Jere has this advice:

– It’s worth challenging yourself and striving to grow. It makes life more interesting!

Finally, Jere would like to thank Lea Jaatinen, plant manager at Corex’s Imatra plant, whose support made his six-month assignment with Stora Enso possible.

Liisa worked in Imatra every other week in close collaboration with Plant Manager Lea Jaatinen, and she also met Jere, since they worked in the same building. At first, Liisa received an orientation from Jere.

Liisa’s transition to the Imatra plant was greatly facilitated by the fact that she was already familiar with Plant Manager Lea from her time at the research center, as well as with the factory environment and, to some extent, the systems.

Working every other week at both locations was the only solution for Liisa due to family reasons.

“The job rotation was mainly about proving to myself that I could do this.”

Liisa was intrigued by the opportunity to learn something new, even though she also learns and gets to continuously develop her professional skills in her own job. On the other hand, learning something new was also nerve-wracking, and Liisa wondered how she would manage it.

“There were challenges, but I always managed to get through them somehow. The factory workers helped me a lot with this; they welcomed me warmly and with an open mind. They are professionals who were always there to help me. In tough situations, they used their experience and knowledge to guide me on how to get the job done. A big thank you to each and every one of them!