Our sealing business has developed a new service called the Trade Container. It has now been delivered to our customer Metsä Fibre’s plant in Äänekoski. The Trade Container expands the existing KLINGER Const™ consignment warehouse service model. It brings the products needed for annual maintenance, such as gaskets and accessories, closer to the equipment being serviced. The Trade Container was designed in collaboration with the customer and implemented as a trainee project. It demonstrates KLINGER Finland’s commitment to customer-oriented solutions and motivating trainee projects.
Trade Container for More Efficient and Smoother Annual Maintenance
The idea for the Trade Container was conceived in spring 2023 when KLINGER Finland and Metsä Fibre were looking for ways to improve plant maintenance. The solution was a mobile Trade Container modeled after the KLINGER Const™ consignment warehouse service. It was delivered directly to the maintenance site at Metsä Fibre’s plant in Äänekoski in April 2024. The Trade Container will be available for Metsä Fibre for approximately three weeks during the plant’s annual maintenance.
According to KLINGER Finland’s Regional Sales Manager for Central Finland, Jani Häkkinen, Metsä Fibre anticipates that this maintenance period will be one of the best in years thanks to our service. The contents of the Trade Container were planned in collaboration with the customer. They include gaskets, flange protectors and welding blankets. All products are readily available directly from the plant yard without ordering or delivery delays. This speeds up the maintenance process. It also minimizes production interruptions and improves efficiency.
Our on-site expert further supports the efficiency of the annual maintenance and the Trade Container. The expert ensures that the right products are available and suitable for their intended purpose. Our expert also uses a camera to capture images of non-standard gaskets. This enables the quick delivery of custom-cut gaskets from KLINGER Finland’s gasket workshop.
KLINGER Finland is Committed to Developing Innovative, Customer-Focused Solutions
The Trade Container is a testament to this commitment. In the future, we see opportunities to expand the Trade Container concept further. It could be offered more widely for annual maintenance in industries such as power plants and paper mills. It could also serve new worksites that do not yet have their own storage facilities. In the future, the Trade Container could also include an on-site gasket cutting service. This would allow gaskets to be cut to the customer’s specifications directly on-site. This service would improve efficiency and reduce costs. It would ensure immediate product availability without unnecessary capital investment or delivery delays.
Motivating Trainee Project for the Trade Container’s Space Planning
The space planning for the Trade Container was managed by Ilmari Huvinen, a student of technical design at Omnia Leppävaara, who is completing an internship at KLINGER Finland as part of his studies. Ilmari’s task was to determine the space needed for the stored products and design the interior of the Trade Container. The goal was to ensure that the required products are easy to find and retrieve.
The space planning was a motivating and suitably challenging project for Ilmari. Large and fragile gasket materials had to be stored in sufficient quantities while remaining intact during transport. Ilmari created the necessary drawings. Based on these, the shelving and pull-out drawers were custom-made and installed according to his plan.
The correct attachment of the elements was ensured in collaboration with KLINGER Finland’s experts, and overall, the cooperation within the project team was smooth. During the project, Ilmari gained new skills. These included preparing and comparing requests for quotations, information retrieval, and solution-oriented thinking in changing design situations.
KLINGER Finland values offering motivating internships and projects to new future professionals. The company provides students with valuable work experience. At the same time, it benefits from the fresh perspectives that trainees bring to a company with long-standing industry experience. The Trade Container space planning project was an excellent example of a well-executed trainee project that brings genuine added value to KLINGER Finland’s customers.
Want to learn how the Trade Container service improves the efficiency of annual maintenance shutdowns? Visit our service page to explore the benefits and available service options.
