Sammet Dampers is now part of Caligo Industria

At your service

1.12.2022
Text Mikko Sammasmaa
Photos Mikko Sammasmaa

Sammet's recent recruitment, sales engineer Pekka Kylmälahti, is fine-tuning the company's extensive lifecycle services with a reassuring touch. The man who joined Sammet team earlier this year has impressive technical know-how and a long history in service sales and maintenance management. With Sammet's continuous partnership model, taking care of customer is a continuous process – it also includes the periods between active projects. In this story, Kylmälahti will share his thoughts on what lifecycle services, or service in general, actually means at Sammet.

Sales Engineer Pekka Kylmälahti has strong focus on customer needs: - Requests for offers are quickly processed and quotations prepared with no delay, as the customer is often in a hurry. However, there is no room for mistakes, and we are not making guesses. When necessary, we always ask for more information to be sure we are offering exactly the right product.

As the global market leader in industrial dampers, Sammet delivers its products to all continents. More than 90% of the company’s turnover is generated by exports, and Sammet’s Clean Flow dampers have already been delivered to more than 140 countries around the world. In addition, high-volume products, such as Sammet's Clean Flow dampers for marine, are used on cruise and cargo ships on all oceans. Mastering this complex palette requires continuous development work and service design.

Communication has always been crucial to Sammet's service thinking. The customer receives support and instructions for maintenance of products, and all feedback received is taken into account in developing Sammet’s operations further. In addition to original spare parts and product maintenance, the service offer includes inspections and replacements of end-of-life dampers with new Clean Flow technology. – We focus on helping the customer and offer them advice and technical support as needed. This is at the very core of our customer promise, Kylmälahti explains.

Challenges and growth prospects

Uncertain times in global economy are sometimes reflected in extended delivery times and component shortages. At Sammet, ensuring state-of-the-art lifecycle services means constant work. - The delivery times of some components have been challenging, but luckily the vast majority of spare parts are available with prompt delivery times, many of them immediately from our own warehouse, Kylmälahti assures. - If needed, we will seek for replacement options with better availability, always making sure that they fit, of course.

"We focus on helping the customer and offer them advice and technical support as needed. This is at the very core of our customer promise.”

The volume of spare parts deliveries is increasing at the same time as more and more customers are paying attention to product’s full lifecycle and the long-term cost of ownership. Sammet's rapidly growing business also generates natural demand. - At the moment, a big part of the spare part demand is for marine dampers. Our customers are often large OEM suppliers who actively work with service. End customers' ships sail across the oceans. There is plenty of growth potential and installed base in both offshore and land business, Kylmälahti explains. Sammet's ambitious goal is to offer the same unbeatable mix of products and services in all markets.

Service attitude built in

How does Kylmälahti then as a newcomer see the strengths of Sammet teams? How does Sammet’s partnership ideology show in everyday work? - The team is brilliant and if needed, you can always ask for advice. Everyone is happy to help. To me, Sammet's people represent experience and professionalism, and a culture where everyone is valued. The spirit of customer service is strongly reflected in the company's operations, Kylmälahti states, and promises that the customer will not be left alone with their dampers - We are always here to help with our service and product expertise.

Encounters in the field

Sammet’s way of frequent communication with customer is the best way to prevent any possible problems. Building mutual trust also serves in future projects. During covid, customer visits were mostly transferred online but luckily meeting face to face is now possible again. Visiting sites and plants for maintenance and inspections is an important way to better understand specific customer needs. - In the future, the plan is to further increase site visits, on-site inspections and maintenance, Kylmälahti promises. - Everyday partnership is built through encounters, after all.

Who

Pekka Kylmälahti, age 46

Position

Sales engineer 

Responsibilities

Sammet's product and service sales and lifecycle services