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Finnish Quality Award Granted to Valtra Inc.

11.11.1999

“I am very proud, both personally and on behalf of Valtra’s staff and partners, to receive the Finnish Quality Award in the industry category,” says Mr Jouko Tukiainen, President and CEO at Valtra. “Our primary motive in pursuing the Finnish Quality Award was our own need to define and describe our business operations, and to get the extremely useful feedback of the professional auditors of Laatukeskus – the Centre for Excellence Finland, in order to develop our operations in the right direction. I must admit, this is a delightful surprise indeed.”

Valtra Inc. is a Finnish tractor producer and a part of the Partek Corporation. The company has developed a customer order system unique in the field. Together with the seller, the customer defines the properties expected of the tractor. The tractor is then assembled from modules, in accordance with the customer’s wishes concerning, for example, colour and optional equipment. Tractors are always delivered to customers brand-new. During the production phase, it is also possible for the customer to visit the factory to see the tractor being assembled.

Valtra holds a market share of 45% in Finland. Contact with customers is close, as Valtra has its own domestic sales network, which has also been granted the ISO 9002 certificate. In 1993, the tractor production plant at Suolahti became the first tractor manufacturer in the world to receive the ISO 9001 certificate. A share of 75% of the plant’s production is exported. In 1998, a total of 8,400 tractors were produced in Finland.

Mr Tukiainen reports that quality management has proven well- suited for the purposes of Valtra. The work being done in the development of quality covers the entire scope of the company’s operations, including sales and administration, as well as external suppliers and authorised after-sales service providers. Valtra has provided quality training to its suppliers: in February 1999, 14 were granted the ISO 9001/9002 quality certificates. The programme will continue: the next training group aspiring to the certificate comprises 28 suppliers. There is a great deal of co-operation with high-tech design houses, universities and other institutions of higher education. Customer feedback on Valtra’s products and services forms a remarkable basis for the company’s further development plans. With the National Quality Award, Valtra expects the amount of customer feedback to increase.

The key components, such as engines, gear systems, rear axles and hydraulics are all developed and produced by Valtra. In this sense, there is unique in-house expertise in vehicle and machinery technology in the company. There are 950 staff working in European Operations; net sales in 1998 were FIM two billion. Also encompassed in Valtra are the Sisu Diesel engine factory, located in Nokia, Finland, and the Brazil-based tractor factory Valtra do Brasil. Valtra’s entire net sales last year amounted to FIM 3.54 billion, and the number of staff was 2,400.

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