Martti Ronkainen, Operations Management Director of Neste Engineering Solutions, emphasizes the importance of competence and ability in a rapid and comprehensive change.
“Neste has a strong ambition for growth and Neste Engineering Solutions has a new role in Neste Group’s strategy implementation. This will require significant transformation in our competences and capabilities within relative short timeframe.”
Neste Engineering Solutions takes greater responsibility for executing plant investment projects within Neste. The company also has an important role in scaling up and commercializing innovations related to new products and new raw materials. The knowledge-based company plays a critical role in implementing the new corporate strategy.
According to Ronkainen, the biggest change in the company is the transition from a project engineering company to a specialized management and competence house. As a result, Neste Engineering Solutions will increasingly commission and manage the work of the partners globally.
“It requires new kind of competence to lead the work that has traditionally been done by ourselves. Above all, Neste needs the talent and expertise found in Neste Engineering Solutions. Success in implementing Neste's strategy requires expertise in process technology and managing complex plant investments.”
Neste Engineering Solutions ensures the implementation of the strategic transformation into milestones, responsibilities and concrete work tasks through Trailmaker concept. In the first joint sparring it was discovered that the common alignment still needed to be refined.
“When we started the Trailmaker process, we imagined that we already have a shared vision of where we are going and why. However, we quickly realized that we had not yet had enough discussion. The questions posed by Trailmaker were a great help – we had to answer questions we hadn’t been able to ask ourselves.”
After forming a common vision, the Trailmaker concept guided the debate on the implementation of a huge strategic change. Ronkainen laughs that the outcome of the Trailmaker process is not quite as fancy as strategy formulation.
“When about twenty strategic projects, milestones and concrete tasks are finally packed together in one form, it appears as a to-do list. It's a bit different when it comes to actually accomplishing the tasks outlined in the strategy”, Ronkainen concludes.
TRAILMAKER is a concept for faster strategy execution:
- Concrete common view and commitment
- Identified capability needs
- Visibility
