Text: Sami Sallinen
After expanding its operations from Nordic countries to Eastern Europe and Asia during the past two decades, Telko is among the top three raw material distributors in all its chosen markets, and the leading Western company in its field in Eastern Europe. Telko’s net sales 2015 was MEUR 215 and operating profit MEUR 10.4.
This success has not reduced the Finnish company’s appetite for further growth. “We have the vision and commitment to achieve rapid growth during our current four-year strategy period. This will take the company to the next level in terms of size,” says Telko’s Managing Director Kalle Kettunen, who has over 20 years of experience in the industry.
“Aspo’s strategy is to develop its subsidiaries, so we are in a very strong financial position to expand.”
Telko’s reputation as a reliable distributor is backed up by long-term partnerships with international raw material manufacturers like ExxonMobil, Castrol, LG Chem, Lotte and AkzoNobel. Telko can also draw on the financial muscle of its parent company Aspo, a conglomerate listed on the Helsinki stock exchange. “Aspo’s strategy is to develop its subsidiaries so we are in a very strong financial position to expand.”
Enabling innovative solutions
Telko has the capacity to tailor its raw materials to the exact needs of its customers, helping to implement the latest technologies, reduce production costs and improve their final products.
“Sometimes innovation means creating a whole new raw material. For example, through close cooperation with a leading European pharmaceutical company and a Korean partner, we developed a completely new plastic raw material that removed complex additional production phase totally in the production of medicine dispensers”, explains Kettunen.
Motivated people, environmental compliance and efficient logistics
The organisational strength stems from a corporate culture that genuinely values the quality of local expertise.
“Almost all of our staff members are hired locally. The motivation stems from the freedom of the local management combined with responsibility. They value working for a Finnish company that operates in an open and honest way, so our staff turnover is minimal,” says Kettunen. He also highlights factors of Telko’s future competitiveness: environmental compliance beyond the minimum requirements and continued investments in more efficient logistics.
More articles about innovation here.
