YOUR POSITION AT ROBIT AND MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BY TASK AND REGIONAL LEVEL

I work as a commercial technical Sales Manager for the Robit subsidiary in Lima, Peru, focusing my efforts on maintaining and growing Robit’s presence in the markets in which we participate. My work focuses on the generation of market information that helps us choose the strategy to take directly or through distributors, having direct responsibilities in various Latin American countries, and in the surface and geotechnical markets for Peru. Always articulating with the factories, with our own work teams and those of the representatives, working on security issues, technical articulations, commercial presentations, strategic steps, logistics and administration follow-ups.

EXPERIENCE ON THE FIELD

I am very proud to have 14 years of experience in the mining industry, always oriented to field work and focused on the commercial development of companies within the consumables category, which has allowed me to interact with clients in different positions to identify the reasons why their needs can be covered. Today the tasks we carry out allow us to learn about different operations in various markets, which helps me expand the boundaries of what we do and get to know different cultures of the region.

KEY MARKET TRENDS ON YOUR FIELD OF EXPERTISE FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS

What we can see as market trends is that our customers are increasingly specializing in the use of consumables, and this poses various challenges for companies like Robit, since it pushes us to be flexible to understand the needs of each customer. We can also see throughout the region that the participation of contractors for mining operations is increasing, which increases the need for users to work taking care of the costs per meter drilled or work under contracts of this modality. That said, Robit has the possibility of attracting business to increase the profitability of our clients, since we have quality materials and high-tech designs.

HOW DO YOU SEE ROBIT IN 2023-2024 – WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN EXPECTATIONS IN YOUR FIELD?

For the coming years, I am sure that the expansion of markets with a focus on Brazil and Chile for the region will give us the possibility of improving our presence in large clients and increasing participation in markets that have not yet been explored. Always focusing on personalized assistance to key clients and strengthening the tools of our business partners. The combination of technical tools and our expertise in drilling consumables will make Robit an even more reliable partner for our clients.

For more information: Martín Rodriguez, firstname.lastname@robitgroup.com

 

Read more Robit ProTALK interviews:

• Janne Soininen, Director, Global Manufacturing
• George Apostopoulos, VP Global Sales
• Jorge Leal, VP Top Hammer
• Adam Baker, VP Down The Hole
• Kari Alenius, VP Finland
• Ville Pohja, VP Geotechnical
• Mikko Vuojolainen, VP North America
• Franco van Deventer, MD Southern Africa
• José Cisneros, MD Robit S.A.C.
• Steve Landreth, VP Australasia
• SK Back, Regional Sales Director – Asia
• Pavel Timofeev, VP CIS & East Europe

A corporate supporter of sports, Robit signed a sponsorship and cooperation agreement in 2021 with Hilla Niemelä, one of the most promising young skiers in Finland. Hilla has been keeping a training diary for our readers. Here is a summary of her skiing season 2022–23.

Had a great skiing season. I exceeded myself and my expectations on many measures but left a lot to be desired too. My goals for the season were to compete in the U23 World Championships and finally debut in the World Cup. The season started fast at the beginning of November, and I was in really good shape compared to previous seasons. Right in the first race, I got my best placement to date in the Finnish Cup – a good start for the season.

After the observation competitions early in the season, I made it to the World Cup in Ruka, Finland, for the first time. In my first WC start, I finished in the top 30 in the classic-style sprint. On the second and third day, I also reached the top 40. Based on these results, I was selected to ski for the World Cup abroad. For the first time, I got to experience what it is like to tour overseas. In Lillehammer, I was 37th in the classic-style 20 km – an encouraging experience for a longer distance.

The main competitions in December were the Scandinavia Cup in Östersund, Sweden, which also served as a qualifying event for the U23 World Championships in Canada. I had an excellent sprint day and finished 11th in a tough race. December was a busy month of training.

In the autumn, I started studying Environmental Engineering at the University of Tampere, which allowed me to participate in the Winter Universiade, an equivalent of the World Student Championships. On 9 January, we travelled to Lake Placid in New York State – two weeks in the USA, five days of racing and many great experiences. The most memorable trip of my life; I would go again anytime! I skied two personal gold medals: 5 km classic and 5 km freestyle, and in the relay, I anchored the Finnish team to gold. We had a great team spirit throughout the trip, and I’m sure it was largely because the team achieved top performances.

From Lake Placid, straight to Canada for the U23 World Championships. Despite the long travel days, I was in a good mood for the sprint day. I was really charged, which negatively affected qualifying, but it got better in the heat stage. However, the race day I had so anticipated ended prematurely with a crash, which was a big disappointment. In Canada, I skied one more classic 20 km with little success. I had to skip the last race due to health concerns.

Four weeks in North America left me really tired, and my race performances were hit-and-miss. I did have some successes: I won my first two personal Finnish Junior Championships, sprint and 10 km. I also qualified for the World Cups in Tallinn and Lahti, but I didn’t have much to offer. The energy was ok, but the performance fell far below my level. However, I crowned the season with success in the Finnish championships relay, where our team won silver! I made my late-season top performance right where it mattered and ended the season with a smile.

A new training season is well underway, and my hunger for success has only grown stronger. Once you know what it feels like to throw your arms up in the sky in victory at the finish line, you’re hooked forever!

Thanks to Robit for your invaluable support in my sporting career!

Best regards, Hilla

YOUR POSITION AT ROBIT AND MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES BY TASK AND REGIONAL LEVEL?

I work as Global Manufacturing Director and my priority is to ensure that our customers get their products delivered as promised and with the proven Robit quality. Thus, my main responsibility is overseeing and coordinating the manufacturing operations in Finland, UK, Korea, and Australia. Also, HSEQ-related topics form a significant part of my responsibilities. I work in close cooperation with factory heads of each location and, therefore, my daily tasks are much about communication; what are the current main issues, are projects on schedule, and are there any safety related concerns.

EXPERIENCE ON THE FIELD

I started my career as a production planner over 15 years ago. Since then, I have been working in different roles in metal industry, still always keeping very close to production and supply chain related processes. I could say that production management has been the guiding line of my career. In my current role it is nice to see time after time how you might be on different continents and work with people from different cultures, but “factory physics” remains more or less the same. This makes adapting existing processes and creating new ones very interesting.

KEY MARKET TRENDS ON YOUR FIELD OF EXPERTISE FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS

As automation is part of our everyday life, I believe digitalization together with AI is the next big thing. Lean philosophy will stay as a basis and sustainable supply chain will become important competitive advantage. I see that AI offers possibilities in very concrete things like machine tracking. This is an application where the amount of information is in many cases enormous, because each machining center is creating new data all the time. Still, when going for a detailed level, there might be patterns that predict, for example, machine breaks or quality issues. For humans, analyzing and identifying patterns from a large amount of data would be very time consuming, or impossible, but with help of AI it is much more efficient and reliable. From customer point of view utilizing AI and digitalization mean faster and more reliable information flow, better visibility to supply chain and eventually, happier customers. I also believe this goes vice versa, better information flow towards factories will help us to reach higher delivery accuracy through increased quality of information.

HOW DO ROBIT’S ONGOING ACTIONS SUPPORT THE CUSTOMERS AND THEIR CURRENT CHALLENGES?

Current actions will support better availability and quality. We have started a Robit-wide project to review the existing processes and related quality assurance actions. The purpose is to spot any risks that non-conforming products would be delivered to customer. We are also developing the utilization of our ERP-system. The target is to utilize a more sophisticated MRP-module that better supports our production planning processes and gives improved visibility to whole supply chain, helping us gain better availability. For customer this is visible, once again, as better information. We are able to spot possible risks for delays in supply chain, and if there’s absolutely nothing we can do to eliminate these risks, we can at least offer reliable information regarding updated delivery time. Of course, IT-systems alone don’t solve majority of the issues, they are just tools. We also need to build processes where people and IT-tools together ensure fluent and efficient communication flow.  

HOW DO YOU SEE ROBIT IN 2023-2024 – WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN EXPECTATIONS IN YOUR FIELD?

I expect flexibility to increase in manufacturing operations. This is done through training people and setting up machines so that they are not dedicated to one product group only but can manufacture several product groups. This helps us adapt to changing market situations and market demand. Better utilization of IT-tools (MRP, machine tracking) decreases the manual workload and helps us better understand the current situation and plan development actions accordingly. Another big improvement I expect to really kick off is an improved forecasting and capacity planning process. As a summary, next couple of years will further develop our processes towards better customer service. Combining of technical tools and our expertise of drilling consumables will make Robit even more reliable partner to our customers.

For more information: Janne Soininen, firstname.lastname@robitgroup.com

 

Read more Robit ProTALK interviews:

• George Apostopoulos, VP Global Sales
• Jorge Leal, VP Top Hammer
• Adam Baker, VP Down The Hole
• Kari Alenius, VP Finland
• Ville Pohja, VP Geotechnical
• Mikko Vuojolainen, VP North America
• Franco van Deventer, MD Southern Africa
• José Cisneros, MD Robit S.A.C.
• Steve Landreth, VP Australasia
• SK Back, Regional Sales Director – Asia
• Pavel Timofeev, VP CIS & East Europe

Robit Plc and Sotreq S.A. have signed a distribution agreement. Based on the agreement, Sotreq will represent Robit and its products in Brazil.

The partnership between Robit and Sotreq supports Robit’s goal to expand the company’s market coverage and strengthen its distributor network. Brazil, as a leading economy in Latin America and a major mining country, offers a huge opportunity in this sense.

Arto Halonen, Group CEO, Robit Plc: “We are delighted to start cooperation with Sotreq. Robit’s high quality products, combined with Sotreq’s strong presence, service and customer base, provide customers in Brazil with a strong partner for their drilling consumables needs.”

Marcelo Orberg, CEO, Sotreq S.A. emphasizes: “We believe in the power of collaboration and the strength that comes from companies working together towards a common goal. Through the assumed cooperation with Robit, we are ready to conquer new challenges and continue our journey of growth in the Brazilian market. We are very confident in the expansion of underground mining. For this, it is essential to add technology to the activity, with state-of-the-art accessories, which add productivity to our customers’ business.”

Robit specializes in providing top-notch drilling consumables to the global mining and construction industries, enabling its customers to achieve extended drilling capabilities with unparalleled quality. The company’s goal is to be the number one drilling consumables company in the world. The company has achieved this through its range of world-class products, including Top Hammer, Down the Hole and Geotechnical solutions, all known for their high and proven quality. In addition, expert services ensure cost savings on drilling for its customers.

Sotreq’s trajectory is marked by entrepreneurship and the conviction that the pursuit of excellence is the path to growth. With more than 80 years of innovation, Sotreq is a national company that provides solutions for new and used equipment, technology, specialized product support, in addition to leasing solutions. It is an official Cat dealership with more than 50 branches distributed in more than 90% of the national territory. It serves the Construction, Mining, Agribusiness, Energy, Forestry, Industrial and Oil & Gas and Maritime market segments with a highly qualified technical team. More information available at www.sotreq.com.br.

Further information:

Arto Halonen, Group CEO, Robit Plc, arto.halonen@robitgroup.com
Arthur Assis, Commercial Manager, Sotreq S.A., arthur.assis@sotreq.com.br

ROBIT PLC
Arto Halonen

Photo from left: Arto Halonen, Group CEO, Robit Plc and Marcelo Orberg, CEO, Sotreq S.A.

Robit’s General Meeting has elected vuorineuvos (honorary title granted by the President of the Republic Finland) Lasse Aho as a new member of Robit board on 15 March 2023. He has 18 years of experience as a CEO of Olvi Plc, during which time Olvi Plc has grown strongly. Aho brings strong knowledge in managing growth company. In addition, he brings know-how of consumer business sales, marketing, and brand development to Robit, which operates in consumables sector and further strengthens its brand in the global market.

Robit board has elected Director Markku Teräsvasara as the new Chairman of the board. He has a long experience of Robit’s business area. He brings strong knowledge to defining the company’s long-term growth strategy and its implementation in the global market.

Harri Sjöholm, who has over 30 years of experience in the company, continues as a Vice Chairman of the Robit board.

With these decisions Robit ensures the company’s renewal and wants to utilize the opportunities of the global drilling consumables market even more productively.

In the picture from left: Lasse Aho, Markku Teräsvasara, Harri Sjöholm

Robit’s shareholders gathered at the AGM 2023 held in Tampere-talo, Tampere on 15th March. A good number of shareholders gathered together at the venue.

Please read the resolutions of the AGM: Robit Annual General Meeting 2023

Robit Plc’s Annual Report, Corporate Governance Statement and Remuneration Report for the year 2022 have today been published in Finnish and English in PDF format on the company’s website at https://www.robitgroup.com/investor/financial-information/.

The Annual Report contains the Board of Directors’ Review and the Financial Statements 2022. The Financial Statements includes Consolidated Financial Statements, Robit Plc’s Parent Company Statements and the Auditor’s Report.

Please read the report: Robit Plc Annual Report 2022

Welcome to visit us at the annual conference on Explosives & Engineering Technique, sponsored by the International Society of Explosives Engineers in San Antonio, Texas, USA on 4-8 February 2023. You will find us at the booth #221.

Get a firsthand look at our new products, comprehensive services and integrated solutions. Get familiar for our new Top Hammer Rbit series as well as tubeless DTH WH TL hammer family and DTH bits.

Meet the Experts in Drilling Consumables – Robit Blasting Team

Hilla Niemelä is one of the rising young stars in Finnish skiing. A corporate supporter of sports, Robit signed a sponsorship and cooperation agreement with Hilla in late summer 2021.

The collaboration between Robit and Hilla is based on shared values and jointly produced media content that gives glimpses into Hilla’s training, racing career, goals, current affairs and future expectations. Hilla put the season opening update together:

The season has now progressed to the point that it is time for a little Christmas holiday. While this won’t really be a break from exercise, I will still have time to relax and recover at home and to prepare for my main objective for this season.

In May, I had to put practice on the backburner, when studying for the university entrance exams required a lot of energy. I did train even then, but in freeform, completely without a program and without stress. That same month, I also moved officially to Tampere, which has felt like the right choice ever since.

With the entrance exams over in June, I headed to Otepää for a training camp with my skiing club. And at the end of the month, I had this training season’s first U23 (Under 23) national training camp.

In July, I clocked over 100 hours of training. I had plenty of successful practice sets and even managed to break a few personal records during the test in the final days, despite considerable stress from all the training.

At the beginning of August, I attended yet another camp in Vuokatti, together with the U23 group. During that month, I also finally started my studies at Tampere University. All the studying for the entrance exams in the spring bore fruit as I managed to secure a study place, and now I am studying environment and biotechnology while training and competing.

I attended university regularly in September and October, but also managed to train a fair bit. At the end of October, I had a snow camp in Vuokatti and started accumulating the first skiing kilometers on snow.

November arrived with the start of the competition season at the Finnish Cup in Vuokatti. I got up to a good speed on both competition days and it started becoming evident that I was in good condition for competitions. The first races of the season have always been a bit more difficult for me, but I continued with a good flow at Olos the following weekend. Success at the high-level, traditional-style race on 10-kilometer distance guaranteed me a spot representing at the World Cup in Ruka. In a race in Taivalkoski, one week after Olos, I secured a spot for the sprint race in Ruka as well.

My first World Cup weekend started well, and I made it all the way to the Quarter Finals, finishing as 25^th. I was also happy with my results in the 10-kilometer traditional race in Ruka. These successes gave me the opportunity to participate in the World Cup in Lillehammer in the 20-kilometer, traditional-style mass-start race. I had a couple of peaceful days at home after Ruka, before heading off to Lillehammer, where I had a clean race and loads of great experience. In the final listings I was 37^th.

Having participated in races five weekends in a row, I was in dire need of a training break after Lillehammer. For me, this means a weekend without a race to attend to. After the training break I headed to Östersund for Scandinavia Cup, which is in practice a B-Class World Cup. I reached the 6^th place in the qualification round of the traditional-style sprint, meaning that in the Quarter Finals I was up against the Olympic winner of last winter’s sprint, among others. High performance in the Quarter Finals netted me a spot in the Semi Finals with a lucky loser time, and there I achieved the 11^th place in the final rankings.

Now I have some time to rest and recover again, gaining some energy from Christmas food. The next important races are in January of 2023. The plan is to head over to the United States at the start of January, in order to participate in the Winter Universiade, or the World Championship for students, in Lake Placid. The competitions will run for a couple of weeks, after which I will transfer from the US directly to Canada. This is where my main competition for the season, the U23 World Championship, will be held. I am now in a better condition than ever before and I am eagerly looking forward to finding out, just how far that will get me this year.

Best Regards, Hilla

The latest issue of Robit’s customer magazine Bulletin has been published! 2/2022 issue features articles i.a.: “Giant project in Saudi Arabia taking first steps” and “New tram line consumes 100 km of steel piles”.

Read the magazine here:  Bulletin 2/2022

Robit Plc and Veljekset Toivanen Oy have signed a long-term cooperation agreement of supplying drilling consumables to Sotkamo Silver mine in Kainuu. The deliveries of Robit drilling consumables start along with the first mining project in January 2023. Veljekset Toivanen works as the prime contractor in Sotkamo Silver mine based on a three-year-agreement with two option years. Robit also supplies its consumables to Endomines’ Pampalo gold mine for opening the open pit mine in Ilomantsi.

Arto Halonen, Group CEO, Robit: ”We are extremely pleased to start building a long-term cooperation with Veljekset Toivanen. This agreement strengthens Robit’s position as the leading drilling consumables supplier in Finland.”

Ari Keskitalo, Mining Manager, Veljekset Toivanen: “Our previous cooperation with Robit run smoothly. Thus, the new agreement of drilling consumables supply to Sotkamo Silver mine creates a natural continuum. In addition, one of our company’s values is locality, so Robit as a domestic actor was an easy choice.”

Since 1983, Veljekset Toivanen has been known as a reliable and innovative company providing mining, infra-building, and industry services. The company provides its customers among others with mining support services in underground and open pit mines. Further information is available at www.toivanengroup.com.

Robit is the expert focused on drilling consumables for mining and construction markets. Through the high and proven quality Top Hammer, Down the Hole and Geotechnical products, and the expert services, Robit delivers saving in drilling costs to the customers. Robit has its own sales and service points in eight countries and an active distributor network through which it sells to more than 100 countries. Robit’s manufacturing units are located in Finland, South Korea, Australia and the UK. Robit’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. Further information is available at www.robitgroup.com.

Picture from left: Kimmo Kangas, Sales Manager Finland, Robit and Ari Keskitalo, Mining Manager, Veljekset Toivanen

Further information:

Arto Halonen
Group CEO, Robit Plc, arto.halonen@robitgroup.com

Ari Keskitalo
Mining Manager, Veljekset Toivanen Oy, ari.keskitalo@veljeksettoivanen.fi

Robit Finland Oy received a diploma “Our Best Suppliers 2021” from Agnico Eagle Finland on 2 November 2022. We are very proud of being acknowledged of our customer-oriented work and safety matters. The diploma was received by Kimmo Kangas, Sales Manager Finland, Robit and Mervi Kallioinen, Grinding & Drillmaster Service.

Summarizing all the essential drilling features, we are going deeper with more speed and force, driving the development of the drilling consumables industry. As an established global company, we continuously need to reinvent ourselves. Across the globe, our cases are more versatile, our knowledge base wider, our questions and tools for finding answers smarter. We fight hard every day to be the strongest and smartest when it comes to the space between drill and rock so that we deliver only the best to our valued customers. That is the true spirit of Robit® Rbit™.

At the beginning of last year Robit launched bigger diameters, over 60 mm sizes of Rbit™ series. Now we have the complete series with 32 mm (1¼”) up to 57 mm (2¼”), which full-fill the needs of drifting & tunneling.

With the Rbit™, our commitment is to help our customers reduce the total drilling costs by achieving faster rate of penetration and the lowest cost-per-meter.

New features of Rbit™  series (sizes 32 mm – 57 mm) are:

• An optimized button layout configuration to ensure maximized rock contact and energy transmission.
• Optimized placement of flushing holes allowing improved flushing and even improved rate of penetration (ROP).
• Redesigned wider flushing grooves, that allow more space delivering a better flow for the cuttings.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation images show the efficient flushing properties of new Rbit™ series.

Robit® Rbit™ Series – New Innovations for Drifting & Tunneling Bits

1. Optimized button layout maximizing rock contact

• Smart button configuration → Optimized rock breaking dynamics

2. Wider flushing grooves allowing better flow of cuttings

• Improved flushing → Maximized flushing efficiency

3. Optimized placement of flushing holes allowing better flow of cuttings

• Improved flushing → Maximized flushing efficiency

You can watch the video at our Youtube channel: Robit Rbit Series for Drifting and Tunneling

Please download the catalogue: Robit Top Hammer Product Catalogue 8-2022

October 4–7, 2022 – National Harbor, Maryland, USA – Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

Join us for our 47th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in National Harbor, MD, and network with the largest gathering of international practitioners specializing in cutting-edge technologies and risk management for deep foundations, ground improvement, earth retention and excavation support.

Through Robit’s technologies and support, we are pleased to help the major construction sector with all their drilling needs and offer the solutions to even the toughest projects. We will introduce the brilliant solutions and technologies of geotechnical applications. Come and meet our experts to hear more about the competitive offering in top-quality drilling consumables at our booth #507!

Warmly welcome, Robit team

Welcome to visit us at Perumin 2022. The exhibition will take place on 26-30 September 2022, Cerro Juli – Centro de Convenciones de Arequipa, Peru.

Get a firsthand look at our new products, comprehensive services and integrated solutions. Get familiar for our new Top Hammer Rbit series as well as tubeless DTH WH TL hammer family and DTH bits.

We serve You at our booth 414, Pavilion 3. You are more than welcome!

Robit team

Dear friends and colleagues of the tunnel society,

it is our great pleasure to invite you to visit us at the World Tunnel Congress 2022. The conference will be held September 2-8 in Copenhagen, Denmark, focusing on underground solutions for a world in change. You will find us at our stand A1-07 during the exhibition dates, September 5-7, 2022.

Robit’s products are known world wide. We’ll introduce you our patented Robit® RoX Casing Systems series for forepoling. It allows easy driving of the casing tubes into the ground with low torque demand. In modern forepoling also fiberglass casings can be used for ultra-long facebolts. We’ll introduce also our new state of the art – Robit® Top Hammer Rbit™ button bit series.

Robit team will be delighted to tell you more about our unbeatable tunneling products and also the other world-class products in our assortment.

Welcome to meet us at WTC 2022 in Copenhagen!

Robit Team

Explore the competitive full-set offering in top-quality consumables for geotechnical applications like piling, micropiling, underpinning, anchoring and well drilling:

• Casing Advancing Systems
• DTH Bits
• DTH Hammers
• Shock Absorbers
• Drill Pipes
• Accessories

We offer You:

• The highest quality in drilling consumables – Our focus is 110 % in drilling consumables.
• Excellent drilling results and performance – We have a lot of references.
• We emphasize short and precise deliveries from 4 factories – Robit also has comprehensive storages in every continent.

Robit is following together with its key customers the development steps of more powerful hydraulic drifters. Robit is modelling and simulating the dynamic forces and stresses, and innovates new solutions to meet the best performance, efficiency, and lifetime to fulfill drillers’ needs.

Please read and download the new catalogue here: Robit Geotechnical Product Catalogue 2022