Citec attitude 1 2013 by Citec Group

CITEC

NEWS AND STORIES WITH AN ATTITUDE FROM CITEC

1 • 2013

USER EXPERIENCE

A documentation portal can provide fast answers in a userfriendly and personalized way. PAGE 16.

WORKOUT AT WORK

Sitting for too long is as bad for your health as smoking. So why sit at work when you can walk all day long? PAGE 22.

WIND & SOLAR IMPACT As the share of renewable energy grows, the rest of electricity production must change as well. Traditional, centralised bulk production is not able to adapt fast enough. PAGE 6.

EDITORIAL

CONTENTS

Dare to overcome yourself!

MARTIN STRAND CEO

22 18

CITEC

ast year I enrolled in my first marathon, the Medoc Marathon in France. What’s unique about the Medoc is that the runners consume red wine in addition to water and sports drinks during the race. I thought it sounded nice and relaxed, and that I wouldn’t have to take it all too seriously. For many years, I was convinced that I definitely couldn’t run for 42 kilometres straight, and that’s why I did not even want to try. Often our thoughts keep us down and stop us from reaching our full potential. It is exactly the same thing with work. If we think we cannot handle new, more challenging tasks, then we will not even try. Still, the tasks that are a little too difficult for us develop us the most. Citec as an organisation has dared to take responsibility for a number of great industrial projects during the past year. We have, for example, designed a larger power plant than ever before and proved that we can do it – and do it well. We want to continue on that path. We notice that bigger and bigger customers are interested in what we have to offer. Citec’s strategy is to focus on outsourcing engineering and information management services and building long-term partnerships, and this means that we aim to get larger scopes and deeper cooperation with customers. Our goal is to know our customers even better, so that we can provide them with greater added value. For us who work at Citec, this strategy means that we continuously have the chance to develop our own competence. I’d like to encourage everyone to take full advantage of this possibility. We are often capable of bigger achievements than we think. And it’s nice afterwards when you can say “Yes, I did it!”. I realized this myself at the Medoc – the run was a lot easier and more fun than I had ever dared to hope. Only my own thoughts and an imagined fear had set the limits for me.

PUBLISHER Citec, P.O. Box 109, FI-65100 Vaasa +358 (0)6 324 0700

1.13

MER CITEC CUSTO

MAGA ZINE

attitude@citec.com EDITORIAL BOARD

Katarina Westerén-Hagnäs, Isa Ågren, Michael Smirnoff, Lars Rosenblad, Ralf Petell, Anna Jeanne Söderlund EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Smirnoff PROJECT MANAGEMENT, EDITING Anna Jeanne Söderlund PRODUCTION

IN THIS ISSUE

Mantra Communications and Citec LAYOUT Studio PAP COVER PHOTO Mikko Lehtimäki

6 Smart power generation

12 New trams for Helsinki

18 Get up, stand up

When wind and solar power increase, other energy production is affected as well. In the future, power systems must be smarter.

They are green and yellow, and they are a solid part of the Helsinki streetscape. Citec has been involved in the design of new trams for the capital of Finland.

Sitting for too long is as bad for your health as smoking. The best hint for an active day at the office is to stand up as often as possible.

10 Ambassador of energy

16 End users want fast answers

22 Walking all day long

Tuomas Vanhanen had last summer’s best paid summer job in Finland. His task was to market Citec and the other energy technology companies in the Vaasa region.

PDF is not an optimal format for documentation. Find out more about Citec’s user-friendly documentation portal solution.

How do you combine a sitting job with exercise? Jouni Kivi installed a treadmill under his desk.

PRINT Fram 2012 COMPANY KEY FACTS Citec offers multi-discipline engineering and consulting, and provides services related to information management. The total number of employees is 1,100 and the turnover for 2012 was 65 million euros. Citec is headquartered in Vaasa, Finland and has offices in Finland, Sweden, Norway, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and India.

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CITEC NEWS

Roar Jensen

Major deal in Russia

■ Citec has extended the sponsorship agreement with cross-country skier Matias Strandvall. “It means a lot to me that Citec continues as my main sponsor, says Matias. “I can now fully concentrate on training and focus on the World Championships in 2013 and the Winter Olympics in 2014.” Just like Citec, Matias originates from Vaasa, and he has other things in common with his sponsor as well. “Elite cross-country skiing and industrial projects have one thing in common: you need help from experts in order to succeed. Citec’s employees provide their expertise to customers, just as I’m surrounded by experts who help me. And just as Citec’s slogan states, passion is also an important ingredient in both fields.”

■ Citec has received an order from the Russian company NPF Metallimpress LLC. The company is building a paint production facility in the Leningrad region for their end-customer Jotun. Citec will deliver the preliminary and basic design for the complete industrial process, process ventilation and process electrical supply of the production facility. The project involves experts from Citec’s offices in Russia, Sweden, Finland and India. “We received this order due to our successful cooperation in a previous project with the same customer. Another important reason was our local office in Moscow and the fact that we are familiar with Russian business culture”, says Magnus Forsbäck, General Director for Citec Russia.

5 QUESTIONS

Sponsored cross-country

VISUAL TOOLS. The material from 3D design is easy to revise for the needs of marketing, maintenance and training.

AT SEA. There is a need for marine applicable solutions in o lot of different areas.

The art of visualisation

New marine competence

■ According to an old truth, one picture is worth a thousand words, and this also applies in documentation. Citec has a long experience in the visualisation of products and processes. “All the material from 3D design is easy to revise for the needs of marketing, maintenance and training,” says Juha Rintala, Visualisation Team Leader. Often companies turn to an advertising agency when they want good-looking product visualisation, but according to Rintala a company like Citec is often a better option. “We have a deep technical understanding and more cost-efficient work procedures.” Visualisation is a rising trend. With its help, both time and translation costs are saved when a new product is introduced to the market. With a 3D model, a product can be marketed and assembly work can be practised before it even physically exists.

Like winning a football match Kent Bengtsson works as a Senior Design Engineer at Citec Sweden.

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ESAB outsources documentation ■ ESAB has outsourced its Technical Documentation department in Sweden to Citec. In connection with the outsourcing, three persons transferred from ESAB to Citec. ESAB is a world leader in the welding and cutting industries, and the company signed a long-term partnership agreement with Citec in 2011.

■ What is your job description here at Citec? “I am a Senior Design Engineer at Citec in Karlstad, Sweden. In practice, this mainly includes making strength calculations for pipe systems for different types of facilities. Over the years, this has increasingly become coordination work between the customers and our calculation resources. Before coming over to

Citec, I worked at KPA.” What’s your favourite moment at work? “It’s when I have got challenging and at first purely impossible tasks in front of me and managed to solve them through hard work and tenacity with good colleagues. It’s a moment I’m lucky to experience often, and the feeling is the same when winning

■ Citec is now able to offer its customers complete engineering and information services in the marine field. In August 2012, Naval Architect Henri Räty joined Citec’s team in Turku, Finland. Räty has long experience of project management and engineering in the naval field. “My job is to support all industry areas in Citec. There is a need for marine applicable solutions in a lot of different areas”, says Räty. Such projects might, for example, be floating power plants, power supply to offshore facilities, power supply to vessels or floating process production or storage solutions. The EU sulphur directive, which comes into effect in 2015, will most likely increase the demand for services in the marine area.

a football match. Then I feel perfectly content.” So you play football in your free time? “Yes. Going in for different sports is definitely my greatest hobby and I train about four times a week. Usually this means a run along the running path because this requires the least preparation, but I also play football and floorball. After a

hard day at work there’s nothing sweeter than to tie up your running shoes and run 10 kilometres. I don’t have a family of my own yet, but let’s just say I’m working on it.” In this issue, there’s a big article on ergonomics. Is that something you think about during your workday? “I get up and stretch regularly. But other than that it’s not something

Substantial order from Hitachi Zosen Inova ■ Citec has received a significant order from Swiss company Hitachi Zosen Inova AG. The order comprises piping detail engineering for a new Waste to Energy plant in West Yorkshire, UK. “Our decision to work with Citec was based on their high standards, in order to achieve an optimum time schedule and at the same time ensure the required quality level”, says René Erler, Technical Project Manager at Hitachi Zosen Inova. Citec has already been involved in the basic engineering stage of the same project, providing piping engineering and steel structure calculations.

I put my mind to very often. My advice is to move sufficiently outside the job and make good use of the personnel benefits in the form of a gym membership card, for example. Exercise is the best fuel, also when you sit at work.”

are fantastic. There is an open atmosphere, which means that you feel that you are a part of something, no matter what your job description. Everyone works for the same goal. You really get to feel you are in this from start to finish.”

What do you think about Citec as an employer? “I’m really happy here. It’s fun to go to work, and the colleagues 1•2 01 3 C I T E C AT T I T U D E

COVER STORY: SMART POWER GENERATION

THE NEED FOR

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COVER STORY: SMART POWER GENERATION

The increased use of wind and solar power sets new challenges to power systems. In the future, electricity must be produced smarter than today.

ccording to EU targets, the share of renewable energy should grow to 20 per cent by 2020. Solutions to control the greenhouse effect and cut the amount of fossil fuels are sought elsewhere in the world as well. This will inevitably increase the use of wind power and solar PV (photovoltaics) in the future. At the same time, it leads to a whole new situation in electricity production. Because windy or sunny weather conditions are difficult to forecast and impossible to guarantee, the predictability of electricity production becomes weaker. “What is needed then is quicker and more decentralised balancing reserve power”, says Mikko Juopperi, Director, Engine Power at Citec. “This is the inevitable direction where we are going and the trend suits Citec well. Our main focus is the design of small and middle-size, energy-efficient power plants.”

THE CURRENT MODEL for energy production is greatly based on large, centralised plants. But traditional, centralised bulk production is not able to adapt to the increased use of intermittent renewable energy sources, simply because of its slow reaction to fluctuations. “The kind of model where we have nuclear power and large coal steam plants on the one hand, and wind and solar power on the other, does not simply

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COVER STORY: SMART POWER GENERATION

“What is needed is quicker and more de centralised balancing reserve power.” work. And since we will not have the feasible technology to store electricity in the near future, we need more flexible load-following power. Today we can already get that from Combustion Engine or Simple Gas Turbine plants, i.e. from the type of plants that can be started rapidly when it’s not windy or sunny,” Juopperi says. Gas is a perfect fuel to use for these types of plants due to its low emissions. More decentralised electricity production is also supported by the fact that the transporting of energy as gas is more efficient than the transporting of it as electricity, since there is always a certain loss in the transmission of electricity.

WHEN DISCUSSING the greenhouse effect

the options for storing and saving energy are often introduced. Unfortunately, battery technology is still far from being a real option for storing electricity. Saving electricity is not a realistic option either according to Juopperi. “Most actions aiming for energy saving actually increase the demand for electricity. For example, moving to electrical cars or terrestrial heat saves fossil fuels, but at the same time increases the demand for electricity.” Wind and solar power use will most likely increase also because there are a lot of challenges related to other renewable energy sources. “Hydroelectric power cannot be increased from today’s level. Bio oils are quite expensive to produce and the amounts produced today are almost neglectable. Furthermore, the production of palm oil has

mikko lehtimäki

THIS IS HOW ELECTRICITY IS PRODUCED IN A SMART WAY

Challenging firm beliefs

In the future, more diversified and decentralised electricity production is needed. To make a power system reliable, redundant and sustainable, it should contain a mix of different generation technologies. They all have their own merits and are run on different fuels.

There are some firm beliefs in the energy industry, which will most likely be challenged in the future. MYTH 1 “Bigger is better – a bigger plant always has a higher efficiency and lower specific capital costs.”

Base load, i.e. centralised un-flexible lowest cost base production (nuclear power plants, large coal power plants, Combined Cycle Gas Turbines)

Intermittent green, alternating production that is difficult to forecast (wind and solar power)

caused ethical problems. The extension of geo thermal, wave and tidal power all have limitations. This means that wind and solar PV seems to be the best options for the near future,” Juopperi says.

ACCORDING TO Mikko Juopperi, perhaps the political decision makers and stakeholders in the business have not fully digested all the effects of increased wind and solar power use. “To a certain point, the challenges of renewable energy are understood, but

Dispatchable green, programmable facilities that balance daily fluctuations (bio mass energy plants, Waste to Energy plants)

THE FACTS: Especially gas and coal power plants are increasingly

Flexible plants that can be started quickly and cover up for variations of the intermittent green generation (Combustion Engine power plants, Simple Cycle Gas Turbines running on gas or diesel, hydro power)

perhaps it’s not understood how significant the change will be. Wind power is financially supported, but no-one supports the building of load-following power, even though it’s a prerequisite to wind power.” According to Juopperi, new market mechanisms for load-following power will probably emerge in the future. A power plant’s capability to enter and leave the system quickly will be a significant part of its value.

finding that their capacity is failing. This is due to the preference for renewable output when available, as well as increasing fluctuations in demand. Large plants typically need to be installed near a water source for cooling which is outside load pockets. This often leads to increased capital investments in the grid.

MYTH 2 “Power plants only generate revenue when dispatching.”

THE FACTS: New market mechanisms are emerging in addition to the traditional “energy-only” markets. These include markets for capacity, peak tariffs and ancillary services. In these new markets, a power plant’s capability to enter and leave the system quickly is a significant part of its value.

MYTH 3 “Wind farms located over a wide area will balance output.”

THE FACTS: It is true that wind farms from time to time will balance MAJOR CHANGE. “Perhaps it is not fully understood how significant the change in electricity production will be”, says Mikko Juopperi.

Paul Maguire

each other, but far from always. Comparing the power output from wind farms in Germany, Denmark and Spain reveals that as a low-pressure front sweeps across Europe, it simultaneously produces similar wind conditions over large areas. Therefore it is not possible to sell the excess output to another area.

MYTH 4 “Solar PV systems will produce electricity when it is needed.”

THE FACTS: This is true only in countries where there is enough LOW PREDICTABILITY. When the weather is not windy, fast and flexible power plants are needed.

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daylight all year around. For many heavily populated parts of the world there is not enough daylight, especially in the winter. And what’s more, peak load times often occur in the early evening when people return home, at the same time as the sun is already setting. Read more at www.smartpowergeneration.com

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INTERVIEW: ENERGY AMBASSADOR

MARKETING THE ENER GETIC VAASA REGION Tuomas Vanhanen was the winning applicant in last summer’s most popular and best paid summer job in Finland. With a monthly salary of 10,000 Euros, he worked at Citec and other energy technology companies in the Vaasa region. Where did you get the idea to apply for the best summer job in Finland? “A friend gave me a hint about it on Facebook. I sent in an application, although at that time I didn’t even dream about being chosen. I couldn’t really see myself as the superhuman they were looking for.” What were your first feelings when you heard you had got the job? “It wasn’t very emotional; somehow I just immediately started focusing on the coming job. It was the family members and other close people who were more thrilled. In July, you worked at Citec for a week. What do you remember about that week? “That week included some of the absolute highlights of the summer. I got to travel to Germany to see a construction site of a bio power plant. It was really interesting to go to a site to see engineering work in practice, not least because I’m majoring in power plant technology. Also, I’ve been in Vienna as an exchange student, so the German language was no problem.”

5 QUESTIONS

What did you know about Citec beforehand? “Not much more than what I had read on the company’s website. Citec, and most of the energy companies in the Vaasa region, are relatively unknown, so this campaign

A passion for photos and languages

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The Energy Ambassador campaign • The leading energy technology cluster in the Nordic countries is located in Vaasa, Finland. The companies are constantly in need of new experts.

was strongly needed. I was surprised how broad Citec’s branch is. I also got to talk with Citec’s founder, Rune Westergård, and learnt that Citec has a very interesting story. What stayed at the top of my mind was Citec’s strong growth.”

• To market the companies, a recruiting campaign was drafted last spring to find an Energy Ambassador for a summer job with a whopping total salary of 30,000 Euros.

What else did you get to do during the week? “I also did some practical work. For example, I designed a small pipe for a power plant. The most memorable experience was not directly related to engineering work, though. At the end of the week, Citec’s team took me skydiving, which was extremely exciting.”

• The campaign was a huge success – just the paper articles written about it were alone worth 3 million in advertising space.

What did you do after the summer? “I returned to my studies at Tampere University of Technology. Perhaps I will return to work in Vaasa after graduating in the summer 2013. I didn’t realize before how many different and interesting work possibilities the energy business in Vaasa has.”

• Over 1,600 applications were sent for the well-paid summer job. • The Energy Ambassador worked in 12 companies, for one week at a time, and reported his experience in social media.

And how have you used your hefty salary? “Now that interest rates are this low, I’m planning on investing in an apartment.”

Pekka Mankki works as Team Leader in Competence Services at Citec’s Helsinki office. ■ What does your work comprise? “In practice, I’m responsible for resourcing, meaning that I try to find the right people for the right customer projects. I’m also

SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS. During his week at Citec, Tuomas Vanhanen got the chance to visit a bio power plant site in Germany. The week culminated in a parachute jump.

responsible for the competence of the workers in my team. In addition, I try to do some project work myself. The best thing about this work is that every day is different. You don’t get stuck with routines here.”

back, that was a real fluke, though I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it at the time. At Citec, I have had the opportunity to evolve professionally and ascend to new tasks. Also the company has grown to be genuinely global.”

How did you end up working at Citec? “I was outsourced from Nokia Networks in 2000. Looking

And how did you get to Nokia? “I started there already in 1984 as a Russian translator. Before that, I worked as an interpreter on

construction sites in Russia, but I wanted to come back to Finland.” What got you interested in Russian? “I think it was my high school Russian teacher, who was really inspiring. Language studies felt natural anyway, because I’m not mathematically talented. But languages have always been easy for me.”

• The campaign was chosen as the best regional marketing campaign in Finland in 2012.

Were there any other fields you wanted to study? “Yes, I once considered becoming a photographer. What put a stop to it was that at the entrance examination sculpting was also required, which felt so stupid that I dropped the whole thing. Perhaps it was better this way, because if photography had become my profession, I would have lost a dear hobby. I’ve got tens of thousands

of photos on my computer. Besides photography, my hobbies include skiing, Nordic walking and jogging. I also travel with my wife and we try to spend time at our two summer houses.

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VEHICLES: HELSINKI TRAMS

THE ART OF DESIGNING A TRAM A new tram will soon appear in the streetscape of Helsinki. The design work started completely from scratch and Citec has been involved from the very beginning. Janica Karasti

THE NEW TRAM introduces many improvements compared to

the current model. It has been designed for very demanding conditions, as central Helsinki is full of hills and curves. In addition, the Finnish weather sets its own challenges, as the trams must be able to operate both in snowstorms and in summer heat. “The whole wheel set in the tram consists of drive wheels, which makes turning and stopping a lot easier,” Huusko explains. A tram is even smaller and narrower than a train, and this makes the design work all the more challenging. “The way of making a tram frame structure is totally different compared to the way of making the frame of a train,” says Senior Design Engineer Janne Hilli. “It wasn’t at all too easy to fit in all the electromechanical components and cables in a small space, but with hard work we could do it,” explains Design Engineer Johanna Karjalainen.

BIG PROJECT. All in all, 30 people from Citec have been involved in the tram project, among them Johanna Karjalainen, Mikko Huusko and Janne Hilli.

he yellow-green trams are a solid and natural part of the Helsinki streetscape; after all, they have been transporting citizens and tourists for over a hundred years. In 2006, Helsinki Region Transport requested Citec to make a proposal for a completely new tram type. After this, the supplier of the new trams was chosen to be Transtech, to whom Citec has done design work for the past two years. Citec’s Vehicles industry area already designed new midsections for Helsinki’s present trams ten years ago, but other than that, trams are a completely new field to the unit specialized in train design. “Inexperience was mainly a good thing because then old solutions didn’t occupy the thoughts. The end customer actually asked us to start completely from scratch,” says Mikko Huusko, Global Manager, Interior Engineering.

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DIFFERENT USER GROUPS’ special requests have been thoroughly taken into consideration in the design work. Disabled, seniors, and children have come to try out a full-scale tram model. The cabin has been designed together with the drivers. The first two trams will be ready early in summer 2013. They will be in trials for about a year before more trams are manufactured. In this way, it is still possible to adjust details. There has already been some public discussion about the new trams, and some people have considered them ugly. “It’s understandable that the trams invoke feelings. After all, they are part of the collective identity of the residents of Helsinki,” Huusko contemplates. “However, the design work has been steered by a request to make a timeless product that still works after 40 years. And naturally, safety and practicality have been the guiding light here. For example, the shape of the front has been affected by snow conditions and pedestrian safety.” TIMELESS PRODUCT. Safety and practicality have been the guiding light when designing the new tram for Helsinki

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INDUSTRY AREA: HEALTHCARE

THE NEW DEAL OF THE PHARMA INDUSTRY The global healthcare industry is undergoing enormous changes. Earlier, a handful of multinational companies dominated the branch. Now more and more small and medium-sized companies are entering the market in both product development and manufacturing.

uring the past ten years, 300,000 jobs have been lost in the multinational companies, the “Big Pharma.” At the same time, new small businesses grow on all continents, especially Asia. Citec´s Director of Healthcare and ICT industry areas, Gary Manders, explains why: “Global pharmaceutical expenditures are expected to triple from 2010 to 2020. There is a pressure to create new drugs but also to work in smarter ways to keep the cost of healthcare down. New business models for the innovation of drugs combined with more efficient production is the way the industry is going,” says Gary Manders. Big Pharma companies also want to reduce their risk exposure due to limited patent times, the rise of generic drugs, and the price pressure following this development. “We are less likely to see the blockbuster drugs of the past that together generated billions of dollars. Securing financial returns while minimizing the risk exposure is becoming increasingly critical because of the enormous amount of money at stake needed to develop new pharmaceuticals.”

IT IS COMMON FOR Big Pharma to outsource parts of its production to Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs). Also, more drugs are being developed by smaller innovation networks that do not have their own manufacturing.

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Gunnar Bäckman

ENGINEERING IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY EXPERT. Gary Manders works and lives in Uppsala, Sweden, in the heart of Scandinavia´s leading life science cluster.

The pharmaceutical industry is the most regulated in the world, where safety is top focus in all aspects. The regulatory requirements set high demands on the level of validation and documentation. Citec has the expertise of the relevant global requirements and standards on top of the advanced multi-discipline engineering skills needed.

CMOs are some of Citec’s most important cooperation partners, and represent a part of the healthcare industry that is becoming increasingly global. Globalization affects the branch in two ways: Western pharma companies are buying up or collaborating with Asian-based companies, and Asian pharma companies are moving West and manufacturing drugs for the domestic and international markets. “Citec is well positioned for this development, thanks to its ‘local presence, global resourcing’ approach. Citec is able to place key people at site, offer its competence from the whole organization and take responsibility for the undertaking. Citec’s offices in India are important players in this approach,” says Gary Manders. Besides the traditional multidiscipline engineering skills, there is also an increasingly important level of Procurement and Construction management competence required. Citec can bring the elements together into an EPCM (Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management) offering where Citec takes care of complete projects for building new or restructuring existing factories.

Knowledge about global regulations and standards

Multi-discipline engineering skills

regulated by officials nor has so strict international standards to meet. This sets extensive requirements on documentation and also on how the branch is being validated. Citec naturally follows standards such as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), but is increasing its capabilities to

provide selected validation services and related documentation in order for any manufacturing site to meet regulatory requirements and work safely. “GMP requires a lot of documentation: How the process is being set up, all the equipment used, how everything is labelled and tested, Standard Operating Procedures and so on. If any changes are made to the process, then these must be validated and of course documented,” says Gary Manders. It is self-evident that whoever takes responsibility for documentation within the healthcare industry needs an understanding of the regulatory requirements. The same applies to validation. Actually, many other strictly regulated branches have developed similar practices to the pharma industry, as a model to develop and document their processes. One such branch is the nuclear power industry, where Citec is also active.

THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY is the most regulated industry in the world, and arguably no other branch is so tightly

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EXPERT ARTICLE: DOCUMENTATION PORTAL

E ND USERS WANT AN SWERS

AND THEY WANT THE M NOW! P

USER LOGIN MAKES it

DF is still going strong as an electronic publishing format for customer documentation. It is a great format for print publishing because its layout is fixed and it contains all the information needed for displaying it, including fonts and graphics. It is, however, a cumbersome and inflexible format to view and search on screen. The documentation portal solution provides a fast and easy alternative to navigate and search for all documentation through one interface in a web browser. The portal is, for all intents and purposes, a web page, which means that no software installation is required. Browsing content through the portal is much faster and smoother than reading PDFs because the portal loads one topic at a time. Citec customizes the portal’s features to the customer’s specifications. With style sheets, it is also easy to give the portal the distinct look & feel that makes up the visual identity of the customer’s brand.

A MAJOR CHALLENGE in today’s information management is to deliver product information in a way to make it possible to find relevant information within an acceptable timeframe. Even though PDFs are searchable, doing so is painfully slow and searching multiple PDFs requires downloading them all. The documentation portal, on the other hand, makes it possible to search through the entire documentation set quickly and effortlessly. The search tool lists the search hits in a manner reminiscent of internet search engines, showing a bit of content C I T E C AT T I T U D E 1•2 01 3

possible to offer a highly personalized user experience. With this option, users can select and save preferences, such as language or search customization, to only include relevant products. Users have roles assigned to them, which allows the system to automatically hide unnecessary controls from regular users, such as menus intended for administrators. Users can also be further categorized and user behaviour data can be collected to better understand the information the users want to find and how.

GIVING DIRECT FEEDBACK

FLEXIBLE. With the documentation portal in use, it only takes a little effort to optimize the layout and interface for small touch screens such as those found on Android tablets, iPads and smart phones.

with each hit. A real-life example, searching over 30,000 pages of documentation in a customer environment that Citec has set up, takes no more than half a second. Although the number of search hits may still be a problem if the documentation set is excessively large, the precision of the basic

search functionality can be supplemented by using search categories (product type, life cycle phase, user role, level of expertise, and so on), searching only in titles, selecting a part of the table of contents to search, or using the search hits of a previous search as the scope for a new search.

on topics with a commenting tool, which is right there in the documentation portal, means that users can voice their comments, suggestions and questions about the documentation with minimal effort. It also harmonizes the process of collecting feedback because everyone can easily use the same feedback channel. It works much like commenting in a blog or social networking site, or filling in a web form. The environment can be configured so that users can also reply to other users’ comments, making the portal more interactive. Besides the public comments, users can also write private notes that they can see when viewing the topic again.

THROUGH WEB FEEDS such as RSS and

With markets expanding and the amount of product information growing, there is an increasing need to deliver user documentation in a personalized, userfriendly way. Citec’s documentation portal solution can address this need.

of recent changes in documentation. Users can select to receive daily or real-time notifications in email about updates in the content, comments posted on topics, and reminders they have set. It is possible to subscribe to updates about entire manuals or just individual topics. Portable devices are becoming increasingly ever-present, offering a new way to access product information – provided that the technology is in place to support it. With the documentation portal in use, it only takes a little effort to optimize the layout and interface for small touch screens such as those found on Android tablets, iPads and smart phones. What is great about these devices is that many people carry them with them everywhere they go, which means that the product information is available anytime, anywhere. This is useful for installation or maintenance in narrow or unlit places where a printed manual or laptop would be difficult to use. Bookmark the portal page on your smart phone, and you are never more than a few taps and swipes away from the answer.

Documentation portal benefits Decrease product support costs The documentation portal enables users to help themselves find the relevant information, and consequently, they do not need to call the product support line. Increase product value If users can find the information they need to use the product safely and efficiently, the product is of greater value for them. This also increases customer loyalty. Strengthen brand image Offering product information in a new, user-friendly way shows that the company understands the value of documentation and is more capable of adapting to the challenges of a changing world than the competitors still struggling with PDFs. Engage the user Instead of pushing content blindly to users, the portal elevates them to an active role because they can give feedback and personalize their user experience. It is also possible to observe the ways that users generally use the portal, and with that data, improve it to match their tastes. Market more products Because of the user login, the end users can be reached in an unprecedented way. Knowing the users makes it possible to use the portal also as a marketing channel. Update more often Thanks to online publishing and the topic-based architecture used in the portal, it is possible to publish the content whenever updated modules are available, and the product information is always up to date.

The writer, Mikko Kallio, works as an Information Architect at Citec. His key areas of interest are information architecture and solution planning.

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WORKING LIFE: ERGONOMICS

mikko lehtimäki

YOUR CHAIR CAN KILL YOU Sitting for too long without a break can be as dangerous as smoking. With good ergonomics, part of the problems can be prevented, but the most important thing is to get up from the chair as often as possible.

ave you ever stood up by instinct when you have received an important phone call? Congratulations, then you have done the right thing. When we stand up, we become more alert and can concentrate better. When sitting, our metabolism becomes slower, which is most likely one of the main reasons why being seated for long periods is bad for the health. A recent Australian study, presented in Archives of Internal Medicine, shows that people who sit for longer than 11 hours per day have a 40 percent higher risk of dying within three years. Even eight hours of sitting per day is bad for one’s health, and the surprising thing is that it makes no difference how otherwise healthy that person is. There are also other studies that suggest that not even active exercise in your free time can compensate for being seated during the whole workday. WARNING. This position can seriously damage your health. There are studies suggesting that too much sitting is as bad for your health as smoking.

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“WHEN WE SIT, our metabolism becomes slower and a great deal of muscles stay

inactive. In addition, the sitting position causes pressure on the spine. Sitting can therefore cause problems in the lower back, neck and shoulders,” says physiotherapist Riitta Knif. She works at Mehiläinen and has 30 years’ experience in improving ergonomics at workplaces. Knif is continuously helping Citec personnel in Vaasa to find good working positions. But even if the monitor, mouse and working chair have been installed in the best possible way, there is no guarantee that you will be without problems. “There simply isn’t any such posture that is so good that you can hold it for eight hours straight. Although having good ergonomics at the workplace is still important, it’s even more important to change position during the workday,” says Knif. KILLING YOU SOFTLY. Not even active excercise in the free time can fully compensate for being seated at work.

Knif’s best hint is that you should move as often as possible and not stay in the same

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WORKING LIFE: ERGONOMICS

STRETCH YOURSELF

WORKING LIFE: ERGONOMICS

Useful counter movements dem onstrated by HR Assistant Pia Rossi mikko lehtimäki

1 SIDE OF NECK. Bend your head towards the right and push the opposite shoulder downwards. Repeat on the other side.

position for too long. Preferably you should make a habit of standing up at least once every hour – already a few minutes of standing up can make a big difference. If you don’t have an electrically operated desk, you can for example get up whenever talking on a phone. “You should also change the sitting position during the day. I have noticed that people who do that have fewer problems with the neck and the back than those who tend to stay in the same position for the whole workday,” Knif says. “Different small countermovements are also very good. Make a habit of stretching yourself in different ways regularly, so you’ll work against the negative effects of sitting.”

CHEST. Place your fingers together behind your head. Gently push your elbows backwards and your head towards your hands. Keep a good posture.

mikko lehtimäki

A COUPLE OF YEARS ago, Citec Finland

decided to take a more active approach to its personnel’s health and workplace ergonomics. Thanks to long-sighted work in co-operation with occupational health, the amount of sick leave was decreased among the personnel. HR Manager Johanna Hämäläinen is convinced that things can be changed with a proactive approach.

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ACTIVE. Christer Strömbäck always takes the stairs instead of the lift.

UPPER ARM. Place your right arm next to your ear and bend it. Gently push the elbow backwards with your left hand and feel the stretch in your upper arm. Repeat with the other arm.

FOREARM. Keep the right arm straight and and bend the wrist. Gently push your fingers downwards with your left hand. Repeat on the other arm.

NECK. Relax your neck and let the head lean forwards. Push your chin towards the chest. Keep your back straight.

SPINE. Place the left leg over the right one. Grab the left knee with your right hand and pull the knee towards yourself and rotate your upper body to the left. Repeat to the other side.

“Well implemented and active co-operation with occupational health is the key for healthier employees. In order to be able to cut sick leave, you have to understand the reasons behind it,” says Hämäläinen. Citec’s office in Vaasa has had a few pilot exercise groups in co-operation with Mehiläinen health care, for employees with similar back and neck problems. The outcome has been very positive. “As an employer, Citec is committed to supporting the employees’ working capacity and well being. But what’s just as important is that the employees are interested in their own health. I think there is an excessive belief in technical aids solving the problems, but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. A special chair won’t make your muscle pain go away on its own. It’s important that the employees get consultation from professionals in health care to find other sorts of support as well if necessary,” says Hämäläinen.

safety delegate at the company. He has spent a lot of time thinking about health issues. Like Hämäläinen, Strömbäck also wants to encourage people to take responsibility for their own health. “Perhaps we should sometimes change our perspective. Instead of complaining that you have to walk a long way from the car park to the office, you can see it as a chance to get some extra exercise. Personally, I always take

the stairs instead of the lift and I’m surprised that not everybody does that.” Naturally, the employer benefits from healthier employees. Strömbäck , however, wants to point out that the employees benefit just as much themselves. “I don’t think anybody likes to be sick. But if you sit at work, sit in your car on the way home and then continue sitting all evening, you’re bound to get sick sooner or later.”

WHILE STUDIES all the more clearly show that

CHRISTER STRÖMBÄCK works as a Lead

HINTS FOR AN ACTIVE DAY AT THE OFFICE • Change your sitting position during the day. It’s more important to occasionally change position than to keep the same, ergonomically correct position.

• Get up and stand occasionally, for example when you answer a call. If you have an electronically operated desk, make use of it.

• Occasionally change your chair to a chair that has no back support.

• Counter movements to the sitting position are very good, so stretch yourself every now and then (see pictures above).

• Make it a habit to actually walk over to the colleagues who work in the same building instead of contacting them with the computer.

• Listen to your body – if some part of it feels tired or aches, it’s time to stand up or change position.

• Print out your paperwork with a printer that is a bit further so you can stretch your legs.

too much sitting is really bad for your health, the trend in working life unfortunately seems to be towards more sitting. More and more tasks are bound to the computer and to the desk. “I want to encourage everybody to have short breaks every now and then to do some stretching. A short exercise break is good for your muscles and in addition it improves sharpness and problem-solving ability”, Hämäläinen says. Riitta Knif still thinks that many things have become better since she started her work with ergonomics in the 1970s. “Companies have better tools and they are more conscious about these issues today. But I still wish we could get to the issue even earlier in the process when new offices are planned. That way ergonomics could be considered right from the beginning,” Knif says.

Turn the page to find out how you can exercise all day long at work!

Documentation Engineer at Citec and as a 1•2 01 3 C I T E C AT T I T U D E

WORKING LIFE: ERGONOMICS

mikko lehtimäki

NO SHOES NEEDED. Jouni Kivi walks 5–10 kilometres during a normal workday.

W ORKOUT AT WORK

What to do when you don´t have time to exercise after work? Jouni Kivi came up with the idea of combining a treadmill and a desk, and now he walks all day long at work.

5 QUESTIONS

little over a year ago Jouni Kivi, the Manager of Dynamic Solutions at Citec, was considering how he could get more exercise. As a father of small children, he had very little time to go for a jog or to the gym in the evenings. Kivi’s neck and lower back had started to feel stiff. “I like my job very much, but I didn’t like all the sitting related to it. I tried different work chairs, but they didn’t help significantly.” Kivi also considered a standing desk but thought that wasn’t enough either. By accident, he came across some American companies on the internet that were selling work desks equipped with a treadmill. Kivi was inspired by the idea and started to build a similar package by combining a regular treadmill and a high desk. Now he has been walking almost every workday for a year. “In many ways, this has shaken up my life. I feel fresher both during the workday and afterwards and I’m clearly in better condition.” Kivi usually walks relatively slowly, only about 0.8 km per hour. With that speed, all tasks can be done without a problem.

Realising dreams Namrata Ajgaonkar works as HR Manager at Citec India.

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“If I’m reading a longer text, I can increase the pace. Writing requires a slower speed. I haven’t yet stumbled on a task that I couldn’t do while walking. If necessary, the treadmill can be stopped, of course.”

KIVI USES A LARGER display, so it is easier to focus on the right spot on the screen. He has also made the mouse less sensitive. “When you walk slowly, you won’t start to sweat. It’s usually enough if I take off my sweater or jacket. I take off my shoes too, because then the muscles in the sole get to work.” Kivi estimates he walks about 5–10 kilometers during a normal workday. If he has meetings or he sees a customer, there will naturally be less walking. All in all, he estimates he has walked about 750 kilometers at work during the past year. At the same time, his back is less stiff, the leg muscles are stronger and the afternoon fatigue attacks are completely gone. “I couldn’t sit all day anymore. If I sometimes have to sit for a longer period, I quickly start to feel that I want to get going again.”

■ What do your current duties at Citec include? “I work as HR Manager for Citec’s operations in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. My duties include everything from training and recruiting to organizing the payroll and fun-club. It’s all about meeting the challenges we face as a team.”

What is your favourite moment at work? “When I lay out a strategy and everything goes as planned and the result benefits both the employee and the business. I get immense pleasure from seeing dreams being realised. I am really pleased with the work I am doing.”

What are your greatest challenges? “So far it’s been the process of turning two companies into one. Our aim has been to take the best of both organisations and integrate them into a common corporate culture, so that we’ll have one single way of working in one Citec. During this process, we came across tough and challenging situations. However, thanks to all

the hard work of the employees in India and their belief and support in our task.” What’s your approach to ergonomics at work? “At Citec, we have always aimed at offering a healthy working environment. The employees are offered the right tools and are also made aware about the importance of ergonomics. During

the past years Citec India has also offered their employees a chance to practise different sports. For the last four years we have been participating in cricket championships and from this year in football too. I am proud to tell you that we were Runners up in the 20th Chemtex Challenge cup Cricket tournament. Sports reduce a lot of health problems.”

Your life outside work, what’s it like? “Family means the world to me. When not at work, I love being with my family, spending time with them and taking care of them. I also have a passion for learning new skills and art forms. The art I like the most is Warli Art, which is one of the oldest art-forms of the Indian aboriginals.”

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