Markus Lahdensuo is a Senior Software Developer with a less-than-traditional background. From software development to top company management, Markus has never lost the passion for developing products and optimizing processes.
Today, Markus works as an industrial automation consultant, tightly integrated into a customer team. His job is to help deliver automation solutions tailored for the manufacturing industry. Despite having worked with industrial automation for decades, Markus believes that the industry is still far from ready.
Building a Growth Company
Before Unikie, Markus spent 21 years at the same company. He started as a software developer and got to witness how a small company experiences rapid international growth.
“We developed our own tool – a combination of software and hardware – that improved the process of thermal cutting of steel plates. Essentially, the tool was about industrial automation, although that term wasn’t used too much back then,” Markus notes.
The product was successful and the business was eventually acquired by an American company. Through the years, Markus went through a full spectrum of roles and responsibilities, from being a software manager to Vice President and Director of Engineering.
“After the operations in Finland were ramped down, I first took sabbatical leave and then decided to continue working. I saw an interesting position, applied, and soon enough, I started at Unikie as a Senior Software Developer.”
Fully Integrated in Customer’s Team
Today, Markus works in a project where Unikie’s customer is renewing the manufacturing execution and quality management systems for their end customer, a major manufacturing industry company.
“Being an external consultant does not show at all. We are a tightly-knit team, we share the same office, communicate fluently and work to meet shared goals.”
Unikie provides the customer organization with senior experts with a lot of experience under their belts. People like Markus, who have seen a lot, do not panic under pressure but instead have the patience and perspective to calmly solve any challenges.
“Personally, what I enjoy the most is taking responsibility for your own work. After being a manager for so many years, I now have a clear focus and know what I need to do to add value in the project.”
Industrial Automation Is Nowhere Near Ready – Will AI Drive the (R)Evolution?
While Markus got into industrial automation decades ago, he feels that there’s still a lot of unlocked potential and possibilities for a wide range of industries.
“For industrial automation, the world is anything but ready. We are not even near reaching our full potential. A key question is how to reach that potential – do we have the forward-looking innovators, the companies willing to invest and the experts to do the work?”
Markus sees that Artificial Intelligence is one of the potential technologies that could help the industry leap forward.
“Industrial processes generate huge volumes of data. If we could use AI to better understand, process and combine that data, we could take dramatic steps forward.”
Happy to Work for Unikie
Despite working in the customer’s organization for many years, Markus very much has a Unikie identity. At Unikie, Markus has witnessed a major growth arc – when he started, there were about 100 professionals, today the number is close to 600.
“It’s been fantastic to see the company grow. Unikie founders and the company management have made good strategic decisions, and today we’re riding the wave of solutions that are in high demand far into the future.”
Despite the growth, the organization hasn’t become complex. Markus appreciates the fact that size gives opportunities – if you want to try something new, there are opportunities to switch roles, projects, customers and even countries where you work.
“I whole-heartedly recommend Unikie for everyone interested in technology. Even though software is our main focus, we need people with all kinds of skill sets and interests – this work is done together.”
