Neorem Magnets – 30 years of customer service that attracts
The story of Neorem Magnets is one of a company based on groundbreaking special expertise seizing its position in the global production and supply chain. Now, at the age of 30, its operations are still guided by its original, clear guiding principle: fulfilling the customer’s needs comes first.
Neorem Magnets was founded in 1995, but its story really got started back in the 1980s. During that time, Doctor of Science (Technology) Mauri Veistinen – a pioneer in magnetics – was developing new techniques at Helsinki University of Technology.
Veistinen and his workgroup prepared the first sintered permanent NdFeB magnets, the production of which started at Outokumpu Magnets Oy’s pilot factory in 1989. Next, Veistinen turned his full attention to planning the production of permanent magnets with a licence from the Japanese company Sumitomo Special Metals.
When Outokumpu discontinued the production of magnets, Neorem Magnets Oy was founded in December 1995 to continue the work. Led by Veistinen in Ulvila, the company started to develop products and contact customers from different sectors in a determined manner. Soon its growth was accelerated by new funders, investments and customers. Early on, Neorem Magnets formed a strategic partnership with the elevator company Kone, for example, and participated in the growth of businesses such as Nokia’s global mobile phones and ABB’s production of wind power.
Having established a good position in Europe, Neorem Magnets joined the German Vacuumschmelze Group – the leading European manufacturer of NdFeB magnets – in 2007. This continued to strengthen its production, research department and market opportunities.
Cool and calm through global crises
After Mauri Veistinen, the management of the company was taken over by Kari Aittoniemi in 2009 and by the current CEO Jouko Tiittanen in 2018, after he’d served the company in various positions for over 20 years.
Under Tiittanen’s leadership, the world has seen crises such as the global COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which has posed challenges to the global market in the form of sanctions against Russia, for example. Even during crises, however, Neorem Magnets has managed to avoid any larger problems.
“Even during COVID, we were able to continue our work without major disruptions. We did the right and smart things at the workplace, like following good hand hygiene practices and maintaining safety distances, wearing masks, restricting group sizes and minimising the number of meetings. Neither have our operations been affected to a significant extent by the war in Ukraine or sanctions against Russia, as we have no direct contacts to Russia,” says Tiittanen.
The question with more impact on the company’s future is of an internal nature: the staff.
“Neorem Magnets is a good workplace where people stay for a long time, meaning our employee turnover is very low. As the average age of our professionals rises, we will one day face a time when many of them retire. We have started to prepare for this by recruiting new talent to the company. It is important to secure the longevity of the company, start to grow a new generation and to maintain the Neorem spirit.”
“When the customer is doing well, we are doing well”
The Neorem spirit mentioned by Tiittanen is embodied first and foremost by a rigorously customer-oriented approach.
“The basis of our strength is definitely the fact that we humbly serve the customer. We focus all our actions on making sure the customer gets their product on time and with the exact specifications they defined.”
The company’s entire staff has internalised this approach, creating a work community with entrepreneurial spirit. In that community, the entire team works toward a shared purpose, and individuals are motivated to learn new things and to maintain their ability to work. Correspondingly, the company looks after its staff with good benefits: according to Tiittanen, people’s wellbeing both at work and in leisure time is important.
While the house is in order internally, there are plenty of uncertainty factors in the world and the market. For Neorem Magnets, such factors particularly include the availability of rare earth metals needed for production.
“At the moment, over 90% of them are refined in China. If the global trade conflicts get worse, it can affect the availability of raw materials. Since the Chinese have increased their expertise in this field rapidly and systematically, we should build more of this special expertise in the West as well.”
An electrifying world needs permanent magnets
Nevertheless, Tiittanen is confident about the future of Neorem Magnets. As an overall positive outlook, he mentions the continuous and expanding electrification of society, which means that new applications and uses for permanent magnets keep emerging non-stop.
“The West has now started to wake up to the existence of neodymium-iron-boron magnets and their importance as a material. Neorem Magnets contributes to ensuring the availability of these critically important products. We take pride in our expertise and have confidence that we can keep serving the businesses of our customers in the future as well.”
