What would a work assignment of more than one year to the other side of the world sound like? Olli Ekberg, who works as a Design Engineer at Pinja, said yes to the opportunity, and left for Chile in March 2020. He has not regretted the change of scenery, although there are always surprising variables in a large factory project: the date of returning home is not yet certain.
– Of course, it feels good to be trusted by the employer this much. My responsibilities have grown over the years, and I have been involved in many interesting projects, says Ekberg, who has worked at Pinja since 2011.
The Chilean company Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion S.A, one of the world’s largest pulp producers, is building a new pulp mill near Concepcion. The site is really impressive, with 8,500 employees at peak times.
Pinja was selected for the design project with its partner Andritz, who is one of the main suppliers of the project. Pinja’s task has been to carry out steel structural design, plant design and seismic calculations for its partner.
More than 20 Pinja employees in the Kouvola and Mikkeli offices participated in the work in Finland. Plant design and seismic calculations employed the most, both of which involved a dozen employees in Finland. Olli Ekberg is the only person from Pinja on site in Chile.
Pinja has solid experience in earthquake calculations, but the fact that the future plant is located in one of the worst earthquake areas of the world brings its own challenges.
– I’m here in the so-called Advisor role. Arauco has the main responsibility for supervision. My official job description at the site is being a pipeline supervisor for the WLP facility. In practice, I do many other tasks as needed because I was involved in the design of the plant, so I know the site well. I walk around the site every day and look for potential problem areas. If, for example, there is a problem with the pipeline design, the matter must be resolved in a way that does not cause further problems.
Pinja has solid experience in earthquake calculations, but the fact that the future plant is located in one of the worst earthquake areas of the world brings its own challenges. There are earthquakes regularly, and sometimes they are strong. The last major earthquake in the area was in 2010 and it had a magnitude of 8.8. The structures of the new plant must withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of ten.
– The foundations have been a bit of a surprise to everyone, as we have had to install huge amounts of reinforcements to meet the requirements of the calculations, Olli says.
Chile has provided positive surprises. They pay even more attention to occupational safety here than they do in Finland, and the construction site is very clean.
– Safety harnesses are used here whenever you climb to a height of over 1.5 meters. There are no objects lying around at the site, and all small pipes are delivered in the specified dimensions. The thought “the site will take care of it” does not apply here.
Weekends are spent tightly indoors due to the strict Coronavirus restrictions of Chile. The employer has arranged a car and spacious three-room apartment for Olli.
– I visit Finland every three months, but due to the Coronavirus, the intervals have now been a bit longer. But I got to spend Christmas with my family, Olli says.
The husband and father of three will visit Finland again at the turn of August. The project is scheduled to end in 2021. In Chile, home-sickness is cured by talking to other Finns and with video calls home. The work community consists of Finnish supervisors and also local experts.
– Such work assignments are always a good opportunity for a designer to see things and potential problems in the right environment, and not just at the design table, Olli sums up.
Read more
Pinja's industrial engineering services
Find out what kind of career path Olli has had
Discover Pinja as a workplace
Remote work increases the number of hours in a day