Greetings!

My name is Ville Lappi, and I am Bet-Ker’s newest technical support engineer. I am 26 years old and currently live in Oulu. I come from Pielavesi in North Savo, but not to worry – I can communicate in fluent Finnish in addition to a Savonian dialect. In my free time, I like to go fishing and hunting.

I started work at Bet-Ker in May 2023, a company I knew next to nothing about at the time: my only connection with Bet-Ker was the bells that are used at SSAB’s CAS-OB station in Raahe, which I worked with during my thesis work. I have gained prior work experience at the very same steel mill in various foundry tasks, so I am already familiar with the usage of refractory materials.

I ended up at Bet-Ker a bit unexpectedly, when I got a call from the company and was offered a position as a technical support engineer. Surprised as I was about the offer, I searched around online a little for the company’s background, and one thing became very clear: Bet-Ker truly cares about their employees and their contributions. As my mechanical engineering studies at the University of Oulu were almost completed, I decided to accept the offer. Having worked at Bet-Ker for three months now, I can say that I made the right decision.

Everyone at Bet-Ker gave me a warm welcome, so my first impression of the work community was very positive. Nearly everything was new to me on some level, but luckily orientation took off quickly and I was immediately given an appropriate amount of responsibility. The benefits of a compact organisation also became apparent once the work began; for example, I can get help without several consecutive phone calls to different people. Work started smoothly in terms of the prerequisites as well – everything starting from the office was ready.

After the necessary initial arrangements, it was time to take over my area of responsibility – Bet-Ker’s steel ladle and tundish products relating to Raahe SSAB’s CPT agreement – in the sales team. I am also in charge of the function and development of Bet-Ker’s products in Boliden Harjavalta’s technical support. My actual workplace is located in Raahe, but I aim to also regularly visit the Harjavalta plant. My daily tasks include the monitoring of refractory products, contacting customers and maintaining the warehouse levels that ensure their production processes. In addition, I take part in organising product tests for refractory materials, with which we aim to increase production efficiency and create cost savings in the customer’s processes, among other things. I am happy to be able to put the skills I gained from university into practice, such as in strength calculations for refractory elements and creating CAD models.

However, the best part of working at Bet-Ker is the cohesive crew. A sense of humour and good team spirit come through in everything we do, and you can always get help by asking for it. As everyone emphasised to me from the very beginning: there is no such thing as a stupid question, it is only stupid not to ask.  The rest is up to me, as I make progress towards becoming a professional in refractory products one step at a time. At this company and with these co-workers, achieving that will be no problem at all.