Meet Henri Janhonen, Sales & Product Management

Career | 19 august 2021 8:49 AM
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From a school study with Cargotec to the Vice President of Sales and Product Management at Hiab’s DFRC Division.

In 2004 Henri Janhonen was sitting in a lecture hall at the Helsinki University of Technology, listening to a visiting lecturer from Cargotec. This was part of a course called Design of Product Systems which also included a practical assignment in an organization. Henri’s team got an assignment from Hiab but little did he know where this would lead:  “I found working with the assignment very interesting, and it acted as a spark to apply for a summer trainee position in the coming year. The assignment we got as students was a real case. Also the communication and support from our Hiab contacts was fantastic and I really enjoyed the work in the machinery sector.”

As a result of the assignment, Henri applied to a summer trainee position the following spring, and started at Hiab in May 2005. During his first summer he got to work with a variety of different topics such as deliveries of equipment, service business and sourcing. From the very beginning Henri felt like he was not only working with interesting topics but also with great people in a great atmosphere. 

Now after 16 years Henri is working as the Vice President of Sales and Product Management in Hiab’s DFRC division. He is leading a department that is responsible for product assortment as well as supporting and training Hiab’s distribution partner network. The sales and product management organisation works tightly with customers, partners and the sales organisation of Hiab. What makes his job interesting is the versatility of it: “There is not really a “typical day” when working in this position. There are common themes, and recurring responsibilities in my work but the versatile tasks such as supporting colleagues, product assortment management, sales, after sales support, warranty handling, reporting, analytics etc. make the work interesting. When working in a business line leadership role you can definitely benefit from a good network in the company, experience different tasks and have an active approach to work.”

This is something that Henri really enjoys in his work. Besides the variety of tasks he thinks the best things about Hiab and his job are nice colleagues, engaged teams, the products and solutions in which the decades of innovation can be seen. As we have great products it is also nice to work with our distribution and our satisfied customers.

“Before the covid-pandemic I used to have meetings with customers, which is something that I have always enjoyed. I have such good memories of meetings together with customers and finding ways to offer the right solution for their needs. After early 2020 we have successfully moved big parts of the cooperation online, both together with Hiab colleagues as well as customers and partners. With the global network of Hiab we can succeed together as we help each other and are able to contact colleagues with local knowledge and presence. Working with people in international settings has also developed my communication skills a lot. This is something you learn by doing, as well as by the support of training that Hiab has provided. Also, my work tasks have put the university education into good use, so I am glad about the choices I have made when it comes to my job and my education.”

Even though the journey from the lecture hall to where Henri is now in the company has been long and successful, he thinks that: “There are still many opportunities out there to develop myself in this company as Hiab itself is always developing and going forward.”