Anne works as a Project Manager for configured-to-order industrial cranes at Konecranes. Her projects can involve cranes with capacities ranging from 0.5 tons to 80 tons, and at busy times she may have dozens of cranes under her responsibility at once.
From there, she coordinates the delivery from sales handover through technical clarifications, ordering, manufacturing and transportation. She works with sales, engineering, factories, suppliers and installation teams to make sure what was sold is what gets delivered.
Many strings to pull
The role combines technical knowledge with constant prioritization.
“Juggling a lot of things at once is the core of this job,” Anne says.
Questions can appear throughout the day, especially once manufacturing begins or a crane is approaching delivery. Anne says one of the most important skills is knowing where to focus.
“When you have a pile of work to be done, you need to understand how you should focus and how you should prioritize in order to still keep those projects ongoing in a proper manner and also on time.”
Her approach is structured. She plans her work for the next day and the next week and uses Outlook and Microsoft Planner to keep track of what has been done and what still needs attention.
Building experience step by step
Anne is a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, with a study focus that included occupational health and safety and product safety. After graduation, she worked in consulting on machine safety before deciding she wanted to gain more experience in quality.
That brought her to Konecranes in 2017 as a Quality Engineer.
“I knew I wanted my next role to be related to quality or safety,” she says. “It took quite a bit of persistence. I applied for at least ten different positions and went through many hours of applications, interviews and assessments before finding the right opportunity.”
Konecranes stood out. She had heard positive things about the company from friends, and when a suitable position opened, she decided to go for it. Eventually, the job offer came.
Accepting it was still a leap of faith: it meant leaving a permanent position for a one-year contract in a completely new company and role.
“It was quite exciting, of course, to leave the permanent job and go to an entirely new workplace and position and topics.”
Looking back, Anne sums it up simply: “I think most of the things usually work out.”
From quality to project management
After around two and a half years in quality, Anne went on parental leave. When she returned, a development discussion with her manager made her think about what she wanted to understand better.
“I understood that I would really like to have more experience in our delivery process and more experience in our crane technology,” she says. “How the cranes are actually built, what is needed, and how the actual execution is going.”
Soon after, a Project Manager position opened.
“I wasn’t planning to change position, but then there was an open position in our team as a project manager, I applied and got the position.”
Since then, she has gradually taken on larger and more technical projects.
“I have got a lot of knowledge of our cranes and our delivery process, and in the recent years I have got more responsibilities, bigger projects, and also more technical projects.”
A team where you can ask anything
Anne joined the project management team during the COVID period, when everyone was working remotely. She had a lot to learn, from crane technology to SAP.
“I think I asked my colleagues many, many times in a day: how to do this, how to do that, what is this?”
What made that easier was the team culture.
“The atmosphere has been always really open and people are eager to help each other,” Anne says. “You can ask anything from my colleagues.”
She has seen the same attitude in different parts of Konecranes.
“There are no stupid questions. You can ask everything, and you can then get the answer.”
Finding the right balance
Anne’s engineering background is important in her role, but her experience has also helped her discover what she enjoys most.
From machine safety to quality and project management, each role has brought a new perspective. Looking ahead, Anne is particularly interested in opportunities where she can combine customer relationships with operational experience, work across different parts of the organization and lead improvement initiatives.
“I’m interested in areas like business development or commercial excellence,” she says. “My experience in quality and project management has taught me essential skills for leading and developing.”
At Konecranes, there are opportunities to move across roles and build on existing skills. Anne doesn’t have the next step mapped out yet, but she knows much more clearly what she wants from it.
