From Secretary to Team Leader – Meet Malin Öhrberg from Valmet in Sweden

About 25 years ago, in 2000, I joined the former Metso Automation to handle order administration and invoicing tasks for service. In 2007, I transitioned to Inside Sales, and I am currently working as a team leader in a technical sales manager position within Valmet’s Flow Control business line.

In the early days of my career, I worked as a medical secretary at a health care center, where for three years, I typed doctors’ notes from dictaphone recordings to paper journals. In that job, I learned valuable skills in providing good customer service over the phone and face-to-face at the doctor’s reception. I also learned to type fast!

I believe that being service-minded has helped me in all my work roles – from being a medical secretary to my current position as a team leader. 

What does your job as a Technical Sales Manager and a team leader entail?  

In my role as a Technical Sales Manager and team leader, I act as a connection point for all our team members, both our local Swedish sales team and our colleagues in the India hub. Since we work from different locations in Sweden, I strive to keep the inside sales team members updated while continuously improving our processes. Some of my practical tasks include managing, for example, creating quotations, acting as a system key user, contacting customers, providing support in financial tasks.

As a team leader, I aim to be the person who notices if any of my colleagues have a problem. They must know they can turn to me for help. I also strive to simplify and ensure that everyone works according to the same processes.  

Working in inside sales is both interesting and challenging, especially when learning technical information. I am still learning something new every day, so there’s never a dull moment.  

What challenge were you pleased with improving or solving at Valmet?

I remember one case when a customer urgently needed 10 positioners to replace the existing ones in their pipeline, and we were able to solve that challenge quickly. We managed to ship new ones via express within one day, thanks to our excellent service department in Helsinki, Finland. By the end of the day, the customer was very satisfied and grateful. I can’t emphasize enough that feeling when colleagues are pulling together to quickly resolve a customer’s problem.  

While working on the customer frontline in sales, the best inspiration comes from customer feedback, especially when they are pleased with our work.

Do you have a nice memory or experience about working at Valmet that you would like to share?  

Implementing the ERP system for the flow control business in Sweden was a significant administrative task, and I served as the key user for the order handling part. I felt there was excellent communication and cooperation with system team members from India, Finland, and Sweden. After some years, we switched our ERP system to a new one to align with a factory system. With the experience gained from the earlier implementation, we managed the system change smoothly and successfully. I was very pleased that I could apply the best practices from the project to another to ensure the team’s success.

How would you describe the Valmet’s culture?  

In my team, we have very open communication, both with our managers and among team members. We all help and support each other. Additionally, I feel that all Valmeteers are very proud to work at this global company.

What makes Valmet a great place to work?  

I greatly appreciate that at Valmet, I can work with a large global network of colleagues who have diverse competencies and high technical knowledge. We operate according to strong values and have access to versatile training opportunities. Valmet offers many possibilities for career development, such as transferring to different positions within the company and sometimes even applying to work in another country.