Life tastes good for an Italian specialist in Alfa Laval Finland

My name is Fabio Romanel and I am 35 years old. I am married and I have one 2-year old daughter Emma. I graduated in 2004 in chemical engineering in Italy and at the same year I started to work in Alfa Laval Italy.

In Sweden in 1883 established Alfa Laval is a leading global supplier of products and solutions for heat transfer, separation and fluid handling though our key products – heat exchangers, separators, pumps and valves. Alfa Laval’s well-known products are used to heat, cool, separate and transport such products as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, foodstuffs, starch and pharmaceuticals. Frankly speaking, you see Alfa Laval’s brand almost everywhere in various industries.

We here in Alfa Laval have subsidiaries in over 35 countries around the world, including South Africa, Denmark, Italy, India, Japan, China, Netherlands, United States and Finland.

Alfa Laval Vantaa welcomed me warmly

Today I’m working in Alfa Laval Vantaa, Finland, since 2007. Our unit concentrates on manufacturing high-quality finned heat exchangers, for commercial and industrial refrigeration, HVAC and industrial power cooling.

I have to say that Finnish nature has enchanted me so deeply that I feel like a half-Finn already!

When I moved to Finland, I was assisted by Alfa Laval in all practical things, Finnish colleagues’ great support also made my starting really easy.

But of course there are some minor or major surprises or maybe shocks you meet when moving to the foreign country.

The most difficult thing in my experience is for sure the language. I feel Finnish is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. But fortunately here in Finland everybody speaks English, so you can manage all situations!

Finnish colleagues are easy to get in touch with. I always feel welcome in all situations.

Balance between work and family

When people ask me which is the main difference between working culture in Italy and in Finland I like to say “in Italy you live for working, here you work for living”. The work here is as important as your family.

Finnish people are problem-solving, good listeners and results-focused. I see it is easier to work in Finland than in Italy, because the personal achievements are based on results and not to the personality so much.

I can warmly recommend Finland as a dynamic working location. Also Alfa Laval is the company which really cares of its personnel. It is a big plus for all of us!