Nearly 140 professionals from the construction and steel building products industry gathered for Ruukki Professional Day on Friday, March 6 in Tampere, Finland. This year’s theme was “Realizing future buildings today,” and the aim was to present Ruukki as a forerunner in its field and to inspire confidence in a stronger future.

Tampere Hall filled up already in the morning with a record number of cheerful guests – customers, partners and Ruukki employees. Before lunch, the program focused particularly on future prospects. In his presentation, CEO Sami Eronen reviewed Ruukki’s strengths as a partner and the expected growth of the market. Aki Kangasharju, Managing Director of the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA), focused in his presentation on analyzing the economic situation and the role of construction within it.

In the product-focused presentations, Kaisa Ahvonen spoke about SSAB’s future low‑emission steels, and Juha Tuomisto presented GreenCoat® colour‑coated steels and COR‑TEN® steel. Pasi Töyräs from Piristeel introduced the new SafeGuard railing system, which improves safety when moving on rooftops.

Afternoon program on durable roofs and future commercial properties

In the afternoon, the event program split into two parallel themes, allowing guests to choose according to their interests.

• Durable roofs – practice and celebration

For those interested in roofing, the program included building physics of metal roofs, updates to RT Building Information Files related to standing seam and profiled metal roofs, and marketing of Ruukki roofing products.

• Future commercial properties – from design to implementation

In presentations focusing on Building Envelopes speakers discussed comfortable, productive and safe business premises as well as Ruukki’s role in the process from design to implementation. New surface profiles for sandwich panels were also introduced.

The informative daytime program concluded with an inspiring presentation by emeritus professor of space astronomy Esko Valtaoja titled “The Future Is Something Completely Different Than You Think.” The evening continued at Nokia Arena with dinner and the Ilves–Tappara ice hockey match.

Towards the best customer experience in the industry

The purpose of the Professional Day was to communicate how Ruukki’s solutions and services can support customers’ businesses even in an uncertain operating environment.

“When planning the event, we wanted to emphasize design solutions, services and long‑term cooperation supporting our customers’ businesses rather than focusing solely on products. It is important to us that industry professionals see us as a reliable partner whose operations are based on high quality, expert service and reliable deliveries,” says Jorma Korhonen, Head of Roofing Business in Finland.

When building products, expertise and delivery capability come together, they create a strong foundation for developing operations towards the best customer experience in the industry.