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‘There are still some dreams that Katja has not yet been able to realise.’
She is practising for summer, when she
intends to go hiking with friends.
‘The first time we hiked from
Lappeenranta to Hamina along the Salpa
Line. We covered 133 kilometres in just
over 50 hours. Our next hike will also be
along the Salpa Line, but to the north.’
Known officially as Suomen Salpa
(Finland’s Bolt), the Salpa Line was a
defensive line built close to Finland’s
eastern border after the Winter War. Katja
had good reasons for choosing it as her
hiking route.
‘I was interested in the army when I
was young but I was too shy, and after
being unemployed for a long time I’d
As well as army gear, Katja also collects
material about Kemppi. She particularly
wants to find an old poster that says
‘there are no bad welders, it’s just that
some have got better machines.’
more or less lost my initiative. Every year
I put off applying for military service,
and then I had my son.’
For years Katja has been collecting
different countries’ army surplus gear.
She has already got camouflage suits,
boots, bags and hats not only from the
Finnish but also German, Swedish,
Czech, British, Austrian and Dutch
armies. When she goes hiking she
naturally wears army gear.
‘I did a course for defence volunteers
and I got the chance to run about in the
forest with a gas mask on,’ Katja says.
There are still some dreams that Katja
has not yet been able to realise. Sameli,
her son, was born in 2003 and she did
a village blacksmith course while on
maternity leave.
‘If I win the lottery I’ll buy an old house
in the middle of the forest and set up my
own smithy.’
© Rimera
Annual use of welding wire
totals 30 tons
Rimera Oy
- Designs, manufactures and installs
steel-structured casting moulds for the
pre-cast concrete element industry.
- Around 95 percent of production goes
for export to more than 40 countries. The
main markets are Russia, Saudi-Arabia,
India and the Philippines.
- The company’s 2 700 m2 production
facility is located in Riihimäki. Subsidiary
company Steelform is based in Nastola.
- Approx. 40 employees in total.
- The company was established in 1980
and has been part of Elematic Group
since 1999.
Katja Vironen joined Rimera as a
welder in mid 2010. She mainly
welds heating tubes for installation
in casting moulds manufactured
for the construction industry.
‘Warm water circulating in the
tubes makes the concrete cure faster.
In addition, the drying process is
controlled when it takes place at a
temperature set at a suitable level,’
explains Rimera’s Production Manager
Åke Mether.
Two main types of mould are used
in the construction industry. In the
case of battery moulds, the concrete is
poured vertically into the mould and
about 20 panels can be cast at once.
Table moulds are used for horizontal
casting in the manufacture of panels
with a large surface area, such as
façades, one at a time.
Hollow core slab moulds, where
the concrete is cast by machine, are
Rimera’s third main product. Hollow
core slab lines are typically 120 metres
long and 1.3 metres wide.
Welding represents 90 percent of
the work involved in manufacturing
casting moulds. Also significant is
the fact that the company’s annual
consumption of welding wire is almost
30 tons. This is used by 22 Kemppi
welding machines.
The greatest challenge in
manufacturing moulds is to ensure that
the surfaces are sufficiently straight.
‘In battery moulds, for example,
the permissible deviation is only one
millimetre per two metres, and the
tolerance for railway sleeper moulds is
measured in tenths of a millimetre.’
Right angles and crosswise and
external dimensions are also required
to be accurate.
‘The welder must have extremely
good control over the heat input so
that the mould does not change shape
while it is being welded,’ Mether says.
Texts and pictures: Pirjo Kemppinen
32 Kemppi ProNews 2011