Finnish products in Australia

Jari Kettunen from Perth writes about his experiences in Australia and how you can come across Finnish products in everyday life in Australia.

I was just reading a publication related to my field called AUSMARINE (7/2015). As I was flipping through it, hunting for possible new customer contacts, I came across an article called "Kalmar to deliver two Automatic Stacking Cranes to DP World Brisbane". Kalmar is a part of Cargotec. This got me thinking of all the other Finnish products I come across here in Australia.

The following things came to mind…

When I go diving on the beaches of Fremantle, there are cranes of KoneCranes unloading ships. When I get to the beach I think to myself, should I fish or should I go diving. Here you can get the best catches with the world-renowned lures of Rapala.

I decide to go diving and make sure I have enough air in my tank by checking my wireless diving computer by Suunto. Someone runs past me, checking their heart rate from Polar's heart rate monitor. When I was taking the rescue course for diving, we practiced artificial respiration with the Rescue Anne doll, which was invented in Finland.

When I get back from diving I grab a coffee from the local Drive In coffee shop. The coffee is served in cups made by Huhtamäki.

I take care of all my gardening with Fiskars' tools. A biker zooms past me, wearing motorcycling gear by Rukka.

On my way home I see a big apartment building whose façade is under construction. The repairs are done by Savcor.

I am reminded of an old trip to Meekatharra, which is 1 500 kilometers north-east from here, where the generators of Wärtsilä grind on to produce electricity for the entire city. The Australian weather forecasts there are also predicted on the automatic weather station of Vaisala.

People still often use Nokia's mobile phones and a big chunk of the mobile traffic goes through the LTE network devices of the newest generation, made by Nokia.

The newest luxury hotel, hotel Crown in Perth, will have lifts by Kone.

Kone lifts can also be found in Australia.

If you visit Bunnings, the best wood products for your construction needs are provided by Stora Enso.

Western Australia is famous for its mineral and the valuable stones are separated from the worthless ones with filters made by Outotech. The technologies of Metso and Valmet are also in wide use in the mining industry. Nokia Tyres tyres are used for heavy equipment.

Australia's forests will also be managed and cleared with the best harvester in the world, the Scorpio harvester by Ponsse.

The harbours are visited by giant cruisers made in Finnish docks and a research vessel made in Rauma is exploring the Antarctic.

The collecting systems of waste and under pressure toilets to ships and new state of the art buildings are provided by Evac.

Everyone is playing Rovio's Angry Birds or Clash of Clans by Supercell.

On a work trip on the HMAS battleship the repairmen are wearing Peltor's ear defenders while working with Kemppi's welding machines.

And as the icing on the cake, there is crisp rye-bread by Vaasa&Vaasa as well as Fazer's Blue chocolate. And the kids here love the Moomins too, whereas mums go crazy over Marimekko.

And the best way to get drunk is with Finlandia Vodka.

Also to top it all off, the professionals at the new Perth stadium now wash their junk in Oras's showers.

Jari Kettunen