Superstars from Incap Estonia are joining a nationwide campaign promoting electronics to youth - Anita Mäetalu
We are proud to be one of the sponsors of the electronics industry campaign in Estonia, that promotes education in the field of electronics among young people. Here is the story of one of our amazing employees, who decided to start her career in the electronics industry.
Anita Mäetalu is a production planner at Incap Estonia. Anita believes that it’s a position that requires good teamwork skills and flexibility, while offering various challenges and teaching something new every day. Anita advises young people, who are interested in electronics, to take a look at education in the field of electronics. She believes that it is full of opportunities and will provide a lot of job opportunities in the future.
Check out the interview conducted with Anita!
What are your responsibilities?
Anita: My job is to schedule factory orders so that the products are ready and out of the factory by the needed date. In addition, I work with data processing related to production planning.
How does your usual workday look like?
Anita: Each day begins with a meeting during which we get an overview of the products in production, the products going into production, missing components or other concerns that occur in production. I generally spend the rest of the day behind the computer planning production – I check the condition of materials, plan production, and mediate information between production and supply chain departments. If necessary, I also resolve issues arising in production on an ongoing basis.
What part of your job do you like the most?
Anita: My job is to constantly target dates, so there’s nothing better than when everything goes exactly as planned. The biggest win is exceeding customer expectations with joint teamwork.
As an inspiring fact about the electronics industry in general, I would point out how many women work in the industry. There may be a false prejudice, as if electronics is only for men, but in fact there are amazing women working in this field.
What are the biggest challenges in your work?
Anita: Availability of components is certainly one of the biggest challenges in production planning today. If there are no components, there is nothing to produce. Difficulties in the supply of components cause changes in the production plan. Since the most important thing in my job is to get the products out of the factory on time, any kind of unexpected production stoppages are very big challenges. In order for everything to work smoothly and for the products to be produced without any worries, each team and department must give their 110%.
What skills does your job require?
Anita: Since the planning process is a central part of the production chain and its impact extends from customer orders to inventory, it is important that planning is orderly, appropriately defined and effective. The production planning process plays a very important role in the company, because well-functioning production planning is the basis for the successful operation of other departments, which ultimately ensures the company’s competitiveness and overall success.
So, my work is very much based on teamwork, and therefore the ability to communicate and work in a team is definitely the most important. Stress tolerance is definitely important in this position, because every day can bring unexpected things that you have to quickly adapt to and find solutions to move forward.
How long have you worked in this profession?
Anita: I became a production planner right after graduation. In August, I will complete my first year in this position, which means the joy of discovery and a lot of different experiences are still waiting for me. I also did an internship at Incap before starting this job.
What did you study? Why did you choose this field?
Anita: I graduated from Tallinn University of Technology majoring in production and production management. I chose this field because it was new and there was a great demand for specialists in this field. The curriculum itself was very broad and I gained knowledge about many different fields.
I believe that there are plenty of options in the labor market with this specialty – you can work in all kinds of production companies and in various positions related to production. In terms of education, I don’t have a specific electronics background, but my internship brought me to an electronics company, and here I am.
Why would you recommend young people to study electronics?
Anita: The electronics sector is very innovative and therefore extremely exciting. A large part of today’s technology is based on electronics and its share is constantly growing around us. In order to create innovative solutions, you also need people with relevant knowledge and skills.
If you already have an interest in electronics, then it is probably the only right decision to study electronics, because doing what you love is the biggest and most pleasant victory. And if you haven’t been directly involved with electronics since childhood, but the world of electronics still seems to speak to you, it’s still worth getting to know it. It’s a field full of opportunities and challenges in any case!
