Stiff but professional service in Lahti
At the Woikoski reseller, Liukkosen Pultti, business has been running for over 60 years. When a company’s customer relationships last, at their best, over 40–50 years and the business is now being run by the third generation, something has clearly been done right.
At Liukkosen Pultti in Lahti, there’s no fuss or unnecessary frills. As the company’s own slogan promises, the service is no-nonsense but professional. And that’s just fine. Liukkosen Pultti has a straightforward approach to service: “If we don’t have it, we’ll get it.”
Straightforward operations
Technical Sales Representative Jarno “Jopo” Immonen is in charge of the Woikoski partnership. He is responsible for Woikoski’s gases, welding consumables, and welding supplies, and he also sells fasteners, tools, and everything else found in Liukkosen Pultti’s product range.
Jopo joined the company in 2014 through a rather straightforward recruitment process.
“I was told to come, so I came,” Jopo sums it up.
Not a bad starting point for a long career. No need for multiple rounds of interviews.
A family business now in its third generation
The story of Liukkosen Pultti began in 1962. Field Sales Manager Niko Liukkonen explains that the second generation joined the company in 1974 and the third in 2003.
Over the years, the company has grown from a team of five to, at its peak, 15 employees. At the same time, the company has built exceptionally long-lasting customer relationships. The longest of these have lasted as long as 40–50 years—spanning generations on the customers’ side as well.
A typical business customer comes from the metal industry, where there is a particular need for products related to grinding and welding. Jopo points out that the store also sees a large number of individual customers, for example, for bottle refills.
One man who kept hanging around—and that’s how it all started
The collaboration between Woikoski and Liukkosen Pultti began in 2012. Niko has his own theory about how it all actually got started.
“Maybe it all started when Mika Suominen from Woikoski used to hang out here all the time. The easiest way to keep him happy was to sign a contract with Woikoski and start running the gas depot,” Niko laughs.
The solution proved to be quite successful. The gases brought Liukkosen Pultti a new customer base from the welding industry, and at the same time, the product selection began to expand in line with customer needs.
Today, Liukkosen Pultti offers Woikoski products such as industrial and welding gases, liquefied petroleum gas, welding supplies, and welding consumables.
When a customer needs gas, it’s there
Liukkosen Pultti is one of Woikoski’s largest retail outlets, and according to Niko, one of the strengths of this partnership is the reliability of delivery. Thanks to its large gas storage facility, a wide range of gas cylinders in various sizes and different gas types is available.
Liukkosen Pultti’s business model can be summed up quite simply: customers come to get what they need, and the idea is that they actually get it.
Pictured are Ville Vehviläinen, the regional sales representative for Woikoski, and Jarno Immonen and Niko Liukkonen from Liukkosen Pultti.
