Peikko & ProdLib: The cooperation has been built on openness and trust

Peikko in a nutshell

Peikko is a Finnish family business established in 1965. Peikko manufactures many types of concrete joints and joint beams for precast and cast-in-situ construction.

The company is a global pioneer in slim floor structures, wind energy solutions and connection technology for concrete construction.

Certified production in 12 countries and sales office in 33 countries. 2,000 employees worldwide. Turn-over 314 million euros.

Quality, environmental and safety systems certified according to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018.

Read more about Peikko

Peikko's and ProdLib's cooperation started in 2014, when Peikko became the first customer of the newly established ProdLib. Cooperation between the companies has been an important part of ProdLib's service development work.

From Peikko's side Taru Leinonen, Vice President, Product Development, DELTABEAM®, Markus Junes, R&D Manager and Sampo Pilli-Sihvola, Director Software Engineering, who have closely been involved in the cooperation, look back with Janne Virtanen, CEO of ProdLib on the journey made together.

Changing modelling needs triggered a change in the operating method

Taru Leinonen describes Peikko's initial situation: “In 2014, Peikko was already a highly international company”, she starts off and continues: "We had operations in 30 countries, and we were locally present in those countries Peikko grew and developed strongly, the product range was already extensive at that time, and there was a shortage of resources. Peikko had a strong desire to focus on their core competence, i.e. managing the properties of physical products and designing, manufacturing and selling them, and to streamline their business.”

As a company keeping up with the times, Peikko also quickly noticed the trend in the construction industry, where 3D modelling of even entire buildings began to become common: “Quite soon, the company found that increasing one's own competence does not make sense for the very reason that to an increasing extent there were also various 3D software available globally, and the resources to maintain the competence required for them were not sufficient”, Taru Leinonen describes the situation. “The digitalisation of the construction industry was a strong trend, so finding the right operator was essential for Peikko”, she continues.

Markus Junes, who acted as ProdLib's contact person in the initial phase in the role of Manager, Tools for Designers, recalls: “Having components made for them was in itself not new for Peikko. Digital 3D design models had been contracted out to individual operators for a long time. Peikko already had an AutoCAD library for fastening parts and DELTABEAMs®, so there was no need to get modelling for these parts.” However, deficiencies had been found in the Revit models produced elsewhere, so in the future they wanted to act differently.

According to Taru Leinonen, the need to update the models also became a challenge, i.e. they wanted a maker who would commit to making the models long-term and reliably: “Peikko's idea was to get a continuum for the modelling operations, i.e. a permanent and reliable partner,” she describes the situation.

The need arose to outsource the creation and maintenance of digital design models. They also wanted to focus the operations on a company instead of a single operator, as companies usually have better resources to develop their operations faster and with more diversity with the development of the industry, and they are able to offer a wider range of software expertise.

ProdLib's business operations start

Markus Junes recalls that the collaboration with Janne Virtanen started while he was still working for another company producing modelling content for Peikko. As the final product of a joint project, Peikko Revit Components was born, which according to Markus could be thought of as an "initial version" for ProdLib:

“Janne was always quick to respond to our inquiries, and the modelling was of high quality - this built trust. When Janne finally asked the question, 'Will you come along, we have established a new company', it was easy for us to be confident, because the cooperation had worked out so well", Markus Junes says.

The ideas of the founding partners of ProdLib, i.e. Janne Virtanen, Eeva Liesirova and Kim Sivonen, about a new company whose goal would be to produce a platform that centrally offers digital design material, received a very positive reception. In particular, Taru Leinonen remembers from this time the know-how of the young entrepreneurs, their focus on the subject, as well as their genuine enthusiasm and passion for working as the most significant factors encouraging to hop into the service. Taru Leinonen recalls: “ProdLib was able to present new operating models that sounded good and convincing. They themselves were also convinced of their point." She says that she looked at the risks from Peikko's point of view and concluded that if a reasonable contract and operating model is established, both companies would win despite the risks.

Janne Virtanen admits that the first official business visit to Peikko, which took place in the name of the ProdLib company, made him very nervy because they had only a PowerPoint presentation and a technological solution with them, a promise of a platform and a service, and not much else.

According to Taru Leinonen, the fact that Peikko has an owner who allows risk-taking and is eager to get things forward was certainly important for starting the cooperation. An important perspective for the cooperation was found in the common goal, i.e. the desire to implement a service where designers can be offered tools to do their work. Support for designers is recorded right up to the business strategy of Peikko. The success of ProdLib as a company was therefore also important to Peikko.

Peikko's product library became a signpost and – touchstone of ProdLib's credibility

According to Markus Junes, Peikko's Revit library started with models of products intended for cast-in-situ construction, i.e. mounting anchor plates, anchor bolts, corner protections protectors and the like. He thinks that exporting AutoCAD components to the Revit ProdLib’s library was apparently quite tedious for ProdLib. However, the price estimate was correct, even though the schedule was not completely adhered to.

Janne Virtanen admits that the web-based application that was in use at the time required updating the site for each value, parameter and file to be added. Transferring the information to Peikko's library took Eeva Liesirova many months, because Peikko's products contained really a lot of different values. The cooperation with Peikko was, however, a great opportunity for ProdLib, Janne was enthusiastic. Peikko was well-known among designers, and that's how the number of the users of the service began to increase very rapidly:

“We gained a lot of credibility for what we do by creating this library, as well as users. Small design firms quickly adopted the library as their own, which then started the grapevine” Janne smiles contentedly.

Cooperation is developing

“The cooperation in the early years also developed at the same time, for example, when we were together at fairs and stands, and promoted the recognition of Peikko's product library”, says Taru Leinonen.

Markus Junes, in turn, emphasises that Peikko fully trusted ProdLib's expertise in, for example, at which point the element products should be added to the library. With the platform development work carried out by Kim Sivonen, the technical possibilities of modelling expanded and with this the library grew with products related to precast concrete construction such as column shoes and PCs® corbels.

Junes describes how they work together: “What I have appreciated is that if we have had any problems, we have always received support from ProdLib, for example in installation problems. If you can sum it up in three words, it's trust, cooperation, and flexibility. I would believe that other manufacturers have experienced this as well, meaning that ProdLib has been able to meet the expectations of both companies and customers. I see this as a success story.”

Sampo Pilli-Sihvola, Peikko Director Software Engineering and ProdLib's current contact person, continues:

“I fully agree with what Markus said – and the situation is still just as good and the cooperation is going well. The projects are going as agreed and we can be sure that the price will hold. As for the platform, technology has developed over the years. Our library is really extensive. It is really important to us that through a centralised library like that we can share our wide range of products.”

Janne praises the operating process between the companies as ideal for ProdLib. The product specifications are always ready at the beginning of every project, as well as information on when they should be ready.

How is product development reflected in modelling?

Peikko's product selection is large. According to Taru Leinonen, the designers have presented remarkable wishes for models. They are also used to the fact that models are available, and may not even really know how to act, unless one is ready. Even their own sales department has experienced the lack of models as an obstacle to sales in some situations.

“A large selection brings with it the challenge that not all models are necessarily optimal from the point of view of a modern designer. When you're a big company, there's a lot to do, product launches and rush, and then the maintenance of modelling can be a bit slow,” he says. According to Markus, the construction industry is also quite conservative – products do not change very quickly, so there must be good reasons for changing them.

Taru Leinonen admits that the introduction of a new product is slow: “The construction industry is known for avoiding risks. A new product means a new kind of process from design to use. The introduction of products can take place with a delay of years. For Peikko, like for other manufacturers, it is often a challenge to get information about projects carried out by designers.”

“Sustainable development becomes visible at Peikko in such a way that products are optimised in terms of weight, for example”, Junes says and continues: “A good example is the PEC® column shoe. In the product development work, the geometry of the column shoe was re-examined and it was replaced with a BOLDA® column shoe. The structure of the product was made lighter without compromising the requirements set for it, and the result was confirmed by tests.”

What to expect next regarding Peikko's libraries?

Taru Leinonen says that she is satisfied with Peikko's decision to transfer responsibility for the models to the company's IT department during 2022. According to her, it makes visible the fact that the company recognises the importance of these activities – and how today everything is connected to everything digitally. Selection of products, automation, data transfer, this is the direction where development is going everywhere:

“This is a great opportunity but also a challenge. How to pick the most time-resistant options from all those possibilities, when everything is really possible? What will be put first in this development?"

She admits that the times are challenging even for a designer, you can choose almost any product, but how would you know which is the best option?

Janne nods and continues that there are also challenges in the differences in planning processes between different countries:

“Processes are going through a big change right now, especially in terms of considering environmental values - how and where should they be calculated or required and by whom? The development of unified operating methods is completely in its infancy. The world is getting smaller, but the degree of difficulty in doing is increasing”.

Sampo Pilli-Sihvola highlights the development of Peikko's own tools over the past few years and the opportunities they currently offer in sharing information through open interfaces:

“In the future, there will be particular emphasis on how we could get activities developed together in such a way that we could share information from our existing data directly to ProdLib's platform and make updating of the tools semi-automatic.”

“The amount of information is constantly increasing. Making models is a handiwork for us”, says Janne for his part. He states that ProdLib always tries to aim for a usability where the models can be used intuitively, i.e. without a thick manual and long training: “You must be able to choose products using common sense and based on your own needs and requirements. This is one part of ProdLib's know-how and a distinguishing factor.”

Instead, data transfer, automation and especially data harmonisation are issues that other companies besides Peikko are currently struggling with, and it creates challenges for ProdLib as well.

An innovative company

At Peikko, innovation is also written directly into the company's strategy and also falls under Taru Leinonen. She recounts that at Peikko, ideas are gathered using a standard process and their goal is usually to solve practical problems. Employee motivation is a really important part of this; ideas are processed and employees are rewarded for them. Dozens of ideas come and most of them go forward.

Peikko's wishes for ProdLib are related to the company's efforts to stay at the forefront of new developments. The company especially appreciates ProdLib's professionalism and the bold presentation of their own view whether an operating method has outlived its time.

Taru Leinonen throws down a challenge to Janne Virtanen: "Have the guts to express your opinion – don't just do what we ask, but boldly innovate us!"

Janne Virtanen nods and admits that mutual openness is the key issue here.

"Yes", Taru Leinonen adds and continues: "And that we can laugh at silly things together. They have served for their time and have been based on knowledge of the moment. In a positive atmosphere, you can move things forward, you are motivated and your mind stays fresh."

Finally, Taru wishes luck and success to the 10-year-old ProdLib.