GrainSense People: Lab Manager Kirsi Ahtinen

 In our GrainSense People series, we introduce our personnel, their work as well as them as individuals. First we sat down with our lab manager Kirsi Ahtinen, who is an integral part of our Oulu team. 

Tell us shortly about yourself and your role at GrainSense? 

I started at GrainSense in 2016. I’ve been here since the laboratory was established. In the beginning I worked in both the lab and production.
In a start-up company, there’s a lot of planning and things to do. From the beginning, I was strongly involved in designing our laboratory premises to be safe and functional. Now I work as a Laboratory Manager.
I’m also GrainSense’s Occupational safety and health manager and
I started as a Quality Manager in March 2022. 

What is your typical workday like? 

My workdays vary a lot. In the lab I make work instructions, orders and quotations, and I plan the lab work schedules. I gather grain samples and store them, and I operate the GrainSense database.  The quality manager job includes e.g. internal audits and reporting. In my everyday work I pay attention to matters concerning quality as well as occupational safety and health. In addition to my daily tasks, developing the laboratory is a continuous process. I also work closely with production and R&D departments. 

What are your best memories related to your work life with GrainSense? 

It has been so interesting to follow the growth of the company. I have such a good memories about the people I have worked with during these years. We have lived the ups and downs together.  

What is best at being part of team GrainSense? 

I like that the work here is so versatile. This is a workplace of opportunities. I’ve had the pleasure to work with very interesting projects, and hopefully many more still to come. And last, but not least, the best go-workers 😊  

What do you do during your free time to balance out the work life? 

During summertime I like to do some gardening or just be outside in the sun. Traveling is one of my biggest passions. I’ve traveled a lot around the world, but small islands in Greece have definitely stolen my heart.