“Tackling challenges together with a strong team”, that’s what Mika liked from the very beginning when he started working at Armacell’s PET foam team in Switzerland. For him it’s important to be part of a small family-like team because it’s fun and inspiring to master challenges together.

The most exciting project I worked on so far was the initiation of PET foam development in 2005. The creation of these special foams was a challenging task with several obstacles. But as a strong team we managed to solve the issues as fast as they had come up.

When Mika started his job at the Research and Development Department in Pfaffnau in Switzerland he was still working on his PhD in Polymer Processing. He decided to work at Armacell quite spontaneously – only four days after the job interview. “I was looking for an interesting job and so I didn’t let this opportunity pass by.” Only two years later, Mika became R&D Manager Thermoplastic foams. Two years later he took over global responsibility for all thermoplastic foams, where he supported Begur, Sroda Slaska and Mebane during start-up.

In 2006, the whole Thermoplastic foam R&D department moved from Switzerland to Belgium where Mika has had his office for the last ten years. In 2011 he decided to focus only on the growing new product family of PET foams, where he took over the position of Global R&D Manager of PET foams. Next year, he will move to Muenster where he already works as Global R&D Manager for IP & Knowledge Management. That means that Mika will analyze the key development activities and innovations, reviews relevant literature and monitor competitor activities. He constantly communicates with patent attorneys and the Corporate Legal Department in order to manage new inventions and to apply for patents.

“I am impressed how effective our colleagues are when it comes to developing innovative products. For the future I wish Armacell to pursue this path of innovation with many new and environmentally friendly inventions.”

Mika is not only about to spend his future in Muenster; he is also a competitive swimmer and triathlete. That’s why he’s happy about every advice on where he could train for the European Championships of veteran swimmers (Masters) in London next year.