Career story: Tuula Stenberg

Tuula Stenberg motivated by challenges, where leading supply chain management like playing a complex, three-dimensional game of chess.

After an incredible career journey that has taken across Finland and around the world, Tuula Stenberg, Simucube Director of Supply Chain Management has found her way back to where it all began – Tampere. Tampere holds special meaning for Tuula.

“It’s where my academic foundation was built. I completed both my Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and my Doctor of Science (Tech) in Materials Science at Tampere University of Technology.”

Later, during Tuula’s career she complemented her technical background with an Executive MBA from Aalto University, combining engineering excellence with strategic business leadership.

Finding the right fit at Simucube: returning to electronics through esports and racing simulators

Tuula started her career in the electronics industry, “it was an honour to work in various areas – product development, production, logistics, and sourcing” – she says. Tuula spent the longest part of her career – over 15 years – at Nokia. After Nokia and Microsoft, Tuula worked in heavier industries and became familiar with mechanical engineering, especially in areas related to production quality and supply chain.

“At Simucube, I returned to electronics, which truly feels like the right fit for me.”

Tuula’s remarkable career path continues to progress rapidly at Simucube. Tuula started her journey at Simucube in August 2024 as Head of Supply Chain Management and after 10 months was promoted to Director of Supply Chain Management.

Supply chain management: mastering the complex, three-dimensional game of chess

Tuula enjoys the wide scope of supply chain management, having worked across all stages — from supplier selection to production, inventory management, and logistics. Although the field is challenging and new situations arise almost daily, she says that it’s a great feeling when the entire chain runs as planned.

“That’s what makes it challenging, and I like challenges. It’s never boring. I was just recently noted that my job is like three-dimensional chess, and that is pretty good visual image.” – Tuula continues.

In supply chain management, thinking ahead is essential because early planning makes all the difference. Tuula values being able to see the big picture while also diving into the details when needed.

“I also find strategic planning really interesting and meaningful — it’s great to have the opportunity to think about the future.”

“What motivates me most is being able to use a variety of skills. You need to collaborate effectively with product development, sales, marketing, and finance. Ability to speak technical language, understand engineering mindset and at the same time communicate with commercial departments, this makes my role exciting.”

Motivated by people, driven by teamwork

Tuula has always enjoyed leading teams, and she finds it truly rewarding to lead a highly committed and skilled supply chain management team. Overall, she enjoys working with people and being part of a team.

“Once, I was asked what kind of leader I am, and I answered, that it depends on the team, because you need to be a leader who meets the team’s needs. In my opinion, the best kind of leadership is when the team feels they accomplished everything on their own.”

Tuula continues: “At Simucube, we have many self-driven people. But even then, leadership is needed to ensure everyone is moving in the same direction. The goal is to guide and align people so that, while they stay autonomous, we’re all working toward a shared purpose.”

In addition to supply chain management, Tuula takes care of various aspects of sustainability and works together with other teams to incorporate them into goal setting. Simucube creates long-lasting, high-quality products and recently launched a new initiative, Simucube Pre-Owned, by selling repaired and tested units with minor visual defects and giving them a second life. Sustainability efforts also include prioritizing sea freight over air freight in logistics to reduce the environmental footprint.

“I like that my personal values and beliefs are reflected in my work and in Simucube culture. That is big part of my motivation” – Tuula concludes.

Work-life balance becomes a game-changer

At Simucube everyone respects own free time and pay attention to wellbeing — something Tuula really values now.

“I like the work-life balance at Simucube. I do not need to take my laptop at home every evening and I may trust that nobody expects from me to answer immediately, there’s no pressure to check emails.”

Bicycle benefit available for Simucube employees is enhancing wellbeing, as many people either cycle to work or train together in their free time.

“Following my coworkers’ example, I’ve started cycling to work and now ride about 100 km a week. It’s a 12 km ride one way each day.” Also, Tuula inspired by “Happihyppy” at Simucube, when employees are encouraged to take breaks during the workday and go for a half-hour walk to clear the mind as part of working time.

Integrating wellbeing into leadership

At Simucube wellbeing is a priority and constantly being developed — function heads have weekly discussions on wellbeing-related topics, and decisions are made together. Feedback is collected every other week through a feedback system, but the open atmosphere also means that any concerns can easily come up in casual coffee table conversations.

“Leadership is something we actively work on and keep improving — after all, innovative and healthy employees are our greatest strength and the foundation of future success.”

At the conclusion of the discussion on wellbeing, Tuula added, “Personally, I’m very proud of the award we received last autumn — Simucube has been awarded the title of Finland’s most people-centric workplace 2024 in the under 250 employees category. It showed that we’re on the right path.”