For Erti Haava, service is about much more than repairing trucks. It is about keeping customers’ businesses running.
“Service isn’t some separate department,” says Erti, Area Service Manager at Scania in the Baltics. “It’s a chain. Every single link affects the customer.”
Erti’s been with Scania for over twenty years and has pretty much seen it all. He started out as a stock manager, then moved through roles as service advisor, key account manager, warranty manager and service quality manager before landing in his current job.
All those different jobs shaped how he looks at service today. “As a service advisor you’re right in the middle – between the customer and the workshop. You’ve got to keep your promises and be clear, even when the news isn’t great.”
That experience really showed him what downtime means for transport companies. “When a truck breaks down, the customer feels it in their business straight away. That’s when you realise just how important uptime and trust actually are.”
The invisible work behind good service
A lot of what Erti does happens behind the scenes. Customers usually only see the service advisor, but loads of stuff is already happening long before a truck even rolls into the workshop.
“Customers don’t see the prep work – the coaching, the audits, the training, all the internal coordination we do to keep things running smoothly.”
Sometimes the team goes the extra mile to get customers sorted faster. “We might cut a repair that normally takes seven hours down to four. Customers don’t always notice that effort, but it’s going on in the background.”
Keeping cool when things get stressful
Working in service means juggling expectations from customers, workshops, technicians and the business itself. “You’re balancing demands from every direction,” Erti says.
His approach is pretty straightforward: stay calm and stick to the facts.
“You can’t eat soup when it’s too hot,” he says. “Sometimes it’s better to just step back for a bit. Once the emotions settle, the facts get clearer.”
Customer First in real life
For Erti, Customer First comes down to one simple question in every situation: “What value does this actually bring the customer?” Good service, he reckons, builds long-term trust. “When the customer feels like Scania’s got their back, it takes a load of stress off them and creates loyalty.”
New tools like Scania Service Planning help with that. It’s part of the My Scania system and lets customers book service, check workshop availability and manage their vehicles more proactively.
“It gives customers a clear way to plan service and stay ahead of their needs,” Erti explains.
It’s the people that drive him
What really fires Erti up isn’t the technology – it’s the people. “I’m passionate about seeing people succeed in their jobs and knowing that what we do genuinely helps the customer.”
He thinks the most important thing in service is responsibility. “Responsibility means owning the outcome, whether it’s good or bad.” That mindset, he believes, builds trust both inside the company and with customers.
Life outside work
Away from the job, Erti likes building smart home systems – linking up energy, lighting and tech in smarter ways. He also keeps active with the gym and swimming.
But whether he’s at home or at work, the approach is the same: solve problems, improve systems, and make things work better.
Because at the end of the day, great service really just means one thing: “The customer knows Scania will help.”
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