Pick and choose the ones that fit your presentation best. Speakers notes internal use only, except when taken from published sources.
We believe in a world where environmental measurements and observations improve every aspect of daily life. - Each day, from the moment they wake, people around the world live their lives just that little bit better thanks to Vaisala. From downtown Chicago to the Australian outback, urban China to the Amazon, our weather observation equipment and services and measuring and monitoring instruments are working non-stop so that people can work, travel and relax - safely, reliably and efficiently. We help our customers succeed in their business operations.
Accurate and continuous meteorological observations make it possible that weather agencies around the world can create accurate weather forecasts and issue weather warnings to anticipate impending disasters. These are essential in helping authorities to take preventative measures to safeguard people and property. Various measuring and monitoring solutions developed for indoor and industrial environments ensure, product quality, cost/energy efficiency and personal safety and wellbeing.
The world has depended for 80 years on the technologies we have created and products we have developed. And we will keep on doing this for the good of our customers and the health of our planet. Of course, we do not do this alone. We work closely with customers, technology partners, subcontractors, research institutes and the wider scientific community.
Innovation and quality is all about people, we actively encourage our personnel to develop their professional competencies and deepen their expertise, take initiative and responsibility, and recognize the real value their work has to society. Our values speak to the kind of attitudes and ways of working we encourage among our people.Our global staff of around 1,600 in 16 countries is passionate about combining science and technology for a safer tomorrow, improving the quality of people’s everyday life. Over 20 per cent of our people are employed in the research and development activities. In 2014, R&D expenses were EUR 34.0 million, 11.3% of net sales: Weather 11.7% and Controlled Environment 10.3%
Vaisala is truly a global Finnish company, 97% of our net sales is exports outside Finland. About 900 people which is 57% of our personnel is located in Finland. We have one site in Finland: ”Vaisala campus”, e.g. our headquarters and production facilities are located in Vantaa, Helsinki metropolitan area.
Purposeful work
Curious and capable employees are a cornerstone of Vaisala’s success. Attracting creative and skilled people is not self-evident, and every member of our team is valued and respected. Although our employees stay with us for a decade on average, we do not take this for granted, and aim to offer them highly motivating career paths. This kind of long-term commitment has provided us with extremely competent professionals dedicated to developing superior technology and long-term customer relationships.
Well-being
We value work environments that support the well-being of our employees and smooth collaboration between teams. Our employees value the opportunities for good work-life balance as well as the meaningful challenges and outstanding supervisory work.
Learning
Our competitive strength originates in our highly capable personnel. We encourage our employees to take the initiative to improve their capabilities, promoting an active approach to career planning. Learning runs through every employee’s whole career in Vaisala, both through structured programs and through learning on the job and getting valuable first-hand experience.
From IR report 2016:
Vaisala has a mentoring program to support the professional development of its employees. We use mentoring as a method of accelerating employee development and providing learning opportunities for both the mentor and the mentee. The program is a structured, goal oriented 12–18-month process where mentees and mentors build a professional relationship. It consists of a facilitated kick-off session, coaching activities during the program as well as a facilitated feedback session at the end of the program. The core of the program is built on regular meetings between the mentor and mentee. Vaisala’s fifth mentoring program was launched in April 2016. The purpose of the program is to support professional development, enhance Vaisala’s leadership and coaching culture, and transfer tacit knowledge and best practices across business units and functions. Altogether 48 participants with diverse professional backgrounds and roles were selected from multiple locations.
Reliable decisions
We enable customers to make reliable decisions based on accurate environmental observations. Whether in transportation, the energy sector or various industrial applications, the information produced through our technologies help our customers make superior choices for the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of their operations.
Productivity
Vaisala’s solutions improve customers’ cost-efficiency, yield and quality of operations, and end product. The high quality and long life-cycles of our products offer an superior total cost of ownership. Vaisala’s solutions make maintenance and monitoring of crucial systems, such as high-voltage power transformers, efficient and cost-effective.
Quality
A shared appreciation for quality is something that our customers value when choosing their environmental measurement technology provider. High-quality products and services have always been the core of Vaisala, but most importantly, ensuring the quality of customers’ end products or operations, is what makes all the difference.
From Corporate Responsibility Report 2014:
Vaisala CheckTime – Aircraft Deicing Innovation for Safety and Efficiency
Vaisala’s CheckTime solution uses precision weather measurement equipment at each airport to measure the atmospheric conditions. With the help of real-time environmental data, Vaisala is able to provide dynamic decision support
information to the pilot. Using the onboard ACARS computer, CheckTime provides pilots with automated information on how weather impacts de- and anti-icing fluids on an aircraft. This information improves airline efficiency and reduces costs and environmental impacts from excess use of anti-icing fluids during winter weather events.
During winter precipitation airlines deice and anti-ice the aircraft to ensure safe operation. The deicing step removes any contaminants from the surfaces of the aircraft. Thereafter, the anti-icing process covers these surfaces once again, especially the aircraft’s wings, with a protective fluid that absorbs precipitation, thus keeping the surfaces of the aircraft free of contaminates.
Currently, pilots use Holdover time tables to provide an estimated amount of time the aircraft can be exposed to the present environmental conditions to ensure a safe departure. These time tables are based on prevailing visibility as a function of precipitation intensity, precipitation type and air temperature, and assume the conditions remain constant. The time tables are cumbersome for pilots and cause
added distraction among other departure procedures. The tables are also at times inaccurate as they do not factor in the changing weather.
Reliable, Up-to-the-Minute Information
Vaisala’s CheckTime solution has made that all easier for the pilot. CheckTime uses precision weather measurement equipment to measure the Liquid Water Equivalent, the amount of water in the precipitation, and calculates the fluid saturation point using this information. With the help of real-time environmental data, Vaisala is able to provide dynamic decision support information to the pilot via the airline ACARS computer in the cockpit. No more guesswork or complicated extrapolation tables.
Instead, the pilot receives a CheckTime message that is updated once a minute and the pilot is able to maintain awareness of the state of the fluids on the aircraft.
Industry-leading, Sustainable Alternative
As a thought leader in the aviation industry, Vaisala has installed weather monitoring systems at some of the largest winter weather airports around the world. As a member of the SAE International Committee of Deicing Standards, Vaisala has been in an influential role to set the deicing standards for airlines worldwide.
In 2014, Vaisala and Finnair have signed an agreement which brings CheckTime into
operative use. By making optimized decisions on deicing and anti-icing fluids, Finnair can further improve their operational efficiency with regards to cost savings as well as help further reduce their environmental footprint. “A significant environmental target for us is to reduce the consumption of glycol in anti-icing operations by 40% by 2016 from a 2006 baseline. Glycol is the second largest source of indirect greenhouse gas emissions for us after fuel manufacturing. We believe that CheckTime will help us to reach our target in a controlled and safe manner”, says Saija Stenbacka, Finnair’s
Vice President, Quality and Environment.
Better Informed Societies
We bring value to societies through accurate and reliable environmental measurements, decision support for national and local authorities, businesses, and the renewable energy sector.
Safety
Vaisala’s technologies help our customers maintain safe operating environments in many parts of the society.
Economic Value
Vaisala’s solutions help societies become more prepared and resilient against the negative effects of weather and the climate, and at the same time take advantage of favorable weather conditions.
From IR report 2016:
The Bahamas is a country that is in the path of hurricanes, and consisting of some 700 low and flat islands, it is prone to any rise in sea level. It is also a large country in area: the weather in the northern islands can be completely different from that in the southernmost islands. In July 2015, Hurricane Joaquin caused widespread destruction in the Central and Southeast Bahamas. After this, the Government of The Bahamas decided to improve the weather forecasting capabilities of the country, in order to keep its citizens and visitors safe from extreme weather. The Department of Meteorology of The Bahamas turned to Vaisala. After examining the status and needs of the Bahamian weather services, Vaisala created a package of equipment, software and training tailored to the needs of The Bahamas. “We have over 40 years of history with Vaisala, and Vaisala has provided the most robust and reliable equipment. In this case, it was also important that Vaisala thought of the whole picture for The Bahamas – not just trying to make a deal. Training, for example, was an essential part of the contract for us,” Trevor Basden, Director of The Bahamas Department of Meteorology, points out.
In October 2016, the contract was signed with Vaisala, collaborating with the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). The partnership makes is possible to provide Bahamians with the latest in meteorological technology to keep citizens and visitors safe. Vaisala will provide hardware – weather radars and weather stations – and software, and train Bahamian meteorologists in their efficient use. FMI will provide meteorological software and training. FMI is not only a weather service provider, but also develops its own software, so it knows the ins and outs of meteorological services. While training their Bahamian colleagues, the goal of FMI’s experts is not only to teach them how to use the software but also to build their meteorological capacity and hone their processes, organization and methods further. Improved weather forecasting capabilities of the Bahamas Department of Meteorology, both through advanced instrumentation and increased expertise, will make it possible to provide advance warnings of approaching severe weather.
Better Informed Societies
We bring value to societies through accurate and reliable environmental measurements, decision support for national and local authorities, businesses, and the renewable energy sector.
Safety
Vaisala’s technologies help our customers maintain safe operating environments in many parts of the society.
Economic Value
Vaisala’s solutions help societies become more prepared and resilient against the negative effects of weather and the climate, and at the same time take advantage of favorable weather conditions.
Ultimately, Vaisala’s technology and solutions help safeguard life and property, while enabling critical decision-making that facilitates effective and efficient operations. Vaisala’s products are inherently nonintrusive, require low energy input, need little servicing, and can be maintained remotely. The common denominator is that by measuring the environment accurately, the outcome is safer, more efficient, reliable, and sustainable operations in any application area.
Vaisala is in a unique position to promote sustainable development through the technologies it offers to its customers.
Through its weather solutions, Vaisala safeguards lives and property and reduces environmental impacts. Industrial
instruments bring efficiencies and reduce energy and material consumption in customers’ operations. Renewable energy
solutions and services optimize site selection and power output for the renewable energy sector. Air quality observation networks warn citizens and authorities about dangerous levels of pollution in urban areas.
Examples you can discuss here:
Every single flight around the world will at some point use weather observations produced by Vaisala equipment or forecasts driven by Vaisala sensor observations.
Vaisala is forecasting for 150,000+ MW of wind generation capacity worldwide
Industrial instruments help customers to improve product quality, productivity, energy efficiency, maintenance activities and improve regulatory compliance at our customers.
Vaisala’s Global Lightning Dataset GLD360® measures 2 billion lightning strikes each year. This has a direct impact on the safety of customers who use lightning alerts to make their operations safer.
Vaisala is a UN Global Compact signatory since 2008. We also encourage our suppliers to adhere to the Global Compact principles. Vaisala’s Code of Conduct, Supplier Code of Conduct and similar policies are based on the principles of the Global Compact to ensure that our partners are adhering to the same principals even if they would not be signatories themselves.
https://www.unglobalcompact.org/
The new sustainability objective in Vaisala for 2015, released in September 2015.
The Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa (ASECNA)
Air traffic control for an area 1.5 times the size of Europe
30 year customer relationship
Among the first users of Vaisala’s 4th Generation Sounding System
Quality, reliability, and usability are key attributes
Vaisala increases aviation safety in the region through enabling efficient and accurate weather data through state-of-the-art soundings
From Corporate Responsibility Report 2014:
ASECNA Leading the Way in Africa
According to the 2014 report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents facing climate change and climate variability. The report found that changes in a variety of ecosystems are already being detected. One of the great concerns alongside water stress is agricultural production and food security in many African countries. In fact, many nations and regions are likely to face severe conditions as result of the changing climate. According to the report, “The climate of the [African] continent is controlled by complex maritime and terrestrial interactions that produce a variety of climates across a range of regions, e.g., from the humid tropics to the hyper-arid Sahara (see Christensen et al., 2007). Climate exerts a significant control on the day-to-day economic development of Africa, particularly for the agricultural and water-resources sectors, at regional, local and household scales”.
The Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa (ASECNA) is an air traffic control agency based in Dakar, Senegal. It manages 16.1 million square kilometers of airspace (1.5 times the size of Europe) covering six Flight Information Regions (FIRs). ASECNA Air Traffic Control centers are based at international airports in each of these regions. To manage this demanding task, ASECNA has been working together with Vaisala to implement the 4th Generation Sounding System with Vaisala’s new Radiosonde RS41.
Upgrading to Vaisala’s RS41
With customer feedback as the driving force behind the development of the new sounding system, Vaisala has been able to create an easy to use and reliable sounding solution that is second to none. At the heart of the 4th Generation Sounding System, the Vaisala Radiosonde RS41 features upgraded data consistency and improved usability, applying the best metrological practices and error prevention solutions. The new RS41 features upgrades to the humidity and temperature sensors which ensure greater data reliability, and accuracy, that customers expect from Vaisala. The streamlined radiosonde launch process with the new maintenance-free ground check device, clear and logical use of MW41 soundings system as well as remote use of MW41 are examples of new features that were added based on customer cooperation. The new compact radiosonde design is easier to handle and 60% lighter, allowing 20% more launches for the same quantity of gas needed with the RS92.
ASECNA began negotiations with Vaisala in 2012 and was looking to upgrade 20 sounding stations in all. Vaisala arranged a workshop in Dakar to demonstrate the benefits of Vaisala’s DigiCORA Sounding System MW41. In the spring of 2014, Vaisala introduced the new Vaisala Radiosonde RS41 and 4th Generation Sounding System and provided live sounding demonstrations for ASECNA operators. Delivery of the ground systems to ASECNA started in May 2014 and the customer began to perform the upgrades at individual stations. Vaisala organized further operator training in Douala, Cameroon. During the training both RS92 and RS41 radiosondes were used, with ASECNA operators clearly preferring the RS41 and over the RS92, due to its ease of use and improved accuracy.
Following testing by the customer, ASECNA was convinced that the next generation soundings platform would bring the efficiency and quality of its sounding operations to a new level. Operators emphasized that the ease of use and automated procedures added clear value for the operator, and also allowed BUFR messages, easier installation and configuration of the new system, and improved radiosonde signal reception. ASECNA also suggested further improvements to the system, for example the creation of a French-language user interface, which has now been implemented in the system.
Partnering for Success
ASECNA has been a Vaisala sounding customer for nearly 30 years, using Vaisala sounding systems for approximately half of their soundings. The cooperation with ASECNA is set to continue with a formalized 5-year partnership agreement covering both radiosounding and airport weather observations. With the agreement, Vaisala and ASECNA aim to mutually streamline processes for equipment lifecycle support, helping to make ASECNA’s operations even better in the future. At Vaisala, we take pride in being part of the solution, providing world-class sounding equipment and solutions to measure the African skies.
Mars Rover Curiosity Equipped with Vaisala’s Pressure and Humidity Sensors
Vaisala has a presence in examining the Martian atmosphere as the Mars Rover Curiosity is equipped with Vaisala BAROCAP® and HUMICAP® pressure and humidity sensors. The sensors are a part of instrumentation designed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), and they will be used to gather accurate readings of pressure and humidity in the extreme environmental conditions of the Martian atmosphere.
Vaisala has provided the project with standard Vaisala HUMICAP® humidity sensors and specially customized Vaisala BAROCAP® pressure sensors. Both were put through space qualification testing by FMI, to ensure they are suited to the Martian atmosphere, in addition to which FMI made specific alterations and modifications to the Vaisala BAROCAP® pressure sensors to meet the needs of the mission.
Vaisala's technology will be used to compile time series on pressure and humidity for the duration of the entire Mars Science Laboratory program, which is one Mars year, 686 Earth days. FMI's instruments will also be used to look for possible residues and evidence of water that may have filled the Gale crater in the past. Furthermore, the rover will be making observations about the structure, geology and environmental conditions of the area.Vaisala has provided sensors to FMI's space exploration projects since 1988. This is the fifth venture to space where FMI is applying Vaisala's technology.
"The Finnish Meteorological Institute benefits not only from the sensors but also from Vaisala's scientific and technological knowhow. Our 24 years of collaboration in space exploration projects is testament of this," says FMI's Head of Radar and Space Technology, Ari-Matti Harri.The Vaisala BAROCAP® and HUMICAP® sensor technologies are used in numerous Vaisala products such as radiosondes, weather stations and other instruments.
Vaisala HUMICAP® Humidity and Temperature Probe HMP155 for reliable humidity and temperature measurements. The HMP155 has a new generation Vaisala HUMICAP®180R sensor that has excellent stability even in harsh environments thanks to solid probe structure and maximum protection against liquid water, dust, and dirt.
Vaisala BAROCAP® Digital Barometer PTB330, a new generation barometer designed for a wide range of demanding atmospheric pressure measurement. The pressure measurement of the PTB330 is based on the Vaisala BAROCAP® silicon capacitive, absolute pressure sensor that provides high measurement accuracy and excellent long-term stability.
Mona Lisa, known as La Joconde in French, is one of the most popular works of art in the world. Vaisala helps preserve the Mona Lisa by measuring the stability of the humidity and temperature environment within its glass vitrine.
The vitrine has been tailor designed by the Italian company Goppion. Mona Lisa is illuminated by a LED lamp located in the wooden desk that Toshiba specially developed for this painting. Mr Gesbert explains "it minimizes ultraviolet radiations and helps enhance the colours of the painting". The glass of the vitrine is bullet proof and non-reflective. A state-of-the-art air treatment system enables air to circulate through the vitrine, in the surrounding walls and in the wooden desk to keep the desired relative humidity and temperature level. Because La Joconde is painted with oil on a poplar wood support, maintaining the humidity at an appropriate level is vital for its conservation. Changes in humidity can cause the support to contract and expand. After 500 years, the wooden support does have signs of warping.
And this is where Vaisala helps. Invisible to the public, there are two Vaisala HMT333 Humidity and Temperature Transmitters which operate inside the vitrine behind the painting. One is located near Mona Lisa's right hand and the other is located near her right eye. The relative humidity is constantly maintained at 50%RH and the temperature at 21°C. Two beds of silica gel located in the wooden desk also help compensate relative humidity fluctuations.
Once a year, the vitrine is opened, and all monitoring equipment and installed devices are carefully checked to ensure the Mona Lisa is being cared for. After this the vitrine is re-sealed and the Mona Lisa is returned to her state-of-the-art vitrine for one more year.
Powered by 100% renewable energy
Own solar electricity production and geothermal heating
Zero-waste to landfill
ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified, WWF Green Office
900+ employees
Located in Helsinki, Finland
CLC = Climate Leadership Council (Finnish business network for climate leaders)
FIBS = Finnish Business in Society, a business network based in Finland.
Pick and choose the ones that fit your presentation best. Speakers notes internal use only, except when taken from published sources.