Vaisala

Vaisala (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈʋæi̯sælæ]) is a Finnish company that develops, manufactures and markets products and services for environmental and industrial measurement.

The major customer groups and markets are national meteorological and hydrological services, aviation authorities, defense forces, road authorities, the weather critical energy sector, life science and high-technology industries and building automation.

Vaisala had 1,600 employees and net sales of €299.7 million in 2014. Vaisala serves customers in more than 140 countries; operations outside Finland accounted for 97% of net sales in 2014.

The parent company Vaisala Oyj, domicile in Vantaa, Finland, is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Vaisala Group has offices and operations in Finland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, China, India, Sweden, Malaysia, South Korea, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Japan and Australia.

History

Vaisala's origins date back to the 1930s when Professor Vilho Väisälä(1889-1969), Vaisala's founder and long-time managing director, invented some of the operating principles of a radiosonde. He sent the first Finnish radiosonde aloft in December 1931. After the first sounding, Väisälä continued with further development and tests until a radiosonde could be brought into production and deliveries started in 1936. From the very start, Vaisala was an international business, exporting 95 percent of the production. As the Vaisala radiosonde became internationally renowned, the demand for them increased. In 1944, Prof. Väisälä established a company called Mittari Oy ("Gauge Incorporated") and set up manufacturing facilities for radiosonde systems. The first sounding system included a semi-automatic radiosonde receiver, a calibration device and a ground check set. The company employed 13 people at the time. Later, in 1955, the name of Mittari was changed to Vaisala.