Vaisala

Vaisala

Type	Public (OMX: VAIAS)
Founded	1936 (as Mittari Oy)
Headquarters	Vantaa, Finland
Key people	Kjell Forsen, CEO
Products	environmental and industrial measurement instruments
Revenue	318.5 million € (2015)
Net income	29.6 million € (2015)
Number of employees	1,588 (31.12.2015)
Website	www.vaisala.com

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 1,588 employees and net sales of €318.5 million in 2015. Vaisala serves customers in more than 140 countries.

The parent company Vaisala Oyj, domicile in Vantaa, Finland, is listed on the . 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.

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.

From a modest start, the company evolved to become a world leader in many measurement fields and to establish a noteworthy Finnish export industry. At the end of 1954 a modern manufacturing plant was relocated in Vantaa. Since then, the headquarters have been expanded several times and Vaisala's product range has been diversified and expanded greatly. Nowadays Vaisala employs over 1,400 people and exports 98 percent of its production to over 120 countries.