English - Vahterus Oy

Vahterus Oy
was founded 1990
Size 2
Plate & Shell 1991
Size 3
Plate & Shell 1993
Moving to
Pruukintie 1994
Size 5
Plate & Shell 1994
Size 9
Plate & Shell 1998
Vahterus (UK)
Ltd was
founded 1999
Vahterus
GmbH
was founded 2000
New
production
hall to
Pruukintie 2000
Compact 2001
Plate & Ring 2002
Size 14 2003
Size 7
Plate & Shell 2004
Size 4
Plate & Shell 2005
Carbon steel 2007
plate
Combined
model 2008
New
production
hall to Valintie 2008
High pressure
PSHE 2009
WH plate 2009
size 7
Vahterus ECO 2010
From here it all started.
The first Vahterus
unit from year 1991.
Year 2000 Vahterus
turned 10-years, 44
employees.
Twins 100-years.
VahterusRing inauguration in year 2004. From the right side:
Finnish Minister of Culture Tanja Karpela, Mauri Kontu and Olympic
gold medallist Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi.
Support and
Sponsorship from Tekes
“I wish we had more companies like Vahterus Oy in
Southwest Finland to make funding proposals to!” says
Esa Lindqvist, Head of the Turku unit of the Finnish
Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES).
TEKES is Finland’s number one state-owned funding
organisation sponsoring research and promising new
businesses. Every year, TEKES invests around EUR 440
million, in the form of subsidies and loans, into businesses
that the organisation believes have future potential.
The public venture capital investor encourages its
customers to seek expert consultancy from the science
and research community and to set up partnerships with
other enterprises.
TEKES grants funds for honing innovations and for
production-related development projects, but not for
ventures such as property investments. In these matters,
TEKES directs applicants to the Centres for Economic
Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY),
which operate alongside TEKES’s regional units.
Mr Lindqvist believes that many applicants could
carry out their initiatives even without TEKES’s help, but
that the projects would then be less ambitious and take
considerably longer.
“Funding from TEKES allows enterprises to seek
external consultancy and to speed up timescales,” he
explains.
Mr Lindqvist has been following the growth of
Vahterus Oy since the very beginning when Mauri Kontu
first turned to TEKES for funding. He considers Vahterus
Oy an exemplary applicant:
“They have been extremely active and enthusiastic
about launching development projects even though
these can be very hard on businesses. Vahterus Oy is
also prepared to turn to third party experts, which is
something that TEKES considers very important.”
It is difficult to find other examples of traditional
manufacturing enterprises that have been able to
increase their turnover as quickly. Despite the company’s
rapid growth, Vahterus Oy has an exceptionally firm
foundation.
According to Mr Lindqvist: “Vahterus Oy’s expertise is
based on solid engineering science”.
Over the years, Vahterus Oy has turned to TEKES
especially with regard to promoting its products and
improving its production technology. Mr Lindqvist recalls
that even the very first funding applications were easy to
approve.
“The new heat exchanger solution was completely
revolutionary and in a league of its own compared to
its predecessors. Moreover, Vahterus Oy is an excellent
example of a company that has continuously wanted to
develop its production technology in-house in order to
maintain its competitive edge,” Mr Lindqvist explains.
Vahterus Oy has always considered the support
and sponsorship of TEKES an invaluable asset. With the
funding from TEKES, the company has been able to
develop the heat exchanger itself as well as the related
production technology, both of which are critical to the
company’s business.
Mr Lindqvist has no wish to emphasise the
importance of TEKES’s contribution to the growth of the
company’s customer base, although he does believe that
cooperation with TEKES has helped Vahterus Oy to carry
out more ambitious projects and to turn them around
more quickly.
“Innovation and the drive to develop a business
always stem from within, from the family behind the
business! This is why I want to congratulate Mauri and
Sinikka Kontu and the whole of Vahterus Oy, and give
them my assurances that we at TEKES want to continue
our partnership in the future!”