The global financial downturn affected our governmental customers’ investment capabilities in 2011. The beginning of the year was slow, but demand increased during the second half of the year especially in the Weather business area and resulted in a significant increase in the order intake and in sales. We had no new acquisitions in 2011, but continued integrating our previous acquisitions into the Group and also entered new markets with our Life Science offering.
In March, Vaisala introduced a new aviation weather system that has been developed specifically for the needs of small airports and helipads. Designed to be efficient yet affordable, the system improves flight safety at smaller, unclassified airports by providing continuous, real-time ICAO-compliant weather observations to pilots and airport operators.
In May, we introduced a unique online solution for monitoring sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) insulation gas in high voltage equipment. The instrument monitors seven different parameters at once and removes the need for sampling, thus ensuring that no SF6, a powerful greenhouse gas, is released into the atmosphere.
Vaisala's new Head Office building on the Helsinki Campus was certified in accordance with the Golden LEED standard, a highly regarded achievement for green buildings. The facilities scored especially well in energy use and HVAC optimization. The building incorporates Vaisala’s own building automation technology, which improves energy efficiency and ensures comfortable indoor air. It also applies weather measurements in order to adjust the systems to take account of prevailing weather conditions.
We introduced new technology for improving early detection of explosive volcanic ash cloud eruptions. By tracking lightning storms inside these eruptions with Vaisala’s global lightning detection network GLD360, scientists and aviation authorities are able to detect explosive volcanic eruptions as soon as they occur, improving the safety of travelers and reducing losses from unplanned flight delays and cancellations.
Vaisala’s RS92 radiosonde came top in the 8th World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Intercomparison of Radiosonde Systems. The WMO Intercomparison is organized every 4-5 years. It is a four-week continuous sounding campaign designed to be an objective assessment of the qualities and performance of different radiosonde systems. The RS92 performed very well in both temperature and humidity measurements, being highly consistent and maintaining its level of performance in demanding conditions as well. The results were announced in May.
The Vaisala WTS Wind Measurement System was introduced to the renewable energy markets midyear. This efficient measurement system provides decision support for optimal locationing of wind farms. It allows customers to accurately understand and manage the impact that weather has on their wind farms' operations and business, and as a result make better decisions.
The 2011 Finnish Engineering Award was won by Vaisala’s weather radar team. The award was presented for developing and productizing Vaisala’s dual polarization Doppler weather radar. Development took place during
2002-08, and the new radar was launched in 2007. Since then, orders have been received from 13 different countries.
In September, we announced a new online calculator that helps cities and counties to gauge potential cost savings and accident reductions in their roads network. The service asks 12 questions about road maintenance operations to determine what the potential benefits could be of using a decision support system for the network. The calculator uses embedded algorithms to produce calculated savings based on referenced study findings. The calculator won the “Best New Products Top Rollouts” award from Better Roads magazine in December.
Vaisala was chosen as Finland’s Most Responsible Summer Job Employer, together with Särkänniemi Adventure Park and the building systems and construction company YIT. The winners were chosen from over 70 organizations participating in the Responsible Summer Job 2011 campaign organized by the Finnish Children and Youth Foundation and Alma Media.
In October 2011, Vaisala’s two weather-related business areas were combined into one. The former Meteorology and Weather Critical Operations business areas are now called Weather. The market segments in Weather are Meteorology, Airports, Roads and Rail, Defense, and New Weather Markets. At the end of the year our Controlled Environment industrial business area revised its market segments too, and these are now Life Science, and Targeted Industrial Applications.