Finnish Building Services Industries and Trade ie. Talteka and Vallox, have a vast common history dating back to the 1980s. Taltekas purpose is to influence the operating environment and to share expertise and information in the field of building services. “Vallox has understood that cooperation at a higher level aims at growing every stakeholders’ share”, says Ilkka Salo, CEO of Talteka.
Talteka is a cooperation organization that brings together equipment manufacturers, and today also the wholesalers, operating in the field of building services. “Since 2018, we have been part of The Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT (CFCI), which is excellent, because the building services are a focus area of the construction industry. Our aim is to improve the operating environment of our member companies by participating in and influencing industrial, economic, product, energy, environmental and education policies in the sector, but we do not intervene in labor market issues”, says Ilkka Salo, CEO of Talteka.
Vallox has been a member of Talteka and its predecessors since the 1980s. Markku Mäenpää and Olavi Suominen, who have already retired from Vallox, acted e.g. in the marketing division of the association; Mäenpää chaired the division several years in the early 2000s and Olavi Suominen lectured at the HVAC Days, for example. The current R&D manager Petri Koivunen has served as chairman and vice chairman of the Tekno division. Salo considers the involvement of Vallox Oy in the 80s, soon after the the company had exited from Valmet, to be visionary: “One needs to remember that Vallox was then a relatively small company, so it is really great that it invested in and saw the value of cooperation in those early days.”
The benefits of the expertise of the members and the extensive network
Ilkka Salo tells that Talteka is a small association leveraging its wide stakeholder network. “Our strength comes from the cooperation with the member companies and the other parties. Our member companies, such as Vallox, are represented on our divisions and through that work, the expertise and needs meet. Via our extensive network we get a broad picture what is happening in the industry.” Salo continues.
And indeed, the list of the stakeholders is long. Salo names e.g. The Real estate and Construction Forum Kira, The Indoor Environment working group, groups of CFCI, ministries, authorities, the European Industry Association for Indoor Climate Eurovent, the cooperation of the built environment, the Foundation of the construction product quality, Motiva (a governmental Sustainable Development company), The HVAC Association of Finland SuLVI, and The Finnish Association of civil engineers RIL. “We are involved in many things and the network is really extensive. However, the advantage is that through all of these, we can receive and share information. We are also making initiatives in order to reach consumers, because public opinion matters. There the cooperation e.g. with Motiva is significant.”
Ensuring competence is one of main themes
Strengthening the expertise in the field of building services is one of the goals of the association. Therefore Talteka compiles and offers guiding materials. Salo highlights e.g. talotekniikkainfo.fi website which offers interpretation also of the ventilation regulation. Its practical level approach has received recognition from a wide range of users. The content production of that site is also a good example of leveraging the diverse network. In coordination of Talteka’s Juhani Hyvärinen, the experts such as building supervisors and HVAC designers participated the production of the guidance. Finally, the content was discussed and approved by the Indoor Environment working group composed of stakeholders and member representatives.
Talteka co-operates also with educational institutions, such as Aalto University, Tampere University and universities of applied science, in order to get new experts to the field. Talteka acted as the driving force for the establishment of an industry professorship in building services engineering at Tampere University in 2020. “There is good research ongoing for example about the importance of the ventilation in prevention of transmission of the corona virus”, mentions Salo.
The LVI-INFO.fi database including HVAC product information operates also under Talteka. According to Salo the product information issues are becoming more and more important in the digitalized world. Talteka has organized product information webinar series in collaboration with Finnish Electrotechnical Trade Association (STK). “When we start talking about digital twins and digital handover, product information needs to be in order and machine-readable format. That is a growing industry. ”
Talteka unites its members e.g. by organizing HVAC days in every other year. Another significant event is the FinnBuild trade fair, in which Talteka has traditionally a joint stand for its member companies. Vallox has actively participated in the design of the FinnBuild joint department. “It can be said, that in Vallox the work is done with humor, but seriously.”
The goals have remained the same for 40 years
Vallox was one of the nine members of the Finnish Air Technology Industry Association, SITY, founded in 1980. SITY’s goal was to improve the quality of life by promoting the creation of healthy indoor climate suitable for individual needs through high-quality equipment and systems. Ilkka Salo notices that the objectives set 40 years ago are very similar than today.
The corona pandemic has highlighted the importance of good ventilation. “It has been also one of the key statement of our communications, because it is not properly understood that corona is primarily an airborne disease. And therefore, the improvement of ventilation means at the same time preventing the spread of the corona,” he says.
50-year-old Vallox Ilkka Salo wants to advise to stay on the chosen course, because the vision and the good quality already exist in the company. “I am grateful that Vallox has been so actively involved in Talteka because the strength comes from our network.”