From modest roots to a leading brand

 

The roots of Galvatek lie in Upo Engineering, an internal department of Upo, which was tasked with designing the company's production equipment, including the surface treatment lines of household appliances, in the post-war years. The expertise and know-how of the department was tailored to meet the specific demands of the facility and the products it manufactured.

The first external client to express an interest in the engineering department's services was the faucet maker Oras which wanted to acquire complete surface treatment plants for its own production facilities. This made the management team realize that they had a unique product for which there was demand on the market. Upo Engineering supplied a few plants outside Finland in the 1970s. The construction material provider Partek acquired the operations in 1980 and renamed the new company Galvatek.

The era of internationalization had begun. In addition to providing conventional surface and water treatment plants, Galvatek was to take part in many groundbreaking projects.

The first such undertaking was providing the aluminum anodization plants needed for  the making of Saab Fairchild civilian aircraft in Sweden. In retrospect, that major deal was what really made business take off, for the advanced technology applied in the project opened aviation industry gates outside Scandinavia, too.

The solutions developed for these projects also benefited Assa AB, a company focusing on mass production. Its factory received an automation system that enabled production to continue unmanned during the nightshift. With the first system of this kind in Europe, Galvatek proved that this practice was not only feasible, but also smart.

As references spread around the world, Galvatek gained reputation for its superior knowhow. In 1985, Rolls Royce commissioned the first-ever fully automated chemical surface treatment plant for aviation industry use for its facility in Scotland. A similar unit was soon supplied to Swissair.

In the early 1990s, the winds of change started blowing. The electronic industry began to leave Europe in search of lower production costs, while auto industry increasingly replaced other materials with plastic. This meant a significant reduction in the demand for traditional surface treatment.

On the other hand, innovation had always been a part of Galvatek. It was time to step it up.

The German Shraubenfabrik Knipping was one of the first companies to make use of Galvatek's novel solutions. A closed surface treatment plant based on highly advanced technology, designed in cooperation with a group of researchers from the Berlin University and with the support of the German environmental ministry, was supplied to the company's factory that sat in a groundwater area. The plant, which continues to be in operation, emits no waste water at all.

After the turn of the millennium, Galvatek supplied numerous plants to aviation industry facilities in the Far East, Africa and North America to clients ranging from Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and All Nippon Airways to several Rolls Royce partner companies.

Galvatek had established itself as a global brand with superior references.

 

Alongside international operations, Galvatek has been involved in major processes in Finland.

Anodizing plant for Nokia Aluminium, aircraft engine wash line for Finnair... Practically speaking, whenever highly developed surface or water treatment solutions with advanced  control systems have been called for, Galvatek has been the answer.