Pasi Kråknäs works at Welado as a Project Manager and expert in railway construction management. A multidisciplinary pioneer in surveying, Pasi holds a Master of Science in Technology from Tampere University of Technology and also serves as the Headmaster of Welado’s own academy, Wopisto.
From your perspective, what are the most important factors for a successful project?
The key factors are good schedule planning, systematic progress and close, open cooperation with the client. Regular meetings are also important to make sure things are moving in the right direction. Another key factor is taking initiative, by which I mean that the Project Manager actively considers, looks for and presents different options to the client to help move things forward. These options can then be discussed and developed together.
What ensures the highest quality of work at Welado?
I’d definitely put the collective strength of Welado employees at the top of the list, because there’s a tremendous amount of expertise within the company. Welado has an open and communicative atmosphere. You can always ask when you don’t know something yourself. Processes, guidelines and training materials have also been developed for different needs to make work easier. You can ask for tips through internal communication channels or simply give a colleague a call. A new addition is the LaaS service concept, which is being introduced and will also help employees when they encounter problems.
What are your colleagues like at Welado?
We have a fantastic team with extensive expertise in different areas. The surveying unit established in 2021 has more than 100 years of combined specialist experience in surveying!
What does being a pioneer mean to you?
One of the great things I’ve noticed at Welado is that the company wants to take a pioneering approach, and people are encouraged to do so. We have a strong culture of experimentation. People aren’t afraid that experiments might sometimes fail. As someone who’s a bit of an inventor at heart, I see all of this as a very positive thing!
We can boldly come up with ideas that might even sound unbelievable and test whether they work. That’s how we find the best solutions for our projects and clients!
What are you particularly skilled at? How have you developed your expertise?
My deepest expertise is in surveying, covering all areas of field surveying. My strongest areas of expertise are particularly geodetic control networks, survey control and railway track surveying. I’ve been designing control networks since 1989 and carrying out control surveys since 1986, using traditional theodolites, total stations and GPS/GNSS equipment.
I’ve carried out various surveying tasks in different organisations, including the cities of Seinäjoki and Tampere, the Finnish Road Administration, the Finnish Road Enterprise, Destia and VR Track. I’ve also been actively involved in promoting awareness of GPS technology since the late 1980s. I first encountered GPS-based surveying as a young summer trainee working for the City of Seinäjoki in the 1980s.
I became genuinely interested in the subject and started studying it in more detail. I familiarised myself with the technology through international literature, as this was before the internet. I also had opportunities to learn about its use both in Finland and abroad. Since then, GPS technology, now known as GNSS technology, has always been close to my heart.
The technology was new in Finland, and its use in different surveying applications quickly became more widespread. I had opportunities to give lectures on these topics at various events. There was also a great deal of product and software development taking place around the technology. The technology and software were customised for many different purposes.
Between 1994 and 2006, I was involved in numerous client projects covering hardware and software development, equipment and software sales, training and support services, and surveying on land, at sea and in the air. Machine control also became part of my work in 1998, when equipment began to be installed in various types of machinery.
Development work has been part of my career in one form or another throughout. Between 2007 and 2016, I worked as the Head of Surveying Units in different organisations. Before joining Welado in May 2020, I worked at VR Track Oy as a Product Development Manager, Training Manager and Development Manager for railway inspection operations.
Over the past 35 years, I’ve gained experience in many different surveying-related roles, from sales to product development. I’ve also participated in preparing industry guidelines and worked as a part-time teacher and trainer in the field of surveying.
What have been your biggest successes?
A long career includes many successful projects and moments of achievement. Here are a few highlights:
In 1991, I had the opportunity to work as the Project Manager for GPS surveying as part of a project to investigate the City of Seinäjoki’s geodetic control network. At the time, GPS technology was still used relatively little in Finland, so I was recruited for the role because, despite my young age, I already had experience using the technology.
We designed, surveyed and calculated an entirely new third-order control network for the city in six months. The whole project went extremely smoothly, and the results and technology were presented to other municipalities and cities.
In 1994, we developed a road surveying vehicle based on high-precision GPS technology for the Finnish Road Administration. The invention was also granted a patent.
In 2008, at Destia Oy, I worked on GPS control surveying for unified coordinate systems in the Turku region. During the project, a unified control network was surveyed for municipalities in the Turku area. The network included 144 points to be determined and 34 reference points. The surveying area, covering Åland and Southwest Finland, had a diameter of 252 kilometres, or 162 kilometres for the points being determined.
In 2011–2012, at VR Track Oy, I worked on surveying the survey control network and terrain models for the Lielahti–Kokemäki project.
In 2020, I worked on the information management plan for the Helsinki–Tampere railway improvement project.
In 2020–2021, at Welado Oy, I was involved in tendering the railway plan for the Espoo–Salo direct railway line.
Which projects have you had the opportunity to contribute to?
I’ve had the honour of working as Project Manager on a Welado project involving the tendering of the railway planning contract for the Espoo–Salo direct railway line. This Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency project was really interesting, rewarding and educational. All in all, it was a very enjoyable project.
I’ve also had the opportunity to work as a surveying expert on several projects:
- Hyvinkää–Hanko railway electrification
- Seinäjoki–Vaasa railway plan
- Ylivieska–Iisalmi railway electrification
- Refinement of the Helsinki–Tampere needs assessment memorandum
- Surveying for Phase 3 of the Pasila–Riihimäki project
What do you always want to focus on and do well in your work?
For me, it’s important that when you start working on a task, the assignment is clear. Clarity comes from defining the objectives and schedule in a way that everyone understands. Based on these, it’s then easy to build and define the work process and milestones for your own work. That way, everything progresses logically.
In which areas would you like to develop during your career at Welado?
I’m very interested in deepening my understanding of Lean principles and bringing them into my own projects. I already have some previous experience with the subject, but there’s always more to learn, and then you can test and apply what you’ve learned in projects.
What would you like to see improved in our industry?
If we look at the surveying sector, I’d probably highlight expertise in control surveying and railway track surveying. These subjects, especially railway surveying, are taught very little, if at all, at educational institutions in the field. This means the skills have to be learned through practical work.
The overall surveying process, from the request for tenders to final delivery, would also benefit from more detailed guidelines and more consistent inspection and supervision practices. There are several service providers in the industry, each with slightly different styles and ways of working, even though they generally follow the guidelines.
If we could establish a common format for supervision, inspections and handovers, it would make everything clearer and easier to manage.
Could your project benefit from surveying expertise? Get in touch with Jarkko!
jarkko.vilppola@welado.fi, +358 40 588 0389