I’m Kalle Hakala — a mechanical and production engineer, and Quality Manager and ICT Manager at Kopar Oy. Outside work I serve as a SAR incident commander in Finland’s Voluntary Rescue Service (Vapepa) and train new people into the field.
These two worlds aren’t separate. Both come down to the same question: how do you hold on to what was agreed when the conditions refuse to stay still?
An engineer’s precision, a commander’s nerve.
Work
At Kopar Oy I’m responsible for two areas: the quality and environmental systems, and the company’s ICT environment. In practice that means maintaining and developing ISO systems, continuous improvement, audit readiness, information security — and making sure compliance is visible on the shop floor, not only in documents.
My career ran from the lathe to technical wholesale, from there into shop-floor supervision and finally into the core of quality management. Along the way I’ve seen factories on three continents. That taught me one thing above all: the whole decides the outcome, not the optimisation of a single part.
Education and qualifications
- BEng, Mechanical and Production Engineering, 2013
- Excellence Finland Quality Manager programme, 2024
- Specialist Vocational Qualification in Business — Cyber Security Specialist, 2026
- SAR incident commander (Vapepa-johtaja), preparedness trainer and resource trainer
Voluntary work
Involved in the Voluntary Rescue Service since 2020. Currently a preparedness trainer, resource trainer, SAR incident commander and training coordinator for SVAP ry — an organisation I helped found in November 2024. I also serve as treasurer of the local Red Cross branch and vice chair of the regional committee.
This side of things has taught me more about leadership than any course: how to keep a team functioning when information is incomplete, resources are limited and the clock is running.
Read more about voluntary work and readiness →
How I work
I see a challenge as an opportunity rather than a problem — you only develop by getting through them. That applies as much to improving production as to standing at the command point of a search. I’ll say directly if something isn’t working, and just as directly if I’m not the right person to solve it.