Fastems links Finnish excellence and technology to the international market as its robotic laser cleaning systems clean 3,000 different fastening points of the F-35 fighter jet wings. 
The Finnish company Fastems supplies intelligent and flexible automation solutions for the metalworking industries. Headquartered in Tampere, the company is one of the global leaders in its field. The AutoSLC laser cleaning method developed by the company is used in the assembly phase of the wings of the F-35 fighter jet, which will also be used by the Finnish Defense Forces. There are also other Finnish high-tech manufacturers involved in the development and implementation of the cleaning system, and Ionix is one of them. Ionix’s role has been in the design, testing and construction of laser technology, and in particular the robotic laser cleaning head, and related functions.
The long-term cooperation brings results
The cooperation between Ionix and Fastems began at the Technology Exhibition in Helsinki in 2017. Mika Laitinen, Solution Sales Director of Fastems, approached Ionix’s booth just before the end of the event. Fastems’ customer needs and Ionix’s expertise met well. The project got off to a fast start and in a few weeks Ionix received the first order from Fastems. This was the starting point for the many years of cooperation. Ionix’s experts have been part of Fastems’ project team in the development project and have also been actively involved in the customer interface. The development project on this scale has, of course, progressed in stages, and for Ionix the collaboration has included design, product and application development, prototyping, testing and, of course, further development. – Partners like Ionix complement our solutions perfectly and the collaboration has been straightforward. It’s great when such know-how can be found in Finland. In this project, the value and benefit that Ionix brings to the end customer has been crucial, says Fastems’ Mika Laitinen
Value worlds meet
The Ionix’s and Fastems’ co-operation has mainly focused on an extensive laser cleaning system development project. Ionix’s versatile expertise in laser materials processing has made it possible to act as a laser technology partner for a leading system supplier such as Fastems. High quality and agile operating models have played a key role in the cooperation. Nowadays, the co-operation has expanded beyond laser projects, with the first successful development project almost complete. – It has taken time, as always, to achieve this kind of large-scale and fruitful co-operation. However, both of us have had the same goal and information and know-how have been shared openly. Fastems is an extremely important customer for us, and it has been easy to work with them at every stage of the project. We have been praised especially for the flexibility, the quality of the work and the test reports, says Vesa Rinne, Managing Director of Ionix.
