COMPANY

Key milestones and facts:

• Origins: Seppä-Eero’s smithy opened in 1953; a new brick workshop was built in 1960.
• Breakthrough: Development of JAKE fittings began in 1987; market leadership was achieved in 1994.
• Forestry equipment: A wide range of attachments, undercarriage armour and front-end loaders -> 75 per cent for export.
• Legacy: Through sheer determination, the company has grown from a village workshop into an international leader in the metal industry.

The ‘UFO’ of Itäkylä (1953)

The story begins with a mystery. In 1953, the village of Itäkylä was startled by strange blue flashes of light and smoke rising from Eero’s workshop. Behind the curtains, people were already fearing an accident or something supernatural, but the truth was far more mundane: Eero had acquired a prototype welding machine for his workshop.

As not every house had electricity at the time, Eero came up with a creative solution: he used a long pole to reach the nearest overhead power lines with an iron hook in order to get electricity. The local electricity company, Vimpelin Voima, didn’t mind – the main thing was that the device managed to thaw the villagers’ water pipes during the bitter cold snap!

From horseshoes to horsepower

Eero was top of his class at school, but when he set up his business, the bank refused to grant him a loan, citing the applicant’s poverty. Eero was not deterred by this, but built his first workshop entirely on his own.

• “The 300-mark ‘wolf’”: Eero built the jackhammer himself from scrap parts. Grandad suspected the machine was nothing more than a ‘wolf’, but the hammer served him for decades and forged ploughshares that were famous throughout the region.
• Blind welder: Eero was such a skilled stick welder that he could lift his mask and chat to a customer whilst his hand continued to produce a perfect weld behind his back – a feat that today’s ‘wire welders’ can only dream of.

Explosions and hard work

A blacksmith’s work was dangerous. In the late 1960s, Eero was welding the petrol tank of a Rambler taxi, which a customer had failed to empty in accordance with the instructions. This resulted in an explosion that blew the double doors of the workshop wide open. Fortunately, Eero escaped with a fright and only minor burns.

From one generation to the next (JAKE Products)

Eero’s business evolved alongside Finland. The horse-drawn ploughs and carts of the early days gave way to repairs on Valmet, Ferguson and Zetor tractors.

• 1960: Eero built a new brick hall and dug its foundations by hand, using a spade and a pickaxe, in the stony ground of Itäkylä.
• Growth: What began as a one-man workshop grew into Uusimäen Konepaja, which carried out subcontracting work for companies such as Kronos and Wärtsilä.
• Handover: When he retired, Eero took an unusual approach: he did not interfere with his sons’ decisions for a single day, but allowed them to develop the business freely. It was from this legacy that the now-well-known JAKE Products emerged.

An unyielding attitude

Eero Uusimäki was born on 12 January 1926 and never knew the meaning of the word ‘giving up’. He was named Lappajärvi’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1985 – a fine tribute to a man who started out with leaky leather staves and went on to become a pioneer of the modern metal industry.