Category: Voyantic Culture

Voyantic’s work in RFID technology is shaped by close customer collaboration, strong technical expertise, and a focus on solving real-world problems. These principles are reflected in the work of professionals like Simo Haakana, a Lead Solution Architect whose role highlights how Voyantic supports customers in turning complex requirements into practical, reliable solutions.

From Technical Expertise to Real-World Solutions

Voyantic’s work in RFID technology is rooted in solving real-world problems together with customers. This requires not only strong technical expertise, but also the ability to understand complex business contexts, integration needs, and evolving use cases. These aspects are reflected clearly in the work of Simo Haakana, who joined Voyantic as a Lead Solution Architect at the end of March 2025.

Simo brings with him a background that combines software engineering, consulting, and solution and enterprise architecture. After several years in technical and architectural roles, he was looking for an opportunity to move into a new domain. Voyantic offered exactly that: a focused business area paired with a wide range of customer-driven challenges.

“What makes the role interesting is that even though the core is RFID quality, the actual problems customers are solving vary a lot,” Simo explains.

“There are questions around data, integrations, usability, and how the system fits into the customer’s broader operations.”

Together, these challenges define the scope of solution architecture at Voyantic, where technical decisions are shaped not only by system requirements, but by how RFID quality is ensured and how RFID production processes are integrated.

Working at the Intersection of Technology and Customer Needs

As Lead Solution Architect, Simo works closely with customers, sales, solution specialists, and R&D. A large part of his role involves supporting ongoing customer integrations, reviewing technical approaches, and documenting learnings from customer cases so that knowledge can be reused across the organization.

At the core of this work is understanding what the customer is really trying to achieve.

“Customers usually come with a problem, not a ready-made solution. Our job is to understand what they are trying to solve and then figure out how our systems and data can support that,“ Simo says.

This often goes beyond standard quality testing scenarios. Customers may have more complex questions related to data usage, integrations, or operational workflows. Addressing these requires continuous dialogue, careful listening, and close collaboration across Voyantic teams.

Making Complex Solutions Accessible

Voyantic’s solutions are highly technical by nature, but Simo emphasizes that technical depth should never become a barrier for customers.

“It’s important to understand where the customer is in terms of technical expertise when they start,” he explains.

“You don’t need to make everything complex at the beginning. You can start with simpler use cases and build from there as the customer’s understanding and needs evolve.”

This gradual, learning-oriented approach helps customers gain value early while supporting long-term adoption. Communication plays a central role in this process, both verbally and through continuously improving documentation.

“Clear communication and up-to-date documentation are essential. They help ensure that everyone understands what is being built and why,” he notes.

A Culture That Supports Growth and Long-Term Readiness

Internally, Simo highlights Voyantic’s structured yet open work culture. Teams are organized, but discussions flow freely across roles and functions, making it easier to solve complex customer cases together. Strong internal training and close collaboration with experienced colleagues further support continuous learning and professional growth.

Looking ahead, Simo sees the evolving RFID and RAIN industries expanding into new industry segments, driving the adoption of RAIN technology and requiring new and continuously evolving production approaches. His focus is on strengthening how Voyantic documents, shares, and applies learnings from customer cases – helping the organization stay prepared as customer needs and technologies continue to develop.

Through roles like Simo’s, Voyantic continues to position itself not just as a technology provider, but as a partner that helps customers navigate complexity, adopt new solutions, and build confidence in their RFID systems over time.

Voyantic’s reputation as a leader in RFID technology is built on its commitment to innovation, customer-centric solutions, and a collaborative business approach. At the heart of this success are professionals like Katja Kuvaja, a product manager whose career story illustrates how Voyantic combines expertise and teamwork to deliver world-class results.

From Learning to Leading

Katja’s journey began with a focus on learning. When she joined Voyantic as a newly recruited professional in October 2024, she began her orientation by familiarizing herself with internal resources, tools, systems, and company practices.

As a new product manager, she set out to understand Voyantic’s oldest product family, Tagformance, from every possible angle. 

“I started by exploring internal resources and speaking with teams to gather insights,” she recalls. 

She also analyzed customer feedback, ensuring she understood the perspectives of those who use the product daily. This approach to onboarding reflects Voyantic’s emphasis on knowledge-sharing and collaboration, which form the backbone of its professional culture.

As she gained confidence in her role, Katja made significant contributions to product development. Her work has spanned multiple release cycles, during which she crafted detailed release notes, reviewed feature requests, and analyzed feedback to identify key trends. These efforts helped her balance long-term product goals. 

“Working on the product strategy gave me a clearer understanding of where we want to take the product in the future,” she explains. 

Her involvement in roadmap planning with the R&D team highlights the importance of aligning day-to-day tasks with broader strategic objectives—an approach deeply embedded in Voyantic’s practices.

Enhancing the Customer Experience

One of the most rewarding aspects of Katja’s role is being the customer’s voice. 

“I act as a bridge between the customer and our internal teams,” she says. 

This role allows her to ensure that customer needs and feedback are translated into actionable improvements for the product. 

“Knowing that the features we develop make a tangible difference to users is incredibly motivating,” she adds.

This focus on customer-centricity extends to Tagformance, a product designed to deliver precision and reliability in RFID measurement. Katja’s vision for its future goes beyond functionality. 

“While accuracy and reliability are critical, we also want to provide value through services like technical support, maintenance programs, and training,” she explains. 

This approach underscores Voyantic’s commitment to enhancing the customer experience by offering solutions that address both immediate needs and long-term goals.

A Culture of Collaboration and Growth

Katja credits much of her growth to Voyantic’s collaborative and supportive culture. 

“There’s a strong team spirit here, and everyone is committed to continuous improvement,” she says. 

This environment fosters individual expertise and collective success as team members share knowledge and work together to tackle challenges. She points to the company’s internal training sessions as an example of how employees are equipped with the skills and understanding needed to excel. 

“These sessions ensure everyone has a solid foundation in RFID technology and our products,” she explains.

This culture of collaboration and professional development is why Voyantic stands out as an employer. Katja describes the company as one where professionals can thrive while working on meaningful projects. 

“The combination of cutting-edge technology, global impact, and opportunities for growth makes Voyantic an ideal environment for anyone who wants to advance their career,” she says.

As Voyantic continues to push the boundaries of RFID technology, Katja is focused on contributing to its mission of helping customers to excel in RFID. Her approach to product management—listening to customers, understanding their needs, and translating those insights into actionable improvements—exemplifies the precision and care that define Voyantic’s work. Katja’s journey highlights the wealth of opportunities Voyantic offers for personal and professional development. By fostering a culture of excellence and innovation, the company ensures that its people and products remain at the forefront of the RFID industry.

I talked with Voyantic’s Solution Specialists, Lasse Saarinen and Gerald Smid, about their work in the field with production testing clients. 

Voyantic provides quality testing systems for various label and tag production machines, for different stages in the production process. Although Tagsurance 3, our next-generation production testing system, is easy to integrate practically into any machine, there are always variables and machine features where our customer service team is needed to support the implementation and commissioning of the system. They are also at the forefront of demonstrating our system performance to prospective customers. 

But what is it like to work in the field with Voyantic’s prospects and customers? To find out, I decided to talk with Voyantic’s Solution Specialists, Lasse Saarinen and Gerald Smid.

The role of Voyantic’s Solution Specialists is to support customers in finding the best solution for customers’ needs, integrating Voyantic systems, conducting product demonstrations, and providing training as needed. They are closely involved with both current and prospective customers. The job also involves a fair amount of travel to customer sites and various events.

– Voyantic is not just a “systems provider” but our customers receive assistance and support for system implementation, benefiting from our expertise and excellent customer service, explains Lasse.

– So, we provide solutions to our customers, summarizes Gerald.

And what does your work involve in practice?

– Typically, when a system is sold to a new customer we visit the customer on-site and ensure that the installations are working correctly. – On the second day, the customer does it themselves, and we are immediately available when questions arise.

– When the customer does it themselves, they learn the best. Soon, the customer’s questions become more detailed.

– After meeting face-to-face, it’s much easier to communicate both ways. We often have remote meetings in the demo room when demonstrating systems via camera. Video connection helps to some extent, but of course, it doesn’t replace being at the customer’s site for 2–3 days.

Who are the typical production testing customers and what challenges does Voyantic help to address? 

Typical customers for Voyantic’s production testing solution are either machine manufacturers who make production machines for different stages in the RFID label production process or companies that use the machines to make RFID inlays and finished labels. I asked Gerald and Lasse what are the machine types they see in the field.

-Machine manufacturers’ machine types include chip attachment machines, label converting machines, RFID inlay insertion machines, and different kinds of finishing and control machines where our RF quality testing system can be integrated, Lasse explains.

-Customers can also be broadly divided into those for whom RFID production is new and those who already produce RFID labels, Gerald defines. -One typical customer group, for example, includes label manufacturers. They receive requests from their customers to include RFID tags in labels and then try to figure out the best way to do it. This customer group naturally has many questions related to RFID technology in general.

– Another typical customer group is those already producing RFID labels with an existing, perhaps reader-based testing method. They might want to upgrade their system to a more comprehensive system.

– Many questions revolve around the installation of the testing system: How to integrate the system, and how quickly can the line run?

– A customer may have their own testing system. They can test to some extent whether the tags work but may not know if they meet the required quality standards.

– And if it’s a legacy testing system, the person who created the system may have retired, and no one else knows how to develop it. And there may not be spare parts available for the old system anymore.

Why is testing RFID labels so important?

It was mentioned that some customers may even have self-made testing systems. Why, for example, is a reader-based testing system not sufficient for an RFID label producer?

– Well, everyone knows the radio. We’re talking about frequencies. I could compare it to reader-based systems figuring out if the radio works. If something is heard, the radio works. In our system, using this analogy, in addition to hearing the radio, you identify different radio stations that are heard.

What are some tangible benefits of Voyantic’s testing system? 

– Consistency, both Lasse and Gerald agree.

– Rejecting tags that don’t meet the predefined performance requirements. 

– When the production output is consistent the read distance stays roughly the same in the end-use case. If there are deviations, it works less well. 

– Several meters of read distance may be lost with tags that are not consistent. If the tag is designed to be read from 3 meters away and doesn’t work, the system doesn’t recognize the product at all. That is why consistency is a vital element in RFID tag production.

– One reason for testing RFID tags is simply the quality requirements that many customers know to demand from the tags. 

– Quality test requirements also come from quality certifications. RFID tag production can be quality-certified, and there are test criteria that tags must meet to receive a certain certification. Then the tags must be tested in a specific way. The quality of the manufactured product must match the criteria.

What kind of classification are we talking about?

– The University of Auburn has the ARC program. Auburn’s ARC program has become a main quality certification for the RFID industry. It is the source of the criteria for testing.

– The need to prove quality is a basic requirement of any quality system, such as ISO 9001-based systems. These standards do not have detailed criteria for the testing, but some way to show the quality of the product is needed. We help tag manufacturers to use the quality control systems in a good way.

-The starting point is that if you want RFID on labels, it’s advisable to test them. Only through testing can any issues with the performance of the RFID label be identified before they go to customers.

– One feedback we have received from our customers after acquiring the systems is that when even one bad production lot is not delivered to the customer, the system has already paid for the investment, Gerald says.

– For future customers, we could encourage them by advising them to go ahead boldly. Our systems are surprisingly easy to use once you understand the concept, and you can always get help, the Voyantic Solution Specialists summarize.