The story of ConFoot started with an everyday challenge faced by a transport entrepreneur who had to deal with the long waiting time for a load to be unloaded. In the worst cases, the driver had to wait until the next day to unload.
Timo Akela, the founder of ConFoot, along with Veikko Salminen and Terho Närevaara, set out to solve the problem. They created the vision of a container leg, allowing the container to be left in place and the driver to continue his journey by lorry to the next task. The legs should be lightweight, affordable, durable, and easy to deploy.
Realising and developing this vision was not straightforward. It took a decade of work and cooperation with different actors. Finally, in 2013, a breakthrough was achieved, and a product that met the set criteria was put on the market: a container leg that can be easily handled by one person and safely carries a load of up to thirty tonnes.
A vision that would revolutionise the supply chain.
The idea was deceptively simple. Position legs at the container's corner castings. Lower the trailer with its air suspension. The container is left standing where the driver chose to leave it. The driver continues to the next task. The recipient unloads when it suits them, not when the driver's schedule forces it.
What follows is a different kind of day's work. Drivers deliver multiple loads instead of one. Recipients no longer pay for a driver to stand still. Container exchanges happen without a crane, without a yard crew, without specialised equipment. The legs would fundamentally change how logistics chains move.
Demanding criteria for the development work.
The founders set rigorous requirements before a single prototype was drawn. The legs needed to be lightweight enough for one person to handle without help. They had to be durable enough for years of heavy field use. They had to be cost-effective enough to be accessible. They had to be reliable and safe under international standards. None of these was negotiable.
Developers faced significant challenges finding combinations of materials and design that balanced lightness against durability. Each criterion ruled out a class of materials and a school of design. Each iteration took months to prove or disprove.
Co-operation led to a breakthrough.
The team collaborated with Helsinki Metropolia University and a network of engineers to develop and test prototypes. Initial aluminium-based designs proved insufficient in the field. After a decade of work, a breakthrough was finally achieved in 2013: a six-steel alloy combination that carried a twenty-six tonne load at a leg weight of twenty-four kilograms.
Subsequent improvements added folding capability and height adjustment, increasing the maximum capacity to thirty tonnes. The product that left the workshop in 2013 met every original criterion. The vision held.
New owners strengthen international markets.
ConFoot's story continues after Timo Akela with a strong foundation and a clear vision under the ownership of Mia Pietarinen, Veli-Pekka Niemistö, Lauri Lehtoviita, and Heikki Lehmuskoski. The company maintains its innovative problem-solving approach while prioritising international expansion and development.
Leadership emphasises entering African, American, and Middle Eastern markets, with the dealer network forming the strategic foundation. The next chapter is being written not in Finland alone but in the partnerships that carry the product further.
“While maintaining the vision of our founder, we are taking the company towards broader markets and more innovative solutions.” Mia Pietarinen, CEO
Aiming for growth, together with the network.
Feedback and ideas from customers and partners have always been central to ConFoot's evolution. The CFU legs' capacity increase to thirty tonnes is a direct response to operator demand — a product change that started in the field and walked back to the workshop.
The company invests substantially in manufacturing optimisation, product quality enhancement, and usability improvements while simultaneously redesigning branding and marketing communications. None of this is glamorous. All of it accumulates.
The founder's vision still points the way.
ConFoot's foundational philosophy emphasises lighter, more efficient, and more flexible container handling. Current leadership commits to long-term development through technological investment and global distributor partnerships. The next decade will be shaped by the same loop that built the first leg: solve a real problem, test it where it has to work, ship the version that survives.
The driver who didn't want to wait until tomorrow no longer has to.