Vieremä, Finland, 2015-01-30 15:42 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
The 10,000th PONSSE forest machine manufactured at the Ponsse factory
Ponsse Plc has manufactured 10,000 PONSSE forest machines at its Vieremä factory. Established in a small village workshop, the family company has become one of the world's biggest forest machine manufacturers. This year, Ponsse celebrates its 45th anniversary.
Einari Vidgrén delivered the first Ponsse Paz forest machine to machine entrepreneur Eero Vainikainen in Karttula in 1971. The PONSSE forest machine number 10,000 was driven out of the Vieremä factory on Friday, 30 January. This machine will also be working at logging sites in Karttula as the 10,000th PONSSE was delivered to Karttulan Metsätyö Oy.
Investments to support a growing machine base
This year, Ponsse will invest heavily in production and the development of its service network. The Vieremä factory alone will invest EUR 8.5 million in Finnish manufacturing. Finnish expertise plays a significant part. Ponsse believes in what it does and in its manufacturing processes, and is continuously developing its supplier network. A total of 90 per cent of Ponsse's supplier network is located in Finland, and 20 per cent of all subcontracted components are manufactured in the partnership village located next to the factory.
The continuously upgraded machine range requires effective product development, where the location of production close to product development is a crucial factor. The serial production of the new PONSSE Model Series 2015 is currently underway, and new machine models will enter serial production gradually during the anniversary. The new model series is a strong indication of the significance of customer cooperation in the product development of forest machines: the new solutions enable more powerful, reliable and ergonomic harvesting.
The latest expansion of 1,600 m2 to Ponsse's Vieremä factory was completed earlier this year. The new facilities are home to a boom and crane welding unit. Ponsse will also upgrade its machining centre for booms and cranes. This spring, three new machining centre investments will be completed at the factory, totalling EUR 4.0 million in value. These investments in component manufacturing serve to increase capacity and better secure the needs of maintenance services for various parts.
In addition to component manufacturing, the factory's surface area will increase through new production development facilities. Completed in March, the 1,300 m2 building is intended for prototype production and testing. The investment supports Ponsse's operating method to quickly enter new product development solutions into testing so that feedback can be received from product end users as early as possible.
A large machine base enables investments in services
In addition to investments in production, Ponsse will invest in a new service centre in Rovaniemi, Finland. The 1,350 m2 facilities will be opened on 20 February. Ponsse has operated in Rovaniemi since 1998, and aims to secure services for its growing machine base.
Of Ponsse's production, more than 73 per cent is exported to approximately 40 different countries. This year, we will invest strongly, for example, in new service centres in Uruguay, France and the United States. Last year, Ponsse opened up new market areas by starting operations in Australia and Chile. The sale and maintenance of PONSSE forest machines are carried out by Randalls Equipment Co in Australia and by FC-Venta y Servicios Ltda in Chile. The first PONSSE machines were delivered to both of these markets at the end of last year. Ponsse already delivered machines to Chile in the 1990s but the machines delivered to Austrialia were the first ones in the company's history.
“In the United States, Ponsse's machine base is growing strongly and, to support this growth, we will invest in maintenance and spare parts services. We are the market leader in cut-to-length forest machines in the USA,” says Jarmo Vidgrén, Ponsse's Sales and Marketing Director. Ponsse North America Inc. will open a service centre in Eugene, Oregon, on the west coast. The new facilities are in a central location, supporting the growing markets on the west coast in terms of cut-to-length harvesters and harvester head sales. The region's softwood-dominated and steep logging sites are excellent for Ponsse's 8-wheeler forest machines and its expanded range of harvester and processing heads.
The recovered harvesting market in the United States has also expedited the decision to build a service centre in Gaylord in Lower Michigan. The new facilities offer better possibilities to maintain the region's growing machine base and manage a larger spare parts stock.
In Europe, Ponsse will invest in the new service centre of its French subsidiary Ponssé SAS in Labouheyre. This year's most significant investment in the South American service network is the new service centre to be built in Paysandu in Uruguay.
Karttulan Metsätyö Oy
The PONSSE forest machine number 10,000 will be delivered to Karttulan Metsätyö Oy, a long-standing customer of Ponsse. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Karttulan Metsätyö started operating in 1990 using the yellow-green Ponsse S15 forwarder and Norcar H600 multi-process machine. Currently, the company has six harvesters, three forwarders, and two Dual machines, as well as an excavator and two lowboy trailers. The PONSSE Fox delivered now is the company's 30th PONSSE machine.
Karttulan Metsätyö employs 28 workers and 7 part-time entrepreneurs who are using 13 forest machines. The company's principal shareholders are Hannu Liikanen, Ari Moilanen and Esa Jauhiainen. Since 2003, the company has operated as a regional contractor within Metsä Group's Kuopio and Viitasaari districts. The company also harvests wood for Harvestia Oy.
Karttulan Metsätyö is in active cooperation with educational institutes within the forest industry. It works the most closely with the Toivala unit for forest education in Siilinjärvi.
“Our aim is to secure a high level of education and labour within the harvesting industry. We have offered internships and visited educational institutes to talk about the life of forest machine entrepreneurs. The professional skills of drivers largely determine the quality and productivity of work. We have been fortunate in having skilled and committed workers in our company,” says Managing Director Hannu Liikanen.
Karttulan Metsätyö has also worked with Ponsse's product development and been part of the development of energy wood harvesting technologies.
Vieremä, 30 January 2015
PONSSE PLC
Juha Vidgrén
Chairman of the Board
Further information: Juha Vidgrén, tel. +358 40 730 0047
Ponsse's journey
During its first ten years of operation, the Ponsse company, named after a stray dog of mixed breed, manufactured 50 forest machines in total. The completion of the 500th PONSSE forest machine was celebrated in 1992. Nearly all machines manufactured were still being sold to Finland. Ponsse extended its operations abroad in mid-90s, and around the same time, the 1,000th PONSSE was finished.
Einari Vidgrén, the company's founder, handed the 7,000 th PONSSE forest machine to the customer in 2010 with these words, which still point the way at Ponsse: “Successful operations are based on continuity and a positive approach of getting things done. Even though there are difficult times, the most important thing is to believe in tomorrow and one's own work.” The world's most intelligent harvesting technology is developed and manufactured in Vieremä, Finland. Since 1970.