ponsse buffalo the new champion of forwarders

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PONSSE NEWS 1• 2011 English The spearhead of productive harvesting PONSSE BUFFALO The new champion of forwarders PAGE 9 TIME FLIES IN VIEREMä PONSSE CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF OPERATIONS PAGE 22 REWARDS FOR THE FOREST SECTOR ELITE THE EINARI VIDGRÉN FOUNDATION REWARDS FOREST PROFESSIONALS PAGE 30 PERTTI KASTINEN IN BUSINESS for ovEr 30 yEArs GENERATIONS CHANGE – PONSSE REMAINS PAGE 44

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Page 1: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 1

PONSSE NEWS1•2011EnglishThe spearhead of productive harvesting

PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwardersPaGE 9

TimE fliEs in ViErEmä

PONSSE cElEBraTES 40 yEarS Of OPEraTiONS PAGE 22

rEwards for ThE forEsT sEcTor EliTE

ThE EiNari VidGréN fOuNdaTiON rEWardS fOrEST PrOfESSiONalSPAGE 30

PErTTi KasTinEn in businEss for ovEr 30 yEArs

GENEraTiONS chaNGE – PONSSE rEmaiNSPaGE 44

Page 2: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 2

Editorial ................................................................................................... 3

Hardware, sofTware and serviceEight-wheel PonssE Ergo – much expected addition

to the british machine markets ..................................................................... 4

PonssE Ergo 8w – at home on the french slopes ........................................... 6

PonssE Ergo 8w – optimal harvesting even in the most demanding of terrain ..... 8

PonssE buffalo – The new champion of forwarders ......................................... 9

PonssE comfort user interface .................................................................. 10

PonssE fox ............................................................................................. 11

PonssE h5 ............................................................................................. 11

PonssE c6 sliding boom crane .................................................................. 12

a logging site in the archipelago .................................................................. 14

PonssE provides cost-effective solutions for harvesting energy wood ............... 16

do you want us to wrap it up for you? .......................................................... 18

Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years in the beginning there was a logging site, a hand-held saw and Einari ................ 22

Einari vidgrén 1943–2010 ........................................................................ 23

Events during the past year ........................................................................ 24

for the iron hands it's the attitude that counts .............................................. 28

Matti Hiltunen – 40 years at Ponsse ............................................................ 29

THe foresT world The Einari Vidgrén foundation rewarded forestry professionals

with EUr 86,000 .................................................................................... 30

Top-notch motivation at forest machine training for adults ............................... 31

onward in good spirits ............................................................................... 32

skilled workers are always in demand .......................................................... 33

a pleasant accident ................................................................................... 33

hannu's long pile ...................................................................................... 34

Karttulan metsätyö oy: Getting on together .................................................. 35

aatto silventoinen: slow and steady wins the race ......................................... 36

logging HeroesThe litmus test of may ............................................................................... 38

Veljekset Knuutinen oy harvesting with the power of seven PonssE machines ... 42

Generations change – Ponsse remains ......................................................... 44

Earl st. John – the road from the woods to success ...................................... 46

PONSSE NEWS 1 • 2011

conTenTs

Published by Ponsse Plc, Ponssentie 22, fI-74200 ViErEmä

Subscriptions:: Tel. +358 20 768 800, fax +358 20 768 8690

Editorial staff: Ponsse Plc

Layout: Työmaa, www.tyomaa.com

Printed by: Kalevaprint oy

Feedback: [email protected]

PoNssE NEws 1/2011Ponsse's customer magazine for customers and partners

logging Heroes

THe foresT world

Ponsse on logging siTes for 40 years

Hardware, sofTware and service

Page 3: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 3

GrEETiNGS frOm ViErEmä!Last year saw us celebrating Ponsse’s 40-year history at logging sites around the world. In more ways than one, our jubilee year proved to be important and memorable.

Together with our customers, we pulled through a gruelling financial situation and, as a company, now find ourselves in better shape than perhaps ever before. We were happy to witness the improvement in our customers’ business, the recovery in the demand for for-est machines and the cessation of our personnel’s temporary lay-offs, not to mention our organisation’s return to a Ponsse-style way of working and thinking. This was no small deal for Einari.

Listening to the customer, a sense of commitment and humbleness before work, speed, a sense of humour and an uncompromising attitude towards work are characteristic of our values. Our operations have always been based on a strong focus on the relevant and an un-wavering reliance on what we do. Even the most difficult of times failed to undermine our faith in a better tomorrow. The truth of the matter is that we love making forest machines!

The year has been a busy time for us. The demand for forest machines has been high indeed and the amount of orders in our books reached record levels. North America is the sole market area that has remained on a weaker level in terms of orders as the local financial crisis drags on. Our service business has also been kept busy in supporting our customers in the field. This is evident in the continuous growth of our service operations.

Our investments have regained their momentum both at the plant and in the service op-erations. At the plant, the bulk of our investment relates to machining and the automation of welding. Towards the end of the year, we will expand our premises and facilities with an additional 1,000 square metres.

In the autumn of 2010, we invested in our Iisalmi service and spare parts operations in the form of expanded facilities. We have now moved used machine sales and remanufac-tured parts to shared premises, allowing us to continue the expansion of our spare parts stock. The Iisalmi Service Centre also functions as a central warehouse for our global spare parts services, and nearly one hundred service professionals already work at the facilities. The new facilities in St. Petersburg, Russia, were opened in early summer and the Jyväskylä operations will also receive new facilities for the service centre at the beginning of 2012. Our goal is to keep improving the availability of spare parts in all of our locations and to gener-ate increasingly functional conditions for supporting our customers and providing service.

At the beginning of May 2011, Epec Oy’s Kajaani-based forest machine information sys-tems’ application and product development unit reverted to Ponsse Plc. The transfer enables the increasingly effective development of information system products for PONSSE forest machines and Epec Oy’s intensified focus on the needs of other work machine clients and, thereby, the company’s growth. The hub of Epec Oy’s operations lies in Seinäjoki, where we will continue to generate the information technology used in forest machines.

The new eight-wheeled harvester models have proved successful in meeting our custom-ers’ harvesting needs and now constitute a significant part of our order books. The change in the markets has been swift. We have received particular praise for the PONSSE Fox thinning harvester, whose technical solutions have introduced the improvements customers have been asking for with regard to user comfort and efficiency of harvesting.

At the same time, the eight-wheeled PONSSE Ergo has turned out to be another success on the markets. We have continued our fast-paced product development and just this spring supplied the market with the C44 crane, the PONSSE H5 harvester head and, with regard to bigger size categories, the PONSSE ElephantKing forwarder. While producing new products, we continue to develop our existing product families and have a keen ear for our customers.

To quote Einari, ”We keep our promises.” Typical of the founder of the company, making good progress together with our customers is what we do and what we believe in.

I wish everyone a busy autumn!

Juho Nummela President and CEO

Page 4: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 4

– mucH exPecTed addiTion To THe BriTisH macHine markeTs

The harvester's eight wheels improve its performance on steep hills and

demanding terrain. The world's first eight-wheel Ergo operates on a felling site

which is located 20 miles to the north of the Ponsse UK Lockerbie Service Centre.

EiGhT-WhEEl PONSSE ErGO

Hardware, sofTware and service

Page 5: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 5

Nowadays, it is extremely rare to find a six-wheel forwarder in British forests, but with regard to harvesters, the eight-wheel mod-els have been scarcely available. Only some smaller forest machine manufacturers have offered eight-wheel harvesters. "On the other hand, machine development is governed by the needs of markets that are larger than those in the UK, which place even higher demands on the machines due to their terrain conditions," says Dave Wil-son, a machine operator at Dick Brothers, a company located in Galashiels, Scotland.

This Ergo 8w operator is undoubtedly more than pleased with his new machine. "The machine is excellent in terms of its comfort – compared to a six-wheeler, it is more stable and able to suspend bumps more effectively," Wilson comments.

uNdiSPuTaBlE BENEfiTS Of ThE EiGhT-WhEElEr

The felling site, where the machine oper-ates – 70,000 cubic metres of premature cutting that needs to be cleared away for a wind power plant – does not have the most demanding of conditions, but the benefits of the machine have been evident right from the start. The machine started operating in a low-lying wet area, where it was able to work without tracks. The ma-chine cuts about 500 to 600 tonnes of Sit-ka spruce a week. The trunks are sturdy but not of good quality. Most of the trees were planted in 1971.

"The crane operation of the new ma-chine is faster and smoother, and the har-vester head and saw are much faster, even compared to the previous Ergo," he says. Wilson also points out that one of the ben-efits includes the possibility to fine-tune the crane operations with the computer. The Ergo 8w is equipped with a PONSSE H7 harvester head and a PONSSE C4 slid-ing boom crane with its ten metre reach.

The machine is also equipped with bal-anced bogies, which are provided as op-tional equipment. According to Wilson, this means that the machine is able to climb the slopes more efficiently and with a better grip, and also prevents the tracks from rising off the ground even when the crane's maximum reach is applied.

There is one difference between the Ergo with six wheels and that with eight – the six-wheel Ergo has an active suspen-sion system for the front axle. The system keeps the cabin straight on uneven terrain and eliminates the sideways movements directed to the operator. Due to its differ-ent design, this is not possible in the eight-wheel version. However, this has been solved by furnishing the machine with a Sit Right seat leveller.

The logs from the felling site are tak-en to local sawmills. The site has also been stripped of many of its stumps. The stumps are delivered to Dick Brothers' wood chip mill, where they are first treated in "drying drums" and then in a CBI Mag-num Force 8400 chipper. The wood chip

mill is located only a few miles from Eon's biomass energy mill in Lockerbie, which is the final destination of the stumps.

PrOPEr machiNES fOr TruE PrOfESSiONalS

Meanwhile on the site, Dave Wilson con-tinues harvesting in high spirits. The new Ergo 8w was introduced to him on his birthday. Coincidence? "I am a good em-ployer to my subordinates," Bobby Dick says, smiling. Dave's previous Ergo arrived just in time for Christmas Eve!

Dick Brothers has already purchased its next Ergo 8w, which is operating in Northern Scotland. Ponsse has also man-ufactured an eight-wheel version of its Bear harvester. The Bear is a significantly larger machine: regarding its weight, it is about eight tonnes heavier. The machine is equipped with a larger harvester head, PONSSE H8, and it is delivered with an 11-metre parallel crane.

"It'll be interesting to see how the popularity of eight-wheel harvesters will grow. They have been available for years, but when a major machine manufacturer introduces its eight-wheel version, it can cause the six-wheel harvesters to become as rare as the six-wheel forwarders in Brit-ish forests in three to four years time," Dick says. Time will tell.

Hardware, sofTware and service

bobby dick on the left, his son alistair, harvester operator dave wilson, and Gareth williams, sales manager at Ponsse uK.

Page 6: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 6

aT hOmE ON ThE frENch SlOPESOur French customers have expressed their need for better performing PONSSE machines for sloping sites. We responded to the challenge by developing an eight-wheel version of the Ergo harvester. The first much-awaited machines were delivered to the Limousin region of France. The new model is much more than just the conventional Ergo with eight wheels.

Ponsse ergo 8w

EfficiENT harVESTiNG PErfOrmaNcE

Harvester operator Frédéric Foucault works for Mécafor, a company located in the region of Corrèze in France. He has been working with the new Ergo 8w for two months. Frédéric is more than pleased. The harvester's eight-wheel feature and the positive feedback on the design from the operators encouraged the company to in-vest in two Ergo 8w harvesters. It is a sign of trust in the properties and performance of the machine, as well as in the services provided by the Ponsse Limousin team, who work in the city of Peyrat-le-Château in the region of Haute-Vienne.

The harvester moves around the steep lot in a nimble manner. The soil on the banks of the River Vézère is extremely

wet, but it manages well," Frédéric says. After he started using the eight-wheeler, Frédéric has not needed the tracks much. With the old harvester, the tracks were used 80% of the time. One of the key criteria is the treadmarks left by the machine in the woods: the lower surface pressure of the eight-wheeler makes working easier also in this respect.

Frédéric confirms that the size of the harvester is a definite plus when moving around the sites that have been thinned for the first and second time. The manoeuvra-bility improved by the increased tractive force manifests itself especially in wet-lands. Due to the eight wheels and the bal-ancing mechanism of the bogies, its slope properties are good, regardless of the forest

type. The driver's Sit Right seat adapts to the body movements. Frédéric wears the seat belt under all conditions.

Frédéric Foucault was mostly impressed by the C4 crane of the eight-wheel Ergo. The fast and efficient C4 complements the performance of the H7 harvester head per-fectly. The sliding boom with its ten-metre reach comes out quickly, which speeds up the work stages. The operating comfort has been further improved as a result of the unforeseen stability. The machine has no tendency to fall, even if the grapple grabs a large tree of more than four cubic metres. Thanks to the crane tilt, which turns 30 de-grees, there is no need to force the grapple movements. The operation of the harvester head is also facilitated by the 228 kNm lift-

Hardware, sofTware and service

Page 7: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 7

Hardware, sofTware and service

ing power, 280° turning angle, and 35 kNm slewing power.

The H7 harvester head enables extremely fast working: this is mostly affected by the feed speed that is adjusted to each work stage, as well as the pinching force that varies ac-cording to the trunk diameter. "I was com-pletely amazed by the harvester head's oper-ating speed," Frédéric admits. He uses a feed speed of 5 m/s and controls all the cutting and delimbing stages manually. The out-put, for example, in a spruce forest that is thinned for the second time is 24 m3 per hour, and the maximum dai-ly output is 253 m3. According to Frédéric, he is now working more efficiently than before. The daily output increases by about one third during first thinning, and undoubtedly even more during the second. The machine is ex-tremely productive with its 16-litre (4.2 gal) hourly consumption. This can be seen during its operation. The crane moves quickly to the tree butt, and the easily controlled harvester head rotates around the tree trunk until the best cutting angle is identified. The crane lifts the tree, and feeding is started. The adjacent trees are barely touched. The rotation speed of the motor does not decrease during trunk processing, and before you know it, the crane is on its way to cut the next tree.

The 8w model is 8,055 mm (317 in) long and 2,840–3,100 mm (112-122 in) wide. The machine equipped with the narrowest tire is sufficiently agile for thinning, but the the narrowness does not significantly weaken the machine's stability. For operation on soft terrain and steep slopes, Ergo 8w can be equipped with suitable tracks and chains to ensure unbeatable tire grip and machine stability.

The eight-wheel model is naturally some-what bigger than its six-wheel counterpart due to its additional tires, bogie and a slightly longer frame. However, the differences in the actual working condition remain small and, with regard to the effects on the terrain, the eight-wheeler's extremely low surface pres-sure ensures superior performance.

Both Ergos use the same six-cylinder 205 kW (275 hp) Mercedes-Benz engine with an output 1100 Nm and a dual circuit hydraulic system. The tractive force of the PONSSE Er-go 8w has been increased by 14% from the six-wheel version to ensure its operation in the the most demanding of conditions.

The dual circuit hydraulic system of both models guarantees that the machine will not run out of power even in heavy-duty opera-tions. A separate 190 cm3 (11.6 in3) working pump is provided for the harvester head, and a 145 cm3 (8.8 in3) pump for the crane.

TESTEd ON ThE SlOPESThis is not the first Ponsse machine for Ar-naud, a company located in Haute-Vienne.

In fact, Arnaud was among the first customers and us-ers in France during a peri-od when Ponsse was not yet represented in France. The company has experience al-so with Ponsse's earlier har-

vester models. Now the company chose the Ergo 8w especially for sloping sites. Chris-tophe Arnaud operates his new harvester and specifies his selection criteria. He chose the 8w due to its high performance, applicability to slopes and economic efficiency. With this in mind, eight wheels constitute a significant advantage.

Christophe is already familiar with mech-anised harvesting on steep slopes. Even though the terrain in Limousin is not as fa-mous as the slopes of the Alps, it is just as diverse and dangerous at points. The size and location of certain wood lots require pre-cise controllability. Christophe has mastered the Ponsse machines well. When I ask him about the good qualities of 8w, he replies "in-credible stability", without hesitation. Christophe admits that he recognised certain features of Ergo 8w. According to him, already the six-wheel version felt incredibly stable.

As the interview starts, Christophe heads directly to the slope. The agility of the ma-chine was not affected even by the steepest of tilts. These typical and familiar conditions used to make working considerably more complicated. The interviewee is very experi-enced in working on sloping sites. According to this forest machine entrepreneur, it makes no difference if the machine is going up or down the slope. He knows how to utilise the machine's stability effectively. Previously, two tree belts could be processed when working on a steep slope, and now three is no prob-lem. It should be noted that Christophe's machine does not have balanced bogies. He thinks that they are unnecessary, as the ma-

chine will turn before the bogies rise off the ground. This, if anything, strengthens Chris-tophe's impressions of the behaviour of the harvester. He has selected the 710 tire size, but has not filled the tire with water as he did with his six-wheel harvester. In the six-wheel version, filling the tire with salt water was necessary.

The harvester climbs the slopes efficiently and turns in place. These are practical prop-erties also on this steeply sloping site, which is located partly on a forest road. The ma-chine looks small in front of the over 20-me-tre Douglas spruces. The 8w model enables harvesting over wide areas without additional loading. Approaching the trees is consider-ably easier, the cutting and processing stages follow each other almost at the same pace as when working on even terrain.

In terms of the crane, Christophe has only positive things to say about the new develop-ment steps. Power is, of course, one of the factors. Another is the crane tilt, which ex-tends longer in the front. He also remembers to mention the fact that the crane is installed on a pivot cylinder instead of a toothed rack. To top it all off, Christophe thinks that the reach has also improved.

Regarding the harvester head, Christophe values the great opening range of the rollers and knives. He has been able to process a trunk with a 92 cm (36 in) thick butt. The op-erating speed, 5.2 m/s with small trunks and 4.5–4.8 m/s on large ones, is also appreciat-

ed. The harvester head never jams – a feature that is truly beneficial when delimbing over 14-metre logs. The com-bined effect of the torque and proportioned speed exceeds the expectations of even the

most seasoned user familiar with the brand, and the change to the old H73 model is re-markable.

Furthermore, Christophe comments on the design of the front end of the machine frame: it can now manage the steepest of slopes. The cabin, which is located lower than in the Ergo 6w, is handy on slopes, even though the fuel tank cover decreases the vis-ibility of the front wheel to a certain extent.

The Ergo 8w has been selling well in France. The 8w was not designed solely for sloping sites, but it overcomes both chal-lenges with ease: as an eight-wheeler it has a lower surface pressure and guarantees more comfortable operation.

"I was completely

amazed by the harvester

head's operating speed."

The harvester climbs the

slopes efficiently and

turns in place.

Page 8: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 8

A very effective and ergonomic harvester, PONSSE Ergo has achieved a stable posi-tion in the sector. The effective yet econom-ical Mercedes-Benz engine, dual circuit hy-draulic system, sturdy and service-friendly structure and the best ergonomic features guarantee that the PONSSE Ergo will con-tinue to be the most efficient upper mid-range harvester on the market.

As an eight-wheeler, harvesting with the PONSSE Ergo 8w is particularly effective on sloping sites and otherwise demanding terrain. The Ergo 8w can be equipped with balanced bogies to improve its hill-climb-ing capability. The surface pressure gen-erated by the machine is lower than that of a six-wheeler, ensuring better carrying capacity on soft soil.

PONSSE ErGO 8WoPTimal HarvesTing even in THe mosT demanding of Terrain

PONSSE c44The geometry of the PONSSE C44 parallel crane is designed on the basis of its popular little brother, the PONSSE C22, but its structures are built for heavy-duty operations. The new design combines the lightness, excellent efficiency of the hydraulically operated parallel crane, the easy use enabled by the care-fully designed movement path, superior crane operation control, as well as the power and durability Ponsse products are famous for.

PONSSE c44 -craNESlewing torque (gross) 31700 lb/ft (43 kNm)Tilt angle 30 degreesCrane turning angle 250 degreesLifting torque (gross) 169600 lb/ft (230 kNm)Reach 36 ft (11 m) (H6) and 33 ft (10 m) (H7)

Hardware, sofTware and service

Page 9: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 9

The new PONSSE Buffalo forwarder is based on Ponsse’s familiar and reliable so-lutions. A Mercedes-Benz 906LA engine, Sauer’s hydrostatic transmission and 44° steering angle guarantee ultimate effi-ciency. In addition, Buffalo’s productivity is strengthened by a strong and reliable K90+ or K100+ loader, a spacious cabin, a variety of load space alternatives (including variable load area), a two-part rear frame and a handy load space extension. The new PONSSE Buffalo has new machined front and rear frames which have been designed paying special attention to ease of service. A new cast middle pivot, a reliable and

sturdy cylinder-powered frame lock and new reinforced bogies ensure that the reli-able Buffalo will serve you in logging for a long time. Furthermore, the new Buffalo includes a coloured forwarder display (ex-cept in machines equipped with Opti), a new cabin air conditioner system and sev-eral other new features that make Buffalo easier to service and more comfortable to use. New additional equipment available for Buffalo includes an electric cabin tilt pump, log gate rising, a floating bulldozer blade, a quick-release rear frame extension and a Dual type load space with a quick-release log gate as an option for tilt frames.

PONSSE BuffalO THe new cHamPion of forwarders

Hardware, sofTware and service

Page 10: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 10

PONSSE cOmfOrT -uSEr iNTErfacEDrivers’ ability to cope at work is extremely important both with regard to their own well-being and the productivity of their work. When designing the new PONSSE Comfort user interface, drivers were moni-tored during actual work and a number of possible solutions were tested to obtain the best possible ergonomics. The completely new and fully adjustable control handles, armrests and switch consoles help increase the drivers’ comfort and ability to cope at work over the hours, weeks and years.

The new user interface will become avail-able in 2012.

Hardware, sofTware and service

Page 11: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 11

PONSSE h5The PONSSE H5 harvester head is a general harvester head especially suit-ed for thinning and designed with particular attention to smooth multi-stemming.

The large opening, long front de-limbing knives and the correctly placed wide top feed roller intensify the thin-ning of single trees as well as the col-lection and handling of trunks during multi-stemming. The extremely fast yet economical feed and cutting guarantee high productivity under all operating conditions.

THe new Ponsse fox overcomes difficulT and sofT HarvesTing condiTions

PONSSE fOxThe new PONSSE Fox harvester combines the latest technology and reliable basic so-lutions to produce an efficient entity. Fox is a harvester responding to current har-vesting challenges. The completely new and powerful PONSSE C22 crane has an extensive reach and, thanks to its hydrau-lic movement function, is easy to use. The eleven-metre (36 ft) reach, easy manoeu-vrability and dual slewing motors make

working with the machine extremely ef-fective. The crane has been placed close to the cabin to improve visibility. Due to its eight-wheel design, the PONSSE Fox has high stability, which makes working even in hilly terrain extremely comfortable. As an eight-wheeler, the surface pressure of the new harvester is also extremely low, making it particularly suitable for soft ter-rains.

Hardware, sofTware and service

Page 12: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 12

A clatter and rumble is heard from a dense forest in Småland. Contractor Nik-las Savilahti is performing final felling with the PONSSE Bear, which is equipped with the new crane design. We are, in fact, fol-lowing the footsteps of the bear.

STEady WOrk machiNE"No defects have occurred. The controls seem to be in place now," says Niklas, on his break. This harvester model has been on the market for many years, and it is the biggest PONSSE harvester available. The 24-tonne Bear is designed for final felling. It is equipped with a state-of-the-art C6 sliding boom crane.

"I have always used a crane of this type. The best feature of this crane is that the load remains inside the bogie. This makes the Bear extremely stable. I also like its speed and flexibility. Besides, the machine is easy to move about because the crane is so low."

"The crane is not very high even in its working position, which is why it can be operated under power lines. This would not be possible with the parallel crane, which has a height of six to seven metres," Niklas explains.

a maN Of hiS WOrdThe C6 crane has a reach of up to ten me-tres. Compared to the C4 sliding boom

crane, which had the best performance un-til recently, all components of the C6 have been taken one step further. This provides additional capacity for handling the H8 harvester head, which weighs 1,350 kg. In addition to the harvester head's weight, the weight of the load to be lifted must also be considered – this can be up to three tonnes.

Niklas's machine is equipped with the C6 crane, which was the second in Swe-den and the third in the whole world. Some time ago he was telling Ponsse, jokingly, that if they ever design a sliding boom crane for the large H8 harvester head, he will be the first to buy it.

"In March 2010, they phoned me from the factory and said that they are now de-

One of the last year's innovations introduced at the FinnMetko Trade Fair was a sliding boom crane designed for the Bear, Ponsse's biggest harvester. We were able to visit Sweden to see one of the first machines ever sold, now being used in Skillingaryd in the province of Småland.

Hardware, sofTware and service

Ponsse c6 sliding Boom crane

ThE NEW rEach Of ThE BEar

all components of the bear are sturdier compared to the previous Ergo niklas had.

Page 13: PONSSE BuffalO The new champion of forwarders

Ponsse News 1 • 2011 13

PONSSE c6 TEchNical SPEcificaTiONS:Slewing torque (gross) 55 kNmBase tilt angle +/-20 degreesCrane turning angle 250 degreesLifting torque (gross) 310 kNmReach 10 mLifting power with full reach 1500 kp/10 m

veloping one, so I should be a man of my word," he says, laughing. It is extremely nimble for such a big harvester. Many are wondering if buying such a large machine makes sense. Although the sites are not always dense forests, large trunks are al-ways found. When handling them is easy, I believe that a slightly oversized machine will give more lasting performance. Com-pared to my old Ergo, everything about this harvester is a bit more robust. The frame, bogie housings and, for example, the crane extension, which has bearings at four points instead of just two."

a TOrNE VallEy BOyNiklas comes from Övertorneå in the Torne Valley. Fifteen years ago he moved 1,200 kilometres south because of the for-ests.

"Here in the south the trees are sturdi-er and harvesting is more pleasant. Life is completely different in Norland, especially because you have to travel away during the weeks. I think it's important to get home every night, especially if you have family."

christian, charles werninger and

niklas savilahti say that from the

machine cabin, the trunks seem

smaller than they actually are.

Even the butt of the trunk,

which is closest to the

camera, accounts for

one cubic metre of wood

and weighs a tonne.

He has been working as a contractor for over six years, since January 2005, when the Gudrun storm hit Sweden.

machiNE ruNNiNG iN TWO ShifTS"That was a good time to start, there was enough work to work 24-hours a day if you wanted to. I was driving alone at the time. Now my wife is do-ing the accounting and I also have one other em-ployee. The harvester is operated in two shifts. The objective is to have eight hours of operation in each shift. Economically, shift work is not that profitable, but it ensures efficient harvesting and better service for the sawmills," Niklas says.

They are harvesting a total of 8,000–10,000 cubic metres of wood every month for Ture Jo-hanssons Trävaru, their customer in Klevshult.

"They give me work all year round. During qui-eter periods, they have provided me with hard-wood harvesting. They are a good customer and always pay me in time, for example. This is why I want to consider their wishes and don't want to niggle over every detail."

Niklas is happy to be a contractor in the forest sector, although he admits that "rainy Mondays" also exist. Jobs are performed within a radius of 50 miles from Klevshult, and Niklas takes care of moving the machine himself using a trailer that is registered as a tractor.

"These machines are too expensive for me to remove and fasten the chains and tracks for driv-ing on the road. These machines were not de-signed for driving on public roads."

Hardware, sofTware and service

Ponsse News 1•2011 13

Base tilt angle +/-20 degreesCrane turning angle 250 degreesLifting torque (gross) 310 kNmReach 10 mLifting power with full reach 1500 kp/10 m

er and harvesting is more pleasant. Life is completely different in Norland, especially because you have to travel away during the weeks. I think it's important to get home every night, especially if you have family."

hristian, charles werninger and werninger and w

iklas savilahti say that from the

machine cabin, the trunks seem

smaller than they actually are.

Even the butt of the trunk,

which is closest to the

camera, accounts for

one cubic metre of wood

and weighs a tonne.

Ponsse c6 sliding Boom crane

ThE NEW rEach Of ThE BEar

all components of the bear are sturdier compared to the previous Ergo niklas had. charles werninger loading pine trunks with the Elephant, Ponsse’s largest forwarder, which accommodates a load of 18 tonnes.

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Hardware, sofTware and service

a lOGGiNG SiTE iN ThE archiPElaGO

harvesting performed on the island of innerstö, off the coast of sweden's hudiksvall municipality, places more than the usual demands

on forwarders. Göran svahn of Via skog and PonssE buffalo.

The forwarder drives to the ferry to lift its cargo to the bundling place.

Logging carried out on an uninhabited island off the Swedish coast poses more than the usual demands on contractors and machine operators. "The harvesting itself does not really entail anything out of the ordinary, but transport takes time and one has to be prepared to take care of oneself on the island," says Kjell Magnusson, whose company Bäckskogen AB operates from the municipality of Hudiksvall in Sweden.

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Hardware, sofTware and service

a lOGGiNG SiTE iN ThE archiPElaGO

It is early in summer and an early morning in Mössön. On the tongue of land east of Hudiks-vall, Kjell Magnusson and Göran Svahn are about to set off for work in an open boat. The crossing takes a minimum of twenty minutes, so the men are clad in warm floatation gar-ments and headgear. The well-clothed men bear more resemblance to snowmobilers than loggers heading to the sunny islands.

"This early in the summer the sea is still chilly, especially at this hour of the day. We have to dress warmly. It's as important for the sake of warmth as it is for safety, just in case something did go wrong and we found our-selves in the water," says Kjell.

a jOB ON aN iSlaNdKjell drives his first shift of the day with his PONSSE Ergo harvester, partnering up with Göran, whose forwarder vehicle is a PONSSE Buffalo. Both machines are ideal for final fell-ing purposes.

"We have worked together for years, on the mainland as well as on the islands. This is be-coming just another routine job for us," says Göran.

It is probably quite a thing to spend one or two summery months in the Swedish archi-pelago and even get paid for it.

"It is nice and the scenery is magnificent at times. But you don't have too much time to enjoy the surroundings when you work since you need to perform work in the usual way. I haven't taken a single swim in the sea," says Kjell, dispelling any illusions of an idyllic sum-mer job.

Innerstön is one of four relatively big is-lands located southeast of Hudiksvall. True to its name, the island is the one closest to the mainland. In the old days, the island was home to a fishing village and a pilot station, but now-adays it is uninhabited.

"The island does, however, have a visitor's harbour and a house owned by the company Holmen Skog, so we do see people from time to time other than our colleagues," observes Kjell.

ExPEriENcE iS ThE kEyBäckskogen and Via Skog are among the most experienced entrepreneurs of Holmen involved in island harvesting. That is also why they were chosen for the job. The island's for-ests have been well managed and this is evi-dent in the quality of the harvested timber.

"Logging in island conditions is both labo-rious and expensive. We are performing final felling at this point so that the value of the tim-ber will not suffer. The spruce logs are des-tined for Finland, whereas the pulpwood and pine log will be handled by us at Iggesund," says Martin Karlsson, head of production at Holmen Skog AB.

Transporting machines and floating logs to the port generate additional costs and the con-tractor raises the price of a contract by ten per cent to cover the costs.

"There must be a certain amount of for-est that is ready for harvesting for the har-vesting to be worthwhile. Innerstön is a relatively big island, roughly the size of two hundred hectares. We estimate that we will be harvesting some 5,000– 8,000 cubic metres per summer during the coming two years," says Martin.

uNuSual TraNSPOrTaTiONDue to practical matters, contractors have a good two months to spend on island cutting.

"The weather is usually ideal from mid-May until the end of July. After the autumn storms begin, nobody wants to float the logs or ferry the machinery over," says Kjell.

He arrived on the island on the first ferry, accompanied by a harvester, a site hut and a fuel tank.

"Jan-Anders Larsson's ferry is a former car ferry, so although the ride took several hours, the twenty-tonne weight of the harvester wasn't a problem," says Kjell.

After a couple of days of cutting, Göran Svahn arrived on site in a similar fashion – ac-companied by his forwarder and site hut.

"The most important function of the site huts is to serve as backup just in case it's windy and we have to stay on the island," explains Göran.

Once the machinery and huts have been readied and the work has commenced, one still needs to get on site and away from there once a shift ends.

"We drive a boat to catch our shift. Since Via Skog and Bäckskogen both have their own motor boats, the arrangement works well."

The trip may take anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour depending on the weather and the wind. When the fog gets thick or the wind particularly strong, it can get really cold in the boat.

"I'm no seafarer. My family worries and al-ways wants to know that I've crossed over safe-ly," says Kjell. He is also inclined to stay on the island when the weather gets bad.

TrEES frOm ThE fOrEST TO ThE SEaThe final felling work performed by Kjell is ex-actly the same as it would be on the mainland.

"Sometimes you get to see pretty spectacu-lar vistas from the highest points of the island. The crew has also developed a good team spirit since we are so isolated. But apart from that, the work is the same as any other harvesting job," says Kjell.

The forwarder's job, however, is different."As usual, we collect the logs following the

cutting. Sometimes the transport route for the

logs is really long as they have to be driven down to the ferry. At the shore, we lift the logs to the bundling site adjacent to the ferry. The ferry men then secure a rope around the bun-dle and it's dropped into the water."

The logs included in any one bundle must also comprise a mixture of different species of trees – pines and deciduous trees have to be bundled up with spruce logs to prevent the bundle from sinking.

The finished bundles are left floating in the salt water in pairs, until they form a 300-me-tre long queue or approximately 1,500 solid cubic metres (m3). Only at this point are the logs towed to the harbour of Skärnäs and from there on to the industrial district of Iggesund, where the quantity of the wood is measured.

"Floating is an excellent method of trans-portation in terms of controlling bark beetles, even though it's not my favourite job to fish the logs out of the water if the rope gives way," says Göran.

Runaway logs must be pushed next to the ferry with the help of a steel barge and the logs are then re-lifted to the bundling place by a forwarder who has backed up next to the ferry.

dON'T PaNicIf something happens on the island, one can-not always just call for help.

"When my harvester had a flat tire, it had to be taken ashore, first on the ferry, and then to the garage. It was somewhat difficult, but we did get the tire fixed in the end," adds Kjell. And when the fuel tank holding four cubic metres of fuel is empty it, too, must be taken ashore for refilling. In practice, this means or-dering a road tanker to the harbour and getting the timing right.

"Spending the night on the island because of the wind adds a bit of excitement to ordinary life. A forest fire that flared up in the cutting area was a more serious incident," says Göran. The most likely explanation for that incident was that the harvester's underbody shield or the forwarder's caterpillar tracks hit a rock and ignited a spark left smouldering there. At first no-one noticed the start of the fire, and once the wind picked up, the flames were rising.

"It took two hours for the firefighting crew to get here on their boat. But we didn't have any real luck putting the fire out before the firefighting helicopter arrived on scene," says Göran. He is thankful for the one remaining summer of logging left on the island of Inner-stö. Of course, there will be plenty of logging to be done on other islands after that.

"The team spirit is unbeatable. We are in the habit of throwing a nice barbecue before the closure of cuttings such as this," says Kjell.

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PONSSE PrOVidES cOST- EffEcTiVE SOluTiONS fOrharVESTiNG ENErGy WOOd

Hardware, sofTware and service

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PONSSE BIOENERGY

mulTi-STEmmiNGPowerful technology for the harvesting of small-diameter treesThe multi-stemming feature of harvester heads is the solution for harvesting par-tially delimbed wood, undelimbed pulp-wood and energy wood. The selection is wide-ranging: all standard PONSSE har-vester heads of different sizes are suita-ble for multi-stemming, either as such or equipped with minor optional equipment.

By means of the multi-stemming func-tion, industrial and energy wood can be harvested simultaneously, thus increas-ing the yield. Modern PONSSE harvester heads can be harnessed for the purpose of multi-stemming, even without any me-chanical changes. When the objective is to harvest a stand's trees delimbed by multi-stemming, the handling and feeding of the bundle can be enhanced with the new feed roller solutions. The solution also works for standard roundwood harvesting.

When performed with PONSSE har-vested heads, multi-stemming is based on the control function of delimbing knives and feed rollers: when the machine grabs a new trunk, the rollers hold the trunks in the harvester head in place while the knives grab a new tree. After this the rollers open and grab a new trunk which is cut. The operator can control the entire collection process with the push of a single button. Finally, the bundle is assembled as whole trees or delimbed by feeding the bundle through the harvester head, depending on the need.

The size of the harvester head is cho-sen according to the size of the timber to be handled. A strong harvester head equipped with a large opening is natu-rally able to hold even sturdier trunks awaiting multi-stemming. Smaller trunksizes allow for the use of smaller and lighter harvester heads. A load scale is recommend-ed for the forwarder for weighing the timber.

TimBEr WEiGhiNGPonsse loadoPtimizer load scaleThe PONSSE LoadOptimizer load scale is a solution for weighing loads: it weighs, sorts, saves and manages load data while the work is being performed.

The PONSSE LoadOptimizer can also be used as an official timber measuring system. Load data and load logs are auto-matically transferred from LoadOptimizer to the OptiForwarder system. The data can also be saved on a USB memory drive or printed directly on paper. The load scale's display unit is fully dustproof and water-proof. The weight sensor is designed to withstand extreme conditions and exten-sive wear and tear. In addition to PONSSE loaders, the PONSSE LoadOptimizer can be installed in the majority of other load-ers.

Multi-stemmed timber is automati-cally measured by PONSSE LoadOpti-mizer during unloading, and the weigh-ing can be done by batches and timber grades. Timber grade selector switches, which can be installed in the control han-dles, are available as optional equipment.

mOdifiaBlE lOad SPacES:flexibility for industry and energy wood transPortationPonsse's mechanically or hydraulically modifiable load spaces bring a new type of flexibility to the harvesting of different sites. The modifiable load space makes industrial wood harvesting easier and in-creases the load volume in energy wood harvesting by bringing harvesting produc-tivity to a new level, as the capacity is bet-ter utilised. The PONSSE LoadOptimizer load scale guarantees properly-sized loads and provides accurate reports on the trans-ported volumes.

The hydraulically modifiable space can be controlled by operating switches directly from the cabin while working. When trans-

porting lighter energy fractions, the ex-panded space allows for bigger loads, thus optimising the use of the machine's capac-ity. During the transportation of normal timber, the load's centre of gravity can be lowered by expanding the load space. Hy-draulically modifiable load spaces are avail-able for PONSSE Elephant, Buffalo and Elk forwarders. They are always accompanied by the PONSSE LoadOptimizer load scale.

For more detailed product information, go towww.ponsse.com/bioenergy

PONSSE PrOVidES cOST- EffEcTiVE SOluTiONS fOrharVESTiNG ENErGy WOOd

Economical harvesting of energy wood requires effective and productive methods. PONSSE Bioenergy products make the harvesting of energy and small wood flexible and efficient. Energy wood can be harvested simultaneously with industrial wood, felled separately or, when necessary, the harvesting equipment can be moved to be used solely for industrial wood harvesting.

Hardware, sofTware and service

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Performance Packages are pre-selected spare parts kits designed to meet the needs of forest machine contractors, and they allow upgrad-ing a machine back to its original condition. Performance Packages include a variety of op-tions for the purposes of upgrading harvester heads, cranes and base machines. PONSSE Performance Packages are designed to en-hance the performance of machines and to upgrade older machines to the level of cur-rent forest machine technology.

A forest machine's operating life depends on a variety of factors: regular service, eco-nomical use, the retention of technical effi-ciency and the availability of spare parts. To secure the last two of these – technical ef-ficiency and the availability of spare parts – Ponsse now offers an entirely new product family.

Through PONSSE Performance Packag-es, Ponsse supplies the market with a wide-ranging selection of spare-parts kits. The packages are designed for more thorough overhauls and modernisations of forest ma-chines. With Performance Packages, even older machines can be upgraded to meet the demands of modern harvesting, whether the subject of the upgrade is the machine's infor-mation system, harvester head, forwarder's scale or crane.

The range of Performance Packages in-cludes a variety of means for improving the productivity of a machine. Some of the pack-ages have been designed so that technology which is outdated or soon to be removed from use is replaced with modern counterparts. This ensures machines' future operation (for example, Opti5 upgrades). Other pack-ages are designed to replace parts exposed to

wear and tear and to expedite servicing opera-tions (these include measuring wheel pack-ages and sleeve kits). Certain packages (such as scale packages) can also provide older ma-chines with wholly new features.

Our selection, composed of nearly one hundred different Performance Packages, is described in more detail in the PONSSE Ser-vice catalogue. The development of Perfor-mance Packages is overseen by the Iisalmi-based Olli Koljonen, head of product group design.

"The original starting point for the devel-opment of Performance Packages was feed-back received from customers. Hence future development will also include cooperation with our customers," says Olli Koljonen.

"We are more than happy to receive feed-back on the functionality of Performance Packages and new ideas."

Hardware, sofTware and service

Ponsse Performance Packages – designed To enHance macHine ProducTiveness

dO yOu WaNT uS TO WraP iT uP fOr yOu?

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rEmaNufacTurEd ParTSPONSSE Remanufactured Parts offer you a quick, inexpensive and eco-friendly way of re-placing damaged spare parts. Remanufactured Parts is a service developed by Ponsse and is based on recycling and reconditioning used service parts. Return the damaged part to us and replace it by buying a remanufactured part which Ponsse has carefully reconditioned. You will receive compensation for the returned part when you purchase a remanufactured part, thus providing you with considerable cost savings. As a guarantee of high quality, Ponsse provides remanufactured parts with the same warranty as new parts.

BudGET ParTS: uSEd ParTS aT BudGET PricES Ponsse offers an extensive selection of used parts, which are an affordable alternative for forest machine maintenance. Budget Parts are a good choice if you do not need a new part and

would like to get the part you need at low cost. Budget Parts are selected partic ularly with the maintenance of slightly older or backup ma-chinery in mind. By choosing a Budget Part, you can save on servicing costs while also con-sidering the environment.

Budget Parts are, for instance, parts not used at a plant and components that have un dergone test use in product development. The parts released for sale are carefully select-ed, af ter which the equipment and condition class of each part is separately assessed and the price of the part is determined accordingly.

claSSic ParTS: GENuiNE ParTS ThaT arE aS GOOd aS NEW fOr claSSic mOdElS Ponsse also wishes to serve the owners of old-er machines by offering an extensive range of Classic Parts. Classic Parts are unused genu-ine parts offered by Ponsse for older machine models that are no longer in production. Clas-sic Parts enable the cost-effective maintenance

of older machines’ working capacity or the overhaul of an old classic.

Ponsse’s long history as a manufacturer of forest machines allows us to provide you with an extensive range of Classic Parts from the by gone decades. Whether you are the owner of an HS10 Cobra harvester whose performance you would like to ensure for years to come or a legendary S15 forwarder that you would like to repair to running condition, Classic Parts make this possible. The range of Classic Parts includes radiators, exhaust pipes, frame metal parts, engine cover parts and cable sets.

fOrEST machiNE EQuiPmENT fOr ThE fOrESTry PrOfESSiONal The equipment comprises quality products de-signed specifically for the purposes of forestry professionals. The range of products includes equipment, tools and other gear essential from the forestry professional’s perspective.

Hardware, sofTware and service

The Ponsse Spare Parts and Services cata-logue has been revised. The purpose of the new and more thorough, 196-page catalogue is to serve customers as well as possible in all spare parts purchases. The catalogue is also available in pdf format in the SERVICES sec-tion of the www.ponsse.com site: Catalogues and services.

The catalogue includes new product groups, such as electric and hydraulic connec-tors and chemicals. The layout of the catalogue has been revised so that product groups have been colour-coded and more product images have been added to make the catalogue more user-friendly.

The catalogue also includes instructions for using and servicing various products and contains, for instance, tire pressure recom-mendations and hydraulic connector selec-tion guides. A completely new section on the PONSSE Performance Packages has also been added to the catalogue.

PONSSE SParE ParTS

THe new Ponsse sPare ParTs and services caTalogue

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The new PONSSE Fox is a true all-terrain harvester. the fox features eight wheels and a powerful crane located close to the cabin, meaning it performs in the most demanding harvesting situations. be it on difficult terrain or in soft conditions, you can work comfortably and efficiently. with the new fox, Ponsse delivers just what customers were ordering: the best weight distribution, stability and visibility we have ever produced.

The PONSSE C22 crane puts the fox in a class of its own. the c22 features multiple reaches (11 metres using the h53e harvester head, and 10,3 metres with the h6 harvester head) and is quick, easy and accurate to control. drivers and nature alike will thank the new terrain-saving fox.

a logger’s best friend

aGiliTy aNd POWEr iN ThiNNiNG

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2001 1971

2010

iN ThE BEGiNNiNG ThErE WaS a lOGGiNG SiTE, a haNd-hEld SaW aNd EiNari

alONG hiSTOry aT ThE cOrE Of ThE dEVElOPmENT Of cuT-TO-lENGTh machiNES

Einari Vidgrén, the founder of Ponsse and the late Chairman of the company's Board of Directors, started working on logging sites in 1957, when he was just 14. At the age of 27, Vidgrén – who had started har-vesting with a hand-held saw – already em-ployed 25 loggers, which made him one of Finland’s major machine entrepreneurs. However, the machines suffered from du-rability problems and in 1969 Vidgrén de-veloped in a local village workshop a load-carrying forest tractor for his own use. He named the forwarder Ponsse, after a cross-breed courser dog that roamed the village. Ponsse was first used at the logging site of Tehdaspuu, and after a year of use Teh-daspuu asked for more of the same kind of forwarders. This feedback encouraged

Vidgrén to establish a forest machine plant in Vieremä. With a one-vote majority, the municipal council decided to build an in-dustrial plant to be leased to the machine entrepreneur Einari Vidgrén. The plant was completed at the end of 1970 and Ponsse Oy was established. The first forest ma-chine intended for serial production was a PAZ forwarder. Difficulties and setbacks characterised the plant’s early years: mon-ey was not easy to come by.

A breakthrough in the evolution of for-est machines took place in the 1980s. Pon-sse became renowned to competitors and customers alike in a single dramatic step in 1983 when it introduced the legendary Ponsse S15 forwarder. Built partly from al-uminium, the machine's chassis made it significantly lighter than its competitors’ chassis, putting it in a class of its own for cross-terrain performance. Another sig-

nificant milestone in Ponsse’s history was reached in 1986 when the first harvester head H520 was introduced. It marked an important step in the expansion of the product family from forwarders to harvest-ing machines as well.

Finnish quality was recognised in 1994 when Ponsse became the first ISO 9001-certified forest machine manufac-turer in the world. This led to intensified machine development work and an expan-sion of the plant. In the 1990s the prod-uct range expanded and Ponsse Opti, an advanced measurement and information system for forest machines, was launched on the market. Ponsse was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, and established subsidiaries in Sweden, the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

Today, Ponsse Plc is one of the world's largest manufacturers of rubber wheel cut-to-length forest machines. Ponsse has grown from a machine entrepreneur’s dream into an international export company whose operations are guided by the same values as when it was established. The company’s production, R&D and administration are located in Vieremä, Finland – in the same place as 40 years earlier.

Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years

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1969

EiNari VidgréN 1943–2010Einari Vidgrén, the founder of Ponsse Plc and Chairman of the Board of Directors, passed away suddenly on 26 October 2010.

Einari will be greatly missed. Ponsse meant the world to Einari. The history of Ponsse is a story of hard work and a solid set of values. It is an honour for us to carry on the operations of the company as outlined by Einari right from the start. Ponsse will cherish Einari's ideas, and our operations will continue along the same path. To quote Einari, "We keep our promises."

The Vidgrén family continues as the main owner of Ponsse - all four sons of Einari Vidgrén continue developing the company. Also in the future, the company will be a family enterprise rooted deeply in the Finnish countryside.

TOTal cOmmiTmENT TO iTS cuSTOmErS aNd ThE fOrEST

Ponsse has continued its journey successfully from decade to decade and continent to continent, thanks to hard work and its experienced staff. The 7,000th PONSSE forest machine based on the en-vironmentally friendly cut-to-length method was completed at the factory in August 2010. The three hectares of modern production facilities house an efficient production process. The Ponsse Group in-cludes the parent company Ponsse Plc and eleven subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway, France, the Unit-ed Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Russia, Hong Kong, China and Uruguay, plus Epec Oy in Seinäjoki, Finland, which manufactures embed-ded machine control systems. Ponsse has a retailer network of twenty-six retailers.

The product range includes six harvester and nine forwarder models, a Dual combination ma-chine, several harvester head models, information system products and various cranes. All of the forest machines and harvester heads are manu-factured and designed in Vieremä. Product devel-opment, governance and marketing also operate under the same roof – a fact that contributes to the flexibility and speed of overall operations. The control systems are manufactured in Seinäjoki by Ponsse’s subsidiary Epec Oy.

The company’s values and operating methods are based on the original principles of Einari Vid-grén. The customer has always been the starting point for Ponsse’s operations: all innovations are associated with how customers value them and how they can benefit from them in their own oper-ations. Ponsse offers its customers comprehensive harvesting solutions serving the productiveness of a harvesting entrepreneur’s operations. Ponsse has long experience in the manufacture and develop-ment of cut-to-length forest machines, and we con-tinually support our customers, even through the most difficult times.

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PONSSE'S 40Th aNNiVErSary WaS cElEBraTEd TOGEThEr WiTh arOuNd 1,700 guEStS ON 14 auguSt 2010 Ponsse’s 40th anniversary was celebrated in a relaxed mood and the spirit of the 1970s at Einari’s home farm in Mäkelä, Vieremä. The mood was warm and friendly. Speeches were given by Juho Nummela, President and CEO, and Seppo Kääriäinen, Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Ismo Apell, who acted as a presenter, interviewed Einari and Jouko Kelppe, the first ever engineer at Pon-sse. During the party, the winner of the sideburn competition was also chosen. The competition was indeed hairy, but in the end the first prize went to Petteri Härkönen’s bushy burns.

Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years

EVENTS duriNG ThE PaST yEar

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Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years

EVENTS duriNG ThE PaST yEar

27.8.2010 The 7,000th machine came off the assembly line at the Vieremä factory on Friday, 27 August 2010. Koneyhtymä Randelin Oy received its new PONSSE Ergo 8w harvester at the FinnMETKO Exhibition on 3 September 2010. The special feature adorning the 7,000th machine was its gilded exhaust pipe. Continu-ity and a positive approach are important aspects of Ponsse’s success story: confidential, long-term customer relationships continue from one generation to the next, we have competent and long-term employees, and we continuously develop our products and services.

ThE SErial PrOducTiON Of NEW EiGhT-WhEEl harVESTErS PONSSE ErGO 8W aNd PONSSE fOx STarTEd. In Finland, PONSSE Fox was the best selling harvester model in 2010.

4.9.2010 The 7,000th machine is handed over to Koneyhtymä Randelin.

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2010 2011

Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years

EVENTS duriNG ThE PaST yEar

dEcEmBEr Japan's first PONSSE harvester

auGuST The DEMO road show celebrating 40 years of Ponsse manufacturing toured the United States

SEPTEmBEr Ponsse North America Inc. at the Logging Congress expo in Green Bay, the United States

july Ponsse's 40-year jubilee mood and Ponsse spirit at the summit of Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 m the highest mountain in the Caucasus, Russia

13.8. Open house at the factory

2.–4.9. The FinnMETKO fair, Jämsä, Finland

NOVEmBEr Ponsse Ladies enjoying a river cruise, France

10.12. Ponsse Plc concluded new sports sponsorship agreements

July august september october november december January february march april may June

1.12. The 40-year jubilee DEMO road show in Canada

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2010 2011

Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years

EVENTS duriNG ThE PaST yEar

Jarmo, Janne, Einari and Juha Vidgrén

July august september october november december January february march april may June

3.–5.5. Professionals compete for the Finnish championships at Taitaja, the Annual Finnish National Skills Competition, held in Kuopio. Ponsse's representatives participated in two categories: Industrial Main-tenance and Forestry Machinery.

13.–15.5. Expoforest 2011, Brazil 3.–4.6. Forestry Harvesting Demo, the United Kingdom

7.6. A new PONSSE Customer Service Centre was opened in St. Petersburg. Many customers attended the opening ceremony.

juNE: Ponsse donated a PONSSE Ergo harvester to the Pilke Science Centre opened in Rovanie-mi.

26.–28.5. The SkogsElmia exhibition in Jönköping, Sweden. Ponsse introduced a thorough selection of new PONSSE forest machine technology.

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Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years

fOr ThE irON haNdS iT’S ThE aTTiTudE ThaT cOuNTS

Ponsse still employs many staff members who have contributed to the company's success since its inception. A trio working at the welding shop, for instance, represents a perfect example of the kind of employee Einari liked to talk about: "Our success is based on having the right people in the right places." All three men can boast a 25–40-year career at Ponsse and a few years more in terms of life experience. And still they continue to have a disposition towards life and work that many would do well to emulate.

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Ponsse on logging sites for 40 years

fOr ThE irON haNdS iT’S ThE aTTiTudE ThaT cOuNTS

ThE PicTurE Of hEalTh

The senior member of the team, Osmo Saas-tamoinen, has worked at Ponsse for nearly 40 years, Aimo Ruotsalainen for 30 years and the novice of the team, Kalevi Tikkanen, for 25 years. Although a welder's work has, par-ticularly in the past, entailed heavy labour, it does not seem to have left its mark on these men. Or, at the very least, it will not be easy for you to get these three jovial natives of the Savo region to admit to any such thing. None of the three has spent more than a few days on sick-leave throughout their entire careers. The sceptic needs to seek verification from the supervisor.

"It's true. I don't think Kalevi's 25-year ca-reer includes a single day of sick leave. Aimo has had two short periods of being away sick during a career spanning three decades and Osmo's 40 years of service for the company have included only a few days of sick leave," says Ilkka Toitturi, the supervisor of the weld-ing shop, and himself a nearly 20-year veteran at Ponsse.

The secret of such health may largely re-side in the men's positive outlook on life; something an outsider can spot immediately.

"If the job was still similar to what it was a little more than twenty years ago, I'm sure our health would have suffered. But nowadays the tools are good, air conditioning takes care of welding gases and occupational health re-quirements are followed to the letter. The work can't get any cleaner than this," claims Aimo Ruotsalainen, who works on the front frame welding line, with a slight twinkle in his eye.

Kalevi Tikkanen, who also works on weld-ing front frames, confesses that on many occasions in the past one's health was safe-guarded by sheer luck.

"In the past, the frames were suspend-ed on trammels during welding and moved

around with bridge cranes. The risk was con-siderable. Now the frames are welded on the line with remote-controlled welder's jig/con-veyor sets designed specifically for that pur-pose and the welding is done using a robot." Osmo Saastamoinen's current job is to work as the so-called robot operator of the welding robot. The men do not frown upon the partial transfer of duties to the robot.

According to the group of three, having the heavy labour done by the robot has been a relief: keeping up with the competition and running long weld seams is demanding, even for experienced welders.

"For the most part, health is really a ques-tion of taking care of oneself and one's basic fitness. In addition to physical fitness, one also has to have goals and a healthy lifestyle. Work itself, of course, forms a part of an in-dividual's happiness," says Kalevi Tikkanen.

He used to spend his leisure time skiing and on track and field sports, nowadays his hobbies include weight-lifting on the national championship level for seniors. According to Aimo Ruotsalainen, he keeps physically ac-tive mainly for his own pleasure and concen-trates mainly on jogging. After a little prod-ding, however, he modestly admits to having accumulated some 7,000 km on his bicycle during 2009, for instance, when lay-offs left him with more time on his hands. Osmo Saastamoinen used to play badminton, but nowadays he prefers jogging and skiing.

TEam SPiriT iS ThE kEy – rEGardlESS Of ThE jOBLengthy careers have naturally entailed a col-ourful array of experiences, but team spirit has always helped the men pull through.

"We did have our work cut out for us dur-ing the early days of Ponsse. At the time of the first machinery plant, the pipes could be frozen when you came to work in the morn-

ing and you'd have to start the day by gearing up the iron heater stove. Once it even blew up when we ended up throwing too much wood in there in our enthusiasm to get warm. Dur-ing quiet periods, when business was slow, we passed the time by making hay for Einari's horses, among other things," recalls Osmo Saastamoinen. The long periods of temporary dismissals and staff reductions in 2009 rep-resented a serious lesson to the whole compa-ny. But in the same breath the trio is mindful of how one has to pull through in hard times. A sense of humour is what helped the men overcome the most recent difficulties.

It would be safe to say that we are all proud of our professional skills, say the men. We are so-called first generation iron hands in the re-gion of Ylä-Savo. Nowadays, the region of Ylä-Savo is known for a strong competence in the metal industry and back in the day we were committed to making the region the strong-hold of an industrial job pool. We didn't have a lot of options around these parts then. If the agricultural sector could not support you, you either had to go away to study somewhere else or get a job in the industrial sector.

But what is it that has kept the men loyal to one employer all these years? The small turn-over of employees at Ponsse is not explained away merely by the traditionally long employ-ment relationships in the region.

According to the trio, one of the factors which really motivates is the excellent daily flow of information. "The staff needs to be aware of what they are expected to do and of how the company is doing. Otherwise the pulling together part just does not work," adds one of them.

"Also, one is not too keen to change jobs if he is surrounded by a good crew and attached to that community," says Aimo Ruotsalainen.

maTTi hilTuNEN iN ThE SErVicE Of PONSSE fOr 40 yEarSMatti Hiltunen has worked for Ponsse for 40 years. To be precise, he started working for the company as a machinist on 1 Decem-ber 1970, and is still a machinist today. The duties of a machinist have changed con-siderably as technology has developed over time. In the early years, tasks were carried out at a manual lathe, whereas nowadays Matti uses a fully automated machining centre.

When Matti started at Ponsse in the 70s, the company had fewer than ten employees. However, according to Matti, there is some-

thing that still remains unchanged: ”Ponsse has always appreciated the working man. Employees have been respected and their voice has been heard. My sincere wish is that this will always be the Ponsse way of working," says Matti.

Ponsse rewarded Matti Hiltunen for his 40-year career with a trip to China and an introduction to the local operations.

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ThE EiNari VidGréN fOuNdaTiON rEWardEd fOrESTry PrOfESSiONalS WiTh Eur 86,000 The Foundation, established to maintain the life’s work of the late Industrial Coun-sellor Einari Vidgrén, who died in October last year, convened on 20 May to recognise professionals in the field. It was the first time the Foundation presented awards without its founder present. The Einari Vidgrén Foundation is chaired by Juha Vidgrén.

Industrial Counsellor Einari Vidgrén, the founder of Ponsse Plc, established the Einari Vidgrén Foundation in April 2005 in order to increase the appreciation of the work done in mechanised wood harvest-ing. The purpose of the Foundation is to make the entrepreneurship related to wood harvesting better known and to make the mechanised harvesting sector more inter-esting as an employer, especially among the young.

The Foundation granted the Einari award of EUR 10,000 to the following for-est machine companies: Koneurakointi Lukkarinen Oy, Varpaisjärvi, Metsäkoneu-rakointi Ahti Hirvi ky, Kouvola, and Metsä Aalto Oy, Yli-Ii.

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In addition to recognising contrac-tors, the Foundation granted four forestry awards and awarded 26 forest machine drivers and 20 students of forest machine schools. The total amount of the awards this year was EUR 86,000.

Regarding forest machine companies and forest machine operators, candidates for the award are shortlisted nationwide by forest companies and sawmills. With regard to students, candidates are named locally, by forest machine schools and in-stitutes.

The forest industry's recognition was given to forest machine instructors Pert-ti Lakkala from Rovaniemi and Erkki Pu-ranen from Tampere. The award-winners also included the forest industry commu-nications expert Juha Aaltoila, the news-paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus and the Metsäopetus.fi organisation, focused on marketing forest machine related educa-tion to the youth.

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TOP-NOTch mOTiVaTiON aT fOrEST machiNE TraiNiNG fOr adulTS

For years now, the institute – nowadays functioning under Tampere College – has excelled in updating the qualifications of older forest machine operators. Ever since it was commenced, the 12-month study programme arranged in the form of sec-ondary schooling for adults has had signifi-cantly more potential students than there has been capacity for.

Erkki Puranen, , who is in charge of the programme, considers the situation excel-lent because an average of 30 from a total 50 applicants are invited to an interview on the basis of their applications. Only 15 of the applicants interviewed are then ad-mitted on the basis of the interviews held. The process makes for a carefully selected group of people who are superbly motivat-ed and there have been no dropouts. The employment levels of former students are likewise exceptionally good and they have remained in the industry.

The total length of the training pro-gramme is 1,500 hours of which a mere 350 hours consist of theory. According to Puranen, one can master working skills only by working. For now, the courses held in Uimaharju, Joensuu, are in their fifth year. The spare rental premises com-prise only a classroom and service facili-ties, since the actual learning takes place in the forest.

The contracts concluded with com-panies that buy timber are of crucial im-portance with regard to the programme's funding. The Centre for Economic Devel-opment, Transport and the Environment (ELY) funds two-thirds of the programme and invites educators to submit tenders on arranging the courses. The rest of the funding is earned from the private sector or, in other words, by engaging in machine work. Erkki Puranen readily admits that the commendable completion of a single course costs a substantial amount of mon-ey, but that the training of a professional forest machine operator likely to stay in the business only costs a good EUR 20,000.

The sum can be considered quite reasonable when compared to almost any other training.

One of the biggest challenges the organis-ers face is maintaining the equipment in up-to-date condition. The course must be able to sup-ply students with modern machines of various makes and models. At the moment, the course uses six machines, with the intention of chang-ing one machine per year so that the equipment does not age.

The forest machines of Tampere College are in very productive use indeed, as teaching is car-ried out in two shifts. The lively study pace runs up to 2,000 hours on the machines' metres in a year. Students are divided into groups from the start and the groups are provided with specific machines for the duration of the programme.

Quite often the selected students already have an idea of the make of the machine they will be working with after completing the programme. Naturally, students also receive intensive train-ing on the makes and models that will be used in the future towards the end of the course.

Erkki Puranen knows that when educating adults, putting the students' experience and extensive know-how to use benefits the entire group. Strongly interactive studying achieves sustainable results. Feedback on the success of the course is collected continuously so that the programme can be developed in the right direc-tion. The feedback received so far from both stu-dents and their subsequent employers has been positive.

One of the first tasks of instructor Erkki Puranen, who joined the Kuru Institute of Forestry in 1992, was the establishment of adult education. The task was pleasing to the former timber buyer who had also worked as a forest machine operator for a number of years.

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The story of Ahti Hirvelä, who runs his forest machine company from the village of Survaja in Finland, is quite common. Machine con-tracting started with a farm tractor a good 40 years ago and continued through Pikkunalle and Lokomo to the current PONSSE Ergos and Elks.

The tongue-in-cheek Finnish version of the name given to the PONSSE Elk by Ahti Hirvi is Hirvi (hirvi being Finnish for elk). Friends and acquaintances are fond of remarking that once Ahti shows up, one can expect plenty of elk damage.

kEy ENTrEPrENEurShiP GENEraTES rE-SPONSiBiliTyNowadays, Hirvi's company, as one of UPM's key entrepreneurs, is in charge of the stands at Savitaipale, Lemi and Taipalsaari. Ahti Hirvi reminisces on how many people it used to take to run a logging site, whereas nowadays, the company receives all data on stands and the cutting instructions, complemented with any possible information on protected conserva-tion sites, directly on the computer. After this the overall responsibility transfers to Hirvi's company and, above all, to the harvester opera-tor who performs the cutting.

These days, a machine contractor forms an important link between forest owners and the company buying the wood. According to Ahti Hirvi, one must be mindful of the interests of both parties when performing the harvesting. A forest left tidy and with plenty of valuable timber is in the interest of the forest owner. The buyers, on the other hand, value as high a yield as possible in terms of the wood types they desire. The buying companies send con-tractors feedback on each and every stand. Hir-vi appreciates this a great deal since, according to him, the reports tell the contractor whether things are progressing in the right direction.

Continuous feedback allows the contractor to fine-tune operations, when necessary, in the spirit of continuous improvement.

"That is actually at the heart of forest ma-chine contracting – being able to observe the interests of both parties. As long as you work with an open hand and discuss issues honest-ly, larger issues do not even have a chance to develop. The entire crew involved in the har-vesting work needs to have an idea of the big picture and pull together," says Ahti Hirvi.

cONTiNuOuS chaNGEBack when harvester heads first appeared in the forests, they represented a major change. Ahti remembers the time when people won-dered when the harvester heads would take care of 20 per cent of the cutting. The advances were tremendously fast and these days loggers need only handcut the most unusual of places. Another rapid development that raised plenty of discussion in its time was the large-scale deployment of measuring devices.

"Some had their doubts about the effec-tiveness of the devices, so we invited timber sellers along to see the measuring in practice. After we performed manual control measure-ments, suspicions were dispelled quite soon. This was another case in which open discus-sion and cooperation proved to be fruitful," says Ahti Hirvi.

Hirvi has never had any problems in find-ing operators. Competent and committed op-erators have always been available. The work carried out during one shift is reasonable in terms of hours, on top of which his company has always been able to offer round-the-year employment. The harvesting of energy wood and felling waste from thinning sites and wood from water system areas balance annual workloads. Students of the field have also oc-casionally been involved in work as trainees,

but according to Ahti Hirvi, training a youth still in school to become a forest machine op-erator is, in most cases, too expensive for an entrepreneur.

WEll maiNTaiNEd machiNES laSTIn Hirvi's company, machines are usually re-placed in two waves of sorts. Some of the new-er machines are employed for a mere three or four years before replacement. A couple of old-er machines with fewer kilometres on them are kept in good condition as a sort of reserve. Hirvi's employees perform oil changes and other minor service themselves, but for major overhauls, machines are transported on plat-forms to Mikkeli for expert service.

Three years ago, Ahti purchased a yellow-green Ponsse S15. His reason for buying the machine, which was built in the late 1980s and had been driven for more than 61,000 hours, lay in timber cut in marshland. Nobody had been willing to harvest that timber, not even those who drove farm tractors. So Ahti bought the yellow-green S15 and drove the wood away. The light and efficient machine was practical-ly made for the soft marshland. After the job, the seasoned machine was "repurposed". Last summer the S15 had one job when a heavier machine got bogged down in the marshes and needed to be plucked out.

"I am not looking forward to any revolu-tionary inventions and innovations involv-ing forest machines, because the current ma-chines are quite good and reliable. When a manufacturer develops its machines with a systematic calmness, the entrepreneur feels safer as well. Of course, the spare parts and service side of the business need to function so that work in the forests can continue with downtime periods being kept as short as pos-sible," says Ahti Hirvi.

ONWard iN GOOd SPiriTS

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SkillEd WOrkErS arE alWayS iN dEmaNd

According to Aalto, it would only be fair to be able to pay harvester operators a competitive salary, more in line with the substantial de-mands and responsibilities of the job. A call-ing is of course a terrific thing when choosing a vocation, but the pay plays an equally im-portant role when it comes to job satisfaction and commitment. According to Teemu, the machines are so comfortable and ergonomic that the industry's attractiveness needs to be increased with other means.

Kone Aalto Oy, which harvests and for-wards timber in two chains primarily for Stora Enso in the Oulu region, is a partner in Har-vest Logistic Oy, comprising several compa-nies. The cooperative enterprise, which com-pleted one year of operations in the spring of 2011, has received only positive feedback from timber companies and participating contrac-tors.

"An idea that one has been entertaining alone has often undergone an exciting refine-ment when discussed in the board meetings of Harvest Logistic Oy. Having more minds than one to come up with ideas and think about targets of development often proves to be a lot more productive," remarks a satisfied Teemu Aalto.

Teemu's career in forestry was no acci-dent. His father Pentti founded the company back in 1965. In the beginning, the compa-ny barked logs for pulp and paper mills. The first forest machine was bought during the first half of the 1970s. Harvesting heads were adopted in 1992. Once Teemu took over the reins in the mid-1990s, the company form was changed from a partnership to a limited liability company and the company adopted its current name.

About 90 per cent of Metsä Aalto's logging sites consist of thinning stands. The annual stacking speed amounts to roughly 60,000 solid cubic metres. The valuable machines cut green gold primarily in two shifts.

"The advanced technology of forest ma-chines is one serious matter. One has to par-ticipate in courses and training to be able to optimise the benefits to be gained from the machines. When studying things with an ac-tive approach, they tend to stick as well," says Teemu Aalto.

Minor maintenance of the machines is taken care of by the company, but warranty services and any possible overhauls are per-formed by the contractual service partner op-erating in Pudasjärvi. Replacement comes up once a machine has accumulated some 10,000–15,000 hours of use. This means that Metsä Aalto rarely employs machines more than five years old.

"From the forest machine contractor's per-spective the situation looks promising. There has been a good number of sites and coop-eration with all parties is working well. With regard to operational development, the preva-lent mood seems to be one characterised by a spirit of cooperation," says the 36-year-old Teemu Aalto.

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Pauli Pöllänen, who has earned his living as a forest machine operator for a good 20 years, says he wound up in the business some-what accidentally. When attending a dredger course, he was offered a job as a forwarder operator.

"It was indeed something of a coincidence that I started driving a forwarder in 1989. But after I completed my military service, I really didn't think twice about returning to the world of men and machines," says Pauli Pöllänen.

He says he has been interested in ma-chines ever since he was a small boy. Pauli Pöllänen is one of the fifteen professionals of JP Metsäkoneurakointi Oy. When including part-time contractors, this leading harvest-ing company in the region of Southern Os-trobothnia works with the strength of more than 30 machines.

In 1997, Pauli switched the cabin of a for-warder to that of a harvester. Ever since then, he has cleared and thinned the forests of Southern Ostrobothnia. The harvesters cut wood at a rate of roughly 30,000 cubic metres a year. The hours pile up at a reasonable rate as well, since the 2007 PONSSE Beaver oper-

ated by Pauli has already accumulated 8,500 hours of use.

"Not that these woods were as sturdy as the ones in Eastern Finland, but I have had the op-portunity to cut down a tree the size of 2,700 litres. But in this region a tree would quickly be furnished with a conservation band if it would top 3,000 litres," says Pauli Pöllänen.

Thinning accounts for the better part of fifty per cent of the harvesting and especially multi-stemming, or thinning performed with a fuel-wood grapple, has increased consider-ably during the past few years. The biofuel power plant in Jakobstad is one of the most important delivery points for the energy wood.

When asked about the positive aspects of a harvester operator's job, Pauli responds with-out hesitation that the independence is one of the essential features that increase job satis-faction. When harvesting, the operator must make independent decisions all the time. The success of such decisions is measured by both the forest owner and the representative of the buying company. According to Pauli, a profes-sionally and carefully performed job has been sufficient so far, and that the operator does

not spend much time thinking about his role between the seller and the buyer.

Although the company's machines pri-marily cut wood in two shifts, Pauli Pöllänen does not perceive this as particularly taxing. The morning shift begins at six and the even-ing shift ends around midnight. Luckily, shifts can be switched between operators, a fact which alleviates the drawbacks of shift work.

According to Pauli, work in the cabin of a forest machine constitutes the best possible instruction and accumulation of skills. Natu-rally, more in-depth orientation is necessary in relation to new machines. This kind of training has been managed in an exemplary fashion by the company together with the ma-chine manufacturer.

"This is a nice and challenging job, no complaints there. But sometimes I get the feeling that the parties offering forest ma-chine instruction glorify the job a little too much. This might lead to some disappoint-ments, particularly among younger stu-dents," says Pauli Pöllänen.

a PlEaSaNT accidENT

"It has been my experience that the forest machine industry has a constant shortage of professional workforce, particularly operators with a genuine commitment to their job. We do have qualified people, but better salaries in the mining, earth-moving and transportation sectors are naturally attractive," says Teemu Aalto, who has headed the Yli-Ii-based Metsä Aalto Oy for the past 15 years.

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haNNu'S lONG PilE

Hannu's career choice was strongly influ-enced by his forest-institute educated old-er brother. He was the one responsible for luring the man working in three shifts at a Parkano plant to the forest. The forwarder has been Hannu's workplace from the very beginning. When harvesters first entered the forest scenery, Hannu decided never to get involved with these machines suffering from continuous failures.

"I do remember the first harvester opera-tors being under quite a bit of pressure. I watched the cycle of repairs and trials and errors from the sidelines and decided to stick to the forwarders," says Hannu Jokip-erä, adding that modern harvesters are in a league of their own with regard to function-ality and reliability.

Hannu is happy with the fact that the company has forwarders driving in one shift only. A designated machine stays in mint condition when always operated by the same person. Hannu is able to pile a nice amount of timber during the roughly ten-hour work-

day, since downtime has remained at a mini-mum. According to Hannu, he has operated his current Elk for 10,000 hours without any sort of overhaul whatsoever, including tire work.

The machine's durability and accom-plishment have a lot to gain from composed professional skills. Every now and then, Hannu has come across a young and enthu-siastic operator under whose operation even a forwarder seems to fly. Apparently the guys are looking to break records of some sort. But a work pace that is too fast is easily wast-ed in additional remedial manoeuvres and service. The daily goals that Hannu Jokiperä sets for himself do not comprise a certain amount of cubic metres or hours. Rather, his goal is to keep his machine intact and in constant motion.

"Once you manage to strip your perfor-mance to the bare minimum, your results will speak for themselves. Or maybe I'm just lazy enough not to be bothered with too much manoeuvring, felling, dipping – not

to mention service overhauls," says Hannu Jokiperä.

Solitude is the only downside Hannu can think of in relation to a machine operator's work. The programming offered by radio stations has become quite familiar through-out the years. Indeed, Hannu has at times toyed with the idea of becoming a critic, be-cause it could be done quite easily with the help of a handsfree phone while toiling away.

When asked for advice for younger op-erators, Hannu says that having some pa-tience is valuable, even if the work does not seem that rewarding in the beginning. That is because the forest machine industry does not reveal itself at a glance. Even if one pos-sessed good professional skills, the mental side requires its own period of growth. It took Hannu many years to decide whether to continue or move on to other work be-fore the forest industry took root. Conclu-sions that are drawn hastily seldom lead to a favourable outcome.

When considering the more than 80,000 hours Hannu has put in during his 36 years of forwarding, it is easy to agree with his opinion. He has put together quite a pile of wood as well. The average volume of cubic metres stacked at the side of the road amounts to roughly 200. When factoring in that his annual working days average 250, one comes up with 1.8 million cubic metres of forwarded timber.

Jämsänkoski resident Hannu Jokiperä has forwarded timber for the better part of 36 years. When combined with the fact that his employer has stayed the same as well throughout the years, that spells the correct career choice and satisfaction toward the employer, Metsäkonepalvelu.

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The company is owned by Ari Moilanen, his mother Anna-Liisa Moilanen, Hannu Liikanen and Esa Jauhiainen. The com-pany's founder Ari Moilanen calculates that, in addition to seven harvesters and four forwarders, the work employs six part-time contractors, whose combined harvest-ing last year amounted to approximately 200,000 cubic metres. The fluctuation in harvesting quantities is substantial, since the company has accomplished twice that in the best years.

STaNdS chaNGE

Cubic metres accumulate rapidly when working final-felling stands. Correspond-ingly, trunks are handled in large quanti-ties during thinning, while the cubic vol-umes remain low. The size of stands has also diminished noticeably during the past few years. Prior to the end of area taxation, the average size of a stand easily stood at around 500 cubic metres. The average site last year was maybe half that size. Ari, Esa and Hannu recall that slightly before the change in taxation policy, the largest stand was somewhere in the ballpark of 10,000

when it comes to harvesting, the men of Karttulan metsätyö have vision and experience. from the left: Esa Jauhiainen, hannu liikanen and ari moilanen.

cubic metres. Last year's record was a 1,200 cubic-metre site.

The decrease in stand-size is a source of concern for the men, since it inevitably leads to more difficult harvesting. Valuable forest machines increasingly often stand on platforms, on their way from one site to the next. The reasons for this unfavour-able development are many, but the break-down of forest tracts during estate distribu-tions is one of them. One way to increase stand-size would be jointly-owned forests. The experience of Finnish jointly-owned forests has been overwhelmingly positive for all parties involved.

harVESTiNG

The partners of Karttulan Metsätyö em-phasise the fact that they focus on har-vesting in particular. Machines with main-tenance contracts do not pose service or maintenance concerns for the entrepre-neurs. The arrangement allows both main-tenance contractors and harvesting profes-sionals to concentrate on what they know best. Due to good cooperation, the com-

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Karttulan Metsätyö Oy, founded 20 years ago, has established its position among harvesting operations carried out in the vicinity of Kuopio. The company, which performs harvesting for Metsäliitto and Harvestia, also employs other contractors in the region.

karTTulaN mETSäTyö Oy: GETTiNG ON TOGEThEr

pany's base at the southern edges of Kuopio is relatively modest.

The company also has experience of work-ing overseas, and spent three months clearing up storm sites in Sweden in 2007. There is con-tinued demand on the other side of the Gulf of Bothnia, but operating in two countries has its difficulties. That is why the company intends to stay within a 100 km radius of Kuopio.

According to the entrepreneurs, the Finnish forest sector has developed in the right direc-tion. From twigs and stubs to the sturdiest logs, the entire forest produce has always had takers. The large-scale exploitation of the forest, carried out in a sustainable way, is a fact that pleases the Einari Award winning entrepreneurs.

The harvesting of energy wood from thin-ning stands has also increased strongly. The bi-omass and chip-run power plant set to become operational in Kuopio during the current year will multiply the quantity of wood chips during harvest. The harvesting of energy wood is a chal-lenging undertaking, which needs continuous development. Ponsse's Dual has proven to be an efficient machine, as suitable for felling as it is for forwarding.

aTTiTudE cOuNTS

Ari, Hannu and Esa have not had a shortage of operators for a while. The area's institutions train new operators, who tend to develop into fully blown professionals relatively quickly. Ac-cording to the entrepreneurs, attitude is decisive in terms of the development of a new operator. An appropriately enthusiastic operator quickly develops the skill set demanded by modern ma-chines.

However, the institutions should increase the supply of practical cutting and driving op-portunities given to students. Relying on trainee openings supplied by the region's entrepreneurs alone is not a sustainable solution. The instruc-tors' practical skills could also do with some partial honing, since the machines advance at a rapid pace. Simulator-based training is sure to prove useful, but the downside of it is not hav-ing to explain one's mistakes to anyone. Mis-takes made in an authentic stand are visible for a long period of time and forest owners do give feedback on them.

Managing a forest machine company these days requires genuinely multiple skills. Man-agement skills have become a particularly desir-able asset, because a forest machine contractor needs to be able to calculate what is worth doing and what is not. The three-man cooperation of Karttulan Metsätyö provides the company with the vision, experience and synergy it needs to develop.

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Nowadays, the company founded by Aatto Silventoinen has seven forest machines, four timber trucks and a tugboat that cleaves the shores of Saimaa in the summer. Respon-sibility for management has already been handed over to son-in-law Kimmo Hon-kanen. During the best years, the company has cut and forwarded some 440,000 cubic metres of timber to the region's plants. In ad-dition to the company's own machines, this amount of timber has employed an equiva-lent number of other contractors in the area.

cONSidErEd iNVESTmENTAatto Silventoinen purchased his first PON-SSE machine in 1985, after Valmet's Terra, Volvo's Pikku-Nalle and a Kockum.

"We put some serious effort into fixing up our old machine when Einari Vidgrén was on his way to make a deal on a new forest machine. But once he got here, Einari took only one look at the machine standing in the yard and closed the deal," says Aatto Silven-toinen when remembering back to his first PONSSE deal.

Since then, the company has purchased 25 new forest machines, but most through competitive bidding, to keep up-to-date on the market supply and cost-benefit ratios. The company's growth has been deliberate, if considered. Recent research and delib-erations include the most cost-effective ap-proaches to harvesting energy wood. Some trials have already been run with a couple of machines and the amount of wood chip re-quired by the Kaukaa heating plant demands finding a successful solution quite soon.

Aatto Silventoinen is no stranger to the advances in forest machine technology. The transition from the plywood cabin of a farm tractor to the first machine equipped with glass windows and heating fills Aatto's mem-ories as a kind of leap in user friendliness. Of course, rather than taking any great leaps, the industry's development has consisted of

the continuous repair and improvement of details.

With regard to actual forest machine de-velopment, Aatto considers it the result of joint cooperation that still continues. The introduction of measuring devices and in-formation technology in general was the ex-cellent outcome of cooperation through trial and error.

BETTEr machiNES

"Back in the 1970s, if someone would have planned to use a forest machine for a good 15,000 hours without a basic overhaul, it would have raised some eyebrows. But these days, a well serviced machine operated by a professional easily works through the 15,000 hours without problems," says Aatto on the development of machines.

In Silventoinen's company, the low-er threshold for replacing machines is the 15,000 hours of use mentioned, after which the idea of a new machine is taken under consideration. Once upgraded, the used ma-chines have almost without exception found a new user among full-blooded contractors.

Aatto Silventoinen stresses the impor-tance that good service holds for successful machine contracting. Modern machines de-mand increasing attention and cleanliness is a particularly important issue, since the increased amount of electronics and electric valves do not tolerate neglect nor impurities.

"When there is a skilled operator in the cabin of a well serviced machine, the likeli-hood of carefree work increases significant-ly," remarks Aatto.

The company services it machines large-ly independently, but there is an authorised PONSSE service in nearby Punkasalmi. Aat-to Silventoinen finds it difficult to go into specifics when explaining his choice of ma-chinery because, when choosing forest ma-chines, it is precisely the whole which is of

decisive importance. Everything from sales to service and a new machine deal has to go smoothly.

iNTErESTiNG WOrk

The longest-standing operators of forest machines among Silventoinen's staff have worked for the company for more than 40 years. Employee turnover is very low, a fact that makes Aatto Silventoinen happy. Work with skillful professionals flows smoothly and many issues are resolved before they start causing problems.

Educational establishments are also ac-tive in offering trainees for Silventoinen's company. However, teaching a student how to use a demanding machine ties up the com-pany' professionals to a great degree. If forest machine operators fresh out of college would commit to working in the company, it would surely facilitate the obtaining of trainee po-sitions. That is why a more comprehensive agreement on the gain of operations between schools and companies would be in order.

Silventoinen's company has also trained operators itself from the start. These opera-tors provided with training and a vocation have agreed to work for the company in ex-change for training. According to Aatto Sil-ventoinen, such mutually beneficial arrange-ments constitute a sustainable way of prepar-ing for the future.

faVOuraBlE TrENdS

Aatto considers the current timber trade good in comparison to the operations of years gone by. As late as during the 1980s, one could be delivering stocks up to two years old to plants. This system created a great degree of fluctuation in both harvest-ing and supply, which was difficult for both contractors and forest owners.

THe foresT world

SlOW aNd STEady WiNS ThE racEIt was the end of the 1960s when Aatto Silventoinen, who grew up in the village of Särkilahti in Punkaharju, took up the forwarding of timber in the winter and the barking of pulpwood in the summer with a Super Major and a Nuffield. That youngster probably did not even dream of some day creating and managing a full-service forest industry company employing some 20 people.

aaTTo silvenToinen:

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Tuula and aatto silventoinen know harvesting in the varying terrain of the finnish lakeland.

However, Silventoinen still considers the timber trade to be slightly too weight-ed on the autumn months. In the long run, balanced round-the-year transactions would benefit all parties, from forest own-ers to contractors and processors.

Silventoinen, who harvested wood for UPM ever since his company started op-erations, performs harvesting as an over-all delivery. This means that his company receives data on the stands to be cut from UPM and, every week, more specifics on

the desired wood types. The contractor remains responsible for coming up with optimal logistics between the stands em-ployed and the wood types needed by the plants. The plants need to be supplied with a suitable amount of the desired wood type at the right moment. Sometimes Aatto thinks that the biggest stock of timber is located on wheels.

Aatto's dealings with Einari were not restricted to machines alone. In the ear-ly 1990s, a pregnant mare from Vieremä

arrived at the stables in Punkaharju. And that is how Silventoinen's equestrian hob-bies began. Nowadays, the stables house ten horses, most of which are thorough-bred trotters. They are accompanied by a Finnish horse taken care of by the younger generation and a pony taken care of by an even younger generation. Aatto confesses the horses constitute his only real hobby. Though he does also enjoy a little boating, just for fun.

THe foresT world

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ThE liTmuS TEST Of mayThe sun has reappeared after the rain, and the day is as beautiful as it gets when we head off to visit SAC's Viksjö team. The team is performing final felling with a new PONSSE Ergo harvester and Buffalo forwarder on the northern side of Lake Skälsjö, near the village of Ljustorp.

logging Heroes

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After the sleety overnight rain, the ice-glazed forest road is slippery, forcing the driver to proceed with intense concentration.

"The road is slippery and slushy. The bottom is a little icy, but the ground is not yet frozen. This can happen at the start of the season," says Emil Flordal, who is operating the forwarder this morning. The team started driving Ponsse's machines in May 2008.

"We perform both thinning and final felling. While the external dimensions of PONSSE forest machines are quite small, they're equipped with powerful engines and their load-capacities are high," says Emil.

a NEW ExPEriENcENone of the team members had operated a PONSSE machine before, but everyone wanted to test the new forest machines because they had heard they were reliable and efficient, capacity-wise.

"Even though it might be a little early to say, given that brand new machines aren't supposed to give you trouble, it looks like the rumours were true. We are happy and content with the choice of machines," says harvester operator Nils-Göran Viklund. Philosopher René Descartes is known for his proposition "Cogito, ergo sum", (in English, "I think, therefore I am").

"If Ponsse's founder Einari Vidgrén named his first machine after a clever dog, does the name Ergo have its roots in the machine's fast, smart and efficient information system? Learning the new menus was relatively effortless and by now their use is easy," says Nils-Göran, whose work efficiency has increased. Although, for the most part, everything has been positive during the first season, one change was effected after the new machines arrived.

mOrE liGhTS"I thought the visibility insufficient, since the crane is in the front in-stead of where I was used to it being. I wanted more lights because the visibility during thinning was poor, particularly to the sides. Lamps were added and after that the convenience of the crane's new location compensated for the poor visibility."

"The crane being located away from the cabin creates better working conditions and reduces vibration. On top of that the cabin is roomy and of a high quality. Driving comfort is furthermore in-creased by the machine's suspension, which keeps the cabin level despite rugged terrain."

a GOOd harVESTEr hEadNils-Göran is very happy with Ponsse's new H6 harvester head. For one thing, the needlessly long hydraulic hoses have been shortened.

"The harvester head works fantastically well, it's fast and its meas-uring accuracy is excellent. It's handy in both thinning and final fell-ing," says Nils-Göran. The feed speed, which is as fast as 6 m/s, the 64 cm opening, the tilt's broad movement range and precision steer-ing are features that should please even the most seasoned harvest-er operator. Since the machines are equipped with efficient engines while having relatively small external dimensions, the team can carry out both thinning and final felling."

Small BuT POWErful"The machines are small, but they have big hearts," says Emil Flordal, who has pulled his forwarder over by the side of the road leading up to the storage site. He likes the fact that there is plenty of horse-pow-er beneath the hood. He attributes the machine's strength and effi-ciency, accompanied with previous levels of fuel consumption, to the horse-power. The forwarder's load-bearing capacity is 14 tonnes and its engine size, 270 horse-power, equals that of a harvester.

ThE liTmuS TEST Of may

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"Despite the power of the machine, it is agile during thinning operations. Both machines are easy to operate and their ge-ometry is good. A structure like this adds resilience," says Emil.

The forwarder is also equipped with the new Opti information system, a fea-ture due to which the forwarder is fast and efficient. The antennae located on the roof of the cabin conceal a considerable amount of technology, such as a radio, telephone, GPS and CDMA.

"The information system provides us with access to maintenance help through a remote connection. The operator need only give the number of his machine, af-ter which the service engineer can log in the computer and adjust the settings. If the case involves concrete problems, such as a broken hose or the sensors of a har-vester head, the operators can find spares in the site hut and take care of the repairs themselves."

"The best thing about the forwarder is its new loader. The K90 loader is easy to use and a real heavy-duty piece of machin-ery equipped with a big hydraulic pump. Its geometry is well-designed and one can work without interruptions," says Emil.

He also appreciates the built-in hoses. "The boom no longer gets stuck anywhere during loading at the thinning sites, which can include tight spaces."

rESPONSiBlE frEEdOmThe entire crew seems to perceive the changes in machinery as a positive thing.

"We did take part in the discussions and were of the opinion that trying some-thing new might be beneficial. My hon-

est opinion is that manufacturers should come up with a top-of-the-line solution, a machine that exploits the best features of every forest machine to its benefit, but I don't think it really works that way," says Emil Flordal.

Nils-Göran can be considered a true vet-eran of forests. For nearly 40 years now, he has been an interested and up-close ob-server of the advancements in technology.

"When I started working for SCA, back in 1972, the work was done primarily with chainsaws. Even though mechanisation was already gaining a foothold," says Nils-Göran. Trees were felled with chainsaws and delimbed and cut with processors on site, in the forest.

"In the mid-1970s I was operating a cut-ting and stacking Kockum 880 harvester equipped with a cutter and a hydraulic chainsaw. That job was what landed me with an offer to go first to Canada and lat-er to the United States to teach the locals how to harvest wood with the cut-to-length method," adds Nils-Göran.

ThE rETurN hOmENils-Göran stayed loyal to the forest even after he returned to his native country.

"I like it in the forest and, on top of that, I'm interested in mechanical engineering. The work is independent and gives one a lot of freedom." His guess would be that one must have an interest in the woods and not to be afraid of solitude to be happy as a forest machine operator.

"Thirty years ago a forest worker's job was quite a bit more social, but nowadays you have to be able make it on your own. Particularly before the snow falls, it can get

both dark and lonely. Operators who work in the same team only actually meet each other during shift changes."

When operating a harvester on major cutting sites, Nils-Göran can't be bothered to take the trip to the site hut too often. Most often, he stays by his machine, has coffee and eats his lunch in the cabin and waits for the replacement operator.

jOB rOTaTiON As mentioned, Nils-Göran is happy. He listens to plenty of radio and audio books.

"I'm particularly fond of listening to historical works. It's actually quite a privi-lege to be able to 'read' while working," he says. The Viksjö team works in two shifts and usually rotates in operating machin-ery.

"Nils-Göran prefers the harvester, whereas I prefer the forwarder, so work-ing the same shift is convenient for us. Planning the drive when loading and sort-ing during unloading require my full at-tention. But I can relax during the drive, which suits me perfectly," says Emil.

chamPiONShiP mEdalSIn line with the other men in the team, Emil is a true logger.

"My father was an instructor at the Ljusdal Forestry School and I knew I want-ed to be a forest machine operator, even though I chose to attend another secondary school," says Emil.

As a skilled orienteerer on skis and a "conventional" orientereer, he opted for the Mora Ski Gymnasium. He was also se-lected for the Swedish national skiing team

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TecHnical sPecificaTions

ThE PONSSE ErGO harVESTErOwner: SCA. Operators: Nils-Göran Viklund and Conny Larsson. Engine: MB OM 906 LA. Power: 205 kW (279 hp). Torque: 1 100 Nm/ 1 200 -1 500 rpm. Tractive force: 160 kN. Transmission: Hydrostatic-mechanical transmission, two speed ranges forward and reverse. Electronic drive au-tomatics, OptiControl. Rear drive release. Shafts:Front: a rocking axle with planetary gears and a differential gear lock. Rear: a bogie axle with planetary gears and a differential gear lock. Tires: Front: 600-34, rear: 600-26,5. Crane: PONSSE C33, reach 11 m (35 ft) and turning angle 280°. Harvester head: H6, feed speed 0-6 m/s (0-20 ft/s). Cutting diameter 640 mm (25 in), chain speed 40 m/s (131 ft/s). Two stationary and four movable delimbing knives.Length: 7,680 mm (302 in). Width: 2670-2840 mm (105-112 in). Ground clearance: 610 mm (24 in). Net weight: 16,000 kg (35 274 lb).

ThE PONSSE BuffalO fOrWardErOwner: SCA. Operators: Emil Flordal and Nisse Björke. Engine: MB OM 906 LA. Power: 205 kW (279 hp). Torque: 1 100 Nm/ 1 200 -1 500 rpm. Tractive force: 180 kN. Transmission: Hydrostatic-mechanical trans-mission, two speed ranges forward and reverse. Electronic drive automatics, OptiControl. Rear drive release. Shafts: Front and rear with planetary gears and differential gear locks equipped, gear wheel transmission bogie axles. Tire: 710-26,5. Loader: PONSSE K90, reach 10 m (32.8 ft), turning angle 360° and HSP grapple. The crane's hydraulic pump: 190 cm³ (11.6 in3) and a hydraulic oil tank volume 200 l (53 gal). Length: 9405 mm (370 in). Width: 2990 mm (117 in) with-out tracks. Ground clearance: 695 mm (27 in). Net weight: 14 800 kg (32 628 lb).

and his best achievements include a gold and sil-ver medal in the Swedish Championships.

"Only after that did I start my basic studies in forest management. But by now I've worked in this business for a decade."

He enjoys the forest outside work as well: "I still do a bit of orienteering. I also enjoy hunting and fishing and in the autumn I'm drawn to the forest by the mushrooms."

SEcuriNG a yOuNGEr GENEraTiONSCA's Viksjö team has a good atmosphere. The men often try to see each other once the shift changes in the afternoon. The daily situation and events are discussed over a cup of coffee. The shift in question covers a 36-hectare site and some 9,000 cubic metres of forest to harvest.

"So this is a site where we'll stay for a while," says Conny Larsson, who takes up his shift op-erating the harvester after Nils-Göran's shift is over. Conny lives in Njurunda, which is about 90 km from the logging site. Working in shifts usually works nicely, even though the distances sometimes make for long journeys to work. The dark mornings in late autumn, before there is snow on the ground, can be tiring.

"Of course, in contrast to self-employed peo-ple, we never work on weekends or holidays. But our team's productiveness is good. And we do need to be productive to keep our jobs," says Emil.

yOuNG PEOPlE arE NEEdEdWhat Emil Flordal is referring to is SCA's own teams, which bring flexibility to resources and thanks to which it is possible to monitor pric-es and production. But talks focusing on the re-sponsibility of ensuring future machine operator resources have also been initiated recently.

logging Heroes

"There have been talks about possible cooperation with the forestry schools in the area. It is possible that we will form a group where younger operators could learn from more experienced machine op-erators. A group which gives one time to master things and in which the efficiency requirements are not as demanding. That would be sensible," says Emil.

The youngest operator in the team, Nils Björke, has also arrived on site for his shift. He skips having a coffee break at the hut today. We leave the operators to their work, in the middle of the wilderness. They've already seen bears, of course, each of them and on more than one occasion.

"I saw my first bear from the car. The most recent one I saw was some 50 metres away, heading away from me. It was great," says Nils-Göran.

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Brothers Veli and Oiva Knuutinen started forest work with a farm tractor in the early 1970s. Sturdier forest machines entered the picture once they began to be intro-duced to the market and Veljekset Knu-utinen Ky, engaged in the business of for-est machine contracting, was established in 1984. Veli's son Marko started work as a machine operator in 1991 and took up partnership in the company in 1994. The following year the company form was changed into a limited liability company and today Veli, Oiva and Marko are joined by ten permanent machine operators.

cONTracTiNG WiTh ThE POWEr Of SEVEN PONSSE machiNES"We purchased our first PONSSE in 1985 – a year-old green and yellow S15 forward-

er. We've been relying on PONSSE ever since," says Veli Knuutinen.

The company's business has expand-ed significantly throughout the years. In the early days of its existence, the com-pany employed one forest machine. Now its machinery includes five PONSSE har-vesters (one Fox, two Ergos, a Beaver and a Cobra), two PONSSE forwarders (Wisent and Elk) and an excavator, mainly for the purposes of pulling up stumps and forest regeneration. The machines are transport-ed by two of the company's own platform trucks. The operations also include two subcontractors.

"We have done contracts for UPM throughout our entire history really, in ad-dition to which we do some harvesting for sawmills. The majority of the harvesting is done in nearby municipalities, within a

Veljekset Knuutinen Oy from Pattijoki handles wood

with the power of seven PONSSE forest machines.

The company's most recent acquisition is the nimble

PONSSE Fox thinning harvester.

Veljekset knuutinen oy harVesting with the Power of seven Ponsse macHines

PONSSE fOx mOVES EffOrTlESSly ON ThE SOfT SOil Of NOrThErN OSTrOBOThNia

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Veljekset knuutinen oy harVesting with the Power of seven Ponsse macHines

PONSSE fOx mOVES EffOrTlESSly ON ThE SOfT SOil Of NOrThErN OSTrOBOThNia

200 km radius, but we do venture even far-ther at times. In 2005 and 2007 we spent six months clearing up storm devastation areas in Southern Sweden with one harvester," Marko Knuutinen explains.

PlENTy Of SOfT TErraiN harVESTiNGThe forests of Northern Ostrobothnia often grow on soft terrain. The slow-growing trees are primarily quite small but often have sturdy branches and thick butts, all features which bring their own challenges to harvesting work.

"The median stoutness of our thinnings is approximately 75 litres annually. Last winter we worked with full capacity, although on less final felling than usual, and employed both of our Ergos on thinning sites for about 60% of the time. We are now looking at a promising amount of harvesting. Hopefully, our custom-ers manage to buy more stands for the sum-mer and the autumn," Knuutinen says.

PONSSE fOx – ThE riGhT kiNd Of harVESTErThe new eight-wheel thinning harvester PONSSE Fox has been designed specifically with soft terrain in mind. Veljekset Knuutinen Oy received their new Fox, equipped with a H53 head. The transaction included the trade of a PONSSE Beaver. 2002.

"We were looking for a powerful machine suitable for soft terrain and equipped with a parallel crane for the purpose of thinning. The new PONSSE C22 crane has proved to be an excellent solution. Thanks to the two slewing motors and the hydraulically operated move-ment function, the crane is fast and easy to control. The crane's reach is 11 metres, which is an important feature on thinning sites. And now that the crane is located closer to the cab-in, the visibility within the working area is ex-tremely good and the weight distribution is optimal," Knuutinen says.

The new Fox is praised by the operators. "The cabin is really comfortable and not as noisy as before. The fuel consumption has al-so decreased."

Fox takes its power from the feisty four-cylinder 145 kW Mercedes-Benz diesel engine

and a single-circuit hydraulic system operating with a working pump.

TraNSPOrTaTiON EQuiPmENT rEiNfOrcEd By WiSENTIn February 2009, Veljekset Knuutinen Oy re-inforced its timber transporting capacity by ac-quiring a second forwarder, an agile and light-weight PONSSE Wisent.

"We wanted to have a light-weight and a slightly smaller forwarder, which still has a sufficient load space. We equipped the ma-chine with wide 900 mm tracks, which permit moving on soft soil. We are using the Wisent equipped with a scale also to transport energy wood," Knuutinen says.

The strain on the ground is minimal, thanks to its unbeatable ratio of net weight to load-carrying capacity, the smallest turning ra-dius in its size class, and dimensions which distribute the load evenly across all wheels. The tough Mercedes-Benz diesel engine now runs a larger working pump than before, which in turn enables versatile and efficient loader use. Due to its great tractive force and excellent cross-terrain performance, loads can be moved quickly and smoothly. Moreover, the cabin's superior ergonomics provide a pleas-ant work environment for even the most de-manding of users.

ENErGy frOm ThE fOrESTVeljekset Knuutinen Oy is also involved in en-ergy wood harvesting and stump pulling.

"Our oldest harvester, PONSSE Cobra, which is still serving us faithfully, is a 1999 model and has a PONSSE H53 harvester head, which we equipped with our own collecting grapples back in the day to permit multi-stem-ming of energy wood. The harvester head is well suited for both thinning and energy wood. We transport energy wood to the roadside with the Wisent forwarder equipped with a scale. We use an excavator to pull up stumps and they are transported to the roadside with the PONSSE Elk forwarder. The box construction is easy to lift between the forwarder bunks with the crane," Knuutinen says.

OulaiSTEN kONEhuOlTO maiNTaiNS machiNE PErfOrmaNcE In maintenance-related issues, Veljekset Knu-utinen Oy relies on the professionalism and effective service of Oulaisten Konehuolto, an authorised PONSSE service in the area.

"We perform oil changes, hose mainte-nance and other small jobs ourselves, but oth-er than that we focus on the forest contracts. Oulaisten Konehuolto maintains the perfor-mance of the machines and provides assis-tance whenever needed. They also provide spare parts, and the Iisalmi Service Centre is really close to us if a spare part cannot be found at Oulainen," Knuutinen adds.

hiGh-QualiTy cONTracTiNG By SkillEd PrOfESSiONalSVeljekset Knuutinen Oy has received a PKY-LAATU quality certificate for small and medi-um-sized companies granted by Finlog Audit Oy. The operating system meets all require-ments of the SFS-EN ISO 9001:2000 quality assurance standard.

The system covers certain requirements of the SFS-EN ISO 14001 environmental man-agement standard selected on the basis of the field-specific criteria. It also takes into account certain aspects of the SFS-EN ISO 9004-2 ser-vice sector quality standard.

"Our certification applies to mechanised felling, short-distance hauling of timber, mechanised tilling and stump pulling," Knu-utinen explains.

The professional skills of machine opera-tors are highly valued at Veljekset Knuutinen Oy.

"Things are easy when you have skilled men working for you. And skilled workers require good machines. Finding new forest machine operators is not easy, which is why we have also trained operators ourselves. Our entire team is pulling together and we have a good spirit. When the operators are happy with their work, employment periods are usu-ally very long," Knuutinen says, gratefully.

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Brothers Pertti and Eero Kastinen started the business in 1979 with one excavator. Three years later, Pertti's son, Harri Kasti-nen, who has been working for his father's company since 1992, joined in with a 26% holding. At the moment, a generational change is taking place, enabling the neces-sary time to be taken to transfer the busi-ness expertise to the next generation.

"I have been growing into this job since I was a young boy, I never even considered

GENEraTiONS chaNGE – PONSSE rEmaiNSMetsä- ja Maansiirto Kastinen Oy from Ilomantsi, Finland has been in the business of machine contracting for over 30 years. This great tradition will continue also in the future, as the the company is currently undergoing a change of generation.

logging Heroes

other alternatives. It's good that I can learn things little by little," says Kastinen, 35.

Growing into the job applies also to Pertti Kastinen, the founder of the com-pany.

"I loved working in the forest already as a little boy alongside my father and his horse. Then for seven years I was operat-ing a farm tractor to transport logs and I also worked as an excavator driver for five years before I founded this company," Pert-ti Kastinen says.

In addition to Harri, Pertti has two other children, Laura (33) and Henri (29), who is a graduate engineer in wood processing technology and is currently working at the Stora Enso Imatra mill.

iN ThE EaSTErN BOrdEr fOrESTS WiTh ElEVEN PONSSE machiNESToday Metsä- ja Maansiirto Kastinen Oy is working in the forests on the eastern bor-der with seven PONSSE harvesters (two Er-gos, three Beavers, a Fox and a HS10) and five PONSSE forwarders (three Elks, a Bi-son and a Wisent 10w), which are transport-ed with the company's own platform truck. Furthermore, the company performs jobs with various types of excavation machines.

"In addition to the five PONSSE har-vesting chains, one of our excavators is

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equipped with the PONSSE H53 harvester head during the winter months, and the old veteran, the eight-wheel PONSSE HS10 is performing harvesting in the swamps. Oth-erwise our forest machines are quite new, old machines simply don't cut it in this business. And professional drivers deserve proper equipment. Our employees form a great team, and some of the people have been working for us for up to 25 years," says Kastinen.

STOra ENSO'S larGE-ScalE ENTrEPrENEur

Metsä- ja Maansiirto Kastinen Oy performs contracts for StoraEnso, which has been their key employer throughout their entire history. They also do, for instance, forest preparation for Tornator.

"We started the large-scale entrepreneur-ship with Stora Enso in the Ilomantsi ar-ea. This means that we are, in cooperation with our subcontractors, responsible for all of Stora Enso's harvesting within our area. This requires a total of ten machine chains," Kastinen explains.

The company used to harvest more than 150,000 cubic metres of wood per year, but along with the large-scale entrepreneurship, this increased to over 250,000 cubic metres.

"Last winter was a really good period for us at harvesting sites. There also seems to be a high number of summer stands this sum-mer. We believe strongly in the future. There will be harvesting in Finland also in the fu-ture," Kastinen says.

Due to the large-scale entrepreneurship, the company will concentrate more on har-vesting energy wood.

"Until now we have done it on a small scale, and have mainly been transporting logging waste. Ponsse's new H6 harvester head also makes multi-stemming possible, so I'm guessing that the importance of en-ergy wood will increase in our company in the future," Kastinen says.

ONly PONSSE machiNES ThrOuGhOuT ThE yEarS

Kastinen Oy purchased their first actual forest machines from Ponsse in 1991, and

since then their entire fleet has consisted of PONSSE machines.

"We bought a new PONSSE HS15 har-vester and an S15 forwarder through direct selling. At the time it was a huge invest-ment, I can still clearly remember the price – 1,980,000 Finnmarks. But the investment enabled us pick up the pace and our machine fleet started to increase steadily," Kastinen recalls.

Many machine deals have been conclud-ed with Ponsse over the past twenty years.

"As a Finnish manufacturer, Ponsse is ex-tremely easy to deal with and over the course of our history we have not regretted a sin-gle deal. In addition to the good machines, the spare part and maintenance services are functioning well at Ponsse's Ilomantsi Ser-vice Centre. These are the things we value greatly," Kastinen says.

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Earl St. From his very first steps, Earl St. John has wandered the woods of Spalding, Michigan. Throughout his childhood, he lived in cramped and modest conditions, as did Einari. The home of four had no run-ning water or electricity. In fact, it didn’t

Many are sure to know the story of Einari Vidgrén, the founder of Ponsse, who through his own hard work cleared his way from humble beginnings through the thickest forests to become a successful entrepreneur. We will now recount the tale of another man quite like Einari – the founder of St. John Forest Products, Earl St. John.

logging Heroes

Earl St. JOhN – ThE rOad frOm ThE WOOdS TO SuccESS

even have a bathroom. In addition to the kitchen, the house had one room, furnished only with a wood stove and a bed. In later years, Earl moved his childhood home to the grounds of his present residence to re-

mind himself of what he has achieved with his work.

SaWiNG ThE BuckS

An enthusiastic young logger, Earl followed in his father's footsteps to become a for-est worker and bought his own handsaw as early as during his junior high-school years. One winter, the industrious 17 year old used the $25 he had earned to buy food and supplies for the winter months and to rent his very first forest machine – a horse, which pulled the logs through the wintery forest trails. His industriousness and in-

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Ponsse News 1 • 2011 47

vestment were worth it since, at 18, Earl was earning even more than his teachers.

After finishing school, it was time to leave for work in Montana where, during the years 1954 to 1960, Earl worked in the summer months, because the snowy win-ters made a logger’s work a seasonal pro-fession. For the winter months, the enter-prising man returned to work in his home district. In Montana, Earl purchased his first real piece of machinery – a chain saw with which he could fell 2.5-metre logs. The diligent saw user sometimes held as many as three jobs simultaneously, meaning he earned much more than the average wages at the time.

logging Heroes

TimE fOr a BuSiNESS Of hiS OWN

In 1959, Earl married his girlfriend of many years, Rosemary. The next year, following a powerful earthquake, they moved back to Spalding for good. At the same time, Earl decided to venture into a new business and leased a restaurant, which came to be called Wildwood. The restaurateur’s career only lasted for eighteen months, as Earl heard the call of the woods again. Meanwhile, Earl’s brother took over the restaurant busi-ness and still owns Wildwood. After his stint as a restaurant owner, Earl returned to his life’s work, working in forest man-

agement for a while for Badger Paper Mills and Northern Paper Company.

In 1962, Earl, having tasted entrepre-neurship, established the St. John Forest Company, which grew as fast as the most vigourous saplings ever did. During its best years, the company employed up to 120 log-gers. But, in addition to men, the company needed machines. In 1974, St. John had eighteen feller-bunchers in use. In those days, a full load of logs was trucked from the woods every fifteen minutes.

PONSSE cONQuErS amErica

The two experienced and indefatigable forest veterans – Earl and Einari – met in 1990, when Earl St. John invited Einari Vid-grén to visit him for discussions on possi-ble business deals. The meeting between the two kindred spirits at St. John’s hunt-ing lodge made it clear that the cooperation and friendship would be of a lasting nature.

In 1991, St. John Forest Company became the first American enterprise to start using Ponsse’s machinery. In 1997, the machines were switched to more cur-rent models.

According to Earl, Ponsse has developed significantly during the past twenty years. He thanks Ponsse for its customer-oriented approach – customers and their machin-ery are genuinely cared for. With regard to the current PONSSE machines, St. John employees value their user-friendly design and minimal service disruptions over all else. Currently, St. John Forest Products uses eight PONSSE harvesters and nine PONSSE forwarders alongside other ma-chinery.

ThE family BuSiNESS GOES ON

Earl is still actively involved in the opera-tions of St. John Forest Products, even though the man in charge nowadays is Earl’s son, Tom, who has headed the com-pany since 2000 and owns half of it.

Some time ago, Earl and Tom were tra-versing a part of the forest with particu-larly difficult terrain. Tom became worried about his father’s puffing and asked him to have a rest and take it easy. Earl answered by inquiring whether his son was worried about his old man’s stamina, to which the son replied that it wasn’t yet time to start knocking on heaven’s doors. Grandpa is still needed – Earl has yet to figure out how to cut down the 350,000 acres of forest they own. Apart from that, though, he can rest assured that the company is in good hands; Tom’s 21-year-old son Jordan represents the fifth generation of skilled loggers.

Earl St. JOhN – ThE rOad frOm ThE WOOdS TO SuccESS

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