9 minute read
The Kauhanen Family and Ponsse have already been partners for five decades
by Ponsse Plc
Professionals from Metsäkorjuu Kauhanen have worked on logging sites from Savonia to Germany and from the Soviet Union to Sweden and France. Wherever they have worked, they have always relied on Ponsse, a strong work ethic and showing appreciation to their employees. “My father taught me that if you were fair to your employees, they would be fair towards you and the business,” says Managing Director Ismo Kauhanen.
When Olavi, Ismo and Katariina Kauhanen sit at the same table, they offer three generations of vision and experience of the past, presence and future of mechanical silviculture.
Olavi, who is now over 80 years old, started as a forest contractor in 1974, meaning that the 50th anniversary of the Kauhanen family-owned business will be celebrated two years from now.
“Of course, much can happen in two years, but working 50 years in the same field is a cause of celebration. We’ve certainly produced many logs and driven many kilometres in that time. The years have been filled with moments of both joy and sorrow,” says Olavi’s son Ismo Kauhanen.
“If you continue for the next 50 years, you can then celebrate the 100th anniversary,” says Ismo, passing the baton to his daughter Katariina.
Logging sites in Northern Savonia and Across the World
Metsäkorjuu Kauhanen Oy, a company that brings together three generations of the Kauhanen family, has mainly been engaged in mechanical harvesting in the region of Northern Savonia. However, its operations really picked up far from Savonia, when Olavi heard, at logging sites in Kukkomäki, Finland in the summer of 1974, there was work to be done in storm damage areas in Germany.
“At the same time, Finland introduced fixe cubic metres and simplified delimbing as new practices. As you got paid seven Finnish marks for piled wood, which would be just little over one euro today, and a mark more for a fixed cubic metre, I calculated that work wasn’t profitable. And simplified delimbing meant that load operations became tedious. I was ready to go to Germany,” Olavi says.
In the end, three work teams headed to Germany from Savonia. Olavi partnered with Einari Vidgrén, Ponsse’s founder, who was working on his first big-wheeled PONSSE machine. Having been completed in the autumn, the machine was delivered to Germany, where it proved its mettle.
“Einari always found the right words. Even though I was already engaged and employed in the vehicle business by transporting timber to the port, he found work for me and hired me,” says Olavi, who already met Einari in the 1960s.
Olavi Kauhanen sits in the driver’s seat of the first PONSSE prototype, while Einari Vidgrén checks the situation standing on the tyre.
One of his fond mementos of those pioneering years is a well-known photo in which Olavi is sitting at the controls of the first PONSSE prototype and Einari is standing on one of its wheels.
“That’s how Ponsse’s story started, and with good results. In Germany, we were asked to deliver more machines. This inspired Einari to build more machines, and he started to do really well.”
Some 18 months flew by clearing storm damage in Germany. Work was hard, and practically the only days off were Christmas and Midsummer. Olavi describes it as a lucrative and enjoyable gig.
“It was also that for Einari, who got on his feet and received encouragement to continue and develop Ponsse’s operations.”
From Father to Son and Further to Daughter
Ismo Kauhanen’s first memories also date back to those years – of what else, but sitting in a Ponsse. When his father Olavi was about to head to Germany, Ismo was able to ride with him in the machine.
“It’s like I was part of the testing team,” says Ismo, whose first artwork at school was a drawing of a Ponsse. The picture still hangs on the wall of his childhood home.
From Germany, Olavi Kauhanen moved on to the Soviet Union for three years where the town of Kostomuksha was being built, largely by a Finnish workforce. Mechanical harvesting was only possible using a competitor’s machine, but there was a significant shortage of loggers. That was how Olavi and his crew started working as loggers. At some point, Ponsse’s machines were also introduced at the worksite.
“I didn’t really learn any Russian or German during my travels, but there was really no need for it. Work was everything.”
When Olavi and his machine returned from Kostomuksha, he resumed his work in Northern Savonia. With their father driving, Ismo and his younger brother Jarmo used to spend their weekends sitting in the cabin on both sides of the operator’s seat.
“I believe it was 1981 when Jarmo and I had grown so much that the cabin started to feel small. Our father asked us: What are you sitting there for when that forwarder is just standing there?”
The brothers looked at each other for a few seconds and started running towards the PAZ, with their father shouting the final instructions at their heels.
“We agreed that Jarmo and I would take turns driving every other day. During weekends, we worked on both days – we were so excited to work.”
At least their father paying his sons fair wages, 17 marks (three euros) per load, did not curb their enthusiasm.
“We didn’t make ourselves rich at first, but we were eventually able to carry ten loads a day with the PAZ. Earning 170 marks was good pay for a day’s work. That got us started, and we have operated machines for more than forty years now,” Ismo says.
Managing Director of Metsäkorjuu Kauhanen Oy Ismo Kauhanen (on the left), Ismo’s daughter Katariina Kauhanen and the founder of the company Olavi Kauhanen.
From Paz to Cobra and Scorpion
From the 1980s until today, Ismo Kauhanen has seen forest machines take a massive technical leap forward from PAZ to Bison and Scorpion. When computers added intelligence to forest machines, many old-school personalities were unable to adapt to the development and were forced to step aside.
“At the end of the 1980s, we received our first PONSSE harvester, which I then taught myself how to drive. The HS15 was incredibly advanced, and its comfortable cabin and six-wheeled chassis made it powerful. The Bison, equipped with a Mercedes engine, came next, at the beginning of the 2000s. It’s the turn of the Scorpion and Cobra. We’ve mainly acquired our machines new,” Ismo says.
The previously entirely male-dominated industry has seen the emergence of women, and not only in the offices of forest companies. For example, Ismo’s daughter Katariina, one of his three children, has chosen the forest industry and is studying to become a forest machine operator through an apprenticeship.
”I believe we have a positive team spirit. Whenever we go to a worksite, the first thing you hear is a warm-hearted joke. Laughing helps you keep going,” she says.
While Ismo grew up working in the forest, the choice was less obvious for Katariina. Ismo did not force his children to join the forest industry, and Katariina had various professions in her mind. In the end, the decision was easy.
“I’d watched my father work when he transported machines. One morning I woke up and thought why not join the industry. I was admitted to Valtimo forestry school to study the forest industry which, I guess, took my mother and father by surprise.”
Katariina has always been interested in driving various machines. As a young girl, she was already able to start a snowmobile to enjoy its speed.
“Day after day, I felt more confident that I’d made the right choice, and that I could think about doing this in the future. I learn more and more all the time from other operators or my father, and I also figure out something new on my own,” says Katariina who recently operated a forwarder in Ponsse’s demonstrations at FinnMETKO.
Laughs and Positive Team Spirit
Metsäkorjuu Kauhanen operates four harvesters and three forwarders, with 14 operators working in two shifts. The longest employment relationships go back to the 1990s, and two Estonian operators have worked for the company for more than ten years, for example.
My father taught me that if you were fair to your employees, they would be fair to you and the business,” says Ismo Kauhanen.
Ismo believes that openness and honesty are key in the relationship between the employer and employees. While everyone faces adversity, it simply must be overcome together, and everyone has to move on. The company has also experienced its fair share of both good times and bad times.
“I believe we have a positive team spirit,” says Katriina, the latest addition to the team.
“Whenever we go to a worksite, the first thing you hear is a warm-hearted joke. Laughing helps you keep going,” she says.
Ismo raises his hat to Metsäkorjuu Kauhanen’s seasoned professionals, who have given Katariina an excellent welcome and offer their help whenever it is needed. Katariina can already replace hoses on her own, but she still feels comfortable calling for help from the company’s other operators when experiencing greater difficulties.
Abroad Together
“I chose apprenticeship training because I learn better in the field than in the classroom,” says Katariina, who will graduate as a forest machine operator roughly a year from now.
At the beginning of their partnership, Ismo sat two weeks in the cabin teaching all the forwarder’s secrets to Katariina. Sometimes, the two were completely silent on the return journey from the forest back home, but all in all, the father-daughter relationship has worked quite well. So well, in fact, that they are planning a gig abroad together.
“I’ve worked with my father in Sweden, France and Russia. Katariina and I have said that maybe we should also give working abroad together a go. We’ll just have to wait and see,” says Ismo, smiling at their plans.
Ismo Kauhanen can name three significant factors for Metsäkorjuu Kauhanen’s long and largely successful journey. First of all, the company has been kept fairly busy at Stora Enso’s worksites for 50 years now – from Enso-Gutzeit’s days until today. Secondly, Olavi and Ismo have always worked hard.
“However, excellent employees are the most important thing. And of course, the high quality of Ponsse’s machines and its comprehensive maintenance services have played a significant role in our company’s story.”
