11 minute read
LOGGING NEWS
by Ponsse Plc
Ponsse AB’s new service centres: Kil and Uddevalla
PONSSE AB OPENED A SERVICE CENTRE IN UDDEVALLA
Ponsse’s investment in the Uddevalla service centre was part of the company’s strategy to open new outlets. Preparations for the investment already started a few years ago.
Kasebergsvägen acts as a base in Uddevalla, when one of the world’s leading manufacturer of forest machines is developing its maintenance operations in the region. The service center also benefits the company’s maintenance buses. The full-range service centre will include a customer service area, shop, repair facilities and a spare parts warehouse. The customer service area will be made as comfortable as possible, the repair facilities will receive more equipment, and the warehouse will be fully stocked.
The more than 430 square metre repair facilities offer plenty of space and height. Other facilities total nearly 300 square metres on two floors.
The company has a long history of extensive operations in the region, for example, through Linnarsson i Blidsberg AB, which will continue as a provider of maintenance services.
PONSSE AB OPENED A SERVICE CENTRE IN KIL TOGETHER WITH WEBES
Shared interest in forests and machinery is what sparked the partnership between Ponsse AB and Webes in Kil, Sweden. This partnership strengthens Ponsse’s maintenance operations in the very important forestry markets in Sweden. The new service centre has given Ponsse more repair space and new service engineers.
Ponsse AB has tripled its net sales in Sweden in five years. Therefore, there was a proper motive for the company’s strategy to invest in service centres.
“Our partnership with Webes helps us to strengthen our operations, while giving us additional resources,” says Carl-Henrik Hammar, managing director of Ponsse AB.
Webes, officially Wermlands Betning & Service AB, specialises in the chemical surface treatment of stainless steel. The company also has extensive expertise in the repair of forest, construction and crushing machinery.
In addition to Kil, Ponsse AB has seven full-range service centres and 19 Service Vans across the country. It also has 20 external service partners.
SCORPION’S FUTURE CABIN WINS THE ESTEEMED
RED DOT PRODUCT DESIGN AWARD
PONSSE Scorpion’s Future Cabin has won a product design award in the internationally acclaimed Red Dot design competition. The award in question was the Best of the Best award in the Product Design category, given for the cabin’s innovative design. This is the highest recognition that can be achieved in the competition, given to the best products of the various award categories.
“The design of the cabin once again started from the forest machine operator. The workspace was modified to make it more practical and to develop it into a quiet workplace with a view to support the operator’s comfort and wellbeing. The operator’s wellbeing during work is key to the machine’s productive operation. Thanks for this award go to our customers, partners, and all Ponsse employees,” says Juha Inberg, Technology and R&D Director.
Ponsse received the same product design award in 2015 for the previous generation’s Scorpion harvester.
The German Wahlers Forsttechnik GmbH has been selected as Dealer of the Year for the fifth time. The PONSSE forest machine dealer was previously granted the award in 2016 (2014, 2011 and 2008). Wahlers Forsttechnik GmbH had a successful year both in terms of new machine and spare parts sales. Other factors taken into consideration are active development of services and positive reviews of administrative, financial and service performance. Wahlers’ operations remained very strong and reliable throughout the year overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, it had a strong market share in Germany in 2020.
Established in 1935, the family-owned company has been a Ponsse dealer in Germany since 1993 and has also operated in Austria since 2019 through their own subsidiary.
2020 DEALER OF THE YEAR:
FAMILY-OWNED WAHLERS FORSTTECHNIK
LOGGING NEWS
A NEW PONSSE RETAILER IN POLAND
CDN Ergo SP. z o.o has started as a Ponsse dealer in Poland and is responsible for the sales and services of PONSSE forest machines and spare parts services in Poland.
The new deaker aims to strengthen Ponsse’s sales, customer service and availability of after sales services in Poland. CDN Ergo SP. z o.o. is headed by Witold Urbaniak, Robert Zdanowski and Marzena Barbara Kafarska, all of whom have ample experience of PONSSE forest machines and collaborating with forest industry companies.
“There are already around 600 PONSSE forest machines in operation in Poland. Our customers require after sales services and training, and we can now meet that need. I think this change will increase our activity and benefit our operations in Poland.
We’re very happy to continue working with these experts, with who we are already familiar. We’ve already been working with them for several years and have seen just how committed they are to the promotion of the PONSSE forest machine business in Poland,” says Tarmo Saks, Ponsse Plc’s area director for Poland.
CDN Ergo SP. z o.o.’s head office is in Czarnków, where a modern service centre is currently being built. The centre will significantly improve work safety, customer experience and the quality of maintenance. The new service centre will also include a PONSSE Collection shop, spare parts sales, and training and office spaces.
LONG-AWAITED OUTDOOR EVENT
Ponsse North America’s dealer Equipment Linc hosted a demonstration organised in Grove Hill, Alabama. In the southern parts of the United States, the tree length method is still mainstream, but companies are also starting to adopt CTL forest machines. Ponsse dealer Equipment Linc opened a new service centre in Grove Hill, around 170 kilometres south of the company’s head office. Grove Hill is known as the heart of the local forest industry. Sunny weather made the event a success, and people were excited to the see the machines close up. The PONSSE Ergo harvester and the PONSSE Buffalo forwarder were presented during the event.
PONSSE RUSSIA AND BELARUS:
STEADY GROWTH AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Ponsse Plc’s subsidiary OOO Ponsse was established more than 15 years ago in St Petersburg. Demand for PONSSE forest machines in Russia’s market was growing quickly, which created a solid foundation for the company’s growth strategy.
Ponsse’s facilities in St Petersburg currently comprise two buildings and a field for training operators. In 2019, a grand opening ceremony was held when a new service centre opened in the city. Currently, the building also includes some administrative functions and the Ponsse Academy training center. The service centre employs 18 professional service mechanics, and the 1,480-m2 area has facilities to service three machines simultaneously. Last year, the St Petersburg service centre was awarded five stars in the Ponsse ESW auditing system.
Despite the pandemic, Ponsse has continued its regional growth in Russia. A new service centre will be opened in the city of Tomsk in Western Siberia in H2 of 2021. Ponsse has a strong market position in Tomsk and elsewhere in Siberia, and the new investment will provide support for this important market area and its further development. More and more forest industry operators in the area have chosen Ponsse’s CTL machines. The new service centre will have a surface area of 1,500 m2, and the facilities to service three machines simultaneously. Twenty-three professionals work at Ponsse’s Tomsk office.
“We always develop our operations according to the close-to-the-customer principle. Our service centre network will soon be expanded with two smaller local service centres as well. They are strategically significant and located in Segezha and Tver,” says OOO Ponsse’s managing director Jaakko Laurila.
Tver is an ancient Russian city located between Moscow and St Petersburg. It is surrounded by the large forests of Central Russia. The Tver centre will have a surface area of 570 m2, facilities for refurbishing machines and a spare parts storage with its inventory tailored for the area. Extra manpower is always close at hand in the St Petersburg office when needed.
“The Segezha service centre is located on the Karelian Isthmus near one of our large customers, and our facility primarily focuses on that customer. The centre’s task is to ensure that our customer’s work can continue uninterrupted and enable the achievement of their ambitious performance-related objectives,” says Laurila. The service centre has a surface area of 616.3 m2 and 11 employees working in servicing.
“All these service centres also function as logistics centres, and all include a local spare parts storage. They all also have customer premises, compliant with our standards, where customers can freshen up, drink a cup of coffee or tea, and find out about new PONSSE products,” Laurila continues.
OOO Ponsse dealers play a significant part in extending Ponsse’s service centre network to the CIS area. Our partner OOO DMI Services is planning to open a new large service centre in the city of Bratsk in the Itrusk Oblast in the coming months. OOO Kostroma Servis-Ponsse will open a new service centre in Sharya in the Kostroma Oblast, and OOO Part Servis will open a centre in Sovetsk in the Ural Oblast (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug). In Belarus, Ponsse dealer ODO Udarnik has significantly expanded their facilities and acquired a 2,000-m2 area for the construction of a new service and logistics centre. Ponsse’s uniform operating principles will be complied with in the new facilities.
“It’s very important to us that all employees working for Ponsse comply with Ponsse’s operating standards, and truly share the One Ponsse values and principles. We value this very highly,” says Laurila.
2020 SUBSIDIARY OF THE YEAR: OOO PONSSE The criteria for selecting the Subsidiary of the Year include profitability of the company’s operations and business growth compared to the previous year. In addition to financial criteria, a strong market share and extensive and systematic development of their after sales services and retailer network were also highlighted when selecting OOO Ponsse as the recipient of the award. Moreover, job satisfaction among OOO Ponsse personnel is high in Russia.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN BUSINESS IS TRUST
“It’s been a privilege to meet so many people,” says Hannu Eloranta, who is retiring after having an extensive career at Ponsse. Now that he is no longer busy selling machines, he can concentrate on horses, his museum lorry and forestry chores.
Hannu Eloranta, regional sales manager for Northern Savonia, looks back in good spirits when retiring at the beginning of May. More than 40 years in sales have flown by fast.
Hannu has worked for Ponsse since 2003 selling machines. He feels that it was the perfect job for him. He has good memories of customers, in particular. Some customer relationships even turned into friendship and often lasted from one generation to another.
Hannu began his career in 1978 as a while-collar employee in a timber company, where he worked in wood procurement. In the autumn of 1978, he met Einari Vidgren at the logging sites in Savonia. After Having worked in Kainuu for a couple of years, Hannu returned to Savonia and started cooperating with Einari more closely.
Sometimes the work took Hannu to Nilsiä. Hannu began to work for Einari at the beginning of the 21st century.
“I guess Einari thought that if I was able to sell timber, I could also sell machines,” says Hannu and smiles.
Hannu sold his first new Ponsse to Unto Jauhiainen in Iisalmi. Later, there was a change of generation at Metsäkone Jauhiaiset Oy, but they have always been loyal to the Ponsse brand.
A MAN OF HIS WORD Hannu says that he has always been involved in the sales with the idea that the most important thing is that the customer and the salesperson trust each other. Both parties should always keep their promises. Hannu’s other principle is that you are allowed and you should speak highly of your own products, but you do not say bad things about competitors’ products.
During his extensive career in forestry, Hannu has seen how the forestry business and forest machines have developed.
Hannu is retiring with positive feelings, because there is not a single deal or other situation with customers that he would regret. Ponsse is a strong house that enables salespersons to thrive.
After sales and a comprehensive maintenance network, they are Ponsse’s most important strengths and help to build trust in customers. In the event of problems, if their machine can be fixed and returned to duty rapidly, the customer will be satisfied.”
