Second-hand Machine Trade Requires Trust

For Maciej Urbanek, cooperation with Ponsse’s Polish dealer CDN Ergo Sp. z o.o., means easy access to maintenance, quick service, and professional results. Trustworthy relationships are important in the used machine business.

“When the cooperation continues as before, everything is as it should be,” says Urbanek.

Zakład Usług Leśnych Grzegorz Urbanek is a forest service company which has focused on providing services for state-owned forests since its inception in 1996. The company is led by Grzegorz Urbanek, with his son Maciej Urbanek also involved in the operations. “I have been helping my father since I was little, and I joined the company properly in 2012 as a co-owner. Now I train and assist operators as my father’s time is spent running the company and doing administrative work,” says Maciej Urbanek.

The company employs 10 people and works with one subcontractor. According to Maciej, the company has survived the coronavirus period without significant problems and currently has felling contracts for a total of 75,000 m3 .

“In 2020, one of our machine chains had a three-month downtime while the other one has been at work all the time. The demand for wood is very high and we have virtually no breaks. We work mainly in pine forests and harvest 5,000–7,000 m3 per month with our harvesters.”

The Urbaneks Trust Ponsse

The company started working in the Polish forests using tractors and forest trailers. They bought their first harvester second hand in 2015. When the storm damage of the following year gave impetus to the purchase of another machine, they chose Ponsse as the brand.

“Now our machine stock consists of two PONSSE Elk forwarders as well as the Ergo and Beaver harvesters. In addition, we have other machines needed for forestry work, such as a new tractor with a forest trailer.”

Maciej Urbanek has been impressed by the quality of the Ponsse dealer’s aftersales service and its availability. Having tried other brands and their maintenance services, he appreciates Ponsse’s desire to get the machine in order quickly and back to productive work in the forest.

“Assistance is available in the evenings, at weekends and even remotely if necessary. All in all, the PONSSE forest machines are user-friendly. I can sit with a new operator in a spacious comfortable cabin and train them in the operation of the machine,” he says.

Service and Cooperation are Very Important

According to Maciej’s experience in buying used machines, in addition to the operating hours, the seller and the machine’s country of origin are also important.

“In terms of machine quality, second hand machine maintenance and preparation, other companies do not offer the same level of service as the Ponsse dealer in Poland. When buying a machine from CDN Ergo SP. z.o.o., I can rest assured that if something is broken or doesn’t work as agreed, it will be fixed without question.”

The Urbaneks’ company’s operations are concentrated in the Zielona Gora and Wrocław regional administrations in western and south-western Poland. It provides a wide range of services in the field of timber harvesting, tree breeding and forest management as a main contractor.

“We need both bigger and smaller machines. We have harvesters suitable for thinning forests that are about 30 years old. The Elk is perfect for us as a general-purpose machine and has also shown its strength in uneven terrain. I definitely want the PONSSE Buffalo as my next forwarder because it’s a little stronger and more suitable for challenging terrains.”

Maciej Urbanek says that they have no plans to expand their machine stock, rather to modernise it. Next year, we are planning to replace one of the older machines with a new PONSSE Ergo harvester.