Finnish Forestry Trip Day 3

Back to School and a visit to S. Kuittinen Oy, one of the biggest Finnish Forestry Contractor’s

. Overseas students are welcome to attend and the cost for the full three years tuition, meals and accommodation is €45,000. At €15,000 per year (some students will achieve competence in a shorter timescale which will reduce costs) this isn’t a ridiculous amount of money considering this forestry school has a global reputation for producing highly skilled and productive workers.

On arrival we had coffee and a presentation as to what the school delivered to its students, the courses they offer are forest machine operators, forest machine mechanics and timber truck drivers.

There are 250 students attending the college with 40 staff members, they have 30 forestry machines, 4 excavators, 4 timber trucks and 25 simulators (mechanical and virtual).

They have 8 harvesters, 20 forwarders, 5 excavators, 4 logging trucks and a low loader for transporting equipment.

To date the college has trained over 5,000 operators, technicians and truck drivers of which 40% are working overseas.

The college promotes a real working experience with a 5.30 am start for students.

This college has been instrumental in the development of simulators, the first computer based one was created here in 1993 and in in 1997 the first proper simulator was born. Valtimo sets standards for manufacturers to design programs.

The aim of the school is to train, study and learn.

Valtimo doesn’t just train students but also offers courses for instructors on teaching methods for best practice. Valtimo is involved in opening training schools in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and North and South America.

Their student training is to such a high standard that you don’t need supervisors in the forest, they supervise themselves. If a problem should arrive that they are unsure of they contact the merchant or landowner for advice.

Can you imagine the chaos in the UK if we started reducing the number of foresters, The trees would probably stop growing if we had less than three supervisors for every worker!

Students can start the course at just 15 years old and the Finnish Government recognises the standards at Valtimo where timber hauliers who have passed their course can drive legally on the road at 18 years old instead of the normal age of 21.

Tommi Antonnen hosted the presentation and suggested we saw for ourselves what the college had to offer.

We started at the simulator rooms where we saw students using different programs, the simulators don’t just help develop operator skills but also educates students on how to select which trees to remove, felling direction and where to stack the processed timber on first, second and third thinning. We saw students using harvester, forwarder and logging truck simulators, it must have been unnerving for them with all of us watching over their shoulders.

They are self-sufficient with a fully stocked spares store with bars, chains, oils, spare parts etc. I asked Tommi if they got any financial support from suppliers and manufacturers, but they must pay the same price as everyone else.

We then visited the fully kitted out workshop where big and small repairs can be carried out, there is also class rooms where equipment can be studied so that students understand the workings of components.

Our next visit was across the yard to see the full sized forwarder and truck simulators, at first, I thought they were ordinary forwarders and timber trucks, and it was only when I saw the electric cables that I realised these were simulators. They were spread around the large yard and there were also some other normal forwarders travelling around a course so that students could get a feel of driving a real forwarder.

In the middle of the yard was a tall building almost like a lighthouse where instructors could watch multiple students training on both simulators and on the test track at the same time, students and instructor were in radio contact.

I can’t remember the last time I have been as impressed as I was with these training facilities being offered at Valtimo.

It is such a shame to think that at one time the UK was one of the world leaders in forestry research and training when we were harvesting less than 2 million m³ per year and yet today, when we have the wood resources to harvest 15 million m³ each year, all our training facilities have disappeared along with any available funding.

After Lunch at the college, it was time to set off for our next visit and this was to see the company S Kuittinen Oy, one of Finland’s largest harvesting contractors.

As soon as we arrived there was a mad dash to get off the bus as sat in the middle of large yard between the offices and workshops there was a stunning Kockums 84-31 next to a Lokomo 925 on a low loader. It’s funny how if you sit the latest forestry machines next to ones of a bygone era almost everyone is drawn to the older technology.

This was an impressive set up with an excellent stock of spare parts, workshops, large modern office facilities which were built in 2016, a huge yard area and a retail shop selling a comprehensive assortment of forestry parts and accessories.

This is a big company even by Finnish Forestry standards, in 2023 they turned over €15.7million and harvested over 1 million m³ of timber with their 27 harvesters and 31 forwarders supplied by Ponsse, John Deere, Komatsu, Logset and Sampo Rosenlew.

S Kuittinen were started in 1952 by Lauri Kuittinen when he bought his first truck after being discharged from the army and in 1966, he purchased his first forest machine. Simo Kuittinen helped his father from 12 years old and at 15 joined the company full time.

Simo became a partner in the business with his father in 1974 and took over on his own in 1979.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s they employed over 100 lumberjacks and used forwarders for extracting the timber. In 1986 they purchased their first of many harvesters and were the first company in Finland to adopt mechanical measurement.

In 1992 the business expanded to include the road transport of timber, so they were delivering timber from stump to the mill. They were in control of the whole operation, and they believe that this way they could guarantee quality and efficiency. Today they have six 76 tonne capacity timber trucks and sub-contractors who haul for them, they currently haul 450,000m³ of timber each year.

They have their own low loaders for transporting equipment.

Finland has thousands of lakes within its borders with lots of large tree covered islands within the lakes. Many of the islands offer a good source of timber in the summer months and prior to this century the wood Simo’s company harvested on the islands was towed across the lake by barge to a harbour for loading onto timber trucks.

This century saw Simo investing in his island fleet, today they have six different sized ferry vessels which can move equipment and timber with a selection of load capacities from 300m³ to 800m³.

Last year they transported 120,000m³ from forests on the islands.

Their key clients are the Metsa Group, Stora Enso, Metsahallitus, Harvestia and UPM.

This was another fascinating visit and gave us a brief insight into the workings of a professional Finnish forestry company.

After coffee and delicious pastries we bid our farewells and set off back to our wilderness hotel.

It was hard to get your head around the four and a bit hours of daylight we were getting each day and dusk was descending on our return to the hotel. Fortunately it was still light enough for a walk around part of the nearby lake and surrounding grounds so we could get a glimpse of the beauty of the north Karelia national park.

Our evening meal was a bit of a surprise as it was not in the restaurant but a short walk from our accommodation.

Kari Palojärvi had organised a meal in an isolated log cabin, it was a round building with seats around the perimeter with a roaring log fire in the middle. We started our evening with ice cold Finnish Koskenkorva Vodka followed by a smoked salmon starter and Elk for the main course. Beer and wine was flowing through the delicious meal and the atmosphere was incredible.

Once we had all finished we made our way back to the main building for a sauna and even more beer.

Words can’t describe what a fantastic experience this all was, our hosts Kari Palojärvi, Kari Lahivaara and Tero Nurmi had pulled out all the stops to make this such an amazing trip that was running like clockwork.

I always thought this trip would be good with the list of visits we had but I couldn’t believe how warming and welcoming the Finnish people had been towards us all.

I drifted off to sleep that night very happy and contented.

Tomorrow we visit the Ponsse factory in Vierema and then we are going to a forestry harvesting site in Saisa

Forest Machine Magazine is written and edited by a forest professional with over 40 years hands on experience. We are dedicated to keeping you informed with all the latest news, views and reviews from our industry.

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