Skogs Elmia - The surprise of the fair was that so many forest contractors were among the visitors.
“This was my third forestry fair at Elmia and the best so far,” said Benny Granath, site manager for SP Maskiner. “During Thursday and Friday we had two hundred potential customers inside our stand every day.”
SP Maskiner is one of the pioneers of large-scale forestry. Exactly thirty years ago it launched the single-grip harvester head at Elmia. Its customers are machinery manufacturers and forest contractors. The latter came to SkogsElmia 2011 in larger numbers than expected.
Equally positively surprised was Jerry Wannberg, Managing Director of Ponsse AB in Sweden.
“The fair was really good, with many contractors among the visitors,” he said.Ponsse held its world premiere at SkogsElmia for its biggest forwarder to date, the 20-tonner Elephant King. The machine was positively received, and not just by the contractors. Jerry was even interviewed on the radio about this machine, so giant-sized in the eyes of the general public.
The biggest crowd magnet, though, was actually the small forwarders and harvesters for professional use. Never before had so many brands and so many new machines in the smallest size category been exhibited at a fair.
Small machines are nothing new. But the big change is that they are not just of interest to wealthy forest owners who like new toys. Now it is the professionals who want the small machines.
“After the two huge storms in southern Sweden a few years back, there was a lot of ground damage,” explained Magnus Wallin of the machinery manufacturer Malwa. “Forest owners are demanding that contractors use small machines, so they in turn have to buy them. There is a lot of demand for in-stand machines of various types with low ground pressure.”
His view was shared by Niiles Airola, CEO of the Finnish forest machine manufacturer Usewood. The company presented a totally new mini-harvester at SkogsElmia.
“It’s been a fantastic fair,” he said. “We met with about fifty possible customers who need a harvester in this size category.”
For fair organiser Elmia, the 2011 event reconfirmed that SkogsElmia is the leading meeting place for private forest owners. And that it fulfils the same function for forest contractors and their employees.
“Once again the fair has proven to be far more than just a place to exhibit new products,” commented SkogsElmia organiser Per Jonsson. “It is a meeting place for all sorts of people in the forest industry.”
SkogsElmia 2011 had a total of 33,209 visitors during the three days of the fair.