“With Optinex, we offer our customers and partners planning and optimization software for the entire value chain – from the forest to the finished product. Our focus is on digitalization, implemented in the form of intelligent and user-friendly products,” Carl Barck, CEO and co-founder of ForestX, explains. The Holzkurier met the representative of the ambitious company in Styria, where Mayr-Melnhof Holz has been successfully using the Swedish solution at its site in Leoben since last summer.
Precise simulation models
Optinex supports decision-making processes at tactical, operational, and strategic levels. “Anyone who wants to be successful in the timber industry must keep the entire value chain in mind. This requires partners like us who understand both the forestry sector and the industry,” Barck emphasizes. The software acts as an additional layer between the ERP system and the operational company level. It accesses all available ERP data – from demand items, products and orders to inventory levels. Via the interface to the operational level, Optinex integrates information on availability, shift schedules, and production data. This way, the software not only maximizes output but also supports planning at both operational and strategic levels.
Optinex speaks both languages: that of SAP and that of a sawmill.
Exclusive partner of SAP
Yield is key: The automatic generation of cutting patterns ensures the optimal use of the raw material and the manufacture of products that can be sold successfully on the market (screenshot serves as symbolic image) © Mayr-Melnhof Holz
“Optinex is the only SAP-certified solution for the timber industry that is listed in the official SAP Store. We have worked closely with SAP from the very beginning and enabled full integration into the ERP system,” Barck tells us. “You might say that we are improving SAP for the world of wood. Our tools map the specific requirements of the timber industry and make them tangible within SAP.”
Even though the focus is on the integration of SAP, Optinex functions completely independently of the respective ERP system used. “Our solution can be fully integrated into all systems,” Barck emphasizes. ForestX is convinced that SAP will further establish itself within the timber industry. “The requirements of large timber companies are constantly increasing and becoming more complex. It is often criticized that SAP was not developed specifically for the timber industry and therefore does not meet industry-specific requirements. When combined with Optinex, however, these concerns can be quickly dispelled,” Barck says with confidence.
From Sweden to Austria
ForestX’s innovative tool is already firmly established in Northern Europe. Numerous companies in the forestry sector and timber industry rely on the solution. In German-speaking countries, ForestX has acquired Rubner and the Pfeifer Group as partners. Last year, a first project with Mayr-Melnhof Holz was successfully completed.
Seamless integration into existing IT infrastructure
Always know what’s going on: Optinex optimizes manufacturing and production orders, taking all machine data and capacities into account © ForestX
In Leoben, the transition to SAP began in 2019. Three years later, the solution was implemented in all areas of the company – a comprehensive IT infrastructure transformation that the company did not regret, according to Reinhard Zörnpfenning, Technical Head of the Timber Division at Mayr-Melnhof Holz: “SAP is the ideal solution because it maps all areas of the company in a single application. To fully meet the specific requirements of a sawmill, we have been using Optinex by ForestX since last year.”
Optimized planning of orders and cutting patterns
Good collaboration: Mayr-Melnhof Holz’s Reinhard Zörnpfenning and Carl Barck of ForestX (from left) are in constant contact. Last year, the first Optinex modules were successfully integrated into the workflow at the Leoben site. Following positive experiences, the collaboration is to be intensified © Raphael Kerschbaumer
In Leoben, Optinex fulfills two central functions: Firstly, the production orders for sawmill production are managed in SAP via Optinex, with the software comprehensively taking availability, machine data, and capacities into account. Secondly, Optinex handles cutting pattern generation by using material data from SAP to create bills of materials for SAP based on cutting patterns created in Optinex. “Before the introduction of Optinex, this information had to be entered manually into SAP – a complex process with considerable potential for errors,” Zörnpfenning tells us.
Barck adds and summarizes: “We utilize all raw material data for cutting pattern optimization. At the same time, important parameters regarding raw material availability and market demand are incorporated to enable value-maximized production. At the push of a button, we transfer the bill of materials back into SAP and generate the associated production orders. Ultimately, it’s all about achieving maximum value from the raw material used – for products that can be successfully sold on the market.” Barck concludes: “At ForestX, the focus is on the present and the future. With our planning tools, we want to not only support companies in their day-to-day operations, but also enable them to make better business decisions.”
LIGNA 2025
Visit ForestX at the LIGNA: Hall 25, booth A02
