A reliable partner

Valon Kone is convinced that its global success is the result of regular investments in the company and its employees, the continuous further development of rotor debarking technology and customer trust. “We are the technological leader on the market and always want to develop new and better solutions for our customers. This requires very close collaboration with end users from all segments of the market,” Managing Director Henrik Wikström says, giving an insight into the company’s corporate philosophy. In addition to three subsidiaries in Sweden, North America and Russia, Valon Kone also has a worldwide network of sales and service partners.

Focusing on one’s own strengths

Valon Kone focuses on a single product, that is rotor debarkers, and is a recognized expert in this area. The Finnish company offers a wide range of products, which are designed to meet different customer requirements, mainly for sawmills but also for the engineered wood industry. According to Wikström, Valon Kone’s latest major success is the VK100 model for the debarking of large-diameter logs and whole trees. The machine is said to be the most modern sliding rotor debarker on the market.

A major advantage of the VK5000 and the VK8000 series is their modularity. The machines are designed for bigger production lines and high feed speeds, and can be customized by Valon Kone, allowing for incremental investments if customer needs change or additional requirements need to be met. In the development process, VK placed great importance on simplifying retrofitting, for example, with an additional debarking rotor. “Back in the late 1990s, we launched the first Air Seal debarker. Since then, many customers in Central Europe have used this debarking technology,” the managing director tells us.

Popular products

Valon Kone’s market share in Central Europe is growing steadily and has increased substantially in recent years, when the sawmill industry experienced a boom. “Most of the new plants and retrofits installed by German speaking customers are equipped with one of our debarking machines. In addition, we delivered a considerable number of combined debarkers with two debarking rotors or one butt reducing rotor and one or two debarking rotors to Central European customers. Another sign of the times is the tendency of leading sawmill groups to buy more than one unit for different locations. We have also been very successful when it comes to such multiple orders,” Wikström explains.

Close to the customer

Valon Kone has been operating in Central Europe since the 1970s, with four experts from Munich, Austria and Finland supporting customers in the DACH region and in many neighboring countries. Markus Schmidl, Moritz Weinmann and Fryderyk Walczak are responsible for maintenance work, training and putting machines into operation, while Maximilian Riegg is in charge of selling new machines. In order to further strengthen its presence in Central Europe, Valon Kone is currently building a service center in the region. “We already hired one employee for spare parts sales in the office and for customer contact for all kinds of technical inquiries,” Wikström tells us.

Competent management team

Dedicated and qualified staff is a key factor for Valon Kone’s success. In recent years, the Finnish company has taken numerous steps to advance the company in this respect as well. Wikström has been the company’s managing director for two years now. Since then, more members have joined the management team. At the beginning of the year, Sebastian Buddas started as Director of Research and Development. Lari Laakso became the new After Sales Director, and Minttu Ristiniitty joined the management team as Finance Director back in autumn 2020.