Finnish pioneers

“We sold the first HewSaw line to Versowood back in the 1990s. Today, all or part of the log wood is sawn with HewSaw lines in five of Versowood’s six sawmills,” Tuomo Kauppinen, Sales Manager at Veisto, tells us. In the summer of 2022, another chapter of the long-standing partnership was closed successfully. Veisto has been the undisputed market leader in Finland for many years. Almost 60% of the sawmills are working with HewSaw machines and plants.

Responding to the customer’s requests

One of Veisto’s latest projects, at Versowood’s headquarters in Vierumäki/FI, shows the company’s flexibility in responding to customer requests. Around 120 km north-east of Helsinki, around 550,000 m³ of lumber are produced each year using two sawing lines. Around one third of the lumber is used for the in-house production of glued timber.

For nearly 20 years, thinner logs of up to 250 mm in diameter have been cut using a HewSaw line for small-diameter log wood, which is still operating tirelessly and reliably even after so many years of continuous use. For larger logs, a combination of a bandsaw and a circular saw was used up until one year ago. “Our second sawing line was getting on in years and urgently needed an update. However, some of the machine’s sections were tried and tested, and we wanted to keep them for the moment. Therefore, we entrusted Veisto with the task of finding a flexible, combined solution that worked extremely well,” Mill Manager Jari Väkeväinen says, who is satisfied with the project.

Complementing the existing machine park

Of the existing machines, the saw infeed including the Finnos log scanner and the Quattro bandsaw behind it, were retained. The bandsaw produces up to four sideboards, which then enter one of the two existing edge-trimming machines. “Before, we needed one edger each for the bandsaw and the circular saw behind it. Now, we can use both for the bandsaw. One bottleneck less to worry about,” Väkeväinen says, happily.

Veisto’s scope of delivery includes a turning and scanner unit directly after the bandsaw. First, the log is edge-trimmed on two sides and rotated by 90° before it is scanned for the subsequent cutting pattern optimization process. Next, the log enters the chipper unit of an SL250 line. “The quality of the wood chips that are produced during this production step is very important. With our cutting tools, we are flexible in making adjustments to the geometry and fiber length, and we can create the highest possible added value,” Kauppinen explains. The sales manager knows the value of sawmill by-products, which have become even more important in Finland since Russia is no longer a raw material supplier.

A good part of the existing machine park was to be retained, which made the installation of the new machines a major challenge. “We had to open the roof and lower the Veisto machines between the glue-laminated beams. Nevertheless, the installation took only eight weeks and after that, we were able to start the test phase,” Väkeväinen recalls the events of last summer.

Higher speed and more output

A SL250 circular saw-profiling unit, which is connected to the chipper, completes Veisto’s scope of delivery for the plant. This unit can saw main and sideboards at the same time. Depending on the specifications obtained from the cutting pattern optimization of the scanner, up to four sideboards are created, which are profiled immediately after they have left the saw. This way, all of the boards produced during this step already have sharp edges when they are transported to the two sorting machines. “Even diagonal sideboards are no obstacle to achieving an additional increase in yield,” Kauppinen explains. The Veisto saws have feed speeds of up to 150 m/min. The only limiting factor is the maximum speed of the bandsaw.

For capacity reasons, the sorting machine for the main lumber was completely overhauled as well. Thanks to this modernization measure, one employee alone can now operate the entire plant from a central control room.

From Finland to sawmills all over the world

Veisto’s state-of-the-art sawing lines and technical developments have their home and origins in Mäntyharju, a small municipality in south-eastern Finland. Already in its fourth generation, the family-run company employs around 250 people at its headquarters. “Our business has grown steadily and naturally over the years. Many employees are the second or even third generation that works for us,” Kauppinen says, proudly.

Originally, the company started out as a seller of sawn products. Over the years, it slowly developed into a sawing machine manufacturer thanks to its successful in-house engineering department. Already in the 1980s, Veisto exported its first saw across the Atlantic to the US, and hundreds more followed, to customers around the world. “Now, HewSaw saw lines are used on every continent,” Kauppinen says.
The order books are still full. Roughly every month, another machine is delivered fully packaged.