While Ponsse’s mac­hi­nes were already ope­ra­ting at log­ging sites in Cent­ral Europe in the 1970s, the com­pany began its pro­per world conquest in the early 1990s. Inter­na­tio­na­li­sa­tion was acce­le­ra­ted by the public lis­ting of Ponsse’s sha­res and the company’s addi­tion to the OTC list of the Hel­sinki Stock Exc­hange in 1995.

The com­pany was in a good place to grow and expand, when Ponsse recei­ved the ISO 9001 qua­lity cer­ti­ficate in 1994 as the first forest mac­hine manu­fac­tu­rer in the world as a con­fir­ma­tion of Einari’s pledge “We keep our pro­mi­ses”.

Ponsse expands to Swe­den and the UK

By the end of the 1980s, Ponsse’s mac­hi­nes had already found their way into the forests of Norr­bot­ten in Nort­hern Swe­den. In 1994, Ponsse ope­ned Ponsse AB, Ponsse’s first sub­si­diary, which was res­pon­sible for sales and main­te­nance ser­vices in Swe­den and Den­mark, in Väs­terås in Swe­den. Today, in addi­tion to its exten­sive cont­rac­tual ser­vice network, Ponsse has nine out­lets in Swe­den.

The repu­ta­tion of reliable mac­hi­nes grew, and Ponsse also lan­ded in North Wales in the UK. The first dealswere conclu­ded with Mic­hael Gillett’s M.G. Har­ves­ting Ltd. The fol­lowing year, in 1995, Ponsse establis­hed its sub­si­diary Ponsse UK Ltd in Neath in Wales. Later, the sub­si­diary was reloca­ted to Annan in the southwest of Scot­land.

1995 – Never for­get!

The Fin­nish catchph­rase “95, never for­get!” is a good sum­mary of the boom that began after the reces­sion. Fin­land joi­ned the Euro­pean Union, won the first Ice Hoc­key World Cham­pions­hips and the Nokia 2110i mobile phone was rin­ging in the poc­kets of many across the world.

Ponsse’s goal was to int­ro­duce four new forest mac­hine models on the mar­ket, as well as the modi­fied trans­mis­sion of the A 15e forwar­der. Somet­hing new was also underway in har­ves­ter head deve­lop­ment, and the design of HS 16 Ergo star­ted.

Ponsse stood out from its com­pe­ti­tors by inde­pen­dently manu­fac­tu­ring forest mac­hine fra­mes, cabins, cra­nes, har­ves­ter heads, elect­rical sys­tems, as well as mea­su­ring and infor­ma­tion sys­tems. The domes­tic con­tent was 77 per cent in har­ves­ters, and the com­pany was awar­ded a cer­ti­ficate for Fin­nish excel­lence.

Ponssé S.A. was establis­hed in Gondre­ville near Nancy in Nort­heast France. Today, Ponsse has out­lets not only in Gondre­ville but also in Labou­heyre and Pey­rat-le-Châ­teau in France.

Ponsse U.S.A. Inc star­ted ope­ra­ting in Atlanta, Geor­gia, and at the same time, Ponsse’s spare parts out­let was establis­hed in Rhi­ne­lan­der, Wiscon­sin. Later, all ope­ra­tions were trans­fer­red from Atlanta to Rhi­ne­lan­der, where Ponsse’s sub­si­diary is still loca­ted. In addi­tion to Rhi­ne­lan­der, Ponsse now has out­lets in Grand Rapids, Min­ne­sota, Gay­lord and Glads­tone, Mic­hi­gan, and near Tal­la­has­see in Flo­rida.

Two years of hard work were rewar­ded in 1996 when Pre­si­dent Martti Ahti­saari han­ded over the Vien­ti­ve­turi recog­ni­tion (recog­ni­tion on efforts on export) for the company’s excel­lence in exports.