Celebrating 40 years as a contractor and ten years with Ponsse
With four machine groups, Swedish forestry machine contractor Inge Gustafsson, based in Gimo in north Uppland, is often engaged in a business contract of some kind. Though he is well past the state retirement age, this has not stopped him from planning new investments. If he also has time to do some thinning, that is the icing on the cake for him.
Gustafsson began his career as a forestry machine contractor already in1984, a few years after he started as a feller at Hargs Bruk in Uppland. His machine contracting began with a forwarder but did not stop there. Soon, there were both a harvester and a forwarder in the company, plus timber trucks.
The company’s relationship with Ponsse started when a customer spent a great deal of time driving in wet areas. Gustafsson and another machine contractor each invested in a ten-wheeler forwarder from Ponsse. One yellow and black machine after another then followed.
Respected family business
“We became more and more impressed with Ponsse. One important factor was actually also the opportunity to buy from a family business. With the manufacturer, we are met with a closeness, openness, and a tremendous commitment in our relationship – at all levels. This provides a sense of security”, Gustafsson feels.
There are now a number of changes in the pipeline at Inge Gustafssons Skogstransport AB. Once these changes have been implemented, the Ponsse fleet for conventional regeneration felling will consist of PONSSE Bear and PONSSE Scorpion Giant harvesters, both with H8 harvester heads, plus high load-carrying capacity PONSSE Mammoth and PONSSE Elephant King forwarders.
“Our third machine group for regeneration felling will be a special group for soft ground, whose harvester will be a newly purchased Scorpion King equipped with an H7 aggregate and speciality tracks. The special group’s forwarder will be our 10-wheeler PONSSE Buffalo with rear support axle. This is our second 10-wheeler since 2014.”
A Scorpion with an H6 harvester head forms a thinning group together with a newly purchased Elk forwarder.
Gustafsson thinks the Ponsse machines will provide good opportunities to optimise the machine groups in relation to their tasks.
Creating for the future
Even though regeneration felling has always dominated his work, Gustafsson himself enjoys thinning the most.
“If I am engaged in a larger thinning job, I can easily lose track of time. Such creativity is incredibly fun. It gives me the feeling of doing my bit for the future.”
The company has 14 employees today. Together, they form a really good gang, Gustafsson insists.
“Everything revolves around the machine operators. Every task has its own peculiarities and some of them demand something quite special. At such times, it is good to be able to tackle them with really good operators and machines.”
Three of the newest machines are the PONSSE Bear harvester and the PONSSE Mammoth and PONSSE Elephant King forwarders, all of which the company received in 2023.
“While the Mammoth is a real monster of a machine, it handles really well, both mechanically and with the kind of terrain we drive on. We have found it to be smooth and with good fuel economy. Added to which, it is very well balanced with its long rear bogie.”
All the company’s machines are covered by a PONSSE Active Care Service Agreement.
“This makes life simpler for us and ensures that each service is done correctly, and at the right time.”
Gustafsson can never spend too much time in forests, and he is happy to stay there after the end of his working day. Hunting is a big passion, which he shares with his three dogs, two Swedish Elkhounds and a dachshund. His partner Ann Bergström also runs her own business, a hairdressing salon. The family also includes two children and two grandchildren.
The right balance
Had Gustafsson not been seduced by forests, he would probably have become a farmer:
“I worked in agriculture before I started felling and really liked it, but I have absolutely no regrets about the choice I made. Of course it has been tough at times, not least when negotiating prices, but generally speaking, they have been really good years.”
A contractor enterprise with four machine groups is a commitment and entails a great deal of administration, but the business has been even bigger at times.
“What we have now feels just right”, says Gustafsson.