The 2026 Supplier Day was celebra­ted in a relaxed atmosp­here in Rien­tola in Vie­remä on 28 April 2026. During the mor­ning, a compre­hen­sive over­view of Pons­se’s acti­vi­ties was held, and in the after­noon guests were able to visit a test log­gin site. The high­light of the day was the awar­ding of the Supplier of the Year.

Pons­se’s tra­di­tio­nal supplier day was celebra­ted in the warm atmosp­here of Vie­remä, des­pite the chilly weat­her. This year, domes­tic and inter­na­tio­nal suppliers were invi­ted to a joint event.

”In one day, we can share compre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion with our supplier network about, among other things, our goals and expec­ta­tions for our supplier network, so that we all have a clear, sha­red direc­tion. In addi­tion, other topical issues concer­ning the industry and Ponsse will be discus­sed during the day, “says Pons­se’s Procu­re­ment Direc­tor Tuo­mas Yli-Mart­tila. “Tra­di­tio­nally, we have also celebra­ted and awar­ded the Supplier of the Year and our pro­fes­sio­nal emplo­yees.” 

After a mor­ning full of infor­ma­tion, guest were able to visit Pons­se’s foun­der Einari Vidgrén’s child­hood home, Rau­hala, in vil­lage of Nie­mi­nen in Vie­remä. The modest house on a hill, which ser­ved as a home for a family of over ten people in the 1940s, crea­ted a cont­rast to the ultra-modern Scor­pion Giant wor­king on the edge of the field. In the cour­ty­ard of the house, also a Ponsse Wisent forwar­der was fea­tu­red.

A visit to the modest child­hood home per­fectly conc­re­tized what a group of people with strong will and deter­mi­na­tion can achieve toget­her – you can conquer the world regard­less of your star­ting point.

Concept Dra­gonfly – an example of func­tio­nal coo­pe­ra­tion

Epec’s Direc­tor, Busi­ness Deve­lop­ment Senni Huu­tera and Pons­se’s Direc­tor, Cont­rol Sys­tems Mikko Haa­pa­lai­nen pre­sen­ted the Dra­gonfly concept to the audience.

Video — Concept Dra­gonFly

The pro­ject, which was imple­men­ted as a multi-actor col­la­bo­ra­tion, ran efficiently as a whole, with the dif­fe­rent actors comple­men­ting each other and reac­ting flexibly to chan­ges in the tightly sche­du­led concept pro­ject. Col­la­bo­ra­tion was car­ried out clo­sely through works­hops, regu­lar situa­tion reviews and effec­tive com­mu­nica­tion. A pre­requi­site for success­ful coo­pe­ra­tion was a clear vision of the pro­ject’s goal.

The concept pro­ject was not a tra­di­tio­nal pro­duct deve­lop­ment pro­ject, but a visio­nary entity. The result was a cre­dible, conc­rete and cont­ro­ver­sial Dra­gonfly concept. The pro­ject also showed that there is great poten­tial for mul­ti­discipli­nary coo­pe­ra­tion between mec­ha­nics, elect­ro­nics, user expe­rience and software experts.

Des­pite its concept sta­tus, many of Dra­gonfly’s solu­tions and principles are almost directly applicable to future pro­ducts. In addi­tion to tech­nical deve­lop­ment, the pro­ject also ser­ves the Ponsse brand excel­lently.

The pro­ject invol­ved Ponsse and Epec with CPAC and Qualcomm. All par­tici­pants in the pro­ject deserve thanks for their genuine inte­rest in the success of the pro­ject.

Ack­now­ledg­ments to experts and part­ners

In con­nec­tion with the eve­ning celebra­tion, a long-term logis­tics part­ner, Kau­ko­kii­to’s Anssi Hat­tu­nen was gif­ted a tra­di­tio­nal Ponsse frame saw. Anssi is reti­ring after his nearly 40-year career and six­teen years of Ponsse coo­pe­ra­tion. Frame saw was han­ded over by Tuo­mas Yli-Mart­tila, CEO and Pre­si­dent Juho Num­mela and Chief Ope­ra­tions Officer Tommi Vää­nä­nen.

”I’m speech­less. I really appreciate this recog­ni­tion. Coo­pe­ra­tion with Ponsse has always wor­ked well and this remembrance means a lot to me,” said Anssi with a frame saw in his hands.

Cate­gory Sourcing Lead Jari Win­ter was awar­ded as Procu­re­ment Pro­fes­sio­nal of the Year. In addi­tion to pro­fes­sio­nal know-how, the rea­sons for the award were Jari’s solu­tion-orien­ta­tion and deter­mi­na­tion, the com­bi­na­tion of which also crea­tes a good result for the com­pany. Jari’s solu­tion-orien­ta­tion has also been noticed in the supplier network. His posi­tive and encou­ra­ging atti­tude towards col­lea­gues and induc­tion of new emplo­yees is posi­ti­vely reflec­ted in the whole team and work com­mu­nity.

”Since I star­ted wor­king at Ponsse more than 25 years ago, we have come a long way and Ponsse has chan­ged as a com­pany,” said Jari. “For my part, I can say that the moti­va­tion for procu­re­ment work has remai­ned until today and hope­fully far ahead.”

“Throug­hout my career, one of the grea­test assets has been great co-wor­kers, and there hasn’t been much wrong with super­vi­sors eit­her,” Jari than­ked with a twinkle in the cor­ner of his eye.

After Jari was rewar­ded, the entire procu­re­ment team was brought to the stage for a strict speed inter­view with Tommi. Based on the answers, the team conclu­ded that smooth supplier coo­pe­ra­tion is based on effec­tive and open com­mu­nica­tion. The audience agreed with the conclusion, nod­ding appro­vingly.

Supplier of the Year – Saco­me­tal Oy

The Pirk­kala-based Saco­me­tal Oy was awar­ded as a Supplier of the Year 2025. The com­pany supplies Ponsse with solid bronze slide bea­rings and the coo­pe­ra­tion has las­ted for 30 years.

The jury’s selec­tion cri­te­ria speci­fically high­ligh­ted the very high qua­lity pro­duc­tion capacity and the really high deli­very capacity of the last few years — being 95% last year. The com­pany has crea­ted value through in-depth exper­tise and active design col­la­bo­ra­tion, allowing the entire value chain to bene­fit financially, in qua­lity and pro­duc­ti­vity.

The Supplier of the Year award was recei­ved by CEO Ilari Kin­nu­nen. The award was pre­sen­ted by CEO Juho Num­mela, Tommi Vää­nä­nen and Tuo­mas Yli-Mart­tila.

“Ove­rall, Supplier Day has been a great expe­rience, and I am really proud to receive this award. The jour­ney toget­her with Ponsse has been great,” than­ked Ilari in his accep­tance speech for the award. “Con­gra­tu­la­tions also to Jari for the Procu­re­ment Pro­fes­sio­nal of the Year award. In addi­tion to Ponsse people, I have also lear­ned a lot from Jari.” 

We work in agricul­tu­ral, mining and fore­stry mac­hi­nery as well as marine and energy sec­tor, so we ope­rate in a very wide area.  We are focused on bronze and bronze cas­tings. The com­pany employs nearly hundred people in Pirk­kala,” said Ilari. Ilari him­self has exten­sive expe­rience at Saco­me­tal. He has wor­ked as the com­pa­ny’s qua­lity mana­ger, sales, and for the past six years he has been the com­pa­ny’s CEO.

” For us as a com­pany, it is impor­tant that our values meet. It is easy to work with Ponsse emplo­yees, as the honesty and trust of Pons­se’s values are not just buzzwords. It has always been pos­sible to discuss problems directly with people at Ponsse, and efforts have been made to find solu­tions toget­her ins­tead of loo­king for culprits,” says Ilari. “Effec­tive, honest and open com­mu­nica­tion bene­fits both par­ties.”

Saco­me­tal is the lea­ding foundry and mac­hi­nery com­pany in the Nor­dic count­ries focusing on bronze-specia­lized deve­lop­ment and subcont­rac­ting. With 80 years of expe­rience and an inno­va­tive approach, we meet the needs of our cus­to­mers, both large and small, in terms of sli­ding bea­rings.

For deca­des, Saco­me­tal has grown and deve­lo­ped with its cus­to­mers. Saco­me­tal is the mar­ket lea­der in Fin­land and a sig­ni­ficant supplier throug­hout the Nor­dic region.