VELJEKSET LEHTOMÄKI – THE 50-YEAR SUCCESS STORY OF A FAMILY BUSINESS
“Finland lives from the forest – and so do we” is the leading idea behind Veljekset Lehtomäki. The hard work of the three brothers and their trust in their shared vision have been the family-owned company’s driving forces on its successful journey, which PONSSE forest machines joined roughly twenty years ago. Major forest industry investments in Central Finland increase faith in the future.
When the key employees of Veljekset Lehtomäki, a company specialising in forest contracting, gather around the same table, they have volumes of vision and experience to share about entrepreneurship and mechanical harvesting. After fifty years, these men continue to be driven by faith in what they do and trust in the future of the forest industry in Finland.
Brothers Erkki, Markku and Pertti Lehtomäki established the company in 1973 and continue to play an active role in the company’s operations. The next generation is represented by Erkki’s sons Jani and Marko Lehtomäki, Markku’s son Jari Lehtomäki, who operates a PONSSE Scorpion, and his sister Katja Lehtomäki, who works in the head office.
Having reached the admirable age of 50 years, Veljekset Lehtomäki has grown organically and sensibly. It also provides forklift services for Multian Saha Oy. The company employs some 40 professionals and is owned by the founding brothers and their children.
“As an old man, I really can’t see us having a hundred machines. Of course, we could grow more quickly by acquiring other businesses, but we haven’t gone down that road. Younger people will make these decisions later,” Pertti Lehtomäki says.
FIVE PONSSES THROUGH A SINGLE DEAL
Over the decades, the company’s machines have operated in the forests of Central Finland, especially in the regions of Multia, Keuruu, Petäjävesi and most recently in Ähtäri. New contracting opportunities opened up slowly, including with Metsäliitto, and relationships with major forest corporations started to stabilise. Currently, the company’s key customers are UPM-Kymmene and Metsä Group.
The company was engaged in mechanical harvesting with Ponsse’s competitors until 2004, when it acquired its first PONSSE forest machine. After cooperation and contact with a former machine manufacturer started to dwindle, it was time for a change. Eventually, the brothers decided to buy five PONSSE machines through a single deal.
Jarmo Vidgrén, the current Chair of the Board of Directors, represented Ponsse, in closing the first deal. After the agreement was finalised over several hours at Pertti’s home, they celebrated the deal later in the sauna. The young salesperson seemed a little nervous, and Pertti asked him about the authorisation given to him for the negotiations.
“My father told me to close the deal,” Jarmo answered. That was exactly what was done.
FOREST OWNERS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT CUSTOMERS
Before the company was officially established, the then very young brothers transported trees directly from the forest to the local sawmill using a tractor and a self-made trailer. Pertti Lehtomäki remembers that they were even able to carry six loads a day.
“Those were quite eventful times with the equipment we were using, and I don’t think everything was exactly legal. But that was what it was like back then, and we didn’t pay much attention to it.”
It was no wonder that the manager of the sawmill suggested that the young men buy their own forest machine. According to Pertti, the idea was probably to improve not only occupational safety but also efficiency. The brothers operated their used machine practically round the clock and changed shifts on the fly.
Experience has shown that good relationships with landowners are key in productive business. They come in all shapes and sizes: there are professionally run funds, and then there are people who live somewhere else but own a small piece of land where they like to go to pick berries or sit around a campfire.
“It’s important to listen to everyone’s wishes and respect their forest assets – after all, our work is a lot like asset management. Half a day’s harvesting project comes as a routine to us, but it may be a one-of-a-kind event for a forest owner who lives in a city, in which they want to participate,” say Pertti, Marko and Jani Lehtomäki, describing their principles.
FROM LOGGING SCHOOL TO WORKING IN THE FAMILY BUSINESS
Jani and Marko Lehtomäki, second-generation loggers, travelled the same path to join the company, but with a three-year age difference. After they completed “logging school”, or forest machine operator studies, in Jämsänkoski, they started to work as operators in a familiar environment. They say that the selection came naturally to them and was all they could think about.
“We’ve been here since we were little kids, and we’ve done everything there is, starting from mopping the garage floor,” Jani says.
“When I was a small boy, I always wanted to go with my father and used to sleep on the machine floor while he was working. Sometimes I’ve wondered whether it would have been easier if I’d worked somewhere else, but who knows,” Marko says.
Still working as an operator, Jani switched to a harvester at the turn of the millennium. Marko has worked as a planning manager since the early 2000s when forest companies started to assign planning projects to contractors. He plans logging sites, selects stands, and controls wood flows and grades based on customer orders.
“We’ve tried to learn everything we can from the founders – also that it’s often important to think ahead, not just after the event.” Jani and Marko say.
Since the first deal in 2004, Veljekset Lehtomäki has only purchased its machines from Ponsse, and according to Pertti, their cooperation has been smooth and productive. The link to the customer is straightforward, and responsibilities are not delegated from one person to the next.
“With Ponsse, everything gets done, and no one says “this isn’t part of my job”. I appreciate how they bear their responsibility. I’d been monitoring Ponsse’s story for quite some time, and it felt like a good home for us.”
Working at the controls of an Ergo, Jani says that forest machines have taken huge leaps forward. Their development has especially been driven by IT.
“Nothing revolutionary is expected in the technical properties of machines in the near future, but the use of intelligence is proceeding rapidly. Where the focus of development used to be on components, it is now on software,” he says about his experiences.
Attitudes, working methods and sustainability requirements have also made massive progress in the forest industry. Veljekset Lehtomäki already considers environmental factors when planning harvesting operations.
“Common sense dictates that it’s important to address streams, retention trees and the rest of the environment. The industry has changed a lot in a good way,” Pertti says.
FOCUS ON DEVELOPING THE COMPANY
Einari Vidgrén used to believe that machine operators were the best experts, and their feedback should be taken seriously in R&D. The Lehtomäki brothers have played their part in helping Ponsse make the world’s best forest machines even better and more efficient tools for their operators. Pertti and Jani say that, according to its promise, Ponsse listens to its customers, and R&D has a genuinely close link to machine operators.
“For example, the nylon slide pads of extensions were replaced by bearings as we suggested, and the R&D unit was able to start serial production in under a year. This solution helped reduce fuel consumption by 0.7 litres per hour,” says Pertti, the father of this and many other ideas.
The founding brothers have always felt comfortable working in the same company. Every ounce of energy has been spent on developing the company, not on sowing discord. The excellent team spirit and mutual trust come from the brothers’ early years: their father passed away at the age of only 39 due to a sudden illness, and the brothers had to stick together and bear responsibilities despite their young age.
“The oldest of us was 17 when our father died. We had a small piece of land at home. When I was 18, we established our company and purchased our first machine. We didn’t have much money, but two local men guaranteed our loan. Without their trust, I don’t know how things would have gone,” Pertti says with gratitude in his voice.
PONSSE FOREST MACHINES OPERATED BY VELJEKSET LEHTOMÄKI
- 24 PONSSE machines: 12 forwarders and 12 harvesters.
- All four Scorpions are equipped with the H6 harvester head. Two Ergos feature the H8 harvester head.
- The forwarder range consists of Wisent, Elk, Buffalo, Elephant and Bison.
- All machines are covered by the PONSSE Active Care service agreement.
- The next two new machines will be delivered in October 2023.