Partners Kyösti Tiainen and Juuso Laukkanen: Good forest management through development

Kyösti Tiainen and Juuso Laukkanen work together. They both rely on Kesla’s equipment.

Juuso Laukkanen runs Punkaharjun Metsäpalvelu Oy LKV, and Kyösti Tiainen has been working for the company with his loader/trailer combination for almost 15 years. Tiainen is a true artist with his KESLA combination whose user experiences are also of interest to Kesla’s international customers.

Punkaharjun Metsäpalvelu Oy LKV operates within a radius of about 50 km from Punkaharju. The company produces forest management services ranging from forest management work to timber trade as well as forest landscape and nature management. Three shareholders of the family-owned company work for the company. In addition, the service company employs three loggers, a harvester operator and a forest specialist. In the office, the secretarial work is done by a subcontractor. The company’s own fleet includes a ProSilva S4 harvester with Kesla’s 25RH2 head and a 1610 crane.

“We harvest about 30,000 m3 of timber a year. During summer 2019, forest management work was carried out on roughly 200 hectares. The majority of the management contract estates come through Metsä Group. We are always trying to communicate our services to private forest owners,” says Laukkanen.

However, it is not easy to reach private forest owners. Forest owners are becoming more urbanised and distant from their property. The overwhelming and branching debate on environmental issues, sufficiency of carbon sinks and forest management disputes can easily confuse the Finnish ethos that the management of forest assets is always worthwhile.

Of course, the debate feels muddled at times. It’s easy to get the impression that agriculture and forestry are the worst crimes in this country,

- says Laukkanen.

The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on

Kyösti Tiainen from Punkaharju also chose his own road in forest management. Until the early 1990s, Tiainen tended dairy cattle and meat cattle. Keeping the cattle would have required a lot of investment, and forestry work caught his interest.

“It’s been a matter of principle for me to employ myself. In the beginning, I handled smaller-scale purchases for delivery for land-owners. I have now been working for Punkaharjun Metsäpalvelu for over a decade.

According to Kyösti Tiainen’s calculations, he has done almost 27,000 hours of driving since 2004. A first thinning produces 70 to 80 m3 of solid wood (m3sw) per day, the second thinning 100 m3sw and the final cutting 250 m3sw. “Tiainen is a hard worker, and his Kesla machines see a lot of use. We also benefit from his involvement in the development and testing of Kesla’s machines,” says Juuso Laukkanen.

Tiainen has a developer’s approach to his work; for years, he has collaborated with Kesla in testing and sharing user experiences with a development mindset. Tiainen has trusted Kesla and Finnish tractors throughout his career. At the moment, he uses a Valtra M120 tractor, KESLA 12MD trailer and KESLA 316T loader. Kesla’s customers around the world are also interested in the professional’s experiences.

“Kesla has brought many groups of visitors to Punkaharju to observe our work. I have also travelled with Kesla to Indonesia on a couple of occasions. There, the eucalyptus plantation had more or less the same tractor that I myself have.”

The harvester entrepreneur Juuso Laukkanen receives often visitors. Pictures are Kesla visitors from South America admiring Juuso’s harvester.