Retirement after 40 years career

On April 18, 2023, we celebrated Heli Kaiho’s long career at Luvian Saha Oy. Heli started in the company in 1980 in invoicing and payroll duties and is now taking a well-deserved retirement from these duties after more than 40 years of work. During the event, Heli told a little history about her time at Luvian Saha Oy and most memorable stories over the years.

Her office did not change during the years, although the work tasks changed together with IT development. Over 40 years, Heli’s cheerful nature and voice were many people’s first contact with the company, as she also handled the switchboard in addition to other duties. Perhaps a good working atmosphere and nice colleagues have been the reason for a long working career with the same employer?

Luvian Saha Oy and the co-workers would like to thank Heli for her excellent work and wish her all best for the future.

The sawmill industry is Finland’s fourth largest export industry and its role in creating social well-being is considerable. Sawmills are often located in small towns and their regional and local importance is great, because sawmills bring work and livelihood to their localities.

Unlike many other industrial sectors, the carbon footprint of sawmill products is small. The production process itself is low-carbon, and the wooden products are binding carbon, acting as long-lived carbon stores. Among other things, due to these factors, securing the operating conditions of the sawmill industry should be a joint matter for the decision-makers.

During this autumn, Sahateollisuus ry and its member sawmills are organizing a Sawmill Influencer Tour covering different parts of the country. The aim of the tour is to make sawmilling industry familiar to decision-makers, to highlight the effects of decisions regarding the operating environment on sawmills’ operating conditions and competitiveness, and to emphasize the industry’s regional and national role.
As a part of this tour, influencers of Satakunta area were visiting Luvia Sawmill on Monday, October 17th. The event was arranged together with Luvian Saha Oy and Westas Group.
Veli-Matti Puuska, CEO of Luvian Saha Oy, and Sakari Virtanen, Production Director of Westas Group, talked about the social, economic and ecological implications of the companies for the regional economy.

Matters to which sawmills hope decision-makers to pay special attention are e.g. functional and safe logistics, availability of raw materials and acceptability of forestry, usage of wood energy and development of education and training systems in mechanical wood industry.

The recent CEO of Sahateollisuus ry, Tino Aalto, encouraged the decision-makers to mutual clarity, initiative and timeliness in the EU-influencing.

HS Timber Group acquires Luvian Saha Oy

Vienna, 2 May 2022

HS Timber Group acquires Luvian Saha Oy
• Acquisition of a sawmill and processing plant in the west of Finland
• Perfect extension of the HS Timber Group’s wood product range
• Well-known brand “Luvia Wood” to be retained.

As of April 29, 2022, HS Timber Group acquired 100% of the shares in the Finnish sawmill Luvian Saha Oy, whose products are known under the brand name “Luvia Wood”. The company is located in Luvia, in the west of Finland. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
With an annual production of about 300,000 m³ of sawn timber and about 120 employees, Luvian Saha Oy is an important employer in the region. At the Luvia plant, only coniferous roundwood from regional forest management units is cut and further processed. The sawmill is located close to Finnish ports for export. The high-quality products are marketed to customers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The company’s core competence is the production and further processing of sawn timber. For further processing, the company mainly uses wood from its own production. It produces high-quality finished and surface-treated products which will continue to be marketed under the “Luvia Wood” brand. With this approach, the company fits perfectly into the portfolio of HS Timber Group.
HS Timber Group, one of Europe’s leading wood processing companies with export destinations in over 70 countries, is expanding its product portfolio with this acquisition. The new owner is expressly committed to the location, the experienced employees and the products manufactured there. An expansion of capacities and an extension of the site will be evaluated.
For the HS Timber Group, this expansion also means a strengthening of the existing production sites as well as the continuation of the company’s growth course.

About the HS Timber Group
HS Timber Group is a long-established wood processing company of Austrian origin, with very strong roots in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Romania. The Group primarily operates in the timber industry, but is also involved in lumber trading and bioenergy production. The Group operates two sawmills, one post & beams production and a blockboard factory in Romania, as well as one sawmill in Germany. Employing around 3,500 people in Austria, Germany and Romania, HS Timber Group is one of Europe’s leading wood processing companies and produces high-quality wood products for industrial customers all over the world. HS Timber Group GmbH is part of the Evergreen Privatstiftung.
www.hs.at

Contact HS Timber Group
Johannes Vetter
Spokesperson
Tel: +43 664 88 578 224
e-mail: press@hs.at

A Report on the responsibility and effectiveness of the Finnish sawmill industry has been published by the Finnish Sawmills Association. Among other private sawmills, Luvian Saha Oy has been participating on creating this report. The report describes the operation of independent sawmills and their social and economical impact on the local society.

The sawmill industry produces environmentally friendly products that are responsibly made from renewable raw materials. Being the 4th largest export industry in Finland, sawmilling brings notable export revenues. Also direct and indirect employment effect is significant. The sawmill industry’s degree of domestification is higher than of any other export industry.

According to the report, safety and well-being at work is considered as one of the most important developmet targets. At Luvia Sawmill, the development of safety issues has been raised as a part of continuous improvement. Over the last 4 years, the frequency of accidents has decreased substantially, number of accidents have decreased and diligence and the level of work have improved. ”Safety is part of whole production, not any separate area.” says production director Mauri Korpela.

Link to the report is found here, only in Finnish:

https://sahateollisuus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/st_vaikuttavuus_151221.pdf

Environmental product declaration (EPD) for sawn and planed timber has been published

EDP will be utilized for instance in carbon footprint calculations. Environmental issues are even more important nowadays when deciding building materials. EDP is a reliable source to have environmental information on sawn and planed timber. The carbon footprint of timber is low, from forest to end product. Long-term carbon sequestration of wood makes using sawn timber very environmental-friendly.

Environmental product declaration has been implemented by Luke Natural Resources Institute Finland.

Environmental product declaration

“Sawmill at Luvia – with knowledge, skills and luck” – the company’s history has been published

Luvia Sawmill is part of the long history of Finnish sawmilling. A book written on the history of Luvia Sawmill, is a story of how Luvia Sawmill has grown into a successful family-owned sawmill during the past six decades.
Examining the development of Luvia Sawmill gives a good opportunity to understand how different factors are affecting to the success and development of a company. The 60-year history of Luvia Sawmill also tells us what the role of
independent sawmills operating outside large corporations has been in Finnish society and how it might look like in a changing world.

The history was written by Katja Lähtinen and Juha Kuisma. The book has been published only in Finnish.