THE INFLUENCER TOUR OF THE SAWMILLS

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.