Andrewex Timber in cooperation with N.C. Nielsen

Case In May 2022, Andrewex Tvärskog Timber AB received a further expansion to the vehicle fleet with a Konecranes SMV 13.6-600C, delivered by N.C. Nielsen. With a capacity of 13.6 tonnes, the machine will provide a good addition to the truck fleet of 5 machines, and will initially operate at the sawmill's trimmer and dryer plant. Two articulated wheel loaders with grab claws are also part of the fleet.

Since 2016, Andrewex has been a Polish, privately-owned sawmill (formerly Rörvik) based in Tvärskog, a stone’s throw from Nybro and Kalmar in Småland. With an annual turnover of SEK 240 million and a production of about 65,000 m3 of sawn timber, the company currently employees 34 staff, four of which are office based. Raw material for production amounts to about 130,000 m3 of timber. “If you think that a timber truck can take somewhere between 50-55 m3 of timber per trip, that’s a few thousand transports,” says Thomas Gustafsson, CEO at Andrewex. “The value of just one week’s raw material supply amounts to almost SEK 4 million,” continues Thomas.

“Our group has two factories in Poland that manufacture pine furniture for IKEA, among other things. Andrewex is therefore the largest external supplier of pine furniture to IKEA. Some of the pine volumes to the factories are sourced from our sawmill here in Småland,” says Thomas. “The group also has a wooden house manufacturer, Andrewex Housing, which specialises in wooden house modules for 7-storey buildings for the Polish and German markets.”

“Our speciality here in Tvärskog, in addition to producing pine for the Group’s furniture factories, is finger-jointed timber of varying lengths,” says Thomas. “We will soon start up deliveries of sawn timber to the UK through a privately-owned domestic company. We will also begin deliveries to the US during the spring. We have a very flexible facility so it is somewhat easier for us to counter the market and find new routes that may be less common in our industry. We will start another shift in production and invest in a new planing line during this current year,” reveals Thomas.

“The development of the company naturally demands that we have the right capacity at all times. And that our machines are running and operating continuously without unnecessary downtime. A well-functioning service of the fleet is therefore extremely important to us,” says Thomas. “Since we invested in our new Konecranes truck, N.C. Nielsen has taken over the servicing of all our trucks, regardless of brand. We are extremely satisfied and feel confident in having this competence close at hand.”

"Our service engineers Ola Hellewell and Frans Fogelberg are only one phone call away and are extremely competent,” says Håkan Lorén, district manager for N.C. Nielsen in Sweden. “A deal will not be complete unless the whole process works. Developing a truck according to the customer’s wishes, delivering it at the right time and at the right price is one thing. But if the service plan and ongoing contact with the customer does not work, we have not achieved our goal,” concludes Håkan.

“Now we are having new discussions about investing in another Konecranes machine. Probably with even a bit more capacity than the previous one. We are extremely pleased with the cooperation between us and look forward to developing together. It’s always easier when you are basically thinking the same way in a business relationship,” concludes Thomas.

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