Extemagasin02|2013eng

EXTEMAGAZINEN E W S F R O M T H E W O R L D ’ S L A R G E S T M A N U F A C T U R E R O F C A R G O B U N K S . N O 2 / 2 0 1 3

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products for that industry, we will gradually increase our understanding of the needs of other sectors in the haulage industry. Our current products already cover a great deal, and with our unique ability to listen I am confident we will pretty soon see new products that will also meet the needs of hauliers outside forestry.

The immediate future looks pretty bright. We’re getting plenty of signs of a recovery in various markets, especially central Europe. The same applies to Scandinavia. The demand for wood products is there even when economies are in poor shape. We can see this in our order books in the form of increased orders for bunks and tensioners.

Over the next six months I’m looking forward to renewing all my contacts with hauliers and bodybuilders. It’s been quite a while since we last met, and I’m pretty sure you have more than a little to tell me. So why not get in touch? Here at home there’s a whole bunch of able, dedicated co-workers I’m looking forward to sharing day-to-day work with.

Kjell Jonsson

MD, ExTe

For my part the past six years were fully focused on building up our operations in Asia. This work has now entered a new phase; operations have taken shape and local personnel are doing a good job of keeping things running in true ExTe spirit. For me this means I can once again take over ExTe’s operational leadership.There’s no shortage of challenges. Timber hauliers constantly encounter new demands that affect their profitability. Day-to-day business is tough and we aim to do everything we can to develop products that make their operations easier and more profitable. So product development will remain a high priority area at ExTe. This is where hauliers, truck drivers and bodybuilders can help with their ideas and opinions. After all, they are the people who see the true picture; who understand what works.

We also note that our products are of interest outside of the forestry industry, too. The Luftman tensioner is of special interest to firms engaged in hauling bulk goods – an interest repeated xall over the world. The development of products for forestry haulage is our core business. While we will never take our focus away from forestry haulage and the development of

!The opinion of every timber haulier is important to us. I’m back behind the wheel as MD for ExTe.

Contacts: Contact us via tel. no. +46 (0)6511 7500 or fax no. +46 (0)6511 7503 and tell us what you need.Sales department direct: If you wish to speak to a sales person, call +46 (0)6511 7501.Internet: You’ll find everything you need to know about the world’s leading manufacturer of timber bunks at exte.se.

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Constrictor

quick and easy. For example, if you need to replace journals you remove the shaft and bearings simply by undoing four M6 bolts. It couldn’t be easier,” declares Mårten. “The Constrictor is not handed – another advantage. And it has a tensional force of up to 900 kg. What’s more, Constrictor can be disengaged while tensioned, something that has been in great demand on the market,” explains Mårten. The Constrictor is made from new, strong, light materials that make flexible design and reliable operations possible, while a new surface treatment reduces the risk of corrosion. “When we were working on the design we kept in mind that the new tensioner should also be suitable for types of haulage other than pure timber transportation. For example, in Australia they already use Luftman tensioners on rigs hauling things like fibreboard. Another area for potential use is wood chip trucks, and of course there should be many more areas where both the demand and the conditions for Constrictor use are right. “The tensioner has undergone durability tests both in house and in practical operations. We’re planning on having it ready for deliveries by January, 2014,” says Mårten.

“It’s no secret that there’s been demand for a new tensioner as a complement to Luftman for a long time,” says Mårten. Constrictor, as the new pneumatic tensioner is called, is based on entirely new technical solutions. And the fact that the design has taken a step forward into the 2010s is a big bonus. “Most importantly, the number of of parts in the mechanism has been minimized,” emphasizes Mårten. Our ambition was to have as few moving parts as possible to reduce the number of potential faults and thereby improve reliability. For example, Constrictor has no pendulum mechanism to control air chamber movement as the whole function is integrated in the new reversing valve. Another innovation is the lack of moving parts on the tensioner shaft other than journal bearings. Furthermore, power transfer from the air chamber to the shaft is simplified, and when the air is shut off the shaft is no longer in contact with the air chamber. “And because it’s so easy to take apart to replace wear parts, Constrictor is also incredibly easy to maintain. We will use ready-assembled modules to make replacement

ExTe’s new tensioner on the way.The big news from ExTe at this year’s Forestry Transport Exhibition was an entirely new prototype tensioner. Mårten Sörell from ExTe’s R&D department presented the tensioner at the exhibition. He is the person behind the design.

Mårten Sörell showed off ExTe’s latest new product at the Forestry Transport Exhibition A simple, easy-to-use tensioner based on entirely new technical solutions.


Pero Pavic in the white polo shirt buys components from various suppliers to provide ready-made solutions – an activity gaining market share.

The signs of sunnier prospects are getting stronger in several different markets. At ExTe this is seen in an increased demand for bunks and tensioners, especially in the number of orders from Germany.

This more positive trend was already noted last spring when ExTe took part in the major Ligna exhibition in Hanover.“The exhibition is aimed at wood product processing and is one of the biggest in the industry with everything from powerful forestry machines to iPad-controlled systems for furniture manufacturing,” Ulf Göransson from ExTe tells us. There were 1,647 exhibitors from 46 countries in the 124,000 square metre exhibition area. More than 90,000 professionals from 100 countries visited the exhibition. The transportation sector had not previously prioritized the exhibition, but in recent years more and more have taken part. Over the years Richard Morath and his company ExTe Vertriebs GmbH has established a very strong presence in Germany for ExTe products. It was ExTe products all the way on every timber trailer at Ligna. “When you consider how many visitors there were from so many countries, it should boost our market share in the rest of the world too,” thinks Ulf Göransson. Most of the visitors are dependent on forestry transport in one way or another. We saw this clearly in the interest shown by new people from the sawmill industry who stopped by to get information about our products. Several owners of major timber haulage companies also visited the exhibition and took the opportunity to discuss different system solutions with Richard.

Sunnier market prospects in Germany.

A happy bunch chatting with Richard Morath.


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A 76-ton rig equipped with ExTe Com 90 bunks.

The Kuljetu exhibition is Finland’s most important forestry trade fair for timber hauliers, bodybuilders and suppliers of timber bunks and tensioners. ExTe and Alucar shared a stand.

“There were a great many visitors to our stand,” Mikael Halvarsson from ExTe tells us. “Since I don’t speak Finnish, I concentrated on the Swedish-speaking visitors, including one haulier who was interested in our S6T bunks and stakes as his company needs large load volumes.” “I also got to meet Mikael Sjölund, who is one of many Finnish hauliers who have opted for Com 90 bunks. Mikael has used Com 90 bunks for several years and is completely satisfied with them. He told us that he will be replacing his truck and transferring his bunks to the new one. As we stood chatting several people stopped by who were also interested in Com 90, so Mikael stayed at our stand a while and shared his Com 90 experiences with them.” “Because the total combined max weight in Finland was raised to 76 tons in June of this year, more and more truckers are using telescopic stakes again. This is partly because the gateways they need to pass through are low, and also because not all of the bridges are the appropriate height,” explains Mikael Halvarsson.

D bunks and Com 90 attracted most interest at the Kuljetu exhibition.

The truck is equipped with ExTe D7 bunks and telescopic aluminium stakes.

A trailer for a 76-ton rig equipped with ExTe D7 bunks and telescopic aluminium stakes.

The truck is equipped with ExTe S6T bunks and tapered steel stakes.

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ETT-ekipage

The world flocks to Elmia Wood.

If it were possible to see and hear Elmia Wood from above – maybe from the top of a pine tree – you would see the world’s biggest forestry exhibition spread out at your feet. Above the scorching sun and below an endless river of people. And the noise! A veritable cacophony of different languages. Elmia is where the Finnish, Norwegians, Englishmen, Germans, Austrians, Frenchmen, Spaniards Uruguayans, Brazilians, Russians, Lithuanians, Japanese, Americans, Canadians and many other nationalities meet.



Naoko Kira is filled with enthusiasm about the chance to represent ExTe in Japan.

It was the same story at the ExTe exhibition stand. More nationalities than you could count. ExTe showed off its full range of equipment engineered to meet every need. Robust solutions in steel shared the attention with light, versatile bunks in the A and D series. And interest in ExTe’s solutions could not have been greater. The mornings in particular were busy times for ExTe’s representatives and they had a tough job taking care of everyone who was curious about our products. Many contacts old and new dropped by. “We had almost exclusively foreign visitors,” explains Per Jonasson, salesman from ExTe. Needs are different in different parts of the world, so everything we have to offer is of interest to someone.

One of many foreign customers who visited ExTe’s stand was MHS from Wilkowo in Poland. MHS stands for Mikulski Hydraulka Serwis. The company is a major bodybuilder that buys 144 bunks from ExTe, among other things. Renek Mikulski – the mustachioed man at the table – is the owner of the company. To his left is Marcin Szymanczuk, a company employee who works in sales and spare parts. MHS has regular contact with ExTe, mainly through Ingemar Larsson, on the right, who is responsible for parts of Eastern Europe.

ExTe is represented in Japan by Forest Technique Ltd. Satoru Kira runs the company while his wife Naoko Kira takes care of administration. Apart from being ExTe’s representative in Japan, the company is also a forestry contractor. “The forest industry in Japan is small, less than 5 per cent of GDP,” says Satoru Kira. “And the business is a bit old fashioned, a bit like Sweden in the 1960s,” he says. In Japan flatbeds make up 90 per cent of the timber haulage solution. And trailers don’t even come into the picture. “This is why we’ve invested in ExTe products. They are the most reliable on the market and are of an excellent design,” thinks Naoko Kira. “We want to introduce more efficient methods and modern equipment into Japan, and we would like to see timber transportation regulations that focus on safety,” she says.

Lex McLean from Forest Centre in Australia has represented ExTe since 1992. He has sold timber bunks and tensioners to Australian bodybuilders and timber hauliers over the years. Recent times have been especially interesting for Lex. “We have an enormous market when it comes to freight haulage. Up until now loads have been lashed down using manual tensioners. But now that hauliers have discovered Luftman they’ve found a solution to the problem with all the strain injuries truck drivers suffer due to manual tensioners.”


A moment’s solitude is essential sometimes. ExTe’s French representative Michel Poirson was kept busy by all the French visitors.

Pedal to the metal at the ExTe stand. In the foreground is Alfonso Prieto Perez – ExTe’s representative in Portugal and Spain – in discussion with Per Jonasson from ExTe.

And then a sudden surprise. For the sake of change a Swedish haulier showed up with his better half. Mikael Wiberg from Wibergs Åkeri in Rättvik and Petra Abramsson enjoyed a chat with ExTe’s Jörgen Spring.

Ingemar Larsson, ExTe, in demonstration mode. Luftman attracted the attention of our Russian visitors.

From Uruguay came Mauro Real de Azua, Logistics Manager and Federico Lussich, Strategic Development Coordinator at UPM from the north of the country. They reviewed the specifications and tender documentation for new equipment for 200-250 rigs together with Per Jonasson from ExTe.

Svante from Alucar made an appearance with Magnus Sjöström, haulier from Ekenäs in southern Finland. Magnus has two timber rigs and both are equipped with ExTe bunks – E and M bunks on one and A9 bunks on the other. And there’s no mistaking how happy he is with them.

And naturally Com 90 bunks drew attention too, immortalized here in pixels.


Ingemar Larsson, ExTe, in demonstration mode. Luftman attracted the attention of our Russian visitors.

Three jovial Englishmen, Kevin Read, Phillip Murrey and Keieloer Forster told Per Jonasson about their experiences with ExTe bunks. They were completely satisfied with their E bunks. Their contacts with ExTe are through the dealer Douglas.

Nils Ivar Krogh and his daughter Linn from Skillingmark in western Värmland paid us a visit. Nils Ivar is a haulier with a couple of timber rigs and gravel trucks. He uses ExTe’s A9 and A6 bunks on his timber rigs. “It’s great kit and works really well. And there’s just so much to see at this exhibition,” he declares. Linn is equally enthusiastic and explains she’s in the middle of her first year’s training as a truck driver. “The plan is for me to start driving for dad once I finish,” Linn tells us.

In this industry everyone seems to know everyone else. Jörgen Spring enjoying a visit from Per Johansson, Fordonsteknik in Älvsbyn, Lars-Åke Larsson, MST and Bosse Hjelm, Hjelms, all from Sweden.

Richard Morath represents ExTe in the German-speaking parts of central Europe. A constant stream of hauliers, especially from Germany, asked Rickard questions about just about everything in the ExTe product range. The clever camlock system attracted attention from many visitors, as did the aluminium bunks and new D bunks. “I note a steadily growing interest in D bunks in Germany,” states Rickard.

The Com 90 functions are always interesting to see.


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ETT-ekipage

The Forestry Transport Exhibition just gets better and better...


Mårten Sörell was extremely busy during the exhibition. A constant stream of curious visitors wanted to know how the new tensioners work.

What do you say when you’ve just experienced the best Forestry Transport Exhibition yet and an industry celebration that can only be described as a success. How about congratulations – congratulations to the more than 6,000 visitors, congratulations to all of the exhibitors, the exhibition organizers and to Håkan and his staff who invited more than 1,000 guests to a spectacular party.

The Forestry Transport Exhibition is like a good wine – it gets better year by year. These days it’s not just people who don’t have far to come who visit Ljusdal, timber hauliers from Finland and Norway have been loyal visitors for many years. This year we heard English, French, and German spoken among the crowds. And the fact that the exhibition is solely about forestry transportation is its greatest attraction. If you are part of that industry, then every other year Mittia’s Forestry Transport Exhibition is the natural meeting place. And sooner or later most, if not all, paths naturally cross at the ExTe stand. It was where to find to most things Scandinavian timber hauliers and their colleagues from more southerly European climes need. And an innovation, too. The Forestry Transportation Exhibition two years earlier saw the launch of the D bunks – the strongest, lightest combination bunks ever. This year it was the turn of a new tensioner – The Constrictor – to attract the interest of the exhibition visitors.

The Forestry Transport Exhibition just gets better and better...

Anders Johansson and Peter Fredriksson each own haulage companies and they collaborate within the Zorba Transport agency, owned by Anders Johansson. They have combined total of six trucks, five of which haul timber. “We drive for Stora Enso mainly in the forests around Karlstad.”“It’s great that ExTe has come along with a new tensioner. And the simpler it is, the better,” they feel.

Two guys who like what Mårten Sörell from ExTe had to show them were Robert Bielecki and Stein Erik Engerdahl from Morek AS in Norway. Morek is a major ExTe products dealer.“The Constrictor tensioner looks really good and compact,” they thought. “Selling them is going to be really exciting.”

Staffan Molander from Jakobstad, Sweden, has E bunks on his trucks. “We drive around 1,000 loads per truck per year,” he tells ExTe’s Jörgen Spring. “The bunks have worked well ever since we switched cotters,” declares Staffan.

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Two men who always meet up at the Forestry Transportation Exhibition are brothers Esbjörn and Erik Lindberg from Finnböle in the middle of Gästrikland, Sweden. “We drive mostly in Gästrikland, Uppland and Västmanland and among our customers are Korsnäs, Mellanskog, and Svea Skog,” Esbjörn and Erik tell us.

They enjoy the Forestry Transport Exhibition. “There’s always a lot of interesting stuff to see, and we meet a whole bunch of acquaintances here at the ExTe stand. ExTe’s new tensioner is interesting; we’ll be testing it once it’s on the market.”

Lindbergs Skogstransport has been a family-run business for 85 years. Today the company has 25 employees and 10 timber trucks. “Business has kept us real busy over the years,” states Esbjörn “We have a respectable amount of work and always try to have rigs with low kerb weights. And I think we maintain good financial control over all of our trucks. We’ve reduced fuel costs by 12 per cent just through consistent ecodriving. Because we also cover such a large area we can pick up return loads from each other.” Something Esbjörn and Erik are happy to point out is that more and more young women are joining the industry. Good news, they think. “We feel they have a way of thinking that’s a bit different and calmer than us guys, or old geezers is probably truer these days.”

Languages can be difficult sometimes. Here we see Jenny Eklund, ExTe, explaining technical details to a Finnish haulier with the assistance of Julius Närvä, ExTe’s man in Finland.

Hard to believe though it may be, all of the Com 90 bunks in this picture are on the same rig. The exhibition displayed a 90-ton setup, which we wrote about in the last issue of the magazine. The rig is a Volvo with eight Com 90 bunks. The bunks were customized with e.g. new attachment brackets, and they were chamfered to fit the vehicle. The frames we made a little more flexible as they are fixed, as opposed to conventional solutions where the bunks must be able to slide back and forth. Two frames, one on the link and one on the trailer are retracted into the chassis. Com 90 allows safe, extremely rapid load lashing. It is in fact the safest available and has such features as constant tensioning and monitoring that alerts the driver if something occurs. The entire rig is 29 metres long and may not be driven faster than 80 kph.

Per Olsson, Parator and Mikael Halvarsson from ExTe have both worked with the rig. Per, who worked with the trailer and link tells us the total weight is 26.3 tons, i.e. the same as the previous rig with A bunks. “We’ve succeeded in reducing the weight of the trailer and link,” he explains. Despite its length the rig can handle the mandatory turning radius of 25.25m.

The constant stream of visitors to the ExTe stand had plenty to ponder over.


Bo Hjelm, from Hjelms in Hudiksvall, Sweden, figured out how to draw attention to his business. Two men kept busy fitting out a new truck in the midst of all the visitors. “We want to show how quick and simple it is, and how easy it is to switch chassis to another truck,” explains Bosse. And of course he chose to install ExTe’s A bunks.

Following all of his RallyCross successes Lasse Larsson should be a bit of a celebrity among timber hauliers.“It’s an enjoyable exhibition, this one. It’s great to see all the new features and socialize with agreeable people. Important, too. In short, it’s a real pleasure,” says Lasse.

iMårten Sörell is also ExTe’s true expert on pneumatic releases. Lars Larsson and his son Rickard, from Lysvik, Sweden, who use pneumatic releases on one of their trucks, had a few questions. Rickard drives the truck with the pneumatic releases and he feels the idea is excellent. “It’s as close to owning Com 90 bunks as you can get without the bunks,” he thinks.

And his majesty the King of Norway was there too – the Timber King, that is. And as the generous king he is, he wanted to make an offer for Sweden on behalf of the Norwegian people. “We just need to pump up a little more oil; name your price,” he demanded. Could his dream of becoming the Timber King of Scandinavia lie behind his thirst for power?

iTobias Forslund from Stensborgs Åkeri in Västerås, Sweden, drives a Mercedes most days, one of the 5 trucks his haulage firm owns. He’d found a truly great present at the exhibition for his three-year old son Sebastian. Maybe Sebastian will become a timber trucker.

jAmong the visitors to the ExTe stand were Birgitta Persson from Ljusdal and Bjarne Riska from Fagersta in Sweden. Bjarne told us he worked for a haulage firm, and that he has a real soft spot for trucks. So you could say he’d come to the right place.

Michel Poirson, right, is ExTe’s dealer in France; he is seen here in discussion with an industry compatriot.

“We’ve been in contact over the phone for several years, but this is actually the first time we get to meet face-to-face,” Jenny Eklund from ExTe tells us. Dennis Bergström’s company DLS in Piteå has bought both bunks and spare parts through Jenny. “My company is one of 4 or 5 private contractors in the country that work the ports. We have cranes and manpower at ports and timber terminals. We have a total of 6 trucks; 4 are used for internal transportation to mills. The operation requires pretty large investments and requires our being able to work with long-term contracts,” states Dennis.

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Mantorp

well-polished trucks we borrowed a 1970 F88 timber truck from Anderssons forestry hauliers from Gunnarsbyn in Dalsland, Sweden. We fitted it our with our new D5 and D7bunks and the new tensioner and Trux added bull bars and a light bar on the roof. And many a droll, appreciative comment was made I must add. But I’m willing to bet a penny or two that among the many fine trucks there ours drew the most attention. People stopped a while, which gave us the opportunity to chat and hear their points of view. “And that’s the whole point of taking part in all the exhibitions and other events,” declares Jörgen.

After the Forestry Transport Exhibition it was time for the Trailer Trucking Festival at Mantorp Park. The event has evolved more and more to become an important, much-appreciated meeting place for people in the truck industry. And as we all know, many of the trucks have both tensioners and timber bunks from ExTe. So it’s almost a matter of course that ExTe was present during the two-day festival. There were plenty of visitors, around 11,000. The purpose of the event is of course to bring together manufacturers of trucks and equipment with bodybuilders and hauliers regardless of the type of transportation. “We shared a stand with Trux,” Jörgen Spring from ExTe tells us. To make a change from all the other new,

An F88 from the 1970s wins Mantorp.

You needed to be strong-armed and light to hang there as long as possible. Biltema gift cards went to the winners. A really simple, fun competition – especially for those hootin’ an’ hollerin’ their encouragement to the competitors. How long did the winner remain hanging, you ask? Who knows... perhaps Jörgen does.

A real beauty a mere 43 years old. A bit rough around the edges but a good complexion. And those bunks, bull bars and the light bar suit her, too.


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Mantorp

And here’s the result of unchained artistic freedom. Pretty impressive, even though it’s not representative of ExTe engineering...

ExTe Fabriks AB, SE-820 41 Färila, Sweden. Tel: +46 (0)651 175 00. Fax: +46 (0)651 175 03. E-mail: [email protected] www.exte.se

Securing cargo. We invented the Concept.

New successes on the greens.

Odd, you might think. As soon as ExTe is in the picture things usually turn out well, if we may be so modest. Take ExTe Masters, for example. A golf tournament in the middle of rural Sweden. And what a success. As we mentioned before, it was fully signed up within 12 minutes. Tough competitions and crazy, good-humoured events during the days and evenings is the way to go.

These four gentlemen from Finland took part in ExTe’s sponsored places.Left to right: Leo Koikkalainen, Jouni Porokka, Mika Vehviläinen and Asko Piirainen. Leo, Mika and Asko are customers of Jouni, who sells ExTe equipment in eastern Finland. Even though none of them made it to the finals they were extremely pleased with their efforts and the subsequent social gatherings.

Some people have all the luck. Here’s the whole bunch who’ll be competing for glory in Turkey next year.

ExTe Masters

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Extemagasin02|2013eng