FM Timber

FM Timber Oy is a sawmill group manufacturing spruce and pine timber established in 1997. Founded by two forestry entrepreneurs, the company has grown over the years into a group employing around 100 people, and is now strongly export-oriented. Around 70% of the group’s sawn timber is destined for the world market, and the group sources its raw materials from the vicinity of the sawmills.

FM Timber has invested in high-quality production technology, and also needs modern automation for the information management of its processes. In the fast-changing world of the sawmill industry, an information management system is required to ensure timeliness and adaptability. That’s why FM Timber chose the Timber by Pinja application, which is continuously developed in close cooperation between Pinja and FM Timber.

A holistic view of the business underpins FM Timber’s steady growth

The joint development project with Pinja started in 2014, when the growing group needed speed and ease of information management. This started the development work, which resulted in the creation of an application that is specifically suited to the needs of the sawmill industry, the Timber by Pinja application. Thanks to Timber by Pinja, FM Timber now has access to a wide range of data on its processes in an easy-to-read format. A holistic view of the business has improved sawmill profitability, and inventory and production management, which in turn has also brought financial benefits.

The cooperation in brief

Joint development work begins

In 2014, FM Timber and Pinja started a joint development project on the Timber by Pinja application. The goal was to develop a tool that enables comprehensive, effortless and accurate ERP for sawmilling and wood processing, from inventory management to financial management.

From basic data collection to automated reporting

During the joint development project, a system has been created that not only collects the necessary information about the process, but also produces reports that can be sent to the customer as is. The latest developments include log yard management, inventory reporting by product length and product, and aggregated reporting of volumes to be sawed and that has already been sawn.

A holistic view of the process improves business

The Timber by Pinja application now provides a clear view of the group’s processes, which has taken business management to a new level. Thanks to automation, accurate information about processes is available in real time, freeing up workers’ time from manual paperwork to productive work. There are already guidelines for expanding the use of the application, and it is planned to include, for example, processing products in the future.

Thanks to the development work of the last few years, we have reached a new level of information management for the whole group. Now that I’m getting to know Pinja’s ways of working, I see great potential in the continuity of the system.

Mikko Luikku, Sales Director, FM Timbe

An adaptive information system evolves with your business

FM Timber’s Sales Director Mikko Luikku has worked in the sawmill industry since the 1980s. He remembers the time when more advanced systems arrived in the sawmill industry after the mid-90s. Since then, the sawmill industry has developed increasingly complex processes, which also require the information system to be able to adapt to new requirements.

– Lumber is a very simple product, but the process around the product is terribly complex. The sector is also very change-prone from a business point of view, in fact it is always changing. Therefore, it requires adaptability from the information system, says Luikku.

From a business point of view, switching to a new information management system is always a risk, as it is a major change project. FM Timber, which operates in a change-prone industry, wanted an information management system that could be used to enhance existing functionality or introduce completely new functionality with greater flexibility in the event of change.

– Pinja’s platform is highly evolvable and customizable to our needs. This means that you don’t have to keep switching to a new expensive system every time your business changes. When change is needed, developers have a recipe for dealing with it, Luikku says.

Economic benefits of reporting automation

Information systems produce a lot of information, but the question is how to use it to get real benefits. Timber by Pinja’s recent development work has focused on automated reporting, which has produced good results. Its main asset is the comprehensive view of the entire business situation of the group in real time.

Easy-to-understand reports provide an accurate picture of the group’s activities, allowing future decisions to be made on the basis of facts. In just a few years, we have reached a point where the system is already bringing financial benefits to FM Timber.

– Information systems are expensive but essential for business. In the sawmill industry the margins are also usually very small. That is why we must be able to derive benefits from the information system, says Luikku.

– We have achieved the way we want to work: real-time reports come directly from the system in a format that can be sent to customers as they are, without the need for multiple people to work on them.

There is still plenty of potential for development in the coming years

FM Timber is currently developing downstream processing alongside the sawmill industry, and in the future the development list will include the introduction of downstream products into the Timber by Pinja system. The automation of the system’s reporting is also to be made more efficient. Further development is therefore needed, for example, to develop reports that serve the needs of management by creating clear indicators of the activities of the different production points, among other things.

– Above all, Timber by Pinja offers a wide range of possibilities for different activities. The potential for development is based on the fact that a lot of basic groundwork has been done on the system. Pinja also has the will and resources to develop the system in a customer-oriented direction. As each business operates in its own way, it is good that the data collected can be used and shaped to meet the different needs of each individual process and business.

– The basic elements are readily available, even better than in many other systems. I believe that over the years we will have the opportunity to develop the system even further in leaps and bounds, Luikku says.

FM Timber in a nutshell

70 % of turnover comes from worldwide export

1997 two forest entrepreneurs set up a sawmill

FM the letters in the company’s name come from the words Forest Master, which reflects the background of the founders

100 employees at FM Timber’s sawmill

Featured services

Timber by Pinja

With the help of the software modules included in Timber by Pinja, the entire ERP of the sawmill and wood processing plant is effortless, precise and modern.