Trimble forestry

The forestry company Holmen has chosen Connected Forest from Trimble Forestry as the new forestry management system for Holmen Skog. ForestX will implement the system at Holmen.

Holmen is one of Sweden’s largest forest owners. The Holmen Skog business area is responsible for the management and development of the group’s land holdings, which amount to approximately 1.3 million hectares.

Holmen Skog will be the first in Sweden and Scandinavia to choose the Connected Forest suite from Trimble Forestry as a comprehensive forest management system.  The background to choosing the Connected Forest suite is a strategic decision within Holmen to work more data-driven.

– Connected Forest gives us a platform where we can add more solutions and systems in the future. We have a lot of data. Now we have a platform that makes it possible to work data-driven in the long term, says Clas Engström, Head of Development at Holmen Skog.

– In Trimble, we have an active counterpart who continues to develop their software. We get impulses from Trimble for our own development.

At the same time, the change of business system represents a major change within Holmen Skog.

– It is not only an IT project. We are also looking at changing our own working methods. We have involved large parts of the business to find some new approaches and to work in new ways.

 

In summary, Clas Engström sees two main objectives in the project:

– The first is that we acquire a new operational system and improve and change our working methods. The second is that we get a platform that technically enables us to work more data-driven in an extension and enables us to take further steps in the future. It gives us the opportunity to manage data in a flexible way in the long term, to have control and to know in what format the data will come.

Collaboration partner with Trimble Forestry

ForestX is Trimble Forestry’s partner in the Scandinavian market.  This is the first Connected Forest project in Scandinavia. Clas Engström sees great value in having ForestX involved in the work.

 

– ForestX is close to us and knows forestry in Sweden and Scandinavia. For example, it will be a great advantage to be able to speak Swedish in these major development steps.

– This is our business system, which is obviously a central part of the company. It is our single biggest project right now. It’s an ambitious project, and we’re putting a lot into it, he says.

 

The project involves implementing LRM and CFHarvest from the Connected Forest suite.

 

CFHarvest is currently used by Sydved, another large Swedish forest company. ForestX was responsible for the implementation at Sydved, so there is experience of the system in Swedish conditions. However, Holmen will be the first in Scandinavia to use LRM, a service for managing basic forestry data and GIS information.

 

We are working to understand how LRM works. At the same time, we want to look at new ways of working and what is theoretically possible in relation to the program. That thinking is going on right now. We are looking at adaptations together with ForestX, says Clas Engström

Modern solutions with AI

For ForestX, the project with Holmen means that the company can now offer the entire Swedish forest industry a modern and powerful system that supports all business processes.

– We see this as the start of our customers getting a modern solution and a long-term partnership that supports the companies in the change that is on the doorstep in a number of areas. For example, it is about external requirements for modern forestry and the opportunity to use new technologies such as AI, says ForestX’s marketing manager Christer Lindqvist.

All parties see the project as the start of a far-reaching and long-term partnership. At the turn of the year 2024/2025, the part with LRM and CFHarvest will be ready to be put into operation.

 

– We will be the first to reach out to customers with this. We hope that we can meet them a little smarter and more efficiently. It will be more work for us, but we will be the first. It feels good and we are well on our way, says Clas Engström.

Fact box

Holmen
ForestX
Trimble Forestry
Connected Forest
LRM
Holmen

Holmen is one of Sweden’s largest forest owners. We manage the forest actively and sustainably to make sure it grows optimally, giving us the best raw material. Adopting a long-term view, we take responsibility for the forest ecocycle from seed to replanting while safeguarding biodiversity. Our employees manage our forests, buy wood and help private forest owners with harvesting and silviculture. 

ForestX

ForestX offers digital solutions and business knowledge for the entire forest value chain, from forest to finished product.  ForestX has well-known forestry and sawmill companies in Sweden, Denmark and Central Europe as customers.

 In 2023, ForestX was named Gasell 2023 by Dagens Industri for its rapid and healthy growth.

 One third of ForestX’s employees have a forestry education. Together with experienced solution architects and developers, there is a great knowledge of the needs of the forestry industry and digital solutions. ForestX has a network of partners and specialists who complement the work of digitizing the forest industry.

ForestX collaborates with world-leading product suppliers. The company currently has about fifty coworkers in Gothenburg, Dalarna, Uppsala, Växjö and Pune, India. ForestX also has employees on site for customers in Germany and Austria.

ForestX is the Scandinavian partner of Trimble Forestry, which provides the Connected Forest suite. 

Trimble Forestry

Trimble Forestry has 250 employees worldwide. Trimble Forestry has offices in Canada, USA, Brazil, New Zealand, Finland and Germany. Trimble Forestry is part of Trimble Inc.

Trimble Forestry is a leading provider of technology solutions for the forest industry. The company focuses on providing innovative tools and systems to streamline forest management and increase productivity in the forest industry.

Trimble Forestry provides the Connected Forest suite. 

Connected Forest

The Connected Forest suite includes, for example, functions for machine GIS, harvesting and forest management planning, logistics, contracts, price calculation, settlement and invoicing.

The Connected Forest modules can be used individually or together to digitize several steps. The services are delivered as SoftWare As A Service (SaaS) and are built with modern technology. For example, there are functions for machine GIS, planning of harvesting and forest management, logistics, contracts, price calculation, settlement and invoicing. 

LRM

Land Resource Manager (LRM) is an intuitive and simple SAAS service for the management of land data and GIS data for organizations working with real estate and forestry data. LRM handles all the critical functions of land and forest resource planning, and can provide decision support with a fairly wide range of customizability. This allows customers to adapt the tool to their particular business and workflows.

 

LRM is tightly integrated with the other applications in the Connected Forest product suite, providing an easy way to monitor mission-critical information from all parts of the business.

Canada / Sweden

 

Through the collaboration with ForestX, Trimble Forestry will make a long term commitment to the Swedish and Nordic markets.

 

– It’s amazing how efficient and advanced the Nordic forest industry is, says Kevin Toohill, CEO of Trimble Forestry.

 

In this interview made in March 2021, he gives his views on the Swedish willingness to invest, talks about adaptation to the Nordic market and what a Finnish sunrise feels like.

 

Kevin Toohill has previously been responsible for Trimble Forestry in Europe, and during that time he was based in Finland for a year and a half. After that experience and through his continued work in international forestry, he has a firm opinion of the forest industry in the Nordic region:

 

– It is clear how Nordic forestry always strives for more efficiency, it’s amazing how advanced it is. It is a technically advanced and dynamic region, it is fun to work there!

 

– I was also impressed how much of an identity the forest and the forest industry have in the Nordics. It is such an important part of culture and the economy. In Canada it is not at all central in the same way, it is a different dynamic, says Kevin Toohill.

 

Looking for new technology

 

For the past three years, Swedish ForestX and Trimble Forestry have been collaborating on the Swedish market. Sweden is one of the world’s largest forestry countries, so it is an exciting market from that perspective, says Kevin Toohill.

 

– But what makes Sweden particularly interesting for Trimble Forestry right now are the large investments in IT and technology that are being made, he continues. This lines up with what we at Trimble have been doing in development and investments. The timing is good, there is a lot of activity in the Swedish market and many are searching for new technology and for replacing old systems.

 

Kevin Toohill in particular mentions the transition to VIOL3 as a crucial part of entering the Swedish market.

 

– Everyone, us including, was waiting for the next platform to come, and now it is here with all the opportunities it provides. Now that it’s happening, we’re ready to jump in.

 

Trimble Forestry provides a product suite with modules for the entire forest industry’s value chain, Connected Forest. There are functions for, among other things, planning, planting, harvesting and transportation.

 

– Our products are about integrating and optimizing the entire supply chain. The great value lies in a combination of having standard platforms and collaborating with partners such as ForestX to adapt it to the local needs of the market, says Kevin Toohill.

 

Partner with industrial knowledge

 

Today, Trimble Forestry operates worldwide. North America, South America, New Zealand and parts of Europe are on the company’s map. Sweden is, as Kevin Toohill puts it, “The next frontier”. And the approach is the same whatever market they enter:

 

– Take the core of what you have, adapt it to the local market. That’s how we work everywhere, says Kevin Toohill.

 

– All regions we work in have different systems for integration, reporting and regulations. In Sweden, all three parts are affected and it is more comprehensive and more detailed than in other regions. I see two aspects of it:

 

1. The product platform we have is built to be adapted to different systems, it is a requirement all over the world.

2. The collaboration with ForestX means that we have the local expertise, technical capabilities and the industry knowledge.

– It will be a significant effort, but it’s something we have done before, says Kevin Toohill.

 

– We will have components and modules that will be very specific to the Swedish market. We provide everything needed to operate locally, but it will still be the same core as in the global platform. It allows us and our customers to save money and we can benefit from the common technology.

 

Investments and development take place continuously within the Trimble Group.

 

The entire Trimble Group annually allocates $ 500 million for research and development.

 

– Trimble Forestry is currently investing over six million dollars annually (over 50 million Swedish kronor), specially in Connected Forest research and development, says Kevin Toohill.

 

Focus on digitization

 

The collaboration with ForestX in Sweden is well established after a few years.

 

– It is an ideal partnership as our areas of expertise and our interests are very well aligned. ForestX is very focused on digitalization and we add platforms and products to the collaboration. What we look forward to now as ForestX grows and expands is that we focus on the products and ForestX is focusing on the customers in Sweden. We’re relying on ForestX to take the knowledge of the Swedish market with us, so that we can develop the products in the right direction.

 

– This is a deeper partnership than we usually have. In other markets, we have grown organically. Through the collaboration with ForestX, we can scale up faster and act quicker than we could do ourselves. The first three years have been really exciting!

 

The Finnish sunrise

 

“What I will always remember from Finland is the sun in all seasons. It is the experience of darkness and light and to see a sunset at midnight, if you can even call it a sunset then.

 

Then it was the darkness of winter, which I still found comforting in some way.

 

At one point I was in Helsinki and had just arrived from Stockholm and a meeting with Christer and Carl from ForestX. It was March and I arrived at the tram stop and the sun rose. And I remember very clearly that I could feel it in my face. It was the first time I had seen and felt the sun in months.”

 

Trimble Forestry

 

Trimble’s Forestry Division offers SaaS and enterprise software to improve the productivity and sustainability of the world’s most recognized integrated forest product companies, forest managers, conservation organizations, government departments, finished product manufacturers, and the partners that connect the global forest supply chain. Trimble’s Connected Forest™ solutions manage the full raw materials lifecycle of planning, planting, growing, harvesting, transporting, and processing.

 

forestry.trimble.com

 

ForestX

 

ForestX combines industry experience, practical business knowledge and a portfolio of unique IT solutions. ForestX creates efficient flows, from forest to end product. We do this by digitizing the forest industry. ForestX has offices in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Pune, India.

 

Forestx.se

 

The collaboration between Trimble Forestry and ForestX started in 2018.

ForestX distributes the Trimble Forestry product suite Connected Forest in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Three large Finnish sawmills have chosen to improve their operations together with Trimble Forestry. Versowood, Westas and Pölkky have all chosen to go for Connected Forest.

 

“A significant change for the better!” – Pekka Kopra, CEO, Westas Group

 

The product page>

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 30, 2018

 

—Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today it has selected ForestX to distribute and support Trimble’s Connected Forest Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) portfolio in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Trimble Forestry and ForestX will work together to bring innovative, technologically-advanced solutions to the Scandinavian forest industry.

 

“ForestX brings decades of experience and a deep understanding of the needs and operational requirements of the Scandinavian forestry industry. ForestX will match our solutions with specific customer needs, and be a local partner in order to ensure the highest levels of support to Connected Forest customers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark,” said Kevin Toohill, general manager, Trimble Forestry Europe.

 

“We are proud to join forces with Trimble to bring its wide range of forestry specific software solutions, including the Connected Forest SaaS software portfolio, to Scandinavia. Our specialized team members are on the front lines of technological change in the forest industry, and we are pleased to work closely with Trimble to introduce the most innovative forestry solutions to our market,” said Carl Barck, CEO of ForestX AB.

 

About ForestX

ForestX digitalizes and creates business value for the forest industry by combining new technology, process knowledge and business expertise combined with a portfolio of unique industry products. The founders of ForestX have a deep knowledge of the Swedish and Scandinavian forest industry and a long history of implementing many major IT solutions for the industry with a team of experienced professionals. For more information about ForestX visit: www.forestx.se.

 

About Trimble Forestry

Trimble’s Forestry Division offers land, forest and fiber management solutions that improve the productivity and operations for some of the world’s most recognized integrated forest product companies, forest landowners, timberland investment, conservation, state and federal departments as well as international food processing companies involved in environmental, social and economic land management. The Connected Forest SaaS portfolio provides solutions to manage the full raw materials lifecycle of planning, planting, growing, harvesting, transporting and processing. For more information about Trimble Forestry visit:  www.trimble.com/forestry.

 

About Trimble

Trimble is transforming the way the world works by delivering products and services that connect the physical and digital worlds. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics enable customers to improve productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. From purpose built products to enterprise lifecycle solutions, Trimble software, hardware and services are transforming industries such as agriculture, construction, geospatial and transportation and logistics. For more information about Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) visit: www.trimble.com.

 

Contact:

Kevin Toohill, Trimble Forestry, kevin_toohill@trimble.com, Mobile, +358 50 512 7555
Carl Barck, ForestX, carl.barck@forestx.se, Mobile, +46 70 22 72 172