Gothenburg, Sweden
ForestX was founded three years ago. With 35 co-workers, a broad network of partners and a joint long experience of the combination of forest and IT, ForestX sticks to its goal; to digitize the forest industry.
In this interview with CEO Carl Barck and marketing manager Christer Lindqvist, we go to India, on to the digitization of forestry in pandemic times and future recruitment needs. And much more.
ForestX India has ten employees in Pune. Pune is today a hub for the tech world in India
India
ForestX India was founded one year ago. There are already ten employees in ForestX India, all based in the city of Pune. Pune has over six million inhabitants and is the place where cutting-edge expertise in the Indian tech world gathers.
– Everyone at ForestX India are hand-picked specialists. We are proud and happy that we have managed to create this together during this pandemic year, says Carl Barck, CEO of ForestX.
– We chose to make our own establishment in India after reviewing various alternatives. We are confident with the team in India and we have a really good collaboration. We have such good experience that we now want to continue to grow and expand the business there. At the moment we’re looking for Lead Developer, Senior Software Engineer, Software Engineer in .NET / Azure Stack and/or Angular in Pune, says Carl Barck.
During the early summer of 2021, ForestX India provided vaccination against Covid-19 to employees and their families.
This is Team India:
https://forestx.se/en/team-india/
Examples of projects where ForestX India and ForestX in Sweden collaborated:
Partners
ForestX has a wide partner network. These include Mentormate, Euvic, Tenfifty, Remsoft and Metapraxis.
– Many of our partners complement each other. Since we know our partners well, we will always find the best combinations when we create unique offers for our customers, says marketing manager Christer Lindqvist.
The partnership with Trimble Forestry
One of ForestX’s deeper collaborations is the one with Trimble Forestry. ForestX is Trimble Forestry’s Nordic partner and delivers the CFForest product suite to Nordic customers.
– We realized early on that Trimble Forestry’s products were just right. We are grateful that we have received the trust from Trimble to cooperate in the Nordic region, says CEO Carl Barck.
– The market needs this type of product that provides a platform for digitization. The forest industry wants and needs to move towards modern cloud services, and that is where Trimble Forestry’s products fit in with their modular structure.
– With the transition to VIOL3, the timing is right to choose the CFForest suite. We work continuously with the establishment and adaptation of the product to the Swedish market, says Carl Barck.
Read an interview with Trimble Forestry’s CEO Kevin Toohill about his views on the Nordic forest industry:
ForestX is now working to establish physical offices in Stockholm and Dalarna as the company grows.
Office in Stockholm and Falun
– As we have grown, the number of places where the employees are based has increased. Today, in addition to Gothenburg, there are also employees in Stockholm and in Dalarna. We are now working to establish physical offices there, says marketing manager Christer Lindqvist.
Read more about ForestX’s first recruitment in Dalarna: https://forestx.se/en/stefan-jonis-joins-forestx/
ForestXChange
– ForestXChange is part of our expanded offer for change management, says marketing manager Christer Lindqvist.
– Through our partner network and our various product partners, we have the knowledge, experience and solutions to ensure a change process to turn out well. We have cutting-edge expertise in all areas related to change, forestry, digitization and IT. This combined means that we dare to say that we are experts in the forest industry’s digital journey of change, says Christer Lindqvist.
Read more about ForestXChange in an interview with Sven Lundmark here:
https://forestx.se/en/sven-lundmark-the-customer-has-to-keep-a-strong-position/
Examples of projects and customers
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Setra. Together with Setra, we are carrying out a major development project aimed at modernizing the business system. It will continue in the autumn of 2021.
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Vida Skog. We have developed the production follow-up app WQP together with Vida Skog. The app is now in use.
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AI project at Sveaskog. We project manage two AI projects at Sveaskog. Among other things, we are developing a completely new tool, KingPin, for producing pin files with higher quality by using AI.
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CFHarvest to HedeDanmark. We helped the Danish forestry company to become fully digital in its work process.
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Developed OptiNex Glulam for Pfeifer in Austria. We developed a new module for glulam production for our own planning program OptiNex.
Read more about some of the projects here:
Sveaskog:
https://forestx.se/en/innovative-ai-projects-at-sveaskog-linked-together-at-forestx/
HedeDanmark:
https://forestx.se/en/hededanmark-cfharvest-made-our-work-flow-completely-digitized/
Digitization of the forest industry in pandemic times
– We notice that the interest is great and we continuously get inquiries, despite the pandemic. It’s a hot area. We see that the players in the forest industry are interested and well-educated and know that they must take steps towards a completely digital way of working, says CEO Carl Barck.
– We also see how our work with Pfeifer in Austria created great interest in the region, and we are working on new inquiries from that part of Europe.
Webinars
During spring of 2021, ForestX had two webinars on the theme of AI in the forest for real together with Tenfifty, and one where the product suite CFForest from Trimble Forestry was presented.
– It has been a successful concept with webinars, says marketing manager Christer Lindqvist. It turned out well and we will continue this autumn.
– It is a good format and we have experienced that there has been a great commitment and more participants than we had dared to hope for. It is a great way to share knowledge and information.
– But at the same time, of course, we look forward to meeting our customers and colleagues for real again when society can reopen, says Christer Lindqvist.
On September 16, ForestX arrange a webinar together with Metapraxis. It will be about analysis and follow-up of finances, production, sales and market in the woodworking industry.
On September 28, part three of our series on AI for real in the woods will be arranged. Then the theme is “Strategic, tactical and operational planning”. Christer Lindqvist, ForestX and David Fendrich, Tenfifty, participate. An even more secret guest is planned!
– With our smart digital solutions, we help forest companies to take their responsibility, says ForestX’s CEO Carl Barck.
Sustainability
– With our smart digital solutions, we help forest companies take their responsibility. By having a solid decision basis and digital opportunities to follow every part of the work process, we jointly save resources at all levels, says CEO Carl Barck.
Recruitments
In three years, ForestX has grown into a company with around 35 co-workers in Sweden and India. With projects in several European countries, there is a constant need to make new recruits.
– We are always looking for those who have expertise in both forestry and IT. If you have competence and experience in IT, technology, forestry, GIS or VIOL3, you are very interesting to us, says CEO Carl Barck and continues:
– Our journey has just begun, anyone who wants to be part of building something new should come to us. We work with modern technology and the best solutions.
– We want our employees to be able to make the best professional development with us.
