FX Europe – ForestX

New employee in Europe: Florian Peterlunger

Career, ForestX Europe, FX Europe / 27 April 2023

Tirol Europe/Gothenburg

As the number of customers and projects in Europe increased, so did the need of employees. Florian Peterlunger is ForestX’s first employee in mainland Europe.

In recent years, ForestX has had several projects in Austria. As the assignments became more numerous and larger, the need to have someone on site increased.

Close to the customers

Florian Peterlunger lives South Tirol, in the Italian Alps, with Austria as his closest neighbor. From here he can easily get to ForestX’s customers in Austria. He’s working as a project manager for Optinex with the customers. In Florian Peterlunger, customers also have someone to speak German with.

– The customers are satisfied, there is always terminology that can be difficult to get right in English. I am close by and can be on site, says Florian Peterlunger.

With a technical/mechanical background, Florian Peterlunger previously worked for a company supplying equipment to the saw and wood industry. There he supported developing the after-sales department.

In parallel with his work at ForestX, Florian Peterlunger is studying industrial engineering and management, and is now aiming to complete his master’s degree in a year and a half.

Motivated team

Taking the step to a Swedish company and becoming the first person on-site for the company in the region can be seen as a bold decision.

– I was impressed by the motivation of the ForestX team. Here I can be part of the development, I can be involved from the beginning and can influence the work and be involved in building the team.

Develops Optinex

Florian Peterlunger’s work at ForestX is very much about the development of the planning and optimization tool Optinex.

We have weekly meetings with customers where we get feedback and discuss additions and changes. Internally, we also discuss what we can do and what would be interesting and valuable for customers.

The sawmill and forestry industries are large in Austria and the surrounding regions. Half of Austria’s surface is covered by forest, which corresponds to about four million hectares. The Austrian wood industry has an annual production value of EUR 10.4 billion. Together with tourism, the wood industry accounts for the country’s largest foreign exchange earnings. The industry is diversified, ranging from sawmill industry, construction industry, furniture industry, wood and wood composite industry to ski industry.

ForestX expands in Europe: “Our growth demands a local presence.”

New employee in Europe: Florian Peterlunger Read More »

ForestX expands in Europe: “Our growth demands a local presence.”

Career, ForestX Europe, FX Europe / 20 April 2023

Gothenburg/Tirol

ForestX has been working with Austrian customers for a long time. Now the company is deepening its involvement in Europe with its first employee in the region.

For several years, ForestX has carried out various projects and collaborated with major forestry and sawmill companies in Europe. Now the involvement in Europe continues with an employee on site.

– It was time for us to take this step. Now our continued expansion and development requires a local presence, says Carl Barck, CEO of ForestX.

Growth in every market

Florian Peterlunger is located in South Tirol, in the Italian Alps, with Austria as the closest neighbor. He will work on ForestX’s ongoing projects in Austria.

– We are very pleased that Florian has chosen to join us. We see strong growth in all our markets and this is just the beginning of a larger establishment in Europe, says Carl Barck.

The establishment means that ForestX’s expertise comes closer to both new and old customers in Europe with the same solutions as in Scandinavia. In the business areas of forest and saw, ForestX can offer products together with an industry-specific business knowledge. One third of ForestX’s employees have a forestry background and education and the company cooperates with several well-known product suppliers.

Digitalization of forestry

The establishment is a first step in ForestX’s larger investment in Europe.

– We see great opportunities in Europe. We see that digitalization in forestry and sawmills are priority areas for everyone. We have a lot to contribute there; we have extensive experience, and we combine our solutions with deep forestry business expertise.

– Above all, we can also help with how to work and organize around the new tools. This is crucial to the success and profitability of a project, says Carl Barck.

Leading planning tool integrated with SAP S/4HANA for glulam industry in operation at Pfeifer in Austria

ForestX in new major European project: Tactical operational planning at Rubner

ForestX expands in Europe: “Our growth demands a local presence.” Read More »

New to ForestX: This is how your first time with us will be

Career, FX Europe / 31 October 2022

At ForestX, getting to know your new colleagues is a key part of your first time with us. Regardless of what you will actually be working on, it’s all about people. Together with your mentor, we’ll make sure you meet a hand-picked selection of your colleagues to get a picture of their daily lives and who they are. Your mentor will be the person who takes care of you during your first period, to whom you can always turn in small and big matters.

You will then follow your personal induction programme so that you can systematically settle into your job. A common approach is that you are introduced to one of the system solutions we deliver to our customers, where you initially learn the system from a few colleagues. As you get warmed up, the tasks and customer contacts grow. At first you may be involved in a meeting with a customer that a more experienced colleague is holding, but eventually you will be holding them yourself or playing an active role.

Together with your consultant manager, we will then put together an individual development plan once you have had the opportunity to squeeze and feel our different types of assignments.

In order to be constantly relevant and create value for our clients, we are constantly working on the development of our business. Of course, you’ll be directly involved in that work because everyone can contribute in different ways. It’s also an appreciated way to get to know colleagues who you might not otherwise work with on a daily basis.

If you want to know more, contact Johan Bergström.

New to ForestX: This is how your first time with us will be Read More »

Carl Barck and Christer Lindqvist: “The goal is for ForestX to be the app store of forestry”

AI, Career, ForestX India, FX Europe, FX India, Optinex / 6 July 2022

Gothenburg

In this year’s summer interview with CEO Carl Barck and Marketing Manager Christer Lindqvist, you’ll get the background to ForestX’s large increase in turnover, how digitalisation is the only way forward in the future of forestry and why you should always turn to ForestX first!

Growth every year

ForestX has increased growth by 50% every year for the past three years! There are many explanations behind these large increases:

– We have a broader customer base, we simply have more customers in more segments, says Christer Lindqvist. Nowadays, we can be found in various companies in forestry, the wood processing industry, the paper industry, and the construction trade.

– We are on track with our growth and we are now well on our way to becoming the “app store of forestry”. If you are in the industry and looking for smart digital solutions, then you should look at us first. We are a platform for great digital solutions, there is simply always a solution for you and your business with us and our partners.

– It is worth pointing out that we are not just a service company, we are also a product company with the latest and most modern technical solutions, says Christer Lindqvist.

During the year, ForestX together with Trimble Forestry, has invested in the development of Trimble Forestry’s Connected Forest product suite. Together with Trimble, a Swedish version of Connected Forest has been developed. The work has been done by ForestX’s teams in both Sweden and India.

– It is the first and perhaps the only modern business system for the forest industry to be developed in the last 20 years. It is based on modern technology and is easily accessible through web and cloud services. Users get full control of their information for forestry operations, says Christer Lindqvist and continues:

– The great benefit also lies in the fact that it is mobile, scalable and fully adaptable to customers’ own operations. Now we are ready to seriously roll out the systems on a broad front, which feels incredibly good after several years of work together with Trimble, says Christer Lindqvist.

15 employees in India

In Pune, India, a team of 15 people has been built up during the pandemic years. From being seen only on screens, Carl Barck and Johan Eriksson were able to visit the team in June 2022.

– Now it’s time for us to establish an office in Pune, that was part of the purpose of the trip, says Carl Barck.

– But of course the most important thing was to finally meet. We have the best development team available for the technology we use. The team in Pune has extensive experience of working with the forestry industry and the specific requirements that the forestry industry places on its IT solutions. The team in Pune is fundamental to our success in delivering to customers.

The rate of recruitment in India has been high, and Carl Barck sees that the company in India will continue to grow at the same pace.

– Over the years, we have also worked out good forms of cooperation between Sweden and India. We operate as a seamless company. We really are one company, even if our staff operate from different parts of the world, says Carl Barck.

Great interest on LinkedIn

During the year, ForestX has invested in marketing communications and has a strong presence on LinkedIn.

– Things are happening all the time in our company and we want to tell people about it. We also see that it is appreciated and that there is great curiosity about what we do, says Christer Lindqvist.

Other marketing activities planned for the autumn include breakfast meetings all around Sweden.

– We want to meet our customers in person and tell them about everything we do together with our partners. Keep an eye out in our channels this autumn, says Christer Lindqvist.

Ongoing recruitment

– Our people are the foundation of everything, and we have an incredibly dedicated team both in Sweden and in India, says Carl Barck.

– We continue to recruit, we have a constant need to get more people into our teams, both on the forestry and technical side, and in Sweden and in India.

The growth on the personnel side also means that ForestX is present in more locations in Sweden, the latest addition to the ForestX map is Umeå. Since last summer seven people joined the company in Sweden, five in India.

– We are simply always looking for people! We are looking for the best people who want to change this industry. We see great success in bringing different skills together to make real change. Here there is room and opportunity for both those who are new to the industry and those with long experience, says Carl Barck.

Extended management team with Johan Bergström

As the company has grown, so has the need for an expanded management team. In the spring of 2022, Johan Bergström took his place in ForestX’s management team. Read more about it here.

Optinex in operation in several countries

Optinex is ForestX’s unique end-to-end solution for optimizing planning in the woodworking industry. Optinex is in operation at many companies in several European countries.

– We can truly say that the product is established. We now know that it is a complete solution for planning and optimization. We will be presenting Optinex in more detail at the Wood & Technology Exhibition at the end of August in Gothenburg, says Carl Barck.

What can be perceived as complex becomes simple with our solutions, says Carl Barck.

Digitalisation a prerequisite for sustainable forestry

Everyone agrees that we will see increasingly selective forestry in the future. ForestX’s digital solutions will be a prerequisite for coping with the demands of the new era.

– It is obvious that the amount of available timber will decrease. We must conserve resources and be extremely efficient in the use of raw materials and energy. Our solutions help our customers do just that, says Carl Barck.

– Forestry will need to work on a smaller scale. Maintaining productivity and profitability requires more digitalisation and the right tools. What can be perceived as complex becomes simple with our solutions, says Carl Barck.

Dianthus new partner

This year, ForestX’s partner network has been expanded with Dianthus, a GIS specialist based in Boden in the north of Sweden.

– We bring together the best and the brightest expertise through our network of partners. We see that there is mutual value in this type of collaboration, says Christer Lindqvist.

New projects in Europe with Pfeifer

FX Europe, Optinex / 26 January 2022

Göteborg

ForestX and Pfeifer continue to work together. After the successful project when ForestX developed Optinex Glulam together with Pfeifer in Austria the two companies look into new ways of digitizing and optimizing timber manufacturing processes.

In December 2021 Stefan Hammerl, director of IT and Andreas Schierle, director of process and project management at Pfeifer, were on a visit to Gothenburg where they discussed upcoming projects. ForestX recently developed a new application within Optinex for tactical planning for Pfeifer’s glulam production.

Andreas Schierle, Stefan Hammerl, Pfeifer and Carl Barck and Johan Eriksson, ForestX, continue to work together after the successful project developing Optinex Glulam.

Furthermore, Pfeifer is planning to implement Optinex in other fields of business as well. Therefore, Pfeifer and ForestX are currently planning to continue their successful cooperation.

– The cooperation with ForestX is very valuable for us as we are not only looking for technical solutions but also for a partner with deep understanding of timber processes who helps us identifying the best fit within our organization and system landscape, says Stefan Hammerl, Director of IT at Pfeifer.

– It’s inspiring to work with customers like Pfeifer who wants to and dare to work with the latest digital work tools in the sawmill industry. It’s in the collaboration with committed customers like Pfeifer we can make Optinex even better. This means we can always meet the requirements and needs of the industry, says Carl Barck, CEO of ForestX.

pfeifergroup.com

New projects in Europe with Pfeifer Read More »

ForestX in new major European project: Tactical operational planning at Rubner

FX Europe, Optinex / 28 October 2021

During fall 2021, ForestX began work on three projects at the wood processing Rubner group in Austria. Rubner has operations in 20 locations in four European countries with over 1,300 employees.

The first project includes implementing tactical planning with OptiNex. Then follows a project with operational sawmill planning with OptiNex and a project for planning for glulam.

– It is a great acknowledgement to have a new big project with a strong European wood group as Rubner, says Carl Barck, CEO of ForestX.

– We got new experiences from the Central European wood industry in recent work in the area, which we bring into the new project. We meet a great interest in digitizing all parts of the work process from our European customers.

ForestX in new major European project: Tactical operational planning at Rubner Read More »

Carl Barck and Christer Lindqvist, ForestX: ”Our journey has just begun”

ForestX India, FX Europe, FX India, Partners / 6 July 2021

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:

https://forestx.se/en/leading-planning-tool-integrated-with-sap-s-4hana-for-glulam-industry-in-operation-at-pfeifer-in-austria/

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:

https://forestx.se/en/kevin-toohill-ceo-of-trimble-forestry-the-large-investments-in-it-and-technology-makes-sweden-interesting/

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

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.
Vida Skog. We have developed the production follow-up app WQP together with Vida Skog. The app is now in use.
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.
CFHarvest to HedeDanmark. We helped the Danish forestry company to become fully digital in its work process.
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/

Pfeifer:
https://forestx.se/en/leading-planning-tool-integrated-with-sap-s-4hana-for-glulam-industry-in-operation-at-pfeifer-in-austria/

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.

Carl Barck and Christer Lindqvist, ForestX: ”Our journey has just begun” Read More »

Leading planning tool integrated with SAP S/4HANA for glulam industry in operation at Pfeifer in Austria

ForestX Europe, FX Europe, Optinex / 23 June 2021

Gothenburg/Imst

Europe’s glulam industries needed a complete solution for planning production with a seamless integration with SAP S/4HANA.

Johan Eriksson and colleagues at ForestX developed a module to the company’s existing product Optinex.

Optinex is a unique optimization planning tool that uses the full power of IBM Watson.

Since January 2021, the application has been in operation at Pfeifer group in Austria.

A large part of glulam planning in Sweden and around Europe takes place with excel sheets and simple computer support. The introduction of Optinex Glulam means a direct step into a digitalized way of working for the wood processing industries who choose the application.

– Optinex helps us to implement our business strategy with regard to the digitalization of production-related business processes in a consequent manner, says Stefan Hammerl, head of IT applications at Pfeifer.

Johan Eriksson, solution architect, ForestX and Stefan Hammerl, head of IT applications, Pfeifer

– This is one of the most fun projects I have completed. We have worked closely with Pfeifer’s planners and they are happy with the tool. We have been able to do exactly what the customer wanted, says Johan Eriksson, solution architect at ForestX.

OptiNex Glulam can be configured to take into account a number of parameters in the optimization of the planning of glulam production, for example:

Minimizing waste.
Machine utilization.
Optimized flows in the factory.
Available raw material.
Finishing operations.

The scheduler can easily prioritize the various optimization parameters during use, depending on the current order mode.

Unique optimization model for the customer

– We have developed a unique optimization solution where the model can be adapted to the customer’s needs. The solution is integrated with other modules in Optinex. In this way, the solution becomes more complete, says Johan Eriksson, ForestX.

Optinex Glulam is a true SaaS (Software as a Service) solution. The optimization engine is upgraded to use the industry leading capabilities of IBM Watson cloud optimization. Optinex is seamlessly integrated with the business processes in SAP S/4-HANA, minimizing manual work and reaching a high level of security and availability.

– Our event driven architecture is built from the ground up for maximum flexibility when integrating with customer solutions. Both regarding transmission methods and message formats, says Johan Eriksson, ForestX.

– With ForestX, we have found a partner who, on the one hand, understands our business model and, on the other hand, has transformed our – sometimes – very complex requirements into a scalable and user-friendly system with Optinex, says Stefan Hammerl, Pfeifer.

Everything started in the summer of 2020. The integration of Optinex Glulam was part of Pfeifer’s SAP S/4HANA implementation project. The integration project started in August, in early autumn ForestX was able to demonstrate parts of the application and in December tests and adaptations were made. In January, the application began to be used in production.

During the implementation phase an agile project team with optimization specialist, architects and planners from Pfeifer was formed. The project scope included adaptations of customer specific UI, Integration and Optimization models tailoring. With a team well experienced from similar projects we could learn from each other and complete the goals and timeline.

In early March 2021, Johan Eriksson and his team were in a phase of “hyper care”. In this phase, ForestX has extra resources in support for end users to ensure a smooth rollout.

Digitized process

Other glulam manufacturing industries could become more digital in their production through Optinex Glulam; the module can be used both in industries with a high degree of customer adaptation and in those that manufacture standard dimensions.

Johan Eriksson and colleagues are also looking at how the application can be developed to also include cross laminated timber, CLT. The method is common in Europe, but new to the Nordic countries. Cross laminated timber is used, for example, for house building where wall elements are completed in the factory. Everything from doors and windows to electrical outlets are removed from the wall modules. And what good would a smart planning tool do in these processes?

Johan Eriksson looks into the future:

– Well, you do not have to lay the wood with the best quality in the spaces you know will be removed…

More about Pfeifer

Pfeifer is a leading company in the European wood industry. In their eight facilities in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic Pfeifer practices their philosophy. Passion for timber – Passion for our work with conifer wood.

With Pfeifers more than 2,000 employees the group transforms the raw material timber in a precious range of products. A clearly structured range of goods builds the basis of the Pfeifer Group success. In over 90 countries, people trust in our products.

pfeifergroup.com

ForestX team on the project

Johan Eriksson

Lösningsarkitekt

Area of focus
Problem solving, streamlining and automation.

Oskar Danielsson

Lösningsarkitekt

Area of focus
Problem solving, streamlining and automation.

Prasad Patole

Senior Technical Lead

Area of focus
Senior System Dev. with 10+ years experience from Microsoft Technology, MS Azure development and Azure Devops.

Pooja Rakade

Lead Software Engineer

Area of focus
Senior System Dev. with 5+ years experience within Microsoft Technology. Pooja has worked with solutions for the forest industry in the past (4+ years).

Leading planning tool integrated with SAP S/4HANA for glulam industry in operation at Pfeifer in Austria Read More »