USNR said it felt that Sweden-based Söderhamn Eriksson’s strong market position in Europe would complement USNR’s strong position in North America, and that both companies’ positions would be strengthened as a result of a combination in South America, Australia/New Zealand, Russia, and Asia.
“We believe that Söderhamn Eriksson’s extensive sales, distribution, and service networks in Europe will help USNR to more broadly introduce and support its products in Europe,” stated Chris Blomquist, vice president of sales for USNR.
“Lack of local support infrastructure can be a challenge, but now the combined organisation has an extensive OEM support network spanning 15 time zones, 3 continents, 10 countries, and at least 9 languages. No other company in our industry even comes close to matching this level of aftermarket support.”
Meanwhile, Söderhamn Eriksson managing director Henrik Lefvert said Söderhamn had products well-suited to the North American style of sawmilling, and it was optimistic that it could successfully introduce them to the US and Canada.
“We are also very excited to be able to creatively package solutions that combine products from Söderhamn Eriksson with those from USNR,” said Lars Lindvall, international sales manager for Söderhamn Eriksson added.
“We have of course been able to collaborate with USNR in the past, and have done so on a number of occasions, but we are now in a position to provide fully integrated, end-to-end solutions anywhere in the world.”
Söderhamn Eriksson operates five facilities in Sweden in addition to maintaining sales, service, and aftermarket support centres in the UK, Canada, Norway, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Poland, and Germany. It is known for its log lines and edger systems, and for the Cambio debarker, which was invented by Söderhamns Verkstäder in the 1950s.
USNR operates seven facilities in the United States and Canada, including three large manufacturing plants, plus a sales and service centre in Russia.
It is best known for end-to-end solutions for sawmills and planer mills, including log lines, curve sawing gangs, edger lines, trim-sort-stack systems, dry kilns, and optimization and control technologies, as well as its Coe brand products used in the manufacture of plywood and other panel products.
