New Plant Manager at Komatsu Forest
Since mid-January, Anna Fredriksson is the new Plant manager at Komatsu Forest in Umeå. Anna is also the first woman ever to become a Plant manager within the global Komatsu Group. Anna has a mechanical engineering degree and joined Komatsu Forest in 2011 when she did her master thesis while working in production. She then joined the quality department, where she over the years has worked with quality investigations and product quality, and then became head of the quality department in 2017. At the same time, she took a place in the factory's management team where she further strengthened her insights regarding the entire production process. Source
New retailer for Ponsse in South Africa
Starting from 2 June 2020, Ponsse’s retailer in South Africa will be M.T.S. Parts CC. The company will start as Ponsse’s official retailer, being responsible for the sale and maintenance of Ponsse forest machines, as well as spare parts services in South Africa. Green Projects, Ponsse’s current service provider in South Africa, will continue as Ponsse’s retailer until 1 June 2020. Source
Ponsse´s interim report for 1 January - 31 March 2020
Ponsse’s first quarter this year was reasonably good, considering the circumstances. Even so, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic began to be visible in both the demand for forest machines and the availability of components towards the end of the quarter. The weakening of the forest machine market occurred in 2019 and additional shock caused by the pandemic declined demand for forest machinery steeply in several market areas. Given that it is still unclear how long the pandemic will last, Ponsse will not be providing result guidance for the current year at this point. Source
Volvo Construction Equipment sees sales slip by 17% in first quarter 2020
Demand stalled in the first quarter as measures to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. Despite a recovery in the Chinese market in March, the quarter still saw sales down by 17% and order intake reduce by 7% during the period. The rapid deterioration of global demand caused by measures in society to contain the spread of the Coronavirus had a negative impact on Volvo Construction Equipment’s (Volvo CE) first quarter 2020 financial results, with sales, profitability, deliveries and orders all showing reversals during the period. Source