Einari Vidgrén Foundation rewarded forestry professionals

The Einari Vidgrén Foundation rewarded merited forestry professionals for the 20th time at the award ceremony held in Rientola in Vieremä on 3 June. The awards totalled EUR 180,000.

The Einari Award, the Einari Vidgrén Foundation’s key recognition, was granted to forest machine contractor Simo Kuittinen. Through Koneurakointi S. Kuittinen Oy, a company he founded, Kuittinen has extensive practical expertise in various business areas, ranging from the use and servicing of machines to administrative work. In association activities, Kuittinen has acted as the chairman of the Federation of Machine Entrepreneurs and is an honorary member of the Association.

Simo Kuittinen and his company have influenced the development of the entire Finnish timber harvesting industry in many ways. Kuittinen has, among other things, contributed to the creation of the regional contracting model. When it comes to domestic logging, Kuittinen has passionately developed harvesting on islands.

Kuittinen grew up working in the forest after helping his father already as a 12-year-old boy. From the age of 15, he started operating a forest machine full-time, and his career in forestry began in 1974 only at the age of 18. The Einari Vidgrén Foundation awards Simo Kuittinen for over 50 years of entrepreneurship in forest work.

In addition to the Einari Award, awards were given in five different categories:
lifetime achievement awards, special recognition awards, Global CTL, operator awards, and student scholarships.

Lifetime achievement awards

Lifetime achievement awards were given to two long-term forestry professionals.

Jorma Piilola from Parkano started as a tractor contractor and shifted to full-time forest machine contracting in 1974. Entrepreneurship that has continued uninterrupted for more than 50 years still continues at the age of 76. Piilola’s work has always been of a high quality, which has been recognised for the last four years in succession with the Metsähallitus quality award. During his long entrepreneurial career, Piilola has also guided and trained several people who have entered the forest machine industry, and many who learned from him are still working in the sector.

Jussi Kumpula has had a uniquely long career in Metsähallitus since the late 1980s. Kumpula has successfully led Metsähallitus' operations and wood deliveries in challenging conditions since 2011. He has been able to take biodiversity and environmental challenges into account in his work as part of the development of timber harvesting and forest management. In his role, Kumpula has succeeded in acting in good spirit with various actors in the forest sector.

- The two long careers have seen many changes and upheavals in the industry. Both of the awardees have worked meritoriously in a challenging operating environment, and we wanted to show our appreciation for their high-quality work, says Juha Vidgren.

Special recognition awards

The foundation issues annual special recognition awards to people involved in mechanised harvesting research and development, industry education development, and those who have increased awareness of and recognition for the industry. This year’s awards were given to nine associations and individuals.

- We wanted to reward associations and people that raise awareness of the forest industry and rural professions among children and young people. We also wanted to highlight the role of women as forestry specialists, says Juha Vidgren.

Rural Professions Association
4H Finland
Mikko Riikilä, journalist, Metsälehti
Joonas Hyypiä, Foreman, Luukolmio Oy
Forestry Museum of Lapland
Wahlers forest machinery training for women, Germany
Trees for Tomorrow, Wisconsin, USA
Teacher Urho Hakkarainen, Savo Vocational College
Teacher Pekka Hulkkonen, Etelä-Savon Koulutus Oy

Global CTL

For promoting the international Cut-To-Length method, the Foundation gave three awards:

Finnharvest, Kuopio
Snowske Higher Vocational School of Forestry, Ukraine
University of Idaho

- The Foundation wanted to reward those who work to promote the CTL method in various ways. Finnharvest has been able to demonstrate the scalability of the CTL method globally in Swedish, German and US market as well as its financial profitability and efficiency. It’s also a pleasure to see that CTL training has increased across the world, and the benefits of the method are learned already at a young age. In particular, I would raise the need of the Ukrainian Forest Machinery School to invest in training in a particularly challenging situation, says Juha Vidgren.

Einari Operator's Awards

The award criteria for operator awards include customer-driven, high-quality work, an unrelenting attitude when it comes to the quality of work, and good cooperation and communication with forest owners and other stakeholders. Einari had a clear idea for the award criteria: those operators whose quality of work is high and have a good attitude with good customer service skills have earned their awards. This year, the Einari Vidgrén Foundation gave 38 Einari Operator’s awards for high-quality work.

Tero Kinnunen and Sami Laulainen – Metsäkonepalvelu Oy
Antti Suonttajärvi and Jouni Ketola – Moto Team Tauriainen Oy
Teijo Lehto and Sauli Junnila – Metsäkone Pirinen Oy
Jari Liuska and Marko Kärkkäinen – Koneurakointi S. Kuittinen Oy
Ari Jurvainen and Teemu Matilainen – Veljekset Hokkanen Oy
Petri Kuokkanen and Asser Kuittinen – Motoajo
Mikael Kälkäjä and Mikko Viuhkola – Konetyö Viuhkola ja Kautto Oy
Aleksi Tenninlä and Hannu Tennilä – A&L Harju Oy
Jouni Nyman and Jarkko Meriläinen – Honkaperä Forest Oy
Jari Nenonen and Janne Nenonen – Metsä-Multia Oy
Eetu Lihavainen and Mika Pekkinen – Metsäkoneurakointi Toropainen Oy
Ari Kallio and Joonas Uusitalo – M. Uusitalo Oy
Juho Kasanen and Jari Reinikainen – Koneteko Pitkänen Oy
Juha Hiltunen and Pertti Rytkönen – Metsäkuljetus Hyväriset Oy
Jussi Myllyvirta and Olli Poikolainen – Varis Forest Oy
Harri Häkkinen and Pekka Kauppinen – Keski-Suomen MetsäKymppi Oy
Pavel Melentjev and Paul Räisänen – Motourakointi J. Pikkarainen Oy
Markus Mustiala and Mika Kokkola – Jameko Oy
Mikko Pennanen and Seppo Tiainen – Veljekset Mustonen Oy

Einari Scholarships

Student scholarships are awarded to forest industry students who have performed well in their studies. The Foundation gave student scholarships to 39 forest industry students. The scholarships were given to the students at the end of the term.

Etelä-Savon Koulutus Oy, Pieksämäki – Veikko Takkinen and Samu Savolainen
Yrkesakademin i Österbotten – Benjamin Sten and Emil Lall
South Savo Vocational College, ESEDU, Salosaari, Mikkeli – Jami Niemelä and Sami Saima
Oulu Vocational College, Taivalkoski – Petrus Soronen and Ilari Nissi
Educational Consortium OSAO, Muhos – Johannes Itälahti and Jaako Ala-Aho
Tampere Vocational College Tredu, Kuru – Teemu Vesamäki and Jesse Savolainen
TTS Työtehoseura – Tiia Pessi and Joni Salonen
Länsirannikon Koulutus Oy WinNova – Roope Rastio and Aleksi Vuorinen
Riveria, Valtimo – Iivari Kärki and Saija Sumiloff
Gradia Jämsä – Jose-Lucas Vasama and Esa Simonen
Seinäjoki Joint Municipal Authority for Education Sedu, Ähtäri – Anssi Krohonen and Roni Sihtola
Federation of Education in Central Ostrobothnia – Eeli Huhtala and Ville Pastel
Lapland Vocational College REDU, Rovaniemi – Atte Montonen and Essi Kostamovaara
Vocational Education Institute of Northern Central Finland, Uurainen – Sami Lupsakko and Veeti Manninen
Häme Vocational Institute EVO – Jose Kangas and Vilho Toukovalkama
Savo Vocational College – Lauri Tuomainen and Iisakki Niemelä
Saimaa Vocational College, Ruokolahti - Lassi Partanen and Pia Ranta
Keski-Uusimaa Joint Municipal Authority for Education / KEUDA - Venny Koskelainen and Vili Markkanen
Samiedu Vocational College – Kalle Pietarinen and Aleksi Sallinen
Livia College (Peimari education municipality association) – Jussi Selenius