Finnish sawmill JPJ-Wood is preparing to lift annual lumber production towards 200,000 m\u00b3 after setting another production record in its latest financial year. Two new batch kilns will add around 20,000 m\u00b3 of drying capacity, removing a bottleneck that has emerged as sawmill output has increased.<\/p>\n
The family-owned company operates a single sawmill at Juupajoki in Finland's Pirkanmaa region. JPJ-Wood produced more than 175,000 m\u00b3 of lumber in 2025 and said this month that it exceeded the 175,000 m\u00b3 mark again in the financial year ended in June 2026, this time by a somewhat larger margin despite a reduction in average log diameter.<\/p>\n
The next step is to bring actual production closer to the mill's technical capacity. JPJ-Wood lists its current finished lumber capacity at approximately 200,000 m\u00b3 per year, with drying now one of the constraints preventing the company from fully utilising its sawmilling capacity.<\/p>\n
The company has ordered two forklift-loaded batch kilns from Valutec. Together they will increase annual drying capacity by approximately 20,000 m\u00b3. Equipment deliveries are due to begin towards the end of 2026, with installation and start-up scheduled for the first half of 2027. The value of the investment has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n
The kilns will be fitted with pressure frames and Valmatics 4.0 controls and integrated with JPJ-Wood's existing drying equipment. The investment follows smaller upgrades carried out during the company's summer maintenance shutdown, including a new handling system for drying sticks and a high-pressure hot-water humidification system for existing batch kilns.<\/p>\n
400,000 m\u00b3 of logs purchased annually<\/strong><\/p>\n JPJ-Wood processes Finnish spruce and pine, with spruce accounting for approximately 70% of production and pine 30%. The company purchases around 400,000 m\u00b3 of wood annually, sourced within approximately 200 km of the Juupajoki mill.<\/p>\n Its current HewSaw SL250 2.2 line replaced an earlier HewSaw R200 line used for smaller-diameter logs. The previous line produced around 830,000 m\u00b3 during its operating life, while JPJ-Wood's cumulative lumber production since 1994 passed 3 million m\u00b3 in March 2026.<\/p>\n The sawmill can process logs ranging from about 12 cm in top diameter to stems of around 40 cm. Production includes standard lumber, calibrated and strength-graded products and customer-specific dimensions. Pine is supplied to customers including the furniture, joinery, glulam, log-house, flooring, window and door industries, while spruce goes into structural applications, glulam, interior and exterior cladding and packaging.<\/p>\n Exports account for around 90% of production, with JPJ-Wood supplying more than 30 countries. Its sales organisation covers Europe, the Baltic region, Algeria and Morocco, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.<\/p>\n The additional drying capacity due online in 2027 will allow the mill to process a larger share of the volume already available from its sawline. Moving from output of more than 175,000 m\u00b3 to 200,000 m\u00b3 would increase annual finished lumber production by roughly another 25,000 m\u00b3 from the level first reached in 2025.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Finnish sawmill JPJ-Wood is preparing to lift annual lumber production towards 200,000 m\u00b3 after setting another production record in its latest financial year. Two new batch kilns will add around 20,000 m\u00b3 of drying capacity, removing a bottleneck that has … Continue reading