Ponsse Historical Timeline
1970 Local government council in Vieremä, Finland approves by a single vote building a factory hall that will be used by machine entrepreuer Einari Vidgrén. It is completed by the end of the year.
1971 Vidgrén recruits a production manager through an ad in a local newspaper, eventually hiring Jouko Kelppe in February 1971. The first machine is driven out of the factory by Einari in the fall of 1971.
1974 Ponsse premieres in the international market following a massive storm in Germany
1983 Ponsse becomes nationally known with the introduction of the S 15 forwarder, in a class of its own with its cross-terrain performance
1986 Measuring devices are added to harvester grapples
1988 Ponsse ownership is transferred to Interpolator Oy of the SKOP Group; Einari joins board of directors.
1992 Einari receives the Finnish National Inventor Prize awarded by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in recognition of his persistent work in forest machine development
1993 becomes the first forest machine manufacturer in the world with a PC-based measuring device system.
1993 Einari and a group of investors purchases Ponsse back from the SKOP Group
1995 Subsidiaries are established in the United States, France and the UK
2000 30th anniversary, and launch of machines with Mercedes-Benz engines.
2001 Einari receives a golden medal for merit by the Finnish Forest Association
2003 3,000th forest machine is manufactured
2004 Einari accepts an award for Ponsse’s achievements in international business operations from the President of Finland
2004 Subsidiary established in Russia
2005 Ponsse Latin America is established in Brazil
2007 Subsidiary established in China
2010 Ponsse celebrates 40th anniversary
2010 Einari Vidgrén dies in October at the age of 67. Juha Vidgrén elected chairman of the board; the family is company’s primary shareholder owning more than 60%
2012 8,000th Ponsse forest machine is produced
2015 10,000th Ponsse machine is produced
2019 U.S. launch of the Cobra harvester in Crandon
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