Time flies
when having fun and what a fun time it has been. This autumn it is 20 years
since the first FARMA left the factory and started its journey to become the
number 1 lumber trailer brand in Europe. We thought it would be nice to read
the story of the man behind the brand and how the first FARMA was created right
there on the factory floor.
History about how it
all started
Leif Fors,
founder of Fors Mekaniska Werkstad (Fors MW) is a true entrepreneur. As
so often with entrepreneurs it is not the goal in itself which is the
attraction, but rather the journey there. The company has been run within a variety of industries. Basically a
builder with vast experience of the building industry, but a dog handler on
large estates in the hunting season and a quarrying plant in Portugal have also
belonged to the activities, to name but a few.
At the end
of the 1980s, Leif could never have imagined that a machine business would be
the start of a journey leading to the creation of one of Europe's largest
production plants for forestry and agricultural machinery, in Estonia. Leif
recounts, “towards the end of the 80s I took a ferry with the destination of
Estonia. The main reason for the journey was curiosity, but also a large
general interest however the misery I experienced just 400 kilometres from the
Swedish coast line affected me deeply.
I couldn’t
just close my eyes and travel home. I was, as the entrepreneur I am, forced to
act. I chose to stay and have never really truly returned since. I saw misery,
but also possibilities. The possibility for myself to create a future, but also
a possibility to become involved and create a future for others.” Fors MW was
established in 1992 and is today the oldest Swedish company in Estonia.
Leif
continues, “the company started by manufacturing everything from circular saws
to candlesticks and business was so-so.
My interest in forestry lead to the thought of manufacturing a lumber
trailer.” All said and done and the first FARMA trailer was drawn up on the
factory floor. Initially the quality was nothing to shout about but the price
was pioneering. For the first time there was a trailer available for the small
forest owner and the sales success was underway. Then FARMA had a single model,
today nearly twenty years later there are 8 basic models that can be varied
virtually endlessly. Today FARMA is one of Europe’s most sold lumber trailers.
This is not principally due to a unique feature, but the fact that we have been
adept in keeping down the price to the end user and over the years we have
offered high quality to a low price.
Leif says,
"I have always liked the forest and with the forest comes an interest in
the earth. It was therefore exciting for some fifteen years ago to start the
creation of one’s own forest and farm in Estonia. Today the farm consists of
3350 acres in one parcel of which 2220 acres are forest. The choice of lumber
trailer was clear-cut, and over the years Fors MW products have been
intensively tested on the farm. There were many times when I came to the
factory on a Monday morning after a hard weekend's work on the farm and
indignantly involved everyone in something like an incorrect cylinder
placement, but we learned a great deal on the way. We learnt the practical use
of our products.”
Today Fors
MW is a prosperous company with hundreds of employees with subsidiaries in
Sweden and China with three market leading brands FARMA, BIGAB and NIAB. Fors
MW has experienced everything from the Estonian bank collapse in 1997 which
nearly made us bankrupt to that February night in 2006 when the fire alarm
connected to the mobile started to ring at five in morning. “I drove at lightning
speed to the factory only to see my life’s work on fire.” The day after the
fire it was apparent that the damage to the factory was extensive.
Some years
later we can see our momentum slowed in that year. Focus that should have been
on product development was directed to reconstruction. This is one of the
reasons why I am proud of the new products that are currently on the way and
which several are presented in this brochure. However, this is only a small
selection of what is to come and as a forest farmer I can promise you something
special.
Our history
has made us respectful of the future. We know that everything can happen; we
know you are never better than your last development or you last customer
contact. We are a company that believes in openness in preference to closed
doors. Follow our continued journey through our blog www.forsmw.blogspot.com.
