Interview
We keep sawing at -42 degrees Celsius
Jari Suominen, CEO of Pölkky, discussing in the interview the cultural differences between Finland and Central Europe, the beauty of Finnish wood and the strategic goals of the northernmost member of the Pfeifer Group.
About the man: Jari Suominen
Pölkky CEO Jari Suominen spent his childhood 150 km east of Helsinki and encountered the timber industry at an early age. After studying finance, he held positions in many areas of responsibility at Stora Enso: from finance and controlling to the paper industry, sawmill management and leadership roles in timber construction. He worked for many years in Germany, before his career ultimately brought him to Vienna. The timber industry expert, who speaks fluent German, explains that he learnt the saw industry in Austria. Before moving to Pölkky, the enthusiastic cyclist, hunter and skier held a position in Finland in which he was responsible for 4,000 employees. Suominen is married and is a father to four children. He lives with his family in Helsinki.
You have spent many years of your working life in Finland, Germany and Austria. How much intercultural management is needed to harmonise Scandinavian corporate culture with that of a Central European company?
Jari Suominen: “Above all, you shouldn’t be scared of differences in culture and mentality. On the contrary, anyone actively dealing with them knows the strengths and added value they can bring. It’s crucial to recognise and respect these differences. I believe Pölkky and Pfeifer are on a good path. Though I’d caution against thinking this process is complete just yet. It will take years before we have a clear understanding of each other. But the task of cultural rapprochement will probably never be completely finished.”
What do you see as the biggest differences between Finland and the German-speaking region in terms of company organisation?
Jari Suominen: “The cultures and the understanding of values are similar in many respects. I see differences in particular in how decision-making processes work. In Nordic countries there are far more discussions before decisions are made and they are made by larger groups. Of course, this takes longer. In difficult situations especially the process can drag on. The positive side: when things are put into practice, everyone is motivated and determined about the task. Implementation goes faster.”
Communication usually involves major stumbling blocks.
Jari Suominen: “If an email comes from Austria and I read it with my Austrian-German eyes, all the statements are completely clear. If I consider it with my Nordic eyes, the messages are somewhat more ambiguous. I don’t think email is an effective tool. That’s why I always encourage people to pick up the phone and talk to each other directly.”
What can the two cultural regions learn from each other?
Jari Suominen: “I’ve spent half my working life in Central Europe, so I may no longer be entirely objective. But we could be faster at coming to a decision in the north. However: no longer discussing things and hardly involving people in decisions would be too extreme; that would undermine motivation. By contrast, it would do Central Europe good to involve people more during the early stages of decisions and to gain their support for a thing in the process. There is definitely one thing to be learnt from the Finns: in Germany people complain that you can’t saw well in the cold during winter. In northern Finland full production happily keeps going even at -42 degrees Celsius.”
With this step towards Finland, Pfeifer has secured access to a high-quality raw material resource. What essentially distinguishes “Finnish timber” from that grown in more southerly latitudes?
Jari Suominen: “Timber quality also varies within Finland. I’m talking about northern Finnish quality. Our trees grow slowly; they’re shorter and smaller, but their wood is beautiful. Our pines and spruces are particularly attractive. So we need a business model in which the surface quality and visual quality of the timber are critical. When you’re talking about Finnish timber, you also have to consider the purchasing. This works completely differently in Finland compared to Central Europe: we not only order a set amount, but also acquire the right to use standing timber. We then use the qualities relevant for us, while managing the forest for maximum sustainability, which is typical for Finland. The concept of intermediaries organising this process is unheard of in Finland. We work directly with forest owners. Contact with them is therefore important.”
The market conditions have caused major challenges for the timber industry recently. How are things going?
Jari Suominen: “The situation is challenging, especially in Finland. We export 70%, but Finland is our largest single market. Construction activity has declined sharply here due to the war in Ukraine. Young families’ optimism for the future has been damaged and this, combined with the high interest rate level, has resulted in unfavourable conditions. In 2024 the number of new builds in my home country was the lowest in Europe. In the construction industry there are differing views on how soon we’ll see a recovery. The outlook is positive in the long term. The market wants to build more with timber, specifically on large buildings and projects in the public sector.”
Besides the economic downturn, prices in the log market are particularly high in Finland. Why does Finnish wood cost so much more?
Jari Suominen: “Northern Finland has timber reserves that allow for commercial use when managed sustainably and that have facilitated investments, such as the recent increase from the pulp industry. Prices are high because of this. I hope that raw material prices will have dropped back down again from Summer 2025.”
There are major investment programmes underway at your Kajaani and Taivalkoski sites. What do you see as the key tasks in managing these investments and the company as a whole to ensure success?
Jari Suominen: “Growth is one of the fundamental cornerstones of our strategy. We’re planning to double our capacities for sawn wood. At the same time, we want to continue with the internationalisation of our markets and move from focusing on quantity to added value. To achieve this, we’ve established new business units for pricing and product management. We must move closer to our customers, but also to forest owners. That’s why we’ve set up new purchasing teams and defined new purchasing areas. For successful operation of our new, modern facilities, what we need above all are good, competent employees, from the plants right through to sales. By merging with Pfeifer, we can profit in this regard from the extraordinarily high expertise in the Pfeifer Group. That will certainly help Pölkky to progress.”
About the Pfeifer Group
Pfeifer Holding GmbH was founded in Austria in 1948 and is now in the hands of the third generation of its owner family. Headquartered in the Austrian town of Imst in Tyrol, it employees 2,600 people at 13 sites in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Finland. Around 5.4 million solid cubic metres of timber is cut every year in the Group’s fully integrated sawmills. This is then processed along the entire value chain into sawn and planed timber, concrete formwork panels, formwork beams, cross laminated timber, glue-laminated timber (glulam), glued solid wood panels, pallet blocks, briquettes, pellets and green electricity.