THE 17,000th Ponsse forest machine has rolled off the production line in Vieremä, Finland.

The milestone machine, a Ponsse Elk built in mid August, will start its career in the hands of Kuusmoto Oy. Founded in 2014 and hailing from Posio in Finland, Kuusmoto Oy currently employs 17 people and operates in seven municipalities in Finnish Lapland.

The company has a total of nine Ponsse machines.

“It is a special privilege to hand over the 17,000th Ponsse machine to the Finnish Kuusmoto Oy. I wish to thank Kuusmoto for their trust and fantastic cooperation as we continue our journey together,” said Marko Mattila, Ponsse’s sales, service and marketing director.

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“We are happy to receive this excellent machine and its plaque. Our current plan is to put the birthday boy to work in Posio or Ranua. It will be a fine addition to our fleet,” added Tomi Kuusela, managing director of Kuusmoto Oy.

The Elk is described by Ponsse as an excellent choice when you need an economical but powerful workhorse for thinning-oriented harvesting. Its compact design is said to make the Elk very agile, while its components, shared with larger machines, make it a powerful and durable tool with a first-rate load-carrying capacity.

Introduced into production in 2005, Ponsse has manufactured a total of 947 Elk forwarders and delivered them to over 20 countries.

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