"It gives us confidence”

Mathias Persson, CEO of Perssons Träteknik


-“We’ve ended up in a very extreme situation. Noone could have predicted that it would turn out like this. It has been hard going over the winter. Many sawmills have been struggling to keep up, which has affected supplies, and then we don’t have the material for our customers. Things have started to improve in recent weeks and we’re receiving more deliveries, but January and February were tough. However, we do feel that we’re a priority customer and that Norra Timber is doing what it can to supply us, and that’s really important. In a normal situation you would have several options to choose from, but in an extreme situation it’s vital to have good relations with your supplier, so you can keep receiving goods. And we feel that this is the case for us. We’ve been working together for many years now, through thick and thin,” says Mathias Persson, CEO of Perssons Träteknik. He continues:

“Prices, supply and demand have fluctuated over the years, but we’ve always resolved any issues, which is something we’re very grateful for. And you can see it in a situation like this – the way we still get goods delivered. The question of price is of course important, but it become slightly secondary because if you don’t have goods, the price you put on them is irrelevant. I understand that wood prices are going up, but the key is to be able to smooth out the pace of the increases for the market. It would take just a few small adjustments to accommodate a couple of percentage points here and there, but now we’re talking about a change of almost 50% and people just can’t get their heads around that. It’s something that has never happened in the industry,” explains Mathias.

“Because we’re behind and don’t have the volumes that the market wants, we have to be more selective with our customers,” says Bengt Johansson, salesman at Norra Timber. “Perssons Träteknik is a priority customer and we’re doing everything we can to make sure they get what they need as far as possible. Naturally it’s hard when you have to turn down business that would actually be extremely good. It makes you feel very frustrated and inadequate as a salesperson when you simply can’t be of any help. It’s hard to say whether we could have done anything differently. There’s always room for improvement. We’ve tried to inform customers in good time when we’ve seen something going awry.
Although I know that Mathias is on top of things, we don’t want it to come as a shock.”

“In some ways this is a good thing, because it forces you to think a bit harder. Who do we want to work with? Who do we think fits in well with us and is able to develop with us, and who uses us simply as a stopgap when others can’t deliver? They now go to the bottom of the list. We’re happy with Norra Timber as a supplier, and we understand that they’ve been under pressure over the winter, as have we. All the sawmills are in the same boat. We trust them to deliver. And if the goods come two weeks late, there’s not much we can do about it. They do at least arrive, and that’s something we’re very grateful for. It gives us confidence,” says Mathias.