The Swedish hook lifter and trailer manufacturer Ivarssons In Metsjö is doubling its assembly capacity at the factory’s plant at Metsjö, just outside Linköping.
The decision to expand was taken in May 2020, and construction is already underway. The expansion will be completed in January 2021, when the new production area will immediately be used to build hook-lifters, trailers, and chemical storages.
The building work is being done under Metsjö’s own control, and after the expansion the company will have production premises totaling 21,000 square meters. Metsjö, which also builds industrial and agricultural buildings has always built its own facilities. Its buildings can be used flexibly and they have good ceiling heights that are essential to build the type of products the company offers, such as over-sized trailers and hook lifters.
The decision to increase production capacity was taken during the Covid-19 crisis. Metsjö’s experience is that, despite the crisis, many of its customers in the agricultural and construction sector are doing relatively well. The company has even noticed an increase in demand as many customers seem to value suppliers with complete control of the end product.
One example of complete control of the production chain is that Metsjö produces the complete Hooklifter MetaFlex on its own, both chassis and tower – while most competitors would buy the tower from subcontractors. Thanks to Metsjö’s large stock and production philosophy of producing the entire product from raw materials, with a low degree of parts from subcontractors, it has been able to keep production running uninterrupted.
Metsjö believes that Covid-19 has made the shortcomings of a product produced on the outskirts of Europe, or a product that is largely dependent on subcontractors, clearer. Its products, including new animal trailers, hooklifters and dump trailers, have achieved good domestic and export successes, hence increased production capacity is now required.
Metsjö CEO Anders Ivarsson said doubling the assembly capacity, would increase production capacity considerably.
“Over the years, assembly has become more and more central as hydraulic options have become more popular,” he added. “Some examples are the new hydraulic roof, hydraulic drive on axles, and our new automatic steering that have become very popular add-ons in a short time span. These are all added during assembly, and this means that we need more capacity here.”
For more information visit: www.metsjo.se.
