Rotochopper, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Ulf Qvarford to its sales force. Based in Falkenberg, Sweden, Ulf serves Norway, Finland, and Sweden.
Rotochopper, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Ulf Qvarford to its sales force. Based in Falkenberg, Sweden, Ulf serves Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Bringing over 12 years of experience in the grinding industry, Ulf has worked with dozens of forestry operations, power plants, and other companies in various wood fiber markets.
Immediately upon joining the Rotochopper team, Ulf experienced significant interest in Rotochopper equipment. Scandinavia, Ulf is quick to point out, has a well developed biomass market, having begun utilizing wood-based fuels on a large scale years before biomass was a buzzword in the United States. The level of interest became apparent at the 2009 ElmiaWood tradeshow, held June 3 – 6 in Sweden, where Rotochopper had a B66 horizontal grinder on display. The largest forestry tradeshow in the world, ElmiaWood was host to forestry professionals and manufacturers from around the world, with this year’s attendance exceeding expectations.
ElmiaWood, he says, demonstrated the resilience of the forestry industry. Despite gloomy reports of the forestry industry, the show had a strong turnout of enthusiastic attendees. As Ulf notes, the forestry industry is eager to explore new ways to increase revenues, having been hit particularly hard by the global recession. “In Scandinavia, harvesting forestry slash for biomass fuels is a given,” he says. “Many of the forestry companies at ElmiaWood were looking for new ways to increase their efficiency for harvesting slash and other fiber sources.” Tradeshow attendees had the opportunity to see the B66 grinding logs and stumps using a new rotor developed specifically for forestry operations and other companies that process whole trees and logs. Ulf notes that his customers have been “looking for a system with less maintenance than chippers but better efficiency than you normally get with grinders.” The new rotor in the B66, he states, drew some strong attention. “They liked the production rates and the finished product because it had very few fines,” even with a 1-inch (25 mm) screen. “Most of all,” he adds, “they seemed very impressed with the comparative simplicity it offers.”
When not performing live demos, the Rotochopper staff spent much of the time demonstrating the B66’s screen change system. Many of the people who came to see the B66 were impressed with “how easy it is to change screens,” Ulf states, “particularly for a machine of this size, with this much screen surface. Some asked to see it over and over.” Ulf notes that many of people who came to see the B66 currently operate grinding equipment. “When they watched us change screens in the B66, they were amazed by how simple it is,” he says.
The enthusiastic response to the Rotochopper B66 at ElmiaWood, Ulf states, demonstrates the progressive outlook of the forestry industry and the biomass market. “We constantly hear about the recession, but the people at ElmiaWood were excited about new equipment and new opportunities. The biomass market is only going to grow. I’m proud to be a part of it by representing the Rotochopper equipment line.”
Ulf is currently serving Rotochopper as a US – Northeast sales representative.