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1940s |
Bruno Valo, the founder of Valon Kone, did not know foreign languages and had limited schooling, but he was a technically skilled village blacksmith who developed innovative technical solutions for all sorts of problems. Besides debarkers, he built various machines from snowmobiles to wood-gas generators for automobiles. He also had very good business acumen. He started the industrial-scale manufacture of VK debarkers in 1949. |
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1950s |
The "forefather of all VK debarkers", the VALO, saw daylight. Systematic product development of VK rotor debarkers was started with VK16ST as the first model. The VK16ST was the world's best-selling debarker in the 1950s. Soon VK started to receive inquiries from foreign countries, such as South Africa and the Soviet Union. The cutter debarker VEIKKO, the first product designed and manufactured from beginning to end by VK, was developed. More than 100 debarkers were installed by the end of the 1950s. |
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1960s |
VK grew to be a worldwide trademark. Exports of VK debarkers started to Sweden, Germany, South Africa and Eastern Europe. The building of a sales network started, with the result that the small machine shop gradually grew into a mid-size engineering works. |
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1960s |
Valon Kone started to expand further, to Canada, USA, Japan, Brazil, Asia and Oceania. The first debarker for eucalyptus and a new machine series, the VK800, for high-speed debarking was introduced. |
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1980s |
The network of subsidiaries and sales companies was strengthened with new locations. On the product side, the first self-centering in-feed conveyor and a lift-ring rotor debarker were developed. |
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1990s |
VK-Combi series and Air Seal machines were developed and successfully launched. A new subsidiary was established in Singapore. |
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2000 |
A new machine type was developed for debarking stringy bark. One of the most recent innovations is VK's new generation of infeed conveyors. |
