History of ANDRITZ Savonlinna Works Oy
Over 100 years of manufacturing expertise in Savonlinna, Finland
Since it was founded in 1917 under the name Konetehdas Osakeyhtiö, the Savonlinna workshop has been an important employer for the town itself and the surrounding regions, providing a livelihood and well-being for its workers and their families and employing up to several hundred people at times. Many workers have a family history at the workshop that goes back for generations, and in the first few decades, several families actually lived on the workshop premises in houses built by their employer.
Savonlinna workshop 1926.
Over the years, the workshop has adapted to the requirements of the day and continued to develop its operations to meet future challenges. In the early years, the company concentrated on shipbuilding and manufacture of steam engines, steam boilers and winches. And today, there are several steam ships from the early 1900s still in service that are fitted with engines and boilers made by Konetehdas Osakeyhtiö.
In the 1930s, the company started to manufacture evaporators and causticizing plants for the pulp industry. Then World War II began and required the workshop to take part in the fight for the country’s independence, producing ammunition and other equipment for the Finnish Army. After the war, the workshop took a share in Finland’s obligations and manufactured various products as war reparations to the Soviet Union.
Transportation of steam boilers in the early 1920s.
Welders in the 1930s.
The workshop was merged with the main company, Enso Gutzeit, in the 1940s. In the years that followed, cleaners, refiners and pumps for the wood processing industry were manufactured in Savonlinna under license and there was also growing export trade with evaporators and causticizing plants. Later, the company invested in its own product development and launched new products in the 1970s, such as the Help silo discharger, the Enso refiner and the Ecofilter.
Finally, manufacture under license came to an end in the 1980s and the company prospered with its own products. The first DD-Washer drum displacer washer was delivered in 1983, and thanks to the constant improvement and development work in collaboration with customers’ mills, there are now hundreds of Savonlinna-made DD-Washer drum displacer washers in operation around the globe.
Purchasing department in 1956.
© Stora Enso / ELKA
Test run of the 1000th pump manufactured at Savonlinna workshop in 1961.
© Stora Enso / ELKAIn 1987, ownership was transferred to A. Ahlström Corporation. The new owner continued the intense development program and the company’s business became more global. To meet the growing production challenges, the workshop invested in the first welding robots and NC-programmed machining stations.
In 2002, ANDRITZ acquired full ownership of Ahlstrom Machinery and hence became the only company in the world that was able to supply all the machinery and equipment for a complete pulp mill. Under ANDRITZ ownership, the workshop processes from sales to delivery have been developed systematically.
In 2004, the workshop was incorporated under the name of Savonlinna Works Oy, and the company name was registered as ANDRITZ Savonlinna Works Oy in 2019.
In 2017, we celebrated one hundred years of the Savonlinna workshop. With trust in the future, we continue to constantly improve our operations, technology, know-how and skills, emphasizing health and safety aspects in all functions and promoting ethical and environmental aspects globally.
Savonlinna workshop 100 years in 2017.
© Sampo Luukkainen
