Vimek forest machines - combining the highest quality with affordable prices.
Vimek products are significantly cheaper than their larger counterparts, with respect to both the initial acquisition price and subsequent operating costs, while also assuring completely professional equipment with a set of all the necessary functions. Their areas of application cover all types of thinning, pruning and other forms of cutting. In terms of economy, they have no equal: Vimek forestry machines ensure minimum operating costs for the costliest of logging operations. These professional forestry machines require no heavy trawling during transportation; a light trailer or a towing vehicle with a load capacity of only 4.5 tons is sufficient.

VIMEK, a flexible company with many ideas

Vimek AB have a 100-year long history and a fantastic trip from an ironwork to today’s production of marketing leading forest machines for the modern forestry.

1912 Mr Oskar Olsson established Smidesverkstaden i Vindeln. In the activity also, sales of bicycles were included until 1922. At that time the company was taken over by Mr Arvid Johansson (later Arvid Banderot) and Mr Einar Olovsson and continue to run the company under the name of Smides- & Reparationsverkstaden Olovsson & Johansson.

The main activity was concentrated to ironwork and repair workshop, but in the middle of 1920’s also a truck and transport vehicle were added to the activity.

1924 Mr Filip Johansson (later Filip Kolterud) came in a part owner in the company and 3 years later (1927) the activity in the company also included a car repair workshop. At that time Mr Nils Johansson and Mr Tycko Olofsson came in as part owner.

1933 Einar and Tycko leave the company and remaining owners became the brothers Nils, Arvid och Filip Johansson and cousin Mr Axel Johansson as new part owner. One year later the company name was changed to Vindelns Mekaniska Verkstad.

During the 1930s also, bus traffic and timber transportations were added to the company. Vindelkroken, a Lifting hook for the timber logger became a huge product and a sales success. The company also produced other equipment’s related to forest works at that time.

From the 1960s and forward, new owner changes occur in the company and new part owners became Mr Gunno Fridolfsson, Mr Sven-Erik Kolterud and brothers Torbjörn and Rune Axelsson.

The business gowned and were concentrated into 3 primary areas:

Car sales, mainly Volkswagen and car repair workshop.
Ironwork and repair workshop, with main focus on production of the Lifting hooks, and other forest equipment’s for private forest owners.
Machine workshop as supplier of components to Cranab AB, mainly 280-degree Rotators. Totally more than 13 000 Rotators were produced in the company.

During second part of the 1970s, sales of cars reduces mainly due to sales concentrations to lager cities and therefore the company started to search for new products and new developments!

In the end of the 1970s, the brothers Lars-Gunnar and Nils-Erik Nilsson from the small village of Slipstenssjön develops a product, fire wood processor to be mounted on agriculture tractors. It became the start of years of successful cooperation in between Vindelns Mekaniska Verkstad and the brother Nilssons company, Idéservice. Coming years develops many innovative products mainly for the private forest owner such as Fire wood processor G80, Fire wood splitters and Terrain trailer that has been developed in company Idéservice but produced and sold by Vindelns Mekaniska Verkstad.

The previous activity within the car business, welding and ironwork ends at the same time the company moves the company in 1982, from the previous location to new industrial location at the industrial area in Vindeln.

New products for the small-scale forestry were developed the coming years. The company name came the same, but on-official the company name changed to Vimek at the same time as the company moved into new location, a name that also followed with all new products developed in the company. 1982 Vimek launches a revolution in the forestry industry, the thinning tractor processor Vimek G-30 that were sold up to 700 units over the years. 1987 came the follower tractor processor, Vimek TP 5-40, produced in 140 units over the years.

In 1989, the first mini forwarder Vimek Minimaster was manufactured, a product that is available in over 1000 copies today. The company continued to develop and Vimek started to construct their own forestry cranes.

1992 Vimek was hit by the global finance cries, which resulted in new owner of Vimek and taken over by the company to Skogma in Hammerdal, Jämtland.

Within Idéservice went at the same time the development of a new a bigger forwarder and 1993 the first Vimek 606D were launched. Same year Vimek will be sold to Harahytten and moved from Vindeln to Östersund. Unfortunately, the new owner ran into financial problems and went short after in bankruptcy. Already in 1994 Vimek purchased back to Vindeln and at the same time the company joins with Idéservice. The new company decides to focus only on product development, production, marketing and sales of small scale forestry machines for the low impact forestry sector. New owners in Vimek from now on is Mr Torbjörn Axelsson, Mr Rikard Rönnqvist together with Idéservice (Lars-Gunnar & Nils-Erik Nilsson).

Up to 2001 the product development and production work continued with Vimek forwarders. Because of the next global finance cries, Vimek decided to move all activity from Vindeln to the location of Idéservices in Slipstensjön.

In the middle of 2000s Vimek started to develope a new machine for mechanised clearing of young forest stands. The development resulted in today’s smallest no branch road harvester on the global market, Vimek 404. Because of this new product, Vimek reached a new type customer, the semi-contractor that previous have been investing in Vimek forwarders. The huge storms in south part of Sweden, Gudrun and Per with two years in between, resulted strong to an increased interest in Vimek machines. During the second part of the 2000s, Vimek increased their marketing and sales on export, which helped Vimek to continue to grow and expand.

Spring 2008 Cranab AB invest in the majority in Vimek and became owner by 51% and the remaining 49% by Idéservice. 2009 Vimek decided to move back to Vindeln and the industrial area and establish the production in a new and modern production location.

2013 Cranab AB invest the remaining 49% from Idéservice and become 100% owner of Vimek.

Last year’s Vimek focus have been on new innovating technical solutions and machines as well as establish sales on new export markets. Today Vimek machines exports up to 25 different countries around the world, from Japan in the east and North- and Latin America in the west. Today Vimek product portfolio contains 5 different forest machines in serial production.

Vimek AB - part of the Cranab Group Downloads

Vimek - Model 610 SE - Forwarder - Brochure

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