Transylvanian teeth

With a history spanning over fifteen years a company is already regarded long-established in Romania. For it was not until after the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe when private business start-ups were even possible. Metamob was founded in 1997 in Satu Mare/RO. "Since then the company has seen a great development," said István Hutton, CEO of Metamob – "now 60 people are working for us." End of October, the Huttons celebrated the 15th anniversary with friends of the company, customers and employees. It goes without saying that the "who's who" of the Romanian sawmill industry was present at the event. Even Metamob-customers from German took upon themselves the exhausting journey: "We certainly would not have come if we had not been satisfied with our band-saws," said Carl Leiße, a Sauerland-sawyer, smiling.

In what way are the Romanians different?

So much satisfaction is not commonplace among sawyers. "We do get the feeling that Metamob is really going out of their ways to support us," says Leiße about his buying motives. The experienced sawyer has recently handed over his mill in Warstein/DE to his daughter. On a Quattro band-saw line, battens, boards and planks are mainly produced from spruce and fir – under difficult circumstances. Because more often than not, the logs are processed in bark and sometimes they are even frozen. "Given this you are usually happy if the band-saw blades hang on for an entire shift without interference", Carl Leiße admits.

He had met István Hutton at the Ligna trade fair. The day after the fair Hutton already stood beside him in the mill taking a close look at everything. "He then suggested we should try band-saws with irregular spacing." Leiße’s initial skepticism quickly turned into enthusiasm. Even with the very first set of blades the running life doubled from eight to sixteen hours. "But Metamob was still not satisfied with that and kept on improving further," he says – "now the saws run up to 24 hours." With this, Leiße’s confidence grew. He says: "Metamob is service-oriented. I've also seen suppliers acting different, believe me. But without much questioning the Romanians produce and supply a new blade should there ever be a reason to complain."

Optimized manufacturing methods

All this is not only the result many years of experience in the business or of how the company stellite their blades. Metamob also constantly optimizes production processes. "There is nothing sacred to us," says István Hutton smiling. "If the machine we need is not available on the market, we will design and build it ourselves. Just like our own CNC-controlled teeth-setting machine." In order to do that Hutton has employed two software developers and a mechanical engineer. Also more than 20 Iseli and Vollmer-production machines were not exempt from technical adjustment. Even though these units are known for their precision they have been modified in various ways: Metamob added fully automated, optical teeth measurement or computers that are seamlessly integrated into the in-house ERP-system. The ERP-software documents every step from raw material to the finished saw in compliance with ISO 9001 – and was also programmed in-house. All this serves only one purpose: "We want to make band-saws operate well as best we can and offer our customers a helping hand when they need it," Hutton points out.

ISO certified quality

The complete documentation facilitated the certification process by ISO-standards – Metamob now holds ISO 9001- and ISO 14001-certificates. Band-saw blades are manufactured in widths from 8 to 420 mm. The selection of the blade steel may vary depending on the customer's application. Most dimensions in stock are Sandvik, but also Bohler-Uddeholm, Forrestil, Martin Miller and various German brands are available. Metamob does not only sell new devices, however, they also repair saws. "We have very experienced staff who have often wangled seemingly hopeless cases – at reasonable costs", promises Hutton. As of last summer, Metamob is offering to collect saws once a month from customers in Austria and return it the same way. With up to 50 blades, which some businesses have in use, this machine overhaul could actually save money, says the Metamob-CEO: "If the saw was not completely broken, the operating characteristics are then comparable with those of a new unit."