Wood-Mizer and MOReTENs join their best to advance Woodworking Machines

There's a country in Europe where people are tolerant and open-minded, cars are designed to be highly safe, and the natural environment is protected and maintained with the highest priority. It's Sweden - the homeland of Bo Martensson, the founder and chief engineer of the MOReTENs woodworking company. His innovative machines revolutionized the Swedish market in the early 1990s, allowing every woodworker to buy their own moulder/planer and produce final wood products. The moulder/planer turned out to be a great success on the market, as it was versatile, compact, and affordable. Everybody could buy a MOReTENs woodworking machine and start converting their ideas into ready wood products.

A Passion for Wood
Bo remembers his childhood very well. As a young boy living and growing up near a forest, he had a first-hand opportunity to learn about wood and develop a passion for it. "I have always been interested in woodworking," says Bo. "I live in a part of Sweden that is full of forests. A lot of people here work in forestry." He was lucky to have his uncle as an example and inspiration who helped him begin his way with woodworking. "I learned a lot and got inspired when I worked in my uncle's woodworking shop during school vacation," he admits. Wood wasn't the only interest that Bo developed in his young years. Like most young people at school age, he had a moment of hesitation about his professional career. "I dreamed of being a schoolteacher in woodworking (…), but I also dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur," he recalls. Eventually, it was his older brother who convinced him to start his education in mechanical engineering. 

Starting His Own Business
As a young engineer with a passion for woodworking and a desire to become a businessman, Bo became an agent selling woodworking machines on the Swedish market. "I was interested in starting a company on my own, and I heard that people sold used woodworking machines at higher prices than new ones. I thought it must be a good business, so I started to resell woodworking machines from Germany and the USA," he says. Motivated and encouraged by a great demand for machines that producers didn't offer on the market, he founded the MOReTENs company. His understanding of wood and an engineering talent helped him develop a very original and helpful product that caught on quickly with the woodworking community. "From the very beginning, we had a great demand for our machines," recalls Bo. Although he felt blessed with the product that got popular with woodworkers all over Sweden, running the business that must continuously expand to meet the demand turned out to be a challenge. "The problem was not marketing; it was the supply and the production," Bo admits. "As a start-up company, we needed to borrow money from the bank, and the challenge was that the interest was very high at that time," he recalls.

Unique Woodworking Machines at Affordable Prices
MOReTENs was much more than a factory making products and generating profit. It was a company with a mission to promote wood passion and inspire people to convert their woodworking ideas into reality. Each moulder/planer sold by MOReTENs had a part in building a customer's individual story, either of how they were restoring floor decking, making a new staircase for the upstairs bedrooms, or producing a beautiful painting frame. Bo had always been committed to building great relationships with his customers. He was providing them with practical and affordable machines, and in return, he was getting inspiration and ideas for further development of the machines. "I have always had direct contact with the customers. I believe this contact is essential. If you have direct contact, you know what to improve and how to design new machines," he says.

Bo used to sell his original products under the MOReTENs brand for a long time. Still, when an opportunity appeared to deliver the machines to another woodworking company for reselling, he decided to use this chance. "We also delivered to Logosol for resale under their brand. As soon as in 1995 we began to deliver our machines to Logosol. They wanted to brand them under their name," recalls Bo. These days Logosol is no longer authorized to resell these machines. The rights to manufacture and distribute woodworking machines belong exclusively to Wood-Mizer, a company with a global reputation and recognition on the market of wood-processing machinery.  

Business Cooperation with Wood-Mizer
As Bo continues to develop his company, he finds a much better opportunity for business cooperation. "Wood-Mizer asked me for an offer on the machines. After a longer while, their interest changed to buy the whole firm," remembers Bo. The idea of close cooperation with Wood-Mizer sounded perfect. Only a global, well-experienced, and wood-oriented business partner could secure further growth and prosperity for such an innovative and creative company like MOReTENs. "Our machine offering fit very well with Wood-Mizer's product range, so we hoped for a very successful cooperation," says Bo. Soon after acquiring MOReTENs woodworking products in 2017, Wood-Mizer started to move all manufacturing operations to the factories in Poland and the USA.

Indeed, the cooperation turned out beneficial for both companies. For MOReTENs, it meant a great opportunity to continue its legacy of woodworking machines under a global company's supervision with experience in manufacturing sawmills. For Wood-Mizer, there was a chance of expanding their offering of wood-processing machinery by an efficient and famous line of products. "The strength will come from the combination of sawmills and woodworking machines. The combination of 40 years of experience in building sawmills and 40 years of experience in making woodworking machines and additionally the strength of a global player," notices Bo. 

Having seen the production process of woodworking machines in Poland and the USA factories, Bo is convinced that relocation of manufacturing operations could only strengthen the image of woodworking machines, and the quality of the machines will be the same as in Sweden. "As Wood-Mizer is a global player in the field of sawmills, it will generate a lot of unique woodworking ideas as well. The strength is now coming from a larger company, and we will see this in quality, manuals, customer service, and much more. I'm confident that the quality in production and development will be at the same high level for Wood-Mizer throughout the world," says Bo.

A Bright Future Ahead
Today Bo, the founder of MOReTENs, can look to the future with confidence, knowing that his dream of building and distributing woodworking machines continues by Wood-Mizer, a trusted and experienced business partner. The cooperation between the two woodworking equipment manufacturers – MOReTENs and Wood-Mizer - makes even more sense when we look at how similar these companies are. They both were born out of a passion for wood. They both were started by talented engineers who wanted to share their innovations with the world. Both companies have thrived, selling thousands of products to their markets and serving customers with their knowledge, experience, and inspiration. There's a bright future for Wood-Mizer Woodworking Products.

Author: Marcin Kozlowski