In autumn 2020, Swedish grapple developer and manufacturer HSP Gripen supplied grapple number 25 000, a record number considering the company’s humble beginnings back in 1994. To mark this special milestone, this specific grapple, a Gripen 035, was a gold-painted anniversary model. It was bought by forest machine maker EcoLog and is used on a 574F forwarder by H Norgrens Entreprenad, a forestry contractor operating in Hälsingland, central Sweden.
Best of all, it was sold at the same price as the very first grapple when the company was founded. Delivery of the Gripen 035 grapple was a cause for celebration with coffee and cake deep inside the Swedish forest.
At EcoLog, we were delighted that HSP Gripen decided to celebrate this event, and we were very happy to be the ones placing the order for the 25,000th grapple. HSP Gripen is a tool that is increasingly being requested by our customers, and it’s a special feeling to be able to get it locally, here in Hälsingland. There was much excitement also internally since no one knew which sales rep would sell the forwarder fitted with the “golden grapple”. Only a few days later an order was placed for a 574F, which to top it all, would be delivered right here on our home turf, to contractor Henrik Norgren – this would be his second 574F in a short time, remarked Mikael Frimodig, Sales Manager at EcoLog.
And far from settling, HSP Gripen is currently expanding its production and testing capacities at the company’s production plant in Hudiksvall. This expansion project will set its future targets for the next anniversary to further solidify the company’s position as a market leader.
We are happy and grateful that the demand for our products continues to be high and we take this as proof that our customers appreciate the course we have paved. Continued investments to boost capacity and the level of automation was a natural choice. This will allow us to produce bigger volumes and improve quality even further, said Tomas Jonsson, CEO of HSP Gripen.
The company develops, manufactures, and markets hydraulic grapples for material handling equipment under the Gripen brand and product name. Its main applications include forest transport on forwarders and timber trucks, material handling and sorting using construction equipment, as well as large volume timber handling in ports and timber terminals.
