THE STORY STARTED WITH GRADALL MACHINES WORKING ON SLOPES

The story of Tieluiska goes back to the beginning of 1960 and to the railway site of Kolari in Finland. Tikkanen and Yliniemi sons were from families of railroad builders and had known each other since they were young. On the recommendation of their fathers, the boys also found jobs working on the tracks. In 1961, the first two American Gradall slope machines were purchased for VR Group’s (Finnish Railway Company) railway construction department in Finland. Gradall was one of the first fully hydraulic excavators. The machine had two carriages, a lower and an upper carriage, each of which needed its own drivers. One of these new machines was placed at the Kolari railway construction site, where the older Tikkanen brothers Vilho and Matti, as well as Osmo Yliniemi were already working. The new construction machine was, at the time, driven by other drivers, but Vilho had a chance to admire and try out the machine in more detail during the coffee breaks.

Later on, in the 1960’s, at the construction site of the Saimaa canal, Vilho was already a Gradall machine operator shaping the steep walls of the canal. Matti and Osmo were also there, and by the end of this job site at Saimaa, the men had become top-class machine operators. At the same time, the experience of working on slopes and, above all, their understanding of the superior characteristics of Gradall machines had grown. At the turn of the decade, the youngest Tikkanen brother Valto ended up at the same workplace as his older brothers before later graduating as a teacher.

Tieluiska Tikkanen & Yliniemi was founded in 1974 as a result of a sauna evening between the Tikkanen and Yliniemi brothers. In the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, they had seen an advertisement for the sale of a Gradall machine, and the brothers decided to go and see it. Of course, that visit eventually resulted in the purchase of the machine and their company was born.

GRADALL REPRESENTATION IN FINLAND, THE NORDIC COUNTRIES, THE BALTIC COUNTRIES AND IN THE AREA OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

During its operations, Tieluiska has accumulated solid knowledge and maintenance know-how about Gradall equipment. Gradall machines have been used all along in their own land, environmental and green construction projects. Tieluiska has always carried out their own equipment maintenance and their machines have been acquired over the years both as new and used purchases from different parts of the world. A natural addition to the business came during the mid-2000s, when Tieluiska started to represent the machine brand in Russia and the Nordic countries. Tieluiska Ltd. no longer does business in Russia.

A company called Machinery Ltd. had served as Gradall’s importer in Finland until the end of the 1980s. Machinery Ltd. gave up the representation, because the Gradall cab at the time did not meet the new safety regulations that were put in place in Europe. The next Finnish importer for Gradall machines was Tieluiska in the 2000s. The sale of these machines and their spare parts has grown strongly in recent years. Tieluiska is now the only company representing Gradall in Europe, and special machines are imported from the United States. Sales are currently carried out in various parts of Europe, except for Russia.

Conducting business also in far-away destinations

An example of a more exotic delivery that Tieluiska also handled got started from an e-mail inquiry from the United States. The sender was asking after a used Gradall machine. It seemed like the inquiry might not really lead anywhere, because there were plenty of machines for sale in the United States already. Still, the offer was made, but no one seemed to react to it. After not hearing back from the customer for about six months, Riku Yliniemi contacted them again and asked about the offer. The six-month silence turned into detailed inquiries about the machine, and the accessories and changes that the customer was hoping for. Tieluiska’s Toni Möttönen carried out the customization of an additional device as a 3D design and the customer was ready to order the machine. At that point, it turned out that the delivery address of the machine and the spare parts package was not, in fact, in United States, but in the port of Lima in Peru. The customer was invoiced for the machine, and they paid it without seeing the product. The customized Gradall machine was loaded onto a ship, and later a message of its safe arrival was received. This order and delivery led to a loyal customer relationship. The machine has worked well, and the customer regularly faxes his spare parts order with his own reference number to Tieluiska.

Customization work and spare parts sales

Majority of equipment sales are based on special expertise. Tieluiska customizes used or new machines to suit the customers’ needs. Terms are agreed upon and then Tieluiska carries out a search and finds the right machine for the customer. Tieluiska handles the shipping, and the repair shop designs, builds, or repairs the machine to the desired condition. Often, the customization work is so specific that even the machine manufacturer is not able to help with it. An extreme example of this is, when Tieluiska was asked to convert a new Gradall machine to run entirely on electricity. The repair shop accepted the order, and the machine was designed and built according to the customer’s wishes.

Years of work experience with Gradall machines have also given Tieluiska a special position as a machine supplier. There is in-depth, in-house knowledge of what the machines can withstand and how to keep them in good working condition. Spare parts sales have been a part of this whole process, so that the customer can trust that help will be available all throughout the machine’s service life. Satisfied users have brought new customers with them. Especially in Russia and Central Asia, it is considered very valuable to hear experiences from other local users. New market areas have also been purposefully sought outside of traditional land construction. This search for new potential markets has been very successful, and machines are now also delivered to mines and steel factories.

The young Yliniemi brothers become partners

Riku Yliniemi and Timo Yliniemi had become partners and board members of Tieluiska, when their father Osmo Yliniemi retired in 2000. Both had been involved in the company since they were little boys, watching their father work. The older brother Timo started his permanent position at Tieluiska after vocational school in 1987. Before that, he already had several summers of experience as a slope machine undercarriage driver, as well as from sowing work. Timo had also had a chance to work at Finn Stroi’s job sites at Kostamus and Sovetsk. Riku also started his first summer job at Tieluiska when he was only 15 years old. After that, his summers were spent working on different jobs for the company. After graduating as a technician, Riku started his work for the company permanently.

The generational change and the complete handover of the company to the younger Yliniemi brothers took place in 2007.

INTERNATIONAL GROWTH AND THE BIRTH OF TIEKA

Nowadays, Tieluiska’s business related to machines and technical sales is handled under the marketing name TIEKA. The name derives from the Finnish words “Tieluiskan Kauppa”, which stands for Tieluiska Shop.

The familiar Tieluiska way of working and the history of the company have followed along to TIEKA as well, and the same shoulders still bear the responsibility. Board chairman and shareholder of Tieluiska Ltd., Riku Yliniemi, has held the main responsibility for machine sales and maintenance operations as a sales director, and continues in this same position now under the new TIEKA name. Mikko Takaniemi joined the company as a sales manager at the beginning of August 2021. He brings with him a lot of experience, and also insight to TIEKA’s new operations as they expand their product repertoire in the domestic market. Aleksandr Shishinin, TIEKA’s expert in international machine trade, will continue to handle the foreign customers.

The already familiar Gradall and FINN Corporation products have continued to be represented by TIEKA. Something new was also brought along, when Metso Outotec and Tieluiska Ltd. signed a distributor agreement for Jonsson crushers on the Finnish market, which came into effect on September 1, 2021.

– When it comes to crushers, Mikko is one of the best sales professionals in the country, and it is great that Mikko continues working with these products at TIEKA, says Riku.

TIEKA was born out of the need to create a clearer business structure when the business strategy and representations were updated. With TIEKA, machine business customers can be served more clearly under one name.

Jonsson – Made to order and built to last

Jonsson designs and manufactures some of the world’s most durable crushing and screening plants suitable for demanding operations. They have high-quality crushers produced by Metso, with top-of-the-field crushing performance. Every Jonsson solution is made to order and built to last. The mobile crushing plant is ideally suited for open pits, where high capacity is required and performance sufficient for heavy use is needed. Jonsson’s machines work electrically and are therefore an interesting ecological alternative in this market.

The design of Jonsson’s crushing and screening plants always takes the customer’s needs into consideration. We customize these tracked mobile plants for every customer by using only the best parts from the original manufacturers, such as the efficient jaw and cone crushers manufactured by Metso, and the reliable engines produced by Caterpillar® and Volvo. The plants are designed to handle demanding and large-scale operations effortlessly. User-friendly control panels and efficient machine diagnostics facilitate the use of the plants.

Customized solutions for the mining and steel industry with Gradall machines

The steel and mining industry poses challenges for machines for various reasons. We continue to meet these challenges by designing parts and special systems together with the customers. We create unique solutions for the practical needs that our customers have. Our designers always present different versions of the solutions as 3D models and pictures, so that we can ensure that the operations will match the original requirements.

Tieluiska’s familiar team of mechanical engineers will continue to serve with industrial machines, and our own maintenance operations will provide an important addition to TIEKA’s value production chain. Riku Yliniemi will continue to be responsible for sales and customer relations for TIEKA’s customised machines, both domestically and internationally.