Farmer’s son Börje Karlsson began building his own designs at an early age in a barn at the farm.
In 1955, he started Börjes Mekaniska in a small workshop on the outskirts of Rottne, where he produced cable cranes, (Borjecrane) wagons, timber sleds and folding load supports for lorries, etc.

The company developed rapidly and in 1960 Börje began planning for a new workshop. In 1961,
the new factory was opened at a site in the industrial area south of Rottne. Today, the factory remains part of Rottne Industri.

This site was used for the manufacture of various sizes of logging trailer and several types of cable crane, and one of them was the classic MF-Crane, sold in a number of over 1000 units.

The company continued to develop and began showing an interest in hydraulic grapple loaders
and larger special machinery for the forestry.

The big breakthrough came with the launch of the ROTTNE Blondin forwarder in 1968, which was originally based on Ford’s tractor skid. The huge demand for Blondin forwarders during the early 1970s resulted in the company building a new assembly hall and office in Rottne. In 1975, over 160 Blondin forwarders were manufactured.

In 1976, after several years of testing and development work, a unique delimbing/bucking machine, Rottne Processor 770, was launched on the market. It was small, simple and could be used for thinning and it required only one operator.

Rottne´s processor had a unique concept with a non-damaging rubber wheel feed that revolutionised the feeding principle for all processors on the market.

At the beginning of the 1980s Rottne developed a new harvester crane that used unique parallel motion technology. The advantages were clear, and today most of the harvester manufacturers are using parallel cranes. The new crane, in combination with a new felling head, resulted in Rottne’s first harvester, the Snoken 810.

In 1981, the company also launched a geared bogie for the classic Blondin forwarders, which radically improved the ability of the forwarder to work in difficult terrain and to use tracks on the bogie.

In 1982 the company changed its name from AB Borjes Mekaniska Verkstad to Rottne Industri AB.
1984 Rottne began exporting logging equipment to North America, which currently is one of our largest export markets.

During the early 1980s, a new range of machinery was developed with the name ROTTNE Rapid. This range was unveiled at special demonstrations outside Rottne in 1985, and production of the range started in 1986.

The Rapid range was a huge success and the company was forced to expand yet again, which it did by acquiring the Stensele factory in Västerbotten in 1988.
The acquisition of the factory in Stensele also signalled the start of production of the large forwarder, SMV Rapid, at this site.

At the beginning of the 1990s a new type of harvester was developed with a levelling chassis and fully-hydrostatic transmission. This resulted in the Rottne 2000 and 5000 models, the smaller of which was a stand-operating thinning harvester, which became a bestseller. This was the first model from Rottne with a computerised control and monitoring system.

A new generation of forwarders was born during the mid 1990s and christened Solid. The Solid range represented further development of existing technology, and a more modern serviceable design with several sizes of forwarders, including Solid F9, F12 and F14.

The Rottne machines were for many years fitted with Ford engines, but following the introduction of new exhaust emission standards (Tier 1) the company decided to switch to John Deere engines throughout the entire range.

At ElmiaWood 2001, Rottne unveiled its brand new large harvester, Rottne H-20, which generated huge interest. A new approach from Rottne with regard to design and technology; among other things, the machinery was given a new levelling and swivelling cab, which was extremely comfortable, a newly-developed powerful head for large sized wood and a new low emission engine.

This machine was hugely successful and has resulted in two more smaller models being produced in the H-range, Rottne H-8 and H-14.

These new models have given Rottne a very competitive range of machinery for the years to come. Rottne is continuing to invest in product development and design in order to be able to meet future requirements for environmentally-friendly and efficient logging equipment.

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