Epira Oy
The Epira story
Epira Oy
Epira Oy is a Finnish family-owned business that specialises in animal bedding. Epira's fully Finnish Ruti products are manufactured in Karstula using clean side-products of the wood-processing industry.
Epira stands out from other bedding manufacturers with its versatility and active product development. Ruti-Rex kennel bedding for outdoor dogs, Ruti-Mix peat chips, and Ruti-Raikas horse litter for example are products developed by Epira. The company has modernised its production by automating production lines, investing in machinery and production facilities, and focusing on product development.
Epira produces and supplies bedding and litter products for both professional and hobby use under its Key Flag Symbol-marked Ruti product range. Animal welfare is just as important to Epira as it is to animal owners.
The product range has expanded beyond animal bedding to include products whose user groups include plant nurseries, manufacturing industry, and the machine and transport sectors, to name a few.
Our values
- The environment: sustainable development and organic integrity
- Flexible deliveries and dependability
- Finnish labour and local raw materials
- Animal welfare
History
The journey of bedding manufacturer Epira Oy began in 1987 as a company named Honkatuote, bagging bandsaw dust. Arvo Saarelainen, one of the founding brothers of Honkarakenne Oyj, wanted upon his retirement to process new products from Honkarakenne's by-products, as he did not want any raw material to go to waste. The company's business concept was to utilise by-products generated in the wood-processing industry, and its values from the very beginning have been ecology, sustainable development, and naturalness.
Honkatuote was merged into Honkarakenne in 1993, and at the same time Epira Oy was established as a limited company. Kari Saarelainen, the son of Arvo Saarelainen, started work as the new company's first managing director. The company's field of business was the marketing and product development of wood-processing industry by-products, ecological products, and other wood products. Epira Oy also managed Honkarakenne Oyj's corporate gifts and promotional products until the end of 2006.
In the spring of 2004, a partial generational shift took place at Epira when Arvo’s daughters took over the company. Pirjo Ruuska was appointed as managing director and Anita Saarelainen as chair of the board. Following the generational shift, Epira Oy’s operations have been approached with a renewed vigour and product development has been active. For example, the RUTI-Rex kennel bedding for outdoor dogs, RUTI-Mix peat chips, and RUTI-Raikas horse litter are products developed by Epira. In 2010, Epira merged with Puulaakson Puru Oy and now manages its own bedding and litter production.
In 2011, Epira purchased freight drying plant buildings and land areas from the municipality of Karstula and built a new office and staff amenities there. In the same year, Epira was awarded the Karstula Company of the Year award.
In 2013, JCI Tuhannet Järvet awarded Epira the Agrarian Future Makers honorary mention.
Epira celebrated its 30th anniversary with an open day held at its Karstula factory on 28 October 2016. A large number of visitors attended to learn about the company's operations, and coffee was served in Paalilinna (Bale Castle), which was built from bedding bales on the courtyard. In his congratulatory speech, the mayor of Karstula presented Epira with the municipal pennant as a gift.
In the autumn of 2020, managing director and majority shareholder Pirjo Ruuska retired, and Petri Mustamäki took over as the new managing director. Pirjo Ruuska continues on the company board of directors.
In recent years, Epira Oy has modernised its production by automating production lines, investing in machinery and production facilities, and focusing on product development. Epira's most recent projects include supplying sawdust and wood dust for composite production and coarser grain products for seedling protection applications.
Epira only uses Finnish raw materials, and the Ruti products have been awarded the Key Flag Symbol.
Product development
Wood is a raw material that can be processed into many things. The quality and usability of Epira's current products are excellent for their intended purpose, and it is possible through product development to further develop new wood-based products for e.g. animals, as a raw material for composites, for insulation, and for packaging. Clean side streams from the mechanical forestry industry are used as raw materials for Epira's products.
The RUTI-Mix peat chip is one example of the company's product development efforts, arriving on the market in 2006 and having been developed in partnership with the Tarvaala agricultural college. The peat chip product was already tested on farms during its development stage, allowing future users to provide feedback on the product. Epira Oy is the first company in the sector to start baling peat chips on an industrial scale. RUTI-Rex kennel bedding is also a result of the company's own development work.
Some product development ideas have also come directly from customers. For example, the idea for RUTI-Raikas horse bedding came from Tapani Raunio, whose expertise and contacts were utilised in developing the bedding. The Tervet veterinary clinic in Karstula was also closely involved in testing the RUTI-Raikas horse bedding, with the purpose of ensuring that the product suited the needs of users sensitive to dust. Good stable air is of paramount importance when considering the respiratory health and performance of horses. As a result of prolonged irritation and sensitisation, a horse can develop chronic bronchitis, which clearly reduces performance, or even suffer permanent lung damage.
In addition to its own product development, Epira has been involved in projects such as the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland's Testaa project and its follow-up project NoMa, which lasted until the end of 2017. The projects aimed to improve material properties, and they have developed and researched new biodegradable wood products, such as compressed wood suitable as a substitute for polystyrene in packaging applications. The replacement of plastics with wood-based natural materials has also been studied in the Piloting Alternatives for Plastics project.
Epira is capable of manufacturing pellets and grains of different sizes and made from various wood species, from which new composite products can be developed. Please get in touch if you are interested in our composite product grains and pellets or if you have a product development idea. Let's solve it together!
