MHG Systems Ltd
Mikpoli, Patteristonkatu, 2 FI-50100 , Finland

Our Company

MHG Systems Ltd is a bioenergy ERP systems pioneer. We innovate through integrating open software technology with years of field experience in the biomass business. The results are agile and user-friendly application services, aimed to facilitate flexible and resilient business models in what is a rapidly changing business environment.

MHG Systems is headquartered in Finland, at the heart of one of Europe’s most heavily forested areas, from where the company offers its services to customers around the world. Our track record speaks for itself; our solutions for resource and supply chain management have brought our customers cost savings, as well as improvement in feedstock quality and environmental management.

What does MHG Systems offer?

MHG Systems offers its customers customized and user-friendly management software that are specially developed for bioenergy and forest production, and field work management. We also provide consultation and training services on bioenergy and forest business operations. In addition, MHG Systems provides its customers withknow-how on modern IT technologies, mobile technology and geographical data. We have in the past also developed integrated portal solutions to meet specific customer needs.

What are the key customer benefits of MHG Systems’ solutions?

MHG Systems’ services provide companies operating in the bioenergy and forest energy sector with an opportunity to renew business operations models, by means of accurate cost monitoring, and real-time enterprise resource planning of biomasses and delivery chains. The company’s services bring about significant cost savings and environmental benefits to all operators of bio fuel and industrial timber production chains, thus allowing customers to improve their profitability.

Customers can use our services to monitor and verify the social and environmental impacts of their operations to match performance reports or voluntary standards. For instance, the ERP can be modified and extended to report origin of biomass, energy content and greenhousegas emissions in real time.

MHG Services are already available in ten languages, but additional language versions of the system are easily created where necessary. All of our services can be integrated into existing information systems to ensure a seamless information flow of business processes, and in most cases requires no software to be installed.

Services are available through the SaaS service, a dedicated SaaS service, or as a system delivery.

Why should I choose MHG Systems as my partner?

Through many years of development work, MHG Systems has combined its extensive experience and core competence in the forestry and biomaterial industries with its know-how on utilising IT systems, geographical data and mobile technology. Based on this know-how and in close cooperation with our customers, we have developed a service concept that allows us to use modern technology and mobile solutions to effectively deliver and improve modern bioenergy business operations.

Our ERP solutions have

Improved resource utilisation rates, improved the quality of acquired biomaterials, and reduced the number of workers and working hours needed to acquire the necessary raw materials. Our clients have typically been medium sized, rapidly growing and ambitious enterprises with the foresight to aim for truly integrated supply chain management.

MHG Systems Ltd – Values

Cost-effectiveness

Profitable and effective operation is one of our primary objectives. We focus on our core competence and carry out the extensive customer solutions in cooperation with our partner network.
Customer Satisfaction

We strive to keep our customers satisfied by keeping our promises and maintaining quality in everything we do.

Co-operation

Our business is based on honesty and openness to our customers and partner networks.

Learning

Being at the forefront of ERP innovation means continuously learning from our customer cases. Each one is different from the next. In addition, cloud and mobile technology is constantly evolving, with more and more opportunities for integrating platforms for biomass production, financial accounting, storage inventories and deliveries, as well as conversion into energy. We are therefore continuously learning and adapting our services.

Research & Development

To be at the forefront of ERP innovation, our services are constantly evolving. One of the cornerstones of MHG values is to be continuously learning from our customer cases. In addition, both scientific modelling tools and cloud and mobile technology are rapidly advancing, with more and more opportunities for integrating platforms for biomass production, financial accounting, storage inventories and deliveries, as well as conversion into energy.

One of the ways in which MHG is able to realize this innovation is by partaking in research projects. Below is a summary of the projects in which MHG is currently active.

Integrated processing and control systems for sustainable forest Production in mountain (SLOPE)

Mountains in Europe occupy about 35% of the land area and are mostly covered by forests. And these play a significant role in the mountain economy by ensuring employment in economic fields such as planting, maintenance, harvesting, wood processing, biomass and paper production, among others. So, proper utilization of mountainous forests is critical to ensure sustainability, protect the soil from erosion, conserve water and maintain a rich biodiversity.

But forest harvesting in mountain conditions poses a series of organizational and technical problems. Firstly, its management and utilization depends on conditions as temporal sequences of vegetative succession, the remoteness of the forests, their limited accessibility, the hydro-geological constraints, etc. What is more, working on steep terrains, and in areas typically served by a relatively poor road network, limited storage and operational room, makes the cost of forest operations higher.

And forestry operations in mountain areas are seldom performed by the harvester/forwarder system, being the sector still characterized by manual felling and extraction of timber by cable cranes. These harvesting and extracting systems are more expensive and less flexible compared to others. Powerful and intelligent machines must be developed for forest works in these conditions.

Innovative System

The SLOPE project (2014-2016), funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme, is working in the development of an integrated system, from forest information system to logistic transportation, that allows optimization of the forest production in mountain areas.

The project will characterize forest resources, integrating information from remote sensing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and on-field surveying system. Spatial information will be integrated with multi-sensor data in a model for Sustainable Forest Management. This will led to the creation of a Digital Forest Model which will let operators plan and simulate the optimal harvesting/forwarding operations.

At the end, the integration and post-processing of data collected by SLOPE will be used for further optimization of the “mountain forest models” and finally silviculture routines.

Logistics for Energy Crops’ Biomass (LogistEC)

LogistEC (2012-2016) aims at developing new or improved technologies for all steps of the logistics chains, and at assessing their sustainability at supply-area level for small to large-scale bio-based projects. It encompasses all types of lingo-cellulosic crops: annual and multi-annual crops, perennial grasses, and short-rotation coppice. Through specific meta-analyses, laboratory tests, field trials, ecosystem modelling and mechanical engineering, the project will deliver recommendations for optimal technologies as well as new equipment and systems.

A multi-criteria optimization system will be developed and tested in a set of bio-energy and bio-materials case-studies across Europe. Improved logistics will be demonstrated at pilot and industrial scales in 2 regions (Eastern France and Southern Spain) for existing bio-energy and bio-materials value chains. All technology developments will be carried out with industrial partners, to speed up their transfer to market.

Careers in Sustainability Excellence (CASTLE)

CASTLE (2013-2016) aims at development of sustainability assessment methods that quantify environmental, economic and social impacts are needed for the bio-based economy. Fourteen early stage researchers are employed to refine and improve state-of-the art sustainability assessment methods and apply them to current sustainability challenges in industry and policy making.

As part of this project, MHG hosts a PhD student with the aim of developing a GIS-based information feedstock management system capable of environmental impact assessment functionality.

Energy and Environment Partnership Indonesia (EEP)

Production potential of secondary biomass-based energy in Central Kalimantan has been identified to be considerable and, if managed intelligently, could provide local communities and industry alike with improved electricity accWoodfuel quality management (LAAVA)ess. Biomass residues from palm oil, rice and coconut plantations remain largely underutilized, largely due to a lack of understanding of how variability in feedstock supply, infrastructural constraints, and potential electricity demand might affect the financial viability of investments in biomass-based energy plants in remote areas.

This project (2013-2014) aims to provide a framework for strategic identification and evaluation of investment opportunities for bioenergy in Central Kalimantan. The feasibility assessment tool developed in this project will be used to evaluate the social and economic performance of specific bioenergy investment opportunities in the pilot region of Kotawaringin Timur. Ultimately, it hopes to stimulate local development through provision of low-cost and reliable access to low-carbon electricity.

The LAAVA project (2011-2013) examines the quality of forest biomass in relation to changes in the weather and micro-climate changes. The aim is to develop highly accurate moisture prediction models to enable better feedstock quality management in Northern European and North American regions subject to snowfall. Experimental testing takes place at the University of Eastern Finland Mekrijärvi Research Station. LAAVA is a TEKES / ERDF initiative involving a number of Finnish research organisations and companies.

The latest results, to be published in the next couple of months, suggest that it may be possible to account for country-specific differences, weather, microclimate and time of year, resulting in one single modeling framework that may be applicable to coniferous biomass across Northern European and North American regions.