When the Winter War started, work at Vuosalmen Korjaus workshop was targeted on the reparation of equipment required during the war. As the battlefront closed in, the army planned on building a repair garage in Heinjoki and moving the workshop there. Only one turning machine and some other small equipment had been moved there, when evacuation was initiated.

In November 1940, Jouko Rämö and his brothers were transferred to Lappeenranta. There they worked at a garage, where military vehicles were repaired. Next, they moved to Savitaipale and at the end of the year to Kausala. In Kausala, the operations of Vuosalmen Korjaus workshop were quickly reinitiated and new machinery was acquired for the workshop in Vuosalmi, and to replace the ones in Heinjoki.

The operations of Vuosalmen Korjaus workshop had been well established in Kausala, but on Midsummer’s Eve in 1941, a new war started.

In 1942, Jouko Rämö was ordered to transfer to Vyborg. From there, he was laid-off to build Vuosalmen Korjaus workshop, mainly for the purpose of military needs. When everything was ready, artillery weapons were dug in the fields of Vuosalmi. The machinery of the machine shop was then moved to Noormarkku.

After the end of the war, Jouko Rämö leased the premises of a garage and began to produce felt factory’s machinery.

In 1945, Jouko Rämö leased premises from his childhood friend and technician partner, Emil Kopra, to start workshop operations in Vuoksenniska in Imatra. Soon after arriving in Imatra, it was clear that this was where, at Vuoksi’s upstream, approx. 30 kilometres north from Äyräpää in Vuosalmi, the workshop would remain.

Moving the workshop to Vuoksenniska meant that the operations would once again be re-established. Work was carried out while Jouko operated as the attendant, Kalevi as the welder and Pentti as the turner – in the exact same way as before the wars in Vuosalmi. When the operations expanded, Jouko purchased the army’s old barracks and erected it at the current intersection of Vuoksenniskantie and Lakasentie. At the time, the company already employed 50 people.

To begin with the workshop’s main products were carding machines, firewood cutting machines and a cigarette cutter developed by Jouko Rämö. The workshop was also involved in the production of war reparations. During this time, it was the first time the workshop participated in the production of a paper machine as Wärtsilä’s subcontractor. This is when cooperation with Wärtsilä began and has continued ever since.

The company’s own high-quality products made the company known around Finland. As always, Jouko Rämö constantly thought about new ways of making work simpler, developing machines and devices and making operations more affordable. There were a lot of ideas, but the peasant way of thinking, which had been adopted at the fields of Äyräpää, and the practical experience gained at Vuosalmi blacksmith workshop remained as the basis for operations.

After moving to Imatra, the registration authorities did not want to register the company with its previous name, because Vuosalmi was now located in a ceded area. Therefore, in 1948, the company’s name became Rämön Konepaja, and its owners were Jouko and Kalevi Rämö.

When the management of Oy Vuoksenniska Ab heard about Rämö workshop which had started its operations and its machine base, they began to purchase the services of the new workshop. During the period of economic depression, when the demand for machinery was weak, the orders of the iron factory kept the engineering workshop in business. This was the start of a period during which time Rämö had very few of its own products and the main focus of business was in subcontracting.

In 1950 Jouko Rämö bought old factory buildings from Oy Vuoksenniska Ab from the Sulattimo industrial area. Property sales forecasted the growth of operations at the foundry, which initiated its operations as soon as the alteration work of the building was completed.

Foundry operations were exercised at Rämön Konepaja during the years 1950-75. The foundry produced castings for the workshop’s needs as well as for retail. The most well-known castings were moulds of pressure pipes, which were used by water plants around Finland. The foundry’s most special work was the casting of casting moulds that weighed more than four tonnes for Imatra Rautatehdas’s needs.

In 1956, the workshop’s operations moved from Vuoksenniska to its current address in Sulattimo. At the end of the 1950s and during the 1960s, Finland was undergoing a high-rise building boom, and this resulted in the establishment of Rämön Konepaja’s subsidiary, Imatran Teollisuushuolto. It operated between 1958-65 and, at its best, employed 100 technicians. At the time, Rämön Konepaja’s total number of staff was up to more than 150 people.

In the 1960s, reassessment at Rämö workshop was underway. The company’s staff had increased, and the organisation became too complex. This led to another extreme, where all the operations of the company were managed by two persons. In addition to Jouko Rämö, his son, Lauri Rämö who had graduated as a technician, became the second director.

In 1965, Finland’s first weld mesh factory started its operations in Rämö’s industrial area. During the same year, a new thread casting plant had been built at Imatran Rautatehdas, and its products were suitable for further processing for the building industry. The management of the factory suggested that a weld mesh factory would be established, and Jouko took on the challenge. In 1966, Rämön Konepaja’s subsidiary Imatran Teräsverkko Oy was under full operation.

The launch of the weld mesh factory opened up a new operating form for the workshop too. In 1966–77, a practice workshop operated in connection with the main workshop, where college graduates were able to receive further education. The products of the steel screen factory were further processed in the practice workshop, and thus the company obtained skilled employees. The most important own products were transportation and storage cages.

Rämön Konepaja’s operations expanded in the 1960s. At the end of the decade, cooperation, which has thereafter formed to be significant, with Valtionrautatiet began. The first carriage parts were made in 1966 and three years later the manufacturing of special carriages was initiated.

Together with VR, Rämö has developed e.g. woodchip carriages, transport carriages of artificial fertilizers, log carriages, ore carriages, talc carriages and sawn timber transport carriages. In total, Rämö has made approximately 800 special carriages for VR. During the years 1974-1982, the workshop also manufactured 1,200 tram frames and the same number of bogies for VR. In addition, a significant amount of carriage repairs and alteration work has been carried out. In the development and construction of VR’s special carriages, Rämö has been recognised by both VR and users.

Due to VR’s carriage orders, the pressure to expand production premises increased. In 1973 the first industrial hall was established, where the sheet metal department was set up. The hall was extended in 1977, which is when more space was provided for the sheet metal department and a new department for surface treatment was established.

The machine shop was provided new premises in 1983, which also meant the start of the heavy machinery department. The most recent extensions have taken place in 1991 and 2001. In 1991 the production premises of the weld mesh factory were doubled, and the operations expanded to their current amounts. In 2001 part of the old machining premises became an assembly hall, and part remained in the use of machining.

In 1976, Rämön Konepaja became a limited partnership and the following year, it became a limited liability company. In 1979, Imatran Teräsverkko Oy merged with Rämö Limited Liability Company and in 1984 with the company’s name was changed to Rämö Oy.

Rämö Oy’s main machine shop customer was VR for approx. 20 years. After this, the largest customers became paper machine components’ client Valmet Oy and valve components’ client Neles Oy.

When Jouko Rämö died in 1989, Lauri Rämö became the Chief Executive Officer of Rämö Oy. In 2002 Lauri Rämö’s son, Pekka Rämö, was appointed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Lauri’s younger son Paavo Rämö was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer in 2006, when Pekka Rämö became the Board’s chairman. After the death of Pekka Rämö, Paavo Rämö also took on the responsibility as the Board’s chairman in 2009.

Rämö commits to sustainable development in its operations. We support responsible procurement practices that meet ecological standards and we invest in occupational health, safety and environmental skills, the continuous improvement of operating models and culture.