Sandvik Group is a global engineering corporation within materials technology and produces, among other things, band sawsteel. In order to develop custom relations, custom benefits and the supply chain Sandvik wants to become more acquainted with its customers. Improved feedback means that Sandvik will be able to develop its products in a customized direction. This thesis is a tool for educating and developing sales staff. As a support a calculation tool that can be used as a sales aid has been developed. Sandvik recognized a need for this type of information in connection with the release of a new product (Durashift) and its marketing campaign. During the pre-study, through discussions with trade associations, specialists in the line of trade and scientists, an inadequate knowledge of saw mill economics in general was observed. I found this very interesting and this thesis was initiated. The purpose of this report is to present a financial analysis and general pictures of the Swedish sawmill industry. The report shall also show how revenue income and costs interact. Furthermore information will be presented about the changes of the Swedish sawmill structure. It should be noted that the number of sawmills studied is limited. Thus, one should be careful when generalizing. This report is a mixture of secondary data and a survey investigation of Swedish sawmills. Questions about production figures, sawing equipment, revenues, costs and income were asked. The result is presented in tables, graphics and as contribution margins. Some analyses have been made about the relationship between various factors and contribution margin or sawing yield. According to the result, direct material cost amounts to 976 SEK/m3sv (63 %), production cost to 247 SEK/m3sv (15 %), personnel cost to 161 SEK/m3sv (10 %), administration cost to 95 SEK/m3sv (6 %), depreciation cost to 61 SEK/m3sv (4 %) and grind and maintenance cost to 14 SEK/m3sv (1 %). The result differs partly from earlier studies made by Sandvik in the early 90’s. Especially costs for direct material and wage costs are lower than expected. Explanations may be a real price decrease and an improved productivity. There are further possible improvements in profitability through improved productivity mainly created by higher sawing yield and less standstill time. According to calculations in this thesis a yield improvement of 1 %, thanks to thinner sawing cut, decreases timber usage with 2 %. Since timber costs are 63 % of total costs a small decrease of 2 % affects the result immensely. The calculation shows that profit improves with almost 10 SEK/m3sv (in this profit improvement costs for thinner band sawsteel are not included). The conclusion is, investment costs for sawing equipment must not exceed 10 SEK/m3sv to bene...
