The three-year, single-beneficiary project called ExtendedLIFE is driven by Ponsse, a Finnish manufacturer of heavy-duty cut-to-length (CTL) forest machines and software for the forestry industry. ExtendedLIFE aims to advance the circular economy practices in the forestry sector by extending the lifetime of forest machine parts through remanufacturing and increasing recycling rates up to 93%. Spinverse supported Ponsse in preparing a successful LIFE proposal.
Heavy machinery consumes vast amounts of virgin raw materials and energy. Remanufacturing in forestry is limited by variability, remote operations and lack of core returns. These challenges are tackled in Ponsse's ExtendedLIFE project which received close to €3 million in LIFE funding for scaling up remanufacturing in Iisalmi, Finland.
Advanced remanufacturing and reuse of forest machinery parts
The ExtendedLIFE project, starting in the summer of 2026, aims to take advantage of proven breakthrough AI-driven digital tools, advanced remanufacturing and closed-loop recycling, Ponsse aims to significantly reduce the use of virgin raw materials, lower greenhouse gas emissions and develop a scalable model for sustainable heavy machinery.
The solutions have already been piloted by Ponsse, and the ExtendedLIFE project will scale them to industrial level, creating new jobs, strenghtening circular economy expertise and supporting the wider adoption of remanufacturing practices in Europe. ExtendedLIFE aims to maximise the reuse and recycling of components while supporting the long service life of forest machines.
New remanufacturing facility to be built to recycle forest machines
The project will set up a new remanufacturing facility, the Refactory, in Iisalmi, Finland. The facility aims to make recycling operations faster, smarter and more cost-efficient. Recycling forest machines faces three main challenges: limited core availability, high technical complexity of parts and lack of data structure and physical capacity.
To overcome these challenges, the project enhances core collection and integrates digitalisation, automation and data-AI across operations. New specialists will be hired and trained and standard operating procedures developed.
Contributing to circular economy in the machine and vehicle industry
Ponsse aims to ultimately contribute to a circular economy in the machine and vehicle industry. The solutions developed in the project may offer valuable insights and best practices for remanufacturing also beyond the forestry sector. Increased adoption of digital tools and automation can improve efficiency and consistency in remanufacturing processes and support the wider development of circular economy solutions in the machinery industry.
The project aligns with several EU policies, including the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the Sustainable Products Initiative, all of which aim to promote resource efficiency and sustainability.
Spinverse supported Ponsse in their successful LIFE funding proposal preparation
In 2025, the LIFE programme received a record-high number of 1,095 funding proposals. Spinverse supported Ponsse’s project proposal preparation for the Circular Economy and Quality of Life subprogramme. Spinverse experts helped Ponsse with concepting and drafting a LIFE proposal meeting the required quality standards.
Circular Economy Coordinator Ville Ohukainen from Ponsse worked closely with Spinverse during the hectic proposal preparation process and reflects on the successful collaboration as follows:
Spinverse offered us thorough understanding of the LIFE programme and kept guiding us towards what is needed to win the call.
He continues:
Spinverse's ability to shape the concept, budget and impacts into a successful proposal was a key added value for Ponsse. Spinverse experts encouraged strong idea development throughout the process and the concept matured significantly while staying true to our business. This helped us create a focused and competitive proposal.
Photo: Ponsse
More information: Ponsse launches EU-funded project – Refactory to be established in Iisalmi, Finland (2.7.2026).
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