The KWH Group produces and markets plastics and abrasives and provides logistics services. Its core business groups, KWH Pipe, KWH Mirka and KWH Logistics (KWH Freeze and Backman Trummer) act as specialists in their respective sectors. Other operations (KWH Plast and Prevex) are organized within a business development group, KWH Invest.
KWH is a family business, and was founded in 1929. From a modest start in the timber industry, by 1939 KWH was the biggest timber exporter in Finland, accounting for 26% of the country’s total lumber exports and some 20% of pulpwood exports. The company was the world's largest fox and mink fur producer in the 1960s and 1970s, producing approximately 10% of all Finnish mink furs, equivalent to 2% of world production.
After expanding into plastics production in the 1950s, the company was the first in Finland to manufacture expanded polystyrene sheets, and its brand name Styrox became synonymous with all such products in Finland. Establishing a niche expertise in plastic pipe manufacturing, the company was the first in the world to manufacture a 600 mm diameter pipe in 1964, thereby gaining international recognition.
KWH is a family business which primarily relies on its own resources and funds generated by operations for its development. Extra competence and resources are aquired externally through co-operation agreements and other arrangements.