We recently completed phase one of a digitisation project for Kontio’s timber production line.
The project aim: create a digital twin for each piece of timber that passes through the Kontio production operation, simulating every individual element, cut, and machining.
Digitisation bolsters process-driven timber building
Digitising Kontio’s production workflow is no recent pipedream, but something envisioned back in 2024. Since then, another foundational step towards digitisation was taken with our Archicad integration project: a preliminary step to join up Kontio’s BIM data.
With Kontio having such a long-standing and pioneering attitude to embracing the latest technology, it’s no surprise that deeper digitisation is a key strategic goal, and that now the production line is getting its own digital makeover. Creating digital production twins means being able to check the production line for efficacy, speed, and waste, and even simulate economic and commercial scenarios.
Using enriched data, Kontio will not only has a digital twin of the actual timber elements themselves, but a digital twin of the entire process.
Defining timber elements as part of an ongoing system and process is key. Timber and lumber are no longer discrete individual items, but dynamic objects that move through a process, gathering data at every step. Every drilling, machining, nail, measurement – all can be captured and optimised.
This kind of wraparound data capture is the next phase of the BIM evolution: creating a digital twin of both the model and the process it undergoes.
How enriched data helps drive efficient log home production
Data enrichment improves both the construction and sales lifecycle: enriching a model with production data means accurate records across the ecosystem, and Kontio can even send customers data directly from the system.
By marrying high-quality modelling and visualisation with data, we can enrich the model with actual production information, looping in datapoints such as:
- when a specific log was manufactured
- whether it has been installed on the construction site
- 4D planning and scheduling, etc.
Kontio is one of the only log home producers in the world that has an on-site sawmill and produces its own lumber, bringing up interesting possibilities when it comes to tracking provenance.
Optimisation needs data
Kristian Töyrä, Timehouse CEO, is excited about the potential of the digitisation project when it comes to optimisation: Timehouse is concurrently building an optimisation algorithm to cut down on Kontio’s timber waste.
“Now, thanks to digitisation, there will be accurate data available to prove that what we are doing with our algorithm makes a difference in real production scenarios. The complexities of optimisation demand that we invest in digitisation. So much happens in the production process: we need reliable data and frameworks on which to base our optimisation estimates”.
New ways of doing better BIM
A new Finnish construction law that requires digital twins came into effect earlier in 2026: the role of digitisation in construction is only growing.
Kontio continues to innovate in the sector, championing accurate digital twins and detailed models. Kontio wants models directly from Archicad that correspond to reality: a complete digital twin that also encompasses the design process.
This is precisely where we are getting to right now, a few years on from those initial conversations back in 2024. The next goal? Extract data analytics and improved collaboration.
Innovation and collaboration for the timber sector
Kontio wants to be a company that pushes the log building industry forward and helps standardise it.
Kontio wants to stay at the forefront of BIM and digitisation in the log building industry. The goal is to push the sector forward and ensure that the log house industry is not left out.
By actively participating in defining the standards and practices that will shape the industry far into the future, Kontio is committed to the future of log construction. This latest project is a continuation of Kontio’s commitment to that future.
About us
Kontio is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of log buildings.
At the end of 2025, Kontio employed 192 people. In 2025, the company generated €41 million in revenue and exported its products to 14 countries.
Kontio’s log houses, holiday homes, saunas, and other log buildings are manufactured from raw timber into installation-ready logs at Kontio’s own production facility in Pudasjärvi, Finland.
Timehouse is a Finnish software and engineering company founded in 1987. For more than 30 years, we have provided technology expertise and solutions to our long-standing customers.
In addition to traditional software development, we specialise in technology solutions for the construction industry. Our goal is to make design and construction more efficient and meaningful for everyone involved.
We work closely with architects, building designers, engineers, and other industry professionals. Our solutions help customers reduce costly errors and waste, adapt more quickly to new rules and regulations, and free up more time for creative work.
