A lot has happened within Soneruds Maskin AB during the fifty years since the beginning back in 1952!
That was when former train driver John Sonerud founded Bröderna Soneruds Maskinförmedling together with his brother Gottner. One year later their brother Erik also joined the company.
Their business concept was to act as an intermediary between buyers and sellers for second-hand agricultural machines, fodder, etc. During the mid to late 50s the range had been extended to include motor saws, freezers, fridges and even televisions for a short period. They brought in trainloads of freezers, which customers collected on their tractors and in their cars from the side of the railway line. The brothers also acquired second-hand Ferguson tractors from England!
In 1957 brothers Gottner and Erik left the business, and John established Soneruds Maskin AB. At the end of the 50s agriculture was not profitable in Sweden, and sales of agricultural machines slowed down. John decided instead to start selling the Hymas excavator, which was manufactured in Norway. It might not have offered a great deal of comfort for the driver, but all-round visibility was first class, there was no cabin! Sales of the Hymas excavator in Sweden were so successful that in 
1959 John Sonerud 1959 established Svenska Hymas i Hudiksvall AB together with three Norwegians. In the first year 75 machines were manufactured. These were sold by various distributors all over the country, of which Soneruds was one, and was indeed the most specialised. John Sonerud then decided to buy out all of the Norwegian shares in the company and became the sole owner. Between 1974 and 1979 production reached 600 machines a year. To deal with this expansion, in 1967 and 1973 new factories were built on the Eastern Industrial Estate in Hudiksvall. Under John’s innovative guidance, new products and refinements were constantly being added. These put Hymas in a class of its own in the Swedish market.
“Boom catapults”, “smooth excavators” and mechanical quick loaders are just some of the many innovations launched during the mid-60s. These still remain key components in most excavators within the Nordic countries. As production increased, in 1972 John Sonerud decided to sell Hymas to Karolin Invest in Skellefteå. John remained as MD until 1977, when he moved over to the parent company - Soneruds Maskin AB. By this time Soneruds had achieved a very strong position in the excavator market as a distributor in central Sweden.
Sea Dump
When John started work at Soneruds Maskin AB in 1977, his son Åke joined at the same time. They built a new factory in the Western Industrial Estate in Hudiksvall, and started work on the development and manufacture of a self-powered sea dumper called the Sea Dump. A total of 40 Sea Dumps were sold. Most of these were sold to the Nordic countries, although some also went to Germany, Australia and Sri Lanka. However, the market proved to be very limited, and the product was therefore discontinued. In 1977 John Sonerud was presented with that year’s enterprise award by Sundsvallsbanken for his major contributions to the business world.
New policy and business
During the autumn of 1978 and winter of 1979 Soneruds Maskin AB was converted into a development and sales company, with the focus on its own patented accessories for backhoe-loaders and excavators. Manufacturing would no longer take place in house, but would be placed with local subcontractors. At the same time the Hymas sales operation was wound up.
Grab John excavator buckets with an in-built clamping function
The first product was the “Grab John” an excavator bucket with in-built hydraulic clamping claws. This was launched in the spring of 1980 with great success as a pole-planting bucket. In the same year John’s son Åke became the new CEO of the company, a position that he still holds. During the early 1980s a full range of Grab John buckets was developed for excavators up to 35 tonnes. With its clamping claws, the Grab John is an extremely useful, multifunctional tool that combines the functions of an excavator bucket, a clamping tool (the excavator’s counter grip) and hydraulic quick coupler connection for special Grab John models, all in one. Using the Grab John bucket as a basis, a number of unique process solutions were successfully developed and launched for mechanical pipe-laying, mechanical pole-planting, cable laying, mechanical service drilling in stone, etc. Special Grab John tools that can be connected and held using Grab John’s clamp claws were developed, such as rippers, pipe-laying tools for concrete pipes, drilling rigs, vibrating cable-laying tools, rubber-coated clamp adapters, etc.
International product
Grab John quickly became an international product. During the late 80s around 45% of production was being exported abroad to more than ten countries in Western Europe. Over a hundred buckets were manufactured under licence in Japan. In total more than 3,000 Grab John buckets have been sold and delivered to satisfied customers all over the world.
OilQuick moves into the market
As early as 1989 Soneruds recognised the demand for a total quick coupler solution for excavators and wheeled loaders, in which you could also automatically connect hydraulic tools directly from the driver’s cab. Mechanically and hydraulically operated quick couplers for excavators and wheeled loaders started to become the norm in Sweden. Another logical, obvious stage in the development was the facility to quick change hydraulic work tools automatically from the driver’s cab. A decision was made to invest in producing a quick coupler unit with so-called automatic hose coupling function for excavators. But the project experienced severe delays. It was not until 1993 that OilQuick’s first quick coupler for backhoe loaders was launched. At the same time an OilQuick system solution was presented with quick couplers both above and below a Rototilt. But the market was not yet quite mature enough for this. John Sonerud died in 1994, but his successful innovations, his smart solutions and his spirit live on in the company.
OilQuick for wheeled loaders and forklift trucks
In the spring of 1996 the first OilQuick solution for wheeled loaders was delivered. Stena Returpapper in Hudiksvall was the first customer, and a Volvo L50 was fitted with one. Before they bought the OilQuick solution, they used to change between a bucket and a hydraulic bale clamp unit approx. 2-5 times a day. Once OilQuick had been installed on the machine, the work routines were changed, and suddenly hydraulic tools were being changed approx. 7-15 times an hour! A great success. The following year the first OilQuick system for forklift trucks was launched.
Soneruds is launched on the Stock Exchange
At the end of 1996 and the beginning of 1997 two targeted new share issues were implemented. This provided Soneruds Maskin AB with financial strength and the opportunity to continue to invest in product development and marketing of the Oil Quick concept. Sonerud’s shares were quoted on the Stock Exchange. During 2001 the Sonerud family once more became the sole shareholders of the company, and the Stock Exchange listing of the company’s shares thus ceased.
Strong market development
The company now has a complete range of patented OilQuick quick coupler systems for excavators, loaders and forklift trucks. During 2001 a boom mounted quick coupler was developed for material handling machines. OEM agreements were entered into with a number of leading machine manufacturers. Almost five thousand OilQuick systems have so far been supplied to customers in the Nordic countries, the rest of Western Europe and the USA.
In conjunction with its 50th anniversary, the company is changing its name to OilQuick AB.