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– During the fall, we tested it in sharp condition, says company developer Ebbe Lindberg, who is responsible for the course. The desire for a method course of its own has been good for a while, and in recent times demand has increased significantly. A lot of things are about hand-polishing the shape – finding small and good things that together make the driver-machine cooperation even sharper. The demand for …

Press release, published on 19 September 2019 An application was developed for Luke’s FOBIA project which focuses on enhancing forestry entrepreneurs’ business competitiveness. The newly developed tool allows the user to apply self-monitoring while harvesting timber. The application is suitable for self-monitoring the quality of various thinning and energy wood harvesting activities. It allows the harvester operator to take the measurements needed while sitting in the cab. Smart phone’s GPS …

Skogselmia – largest in Nordic It is not for nothing that the swedish exhibition Skogselmia calls itself the largest forest fair in the Nordic countries. With over 300 exhibitors and just over 20,000 visitors, it is a great arena for Swedish forestry. Since the country’s forest machine manufacturers and general agents have taken a joint decision not to exhibit, the fair draws increasingly on smaller machines, forest care and technology …

The size and profitability of a company often go hand in hand. Many smaller forest machine companies are facing difficulties, although some are also highly successful. Return on investment is usually no higher than satisfactory even among larger companies, while it is adequate or even poor in smaller companies. These are but a few facts indicated in the study of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), in which forest machine …

The FOBIA project has been underway for close to two years now and I have spent a lot of time with a range of forestry contractors (or service providers) wading through the issues that impact their businesses, profitability and ability to operate effectively. One theme that has emerged emphatically is that these issues mostly come from external pressure, underlying culture of the industry and current practices. His does not mean …

In a report from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), it is shown that four types of forestry service contractors can be distinguished in Northern Sweden. These are logging contractors (LC), silvicultural contractors (SC), contractors focusing on other types of forest services (OFSC) than logging or silviculture (e.g. forest planning, ditching, wood chipping, machine transportation, etc.), and contractors who combine multiple types of forestry services (CFSC). The author of …

The productivity of mechanical logging has increased substantially from the early 1990s. The productivity of thinning has increased more than that of regeneration felling. This is indicated in a study of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), based on mechanical harvesting data collected between 2014 and 2017. The study identified, for example, harvesting conditions, the structure of machine operating hours, the productivity of logging and fuel consumption. Collecting logging residues …

As Asko Piirainen, a long-time harvesting entrepreneur from Sotkamo, Finland, says: “Monitoring profitability is beneficial to both entrepreneurs and their staff.” Asko Piirainen’s mornings always start the same way: – I check which harvesting site information has been entered into the cloud, I make my additions and transfer the data into our system. Asko Piirainen monitors data automatically supplied by his forest machines which includes time reports, timber volume and …

The survey of forest machine operators’ skills developed in North Karelia provides tools with which to develop their skills. Jooseppi Haasala is working on his thesis on this subject and believes that productivity can be improved by investing in the way the work is organised. For the most part, the forest machine operator works alone.  That requires self-initiative and the ability to work in varying circumstances and situations. At the …

FOBIA project team with a group of Irish stakeholders gathered at Waterford in February to discuss ongoing issues, especially contracting in wood harvesting and expectations for the project. William Houlihan, a harvesting contractor with 30 years’ experience, expressed the limitations faced by the contractors; short-time contracts, challenges in funding investment, difficulties of starting new harvesting businesses, and low profitability for small companies, especially when tendering for contracts offered by big …