News

The FOBIA project aims to build practical tools that can help to enhance and in improve operational efficiency of forestry businesses. Currently in development is a tool that reads operational monitoring data (mom files) of forest machines (harvesters and forwarders).  This tool is in an early testing stage, and when completed, it provides potentially useful application for forestry businesses. The open-source application will be available for anyone to access online. …

Here in Scotland we have been continuing with our interviews including interviews with Forestry Commission and Scottish Woodlands to identify barriers to business growth and ways forward for business development in the forestry sector.  Additionally we have been collating information on forest service providers all over Scotland and will soon be sending out a national survey to fill in the gaps regarding economics.  On 23rd May we will be hosting …

  The Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) has studied the financial performance of forest machine companies in Eastern and Northern Finland by analysing their financial statements. According to the preliminary results, forest machine companies with revenues of less than half a million euros are not doing as well as bigger companies. The purpose of the study was to find out the underlying reasons for the problems faced by forest machine …

FOBIA project team is working hard to achieve the goals, but what really has been going on lately? Check out our latest FOBIA News to find out! You will also hear about the project meeting in Scotland, and meet local contractor to learn about Scottish forestry and its issues in more detail.   Check also the first FOBIA News from here!

Robust practices, clear data to support financial planning, and reliable calculations to win tenders. These are among the services offered by Tietohippu Ltd to Finnish harvesting enterprises. “We tend to estimate the profitability of our business based on our experience. That’s a big mistake,” a harvesting contractor recently told Timo Komulainen from Tietohippu Ltd. The contractor stressed the necessity of reliable data in decision making. This is where FOBIA project …

Swedish timber harvesting contractors face challenges in terms of recruitment and training needs. Digital solutions may well be a key for a brighter future. Johan Dietrichson from the Swedish Association of Forestry Contractors knows the business environment within timber harvesting in Sweden. The contractors, especially in northern parts of the country, depend on large forest companies which usually make contracts with harvesting contractors for one to three years. A typical …

In Ireland the project work is being done by The Waterford Institute of Technology. WIT has a history of working on research on harvesting methods and systems, such as residue bundling, stump harvesting, whole tree harvesting, and biomass harvesting in cut to length systems. With the FOBIA project, WIT aims to bring much of the experience and expertise of the partners in Finland, Sweden and Scotland into Ireland to benefit …

“Early morning the Sun peeks through the trees after the first big snowfall in the Highlands where smoke rises above the canopy, as thinnings from a birch wood and rhododendron clearance are being burned. I am on-site with a contractor by a hydro dam and low-lying cloud that is idly drifting about the river basin. No harvesting machines are to be seen, only chainsaws and workers abseiling down rocky outcrops to …

A business model (BM) is commonly described as the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. In the FOBIA project’s quest for increasing competiveness of forestry service enterprises, one of the approaches is to promote the development of innovative BMs. This is important to stimulate entrepreneurship in all participating countries. For the Swedish case, development of BMs is vital for turning the current situation of the forestry …