Less waste, more efficient operations and better coordination between customers and timber harvesting operators are benefits expected from a new 2-day industry training course. Source: Timberbiz
The course was designed in partnership with Forestry Corporation of NSW and the TAFE NSW Riverina Institute.
Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Bathurst-based Value Recovery Coordinator Nick Firth said the course, being trialled at the Tumut campus, would bring local timber harvesting operators up to speed with recent advances in technology.
“While people have been harvesting timber for hundreds of years, just like any industry the technology continues to evolve and improve the way we operate,” said Firth.
“Modern harvesting machines are really like mobile production control centres, with the ability to capture and transmit real-time data between the forest and the supply chain.
“Because each tree can produce a range of different products, a better flow of information to help operators determine in real time which products they need to supply to customers and how they need to cut each tree to produce them.
“This has great potential to improve efficiency. For example, the strong solid bottom half of the trunk is usually ideal for house frames and furniture while the narrower sections towards the top are generally used to create products like particleboard and paper products.
“If operators have an understanding of what they need to supply, they can determine whether they need to produce more sawlogs or more pulpwood and ensure they cut the trunk in the right place to deliver the right mix.
“We’re not making the most out of this technology in local forests at the moment because operators don’t have sufficient training, which is why we’ve teamed up with the Tumut campus of the TAFE NSW Riverina Institute to design and run a two-day course to boost industry skills.
“Our first trial of the course will involve several operators and supervisors from the Tumut management area, who will spend a day learning theory and using computer simulators and another day putting the theory into practice on an actual harvester in the forest.
“The training is expected to be offered to harvest operators working in State-owned softwood plantations throughout NSW.”
