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New for 2024, the Timber Processing & Energy Expo will host a morning session on current panel manufacturing best practices and industry trends, Thursday, September 26.

With speakers continuing to be added, confirmed presentations include George Harmati from Westmill and Connor Easton from Raute.

Conference registration is now open as part of TP&EE show registration—add it to your TP&EE plans today!

In his talk, “Modernizing the Plywood and LVL Industry,” Connor Easton with Raute leads off the morning. Modernization in the plywood and LVL industry is now widely considered essential in order to stay competitive in the market.

The growing shortage of labour coupled with increasing wages and insurance premiums necessitate mills to turn to automation in order to meet their output, efficiency and budgetary goals. Raute, a global manufacturer of veneer, plywood and LVL solutions, has responded to the need by offering a greater range of automated equipment that solves these pressure points and more.

He’ll share performance features of several automated lines as well as real statistics from clients who have modernized their mills.

To read other TP&EE posts click here.

 

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Broader focus on silviculture

With the increased importance that the global Forest Industry has on the decarbonization of the atmosphere, and in order to help global forestry customers meet the growing demand for sustainably sourced, cost-effective wood products, John Deere Forestry has shifted its strategic focus from forest harvesting to include the entire Forestry Production System.

This is not new at John Deere, since their agriculture team has successfully leveraged Production System thinking to develop a host of technology-driven products that have significantly improved agricultural yield and efficiency, while reducing input costs for farmers.

Applying this holistic thinking to the forest industry, it was clear that the forest harvesting segment has experienced a significant improvement in productivity, efficiency, and safety through mechanization over the past four decades. Forest harvesting has undergone a significant transformation, but silviculture is an area of the overall Forestry Production System that hasn’t experienced much change.

As John Deere Forestry explored this further with customers and forest owners worldwide, it was clear that increased urbanization was making it increasingly difficult to attract and retain forest workers for the labour-intensive jobs typically found in silviculture. In some regions, especially those that have experienced higher than normal forest losses due to the effects of climate change (forest fire, insect infestations, drought etc.), silviculture activities are so constrained by the labour shortage that it is putting significant pressure on maintaining the exceptional history of sustainably managing the forest ecosystem.

John Deere Forestry saw an opportunity to leverage their experience with mechanized forest harvesting and the development of precision soil preparation, planting and spraying technology for agriculture and apply it to silviculture.

Brazilian forests as a starting point

Like all significant change activities, you have to start somewhere. In discussions with forest customers worldwide, they saw a good opportunity to work with Brazil’s forestry industry primarily because they have very organized silvicultural activities, their plantation forestry infrastructure is well defined, and their forests have very short rotation times – which provides John Deere with quick feedback on the positive and any potential negative impacts of mechanized silviculture. Additionally, there was considerable “pull” from Brazil’s forest industry for mechanized silviculture solutions to help them meet the growth of the eucalyptus plantation forest area over the coming decade.

According to the latest survey by the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá, January 2022), the Brazilian forestry sector has 9.5 million hectares of productive forests. In addition to the significant investment in sustainably managed productive forests, Brazil’s forest industry has also developed another 6 million hectares of native forest, exclusively for conservation and providing a natural habitat for native species.

Mechanized planting as a solution to challenges?

Leveraging customer-focused processes, developed by the John Deere Ag Advanced Marketing team, they mapped the entire Silviculture Production System and looked at the areas where customers were experiencing the biggest challenges. They also looked at where the biggest opportunities existed for customers to improve productivity and efficiency. Comparing the challenges and the opportunities, they quickly identified that mechanized planting provided one of the biggest opportunities for Brazilian customers to meet the challenges they were facing.

They assembled a small, highly talented team by bringing together people with experience in Forestry, Agriculture and Construction equipment development. Working closely with customers, this team managed to quickly create a concept Mechanized Seedling Planter that was initially sent for customer testing in early 2020. Unfortunately, the global pandemic stopped our testing and they had to reassemble their efforts during the pandemic based on very limited customer feedback.

Promising test results John Deere Forestry were able to resume field testing after the global travel restrictions were lifted. They presented the concept Mechanized Seedling Planter to many customers at the Florestal 2022 forestry show in Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, in May 2022.

The Mechanized Seedling Planter is currently undergoing further customer testing. Initial feedback is very favourable, and they are on track to meet the customer’s request to be able to plant one hectare of forest per hour and significantly reduce manual labour by approximately 90%. In order to achieve these results, they integrated several technologies leveraged directly from Agriculture, such as automated path planning and steering, which simplifies the operation of the machine and improves the overall quality of the planting.

Continuous development for healthier forests The Mechanized Seedling Planter is designed to be adaptable to different species and is intended to be used in different forestry markets around the world. The planter is built on the 1510G forwarder that is in serial production at the Joensuu factory in Finland. The 1510G’s performance and ergonomics provide an industry leading platform for the silviculture solutions Deere is developing.

Mechanized planting is only the beginning; through the leverage of Agriculture technologies, there are further opportunities to improve the productivity and efficiency, while reducing input costs for forest owners. Emerging technologies like the recently released John Deere See and Spray have significant potential to further reduce the cost of silviculture activities while improving the health of the forest.

Recent trial results for local foresters

As part of this year’s eagerly awaited ForestTECH 2024 series in November where research, trial results and operational lessons from mechanised tree planting are going to be unveiled to local foresters, Matti Tarkka, Program Manager, John Deere Forestry, Silviculture Projects, John Deere, Finland will be outlining in greater detail the testing results from the John Deere Mechanized Seedling Planter from Brazilian forests and plans for the new planting machine in this part of the world.

Details on the content and coverage for the 20-21 November Rotorua, New Zealand event and 26-27 November 2024 event running in Melbourne, Australia the week after, can now be found on the 2024 ForestTECH 2024 website.

To read more Tree Planting related posts click here.
To read more John Deere related posts click here.

 

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Pope Francis is visiting Papua New Guinea, which has been exploited for its natural resources and is imperiled by rising sea levels.

The clearer structure and the extensive concentration of earthmoving machinery in the gravel pit at the northern end of the area were well received by both visitors and exhibitors at the FinnMETKO 2024 trade fair.

The three-day major exhibition for professionals in the machinery sectors in Jämsä concluded Saturday on a positive note after busy trading.

The exhibition featured over 340 exhibitors, including nearly all the major manufacturers and importers of earthmoving machinery, forestry machines, chippers, crushers, trucks, and other commercial vehicles. Over the course of the three days, a total of 30,700 visitors attended the exhibition.

One of the key themes of the exhibition was fuel efficiency in machinery and the new solutions developed around it. For example, the NorrDigi excavator, developed in collaboration between Norrhydro and Volvo, was showcased.

This excavator, with its new hydraulic solution, has significantly reduced the fuel consumption of a 30-ton excavator. Additionally, various systems that facilitate the work of operators continued to be a strong trend especially in forestry machines. The latest operator assistance systems were presented at FinnMETKO.

For this exhibition, the layout of the area was slightly modified from previous years. The entrance, which was previously located in the middle of the area, was moved to the very southern end, and the exhibition area was slightly reduced in size at its southern end.

• The new location of the southern gate has made visitor movement within the exhibition clearer and safer. The walking routes of the exhibition visitors and traffic to the parking areas are now clearly separated, says the exhibition director, Tapio Hirvikoski.

 

The new layout received praise from both visitors and exhibitors. There was also much appreciation for the earthmoving machinery area located at the northern end of the area, on the former gravel extraction site at Kaakkolampi.

• Earthmoving machinery made a striking return to the gravel pit. Visitors were pleased to find many familiar machine brands located in the same area. The forestry demonstrations and forestry machines also attracted large crowds, as did the always popular commercial vehicles.

 

FinnMETKO 2024 was held in Jämsä from August 29 to 31, 2024. The first FinnMETKO exhibition was organized in 1987, followed by the second in 1988. Since then, this professional exhibition for the machinery industry has been held every two years, and this year marked the 20th exhibition.

The next FinnMETKO 2026, will be held in Jämsä from September 3rd to 5th, 2026.

Lisätietoja:

Exhibition Director CEO Tapio Hirvikoski, Finnmetko Oy,mobile +358 40 900 9417
Communications Manager Sirpa Heiskanen, mobile +358 40 900 9423

The FinnMETKO 2024 professional and sales trade fair is Finland’s main event for the heavy machinery industry. The organizer responsible for FinnMETKO 2024 is Finnmetko Oy. The organizations behind the exhibition are the Trade Association of Finnish Forestry and Earthmoving Contractors (Koneyrittäjät) and Keski-Suomen Koneyrittäjät ry.

To read previous FinnMETKO related posts click here.

 

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BID Automation, a subsidiary of BID Group known for its expertise in control systems across various manufacturing sectors, is rebranding as CORE Integrators.

This rebranding signifies the organization’s continued push for strategic expansion beyond wood processing into a broader range of industries, including agriculture, food and beverage, steel, textiles, asphalt production, automotive, recycling, biomass, and more. Despite this diversification, CORE Integrators will continue to serve the wood processing industry.

While the name has changed, the relationship with BID Group remains unchanged. As a part of BID Group, CORE Integrators continue to benefit from the same strong support and resources that have always empowered them to deliver exceptional value to its customers. CORE Integrators will continue to leverage BID Group’s extensive capabilities—all while advancing its expertise in system upgrades, robotics, and plant monitoring and control.

Customers, partners, and stakeholders can expect a seamless transition with no disruption to its operations. Further details will be shared soon bye CORE Integrators.

To read previous BID Group posts click here.

 

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