Together with industry, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) will be communicating much more regularly with harvesting contractors, harvest planners, wood transport operators, forestry managers, forest owners and equipment and technology providers across New Zealand and Australia. The HarvestTECH conference and exhibition that ran in June 2019 sold out well in advance of the event being run. It was the …
EWC programme opens forestry pathway
The shake-up of vocational training in New Zealand has been welcomed by the forestry industry here, just as its own apprenticeship programme takes off. Eastland Wood Council’s Generation Programme last week celebrated the first of their graduates to go on to sign up for a Competenz forest industry training apprenticeship, with 21-year-old Tahi Hiroki the first to move on to …
Taranaki forestry course attracts trainees
Digging in Pinus radiata seedlings on a steep, slippery slope as an icy wind whips off Mt Taranaki is helping provide future work skills in New Zealand’s forestry industry for ten young trainees. Those trainees are gathered on a cold, overcast morning at a sheep and beef farm behind Stratford. It’s their fourth week of a 17-week New Zealand Certificate …
First production trial of helicopter slash grapple
Erosion and debris flow from forestry operations is currently a live topic. Severe weather events in the Nelson and Gisborne regions of New Zealand last year caused localised debris flows of mud and ‘slash’ (woody debris from windthrown trees, broken tops and branches, and residues from harvesting operations) beyond the forest boundary on to neighbouring properties. Concerns have been raised …
Gough family sells Caterpillar dealership
Gough family to sell Caterpillar dealership after nearly a century – The wealthy Gough family has sold Gough Group for $211 million to a Malaysian company after a 90-year history in New Zealand owning the Caterpillar heavy machinery dealership. The Gough family fortune is collectively valued at nearly $400m but members have been split in recent years and been embroiled …
Tree seedling deliveries by drone tested
David Herries from Interpine was able to open the minds of many of the harvesting contractors and forest managers who attended the New Zealand HarvestTECH 2019 event that ran in late June. The opportunities of using drones operationally in a raft of forestry activities was outlined to those attending. Already in New Zealand, some 118 foresters have successfully gone through …
Hi-tech shirt for forestry workers
A shirt with built-in sensors could help reduce fatalities in New Zealand’s forestry industry. Researchers at the University of Waikato are developing a hi-tech way to keep forestry workers safe on the job, with a ‘smart shirt’ the leading contender. Using sensors on the front of the shirt to monitor heart-rate variability and others on the back to measure perspiration, …
Trucking start-up wins race to run driverless
Starsky Robotics is now testing autonomous trucks that have no driver inside, the San Francisco Bay Area start-up announced. As of June 16, Starsky began operating truly driverless semi-trucks on the Florida turnpike. It’s a first in the industry. To be sure, there are plenty of autonomous trucks on the road. TuSimple has a fleet of more than 50 trucks …
A contractor’s guide to electronic logging devices [Part One]
This article recently appeared in a North American industry magazine, Canadian Forest Industries. It will we think be of interest to harvesting and haulage companies in this part of the world. It’s been written by Kamloops, B.C.-based Munden Ventures. With the impending passing of regulation mandating the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs, also known as ELOGs) in 2020 in …
Forest supply chain survey
Scion is planning a research project to better understand and assess New Zealand forest supply chain capabilities including visibility, agility, and flexibility. This project aims to identify some key supply chain problems and provide alternative reconfigurations to integrate supply chain systems, e.g. improving collaboration and information sharing. The expected outcome of the project is to contribute to business management and …