In New Zealand, there are many forests with thousands of km’s of roading spread widely across both islands, with many different types of soils and clays. Some are great for building roads on and others, not so great. Some of these roads require cut to waste and backfilling or thick pavement depths to bridge the poor sub-grades including the use …
Wire rope maintenance and inspection in winch assist operations
As you many of you will be aware, Brian Tuor, a Canadian cable logging specialist has been travelling to NZ for the last 30 years providing training and consulting to the cable logging sector of the NZ forestry industry. In a recent email sent to us in early April he said that in fact he had “just returned to the …
Positive messages for contractors during lock down
The Log Transport Safety Council, Forest Industry Contractors Association and Forest Industry Safety Council have been working together to get positive messages out to New Zealand forestry contractors in these uncertain times. A local expert, Pio Terei, has been called in to produce a series of light hearted every few days while we’re all in lock down. See below for the first in …
Video: Voice-operated heavy truck inspections
Technology is now making truck inspections far easier. Schlumberger Trucks perform assisted inspections on heavy trucks and trailers using a head mounted tablet, the RealWear HMT-1. Technicians use the voice-operated interface to log inspection results in real-time. The HMT-1 includes a 16mp camera that can visually annotate inspection steps to provide thorough documentation of the inspection process. Upon a satisfactory …
How Fonterra stopped workplace fatigue
When driver Malcolm Burkes first started at Fonterra it was all about getting out there, getting the job done and getting back as quickly as you could. “Now I don’t hesitate to call Fonterra up and tell them I’m going to stop and have a sleep. Fonterra’s whole attitude towards making me feel alright about managing my fatigue makes me …
NZ’s first all-female forestry crew
It’s a girl group of a very different kind – meet New Zealand’s first all-female forestry team. Source: NZ Herald
Bigger T-WINCH coming….with NZ in mind
The T-WINCH traction assist machine was unveiled to local logging contractors at the HarvestTECH 2019 event in New Zealand few weeks ago. With the first cab-free T-WINCH machine already working in New Zealand, a new and larger model has just been developed which should be well suited to markets like ours. A forestry operation north of Gisborne has been operating …
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 …
Wood derivative improves unsealed roads
Rugged, remote and astonishingly beautiful, Te Urewera is the largest wilderness region in the North Island, a primeval forest prized for its ecological systems, biodiversity and cultural heritage. The kaitiaki (guardians) of Te Urewera are Tuhoe, said to be descended from Te Mauna (the Mountain) and Hine-pukohu-rani (the Mist Maiden). Tuhoe – the Children of the Mist – are renowned …
Truck platooning: New trials on the way!
Encouraged by what they learned during last year’s test campaign, FPInnovations and its partners plan to continue evaluating cooperative truck platooning technology in the coming months. This year’s goals are more ambitious. Researchers, in addition to confirming developments in the technology since last year, will be focusing on steering control in the following trucks. The data collected will be used …