HarvestTECH News | Issue 30

Welcome to the latest issues of HarvestTECH.News.

As previously highlighted, the Australian mining industry is leading the way in large vehicle automation and site-wide innovation. Small, continuous improvements can lead to big returns and the industry sees automation and robotics as the future.

What is interesting about the ‘robotic trucks’ story below is we are now on the second generation of autonomous technology and the AI-powered devices can be retrofitted on any old machine. There is no need to buy an expensive fleet of special purpose trucks and it shows that automation technology can be utilised with existing equipment.

Climate change is a growing issue that is opening new opportunities for the forestry sector. Brian Cox, the Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association in New Zealand, said that 9% of NZ’s consumer energy comes from biomass residues and expects this to triple in the next few years. There is a major push for the sector to capitalise on this market. Already, local wood harvesting contractors are extracting woody residues from harvesting and skid site operations to improve their bottom line and to meet this growing market.

The new Wood Energy New Zealand Partnership between Pioneer Energy and Niagara Sawmilling Company is a great example of local companies working collectively to meet this demand. An in-depth discussion on the future of this market will be held at the Residues to Revenues 2022 event being run in Rotorua, New Zealand on 26-27 July 2022.

Check out these stories and much more below. Enjoy this month’s issue.

Remember, please send through any stories or video you want us to pass onto the wider wood harvesting and log transport community.