In the end of 2019, PomorInnovaLes, a Wood Industry Regional Innovation Cluster, together with Regional Development Agency held a roundtable discussion on “Modern Harvesting Technologies: From Vision to Practice”, addressed to the cases of timber companies, representatives of SME, as well as to logging and timber transportation companies.

Based on the results of the meeting, the most innovative solutions were developed for the implementation of advanced technologies and technical means into logging process.

Sergey Posypanov, Professor of the Timber Production and Materials Processing Chair in NArFU, told about the foreign experience of IT using to manage the logging and raw wood transportation under interaction between large and small enterprises. He quoted the example of the State Forest Service of Finland, where mostly private entrepreneurs who are contractors of the State Forest Service are engaged in logging. About 120 teams are involved in logging, each of which includes one harvester and one forwarder, and about 110 timber trucks are used for transportation. It is impossible to use effectively this expensive equipment without the use of IT.

At the same time, the participants of the meeting agreed that the Russian timber complex is not yet ready for this, first of all, due to the lack of sufficiently updated and reliable information on the taxation features of the wood material base, presented in e-form.

The representatives of GC Titan told about the information application for logging operations; they specified the holding’s experience in the widespread use of data in the data system about small and medium enterprises collaborating with GC Titan, as well as the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of data collection and processing system.    

Logging companies of GC Titan use CTL technology. At the same time, they use modern foreign equipment from almost all well-known brands. This diversity is explained by the wide representation of various companies at the market. GC Titan is trying to use their competition and each time to purchase equipment from a particular seller on the most favorable conditions for itself. The foreign companies always provide after-sales service of equipment. Each time, the offered service conditions are taken into account. Domestic manufacturers, as a rule, do not do this, and that is why they do not withstand competition.

The purchased equipment is mainly the caterpillar-tracked equipment due to operating conditions. Wheeled vehicles often do not have sufficient flotation in local conditions.

The advantages of the equipment used are high productivity, good reliability, good operating conditions for operators, quality service provided by the seller. Its disadvantages include its high cost, increased requirements for the qualifications of operators. Local conditions for this equipment are quite heavy, which affects the duration of its operation.

A data collection and processing system is required for successful management and control of the fleet of equipment, which has more than 700 units.

According to the representatives of GC Titan, the company collects and processes data to control fuel consumption and monitor the operation of vehicles. The entire fleet of the holding is equipped with Omnicomm fuel control and vehicle monitoring systems. The data from forestry equipment is collected at the cutting site by transmitting data via Wi-Fi to the Port terminals installed on fuel tankers and management vehicles. In villages, data from Port terminals is transmitted via satellite or GSM-communication to the monitoring service. The data on harvested assortments volumes, amount of machine hours and reasons for harvesting equipment downtime is transferred manually from the operator to the foreman. These statistics are presented in a daily summary. The monitoring service of GC Titan summarizes and arranges the data received from logging enterprises.

The existing information support system allows to quickly response to changes in key production indicators. There is an opportunity to predict the results of logging activities. The control over the equipment operation is tighten.

The economic effect of the implementation of data collection and processing system in GC Titan was obtained by reducing the cost of data transmitting via satellite. The amount of points of such a transfer has been significantly reduced.

Discussing the issue of the prospect of presenting data in the used data system about small and medium enterprises collaborating with GC Titan, they noted that currently small and medium enterprises supply to GC Titan about 10% of round timber. With the further development of the data system, the representation of the data of indicated participants involved in the production process will be appropriate.

When summarizing the result of the roundtable discussion, it was noted that information on foreign and domestic experience of IT using for the management of logging and transportation of wood raw materials, on innovations in the forest products transportation, on a competency-based training model and cooperation with Ponsse, on the experience of operating modern logging equipment at the enterprises of the GC Titan, its advantages and disadvantages, on the use of simulators to increase the efficiency of specialists training for logging industry, on modern approaches to the perform of forestry activities is useful for representatives of large forest industry as well as for the representatives of SME.

Reference

The constitutive meeting of the PomorInnovaLes cluster participants was held on September 25, 2014.

The Order of Igor Orlov, the Arkhangelsk Region Governor, was issued on the creation of the Wood Industry Regional Innovation Cluster on November 25, 2014.

The Association “Wood Industry Regional Innovation Cluster of the Arkhangelsk Region “PomorInnovaLes” was registered on March 25, 2016.

The “PomorInnovaLes” cluster includes 43 participants, including logging and woodworking enterprises of the region, educational and scientific institutions, and transport and energy infrastructure companies in the region.

The main body of the cluster is Arkhangelsk PPM JSC, GC Titan, Sawmill 25 CJSC, and Arkhangelsk Plywood Factory JSC.