A long term study of 32 harvester operators yielded some very interesting information.
These results were published in The Croation Journal of Forest Engineering, volume 31(2010)2. The author was Frank Purfurst and the title is “Learning Curves of Harvester Operators”. The data for the 32 operators was collected over three years, and included information from 3,351 stands and 650,000 m3 of timber harvested. 16 of the operators were beginners and their learning curves were researched.
Some of the key findings were as follows:
Some of the key findings were as follows:
- Most beginner operators started at between 50% and 60% of the mean operator performance.
- These beginner operators doubled their performance (200%) by the end of the learning period.
- There is high variation between the learning curves of individual operators.
- The productivity loss associated with the learning period (eight months) was 24%.
- This productivity loss translated to a cost of € 45,000
For a more complete account of the research, please read the full article, which can be found at: http://crojfe.sumfak.hr/download.html