CRC for Forestry in Australia have produced a guide that will assist the foresters and contractors with onboard computer selection.The free-to-download document is titled “Enhancing forest machine efficiency – Onboard computer selection and implementation guide”. It has been developed for forest machine owners and forest owners or managers. Onboard computers have been shown to result in savings of greater than 20%, especially when used to improve the efficiencies of high capital logging equipment. Onboard computers help identify inefficiencies and improvement opportunities that would not be identified by human observation alone. The information is real-time, and operator and management action can therefore be immediate.
The guide is structured to enable easy navigation. A list of applications is provided, which includes:
- Estimating harvester productivity
- Estimating forwarder/skidder productivity
- Identifying inefficiencies
- Assessing alternative harvesting methods
- Assessing downtime
- Assessing long-term performance
- Continual improvement
- Assessing productivity under different working conditions
- Cost models (rates)
- Reducing fuel consumption
The guide was written by CRC for Forestry staff, and supported by Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) and a number of contractors and forest owners.
Source: Mark Brown of CRC for Forestry, www.crcforestry.com.au and www.fwpa.com.au