Recent developments in on-board technology have enabled automatic collection of follow-up data on forwarder work. The objective of this study was to obtain highly representative information on time consumption of specific work elements (including overlapping crane work and driving) for large forwarders in final felling operations in Sweden.
The data used were collected by the John Deere TimberLink system as nine operators forwarded 8868 loads at sites in mid-Sweden. Results showed that time consumption per load was more strongly associated with loading drive distance than with extraction distance, indicating that the relevance of extraction distance as a main indicator of forwarding productivity should be re-considered.
The data collected was found to be intuitively logical and to give results in line with current literature. However, further study is warranted to confirm TimberLink’s capability to determine work elements correctly, especially for multi-assortment loads.
Click here for source (Silva Fennica)
Image Credit: MarkusHagenlocher, Wikipedia
