HARVEST TECH 2017
The latest advances in harvesting technology were presented at the two-yearly Harvest TECH 2017 conference in Rotorua last month. Read the highlights.
ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY ARE TAKING PLACE SO FAST THEY ARE outpacing the rules and regulations that govern forestry.
Now forestry innovator, Dale Ewers, has made a plea for rule makers to support these changes in the industry through keeping regulations up to date.
He told the Harvest TECH 2017 conference in Rotorua: “One of the issues we are having is that we are advancing that fast, we’re ahead of the ACOP and the rules and regulations.”
Rules that are meant to prevent people from getting hurt may stand in the way of new ideas, like the Falcon Felling Carriage his company DC Equipment is currently developing.
“We’ve all got to work together to make (technology) like this happen,” he says.
Dale pointed out that ideas introduced by DC Equipment in recent years have already contributed to improved safety for workers in key areas. For instance, since the introduction of the Falcon Forestry Claw grapple carriages, these have collectively worked more than 150,000 hours with zero H&S accidents, and the 40 Falcon Winch Assist machines now operating in New Zealand and other markets have clocked up 160,000 hours between them, also with zero H&S accidents.
The introduction of the Falcon Felling Carriage, which is covered in detail in our special forestry innovation feature starting on page 18, is another crucial step forward in Dale’s plan to take people away from hazardous occupations.
He told the conference that winch-assist technology had enabled machines to harvest considerably more areas on steep slopes, but it still left around 20% of trees that could not be reached, which would either need to be felled by hand or left in the ground. The Falcon Felling Carriage was originally developed to tackle these trees, but the success of recent trials has now prompted thoughts that it could be used more extensively.
Work on finalising the development of the Falcon Felling Carriage is now well advanced and DC Equipment aims to have a full production version ready to offer to the industry in 2018.
Meanwhile, the next step in the plan is to automate and integrate the technologies so that harvesting operations can be operated from anywhere.
“We’ve set ourselves a target that by 2020, we’ll be able to harvest a tree and return it to the landing with the push of a button,” Dale says.
Smart technology will not only take people away from hazardous operations, it will also help crews to maximise the extraction of logs and lift harvesting levels compared to today’s levels.
And there is another step beyond that.
“By 2025 we believe we won’t have any of our guys on site,” says Dale, adding that people will be operating machines from afar, sitting at a remote control desk. He believes it would be possible for one person to be able to operate as many as five machines at the same time because of the high level of automation.
“The operator will push the button for this machine to work and then go switch to the next machine.”
To keep pace with the new developments, DC Equipment will be undergoing an expansion programme to treble the size of its workshop in Brightwater, near Nelson. It is also expanding its service and back-up in New Zealand to deliver improved support for customers purchasing its products.
NZL