Tag Archive for: FORMEC

22-24 September 2020, Forest Operations for the Future Conference, Helsingør

The Forest Operations for the Future Conference was held in Helsingør from September 22-24, 2020. Organised by the Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management from the University of Copenhagen, the Nordic-Baltic forestry sector addressed future research and innovation needs within forest operations.

Several partners from TECH4EFFECT (T4E) presented at the online event which was held virtually due to the Corona virus pandemic. The topic examined how forest operations could address the long-term needs of the future wood market.

Specifically, the Conference addressed topics such as the traceability of sustainably certified wood, the possibility of demand shocks, cost pressures, and the unpredictability of extreme climate changes which have affected forest operations.

TECH4EFFECT partners from the Division of Forest and Forest Resources at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Rasmus Astrup, Bruce Talbot and Joachim Bernd Heppelmann presented topics relating to the long-term sustainability of forest operations through increased environmental impact assessments.

The three authors contributed to the topic of “Assessing the relationship between Depth-to-Water (DTW) mapping and rut formation following fully mechanised harvesting operations in Norway”. The subject of DTW maps has been covered on the T4E news feed in a three-part blog series that explain other T4E results. Separately, Bruce Talbot presented “Continuous surface assessments of wheel rutting compared to discrete point measurements — do the benefits justify the efforts?”.

Also on the topic of site reduction, Thomas Holzfeind from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna presented “Predicting forest roads’ bearing capacity using smart sensing technology”.

Holzfeind examined the sensitivity of unpaved forest roads after heavy thaw and rain where roads are subjected to excessive strain due to water penetrating the construction layers which reduce the road’s load bearing capacity. Effective forest management encompasses assessing the trafficability and overall accessibility of machines to and in the forest which can be restricted due to excess water.

The aim of the study was to develop an appropriate sensing approach in the field to determine the modelling parameters needed for this work, and to come up with a smart prediction model for forest roads’ bearing capacity. This should contribute both to improved planning and management of forest operations to avoid costly and unnecessary damage to roads due to a weakened road infrastructure caused by water.

Event report – TECH4EFFECT at FORMEC 2019

This year marks the 52th edition of the symposium ‘Forestry Mechanization’ or FORMEC as it is more commonly know which was held together with the 42th edition of the Council on Forest Engineering (COFE) in Sopron, Hungary from October 6th to 9th.

 

Impressions of FORMEC2019 ((c) J. L. Rodriges/RTDS)

Impression from the FORMEC 2019 plenum ((c) J. L. Rodrigues/RTDS)

 

This year TECH4EFFECT had its’ own session which was held on Monday October 7th. It included following presentations:

  • “Productivity and fuel consumption of heavy forwarders under different configurations: benchmarks from fleet-level long-term records (one million loads)” by Raffaele Spinelli and Angelo Conrado de Arruda Moura.
  • “Productivity and Environmental Impacts of Cable-assisted Logging – A case study in southern Oregon, USA” by  Woodam Chung, Brett Morrissette, Preston Gren, Ben Leshchinsky, Kevin Bladon, Jeff Hatten and John Sessions.
  • “A micro-catchment approach to measuring surface run-off after cable logging” by Bruce Talbot, Omar Mologni, Nicholas Clarke, Marek Pierzchala and Rasmus Astrup.
  • “Assessing Cable Tensile Forces of Winch-Assisted Forwarders on Steep Terrain under Real Working Conditions” by Thomas Holzfeind, Christian Kanzian, Karl Stampfer and Franz Holzleitner.
  • “Factors Affecting Productivity and Utilisation of Winch-Assist Machines: Six Case Studies in New Zealand and Canada” by Cameron Leslie, Colin Koszman, James Hunt, Rien Visser, Hunter Harrill and Dominik Roeser.
  • “Flat and wet: Cable yarding on sensitive soils in Europe – motivations, challenges and potential” by Gernot Erber, Raffaele Spinelli, Giovanna Ottaviani Aalmo, Dirk Jaeger, Marian Schönauer, Stephan Hoffmann, Bruce Talbot and Karl Stampfer.
FORMEC2019 presentation by Erber et al. ((c) J. L. Rodrigues (RTDS).

FORMEC 2019 presentation by G. Erber et al. ((c) J. L. Rodrigues (RTDS).

 

On Tuesday October 8th our coordinator Rasmus Astrup/NIBIO held a keynote on the “Digitalization of Forest Harvesting: The potential for improved environmental and production efficiency”.

Rasmus Astrup/NIBIO held a keynote at FORMEC 2019

Rasmus Astrup/NIBIO held a keynote at FORMEC 2019 ((c) C. Kanzian.

 

Several posters on TECH4EFFECT were also presented on:

  • “Smart sensing technology for predicting forest road’s bearing capacity by Franz Holzleitner et al.
  • “Indicator based assessment of trafficability of forest roads” by Marian Schönauer et al.
  • “Coppice after 3 different cutting systems: growth capacity and mortality” by Carolina Lombardini et al.

See the posters in this e-poster presentation!

 

It could not have been any better for TECH4EFFECT this year as 3 prizes were awarded to the consortium! What a great achievement – congratulations to

  • Markus Konrad (second person from the left) received an operator award by COFE,
  • Thomas Holzfeind received a student communication award and
  • Marian Schönauer received a poster award.
TECH4EFFECT won 3 prizes at FORMEC 2019

TECH4EFFECT won 3 prizes for presentations and at FORMEC 2019 ((c) C. Kanzian) – from left to right: Rasmus Astrup, Markus Konrad, Thomas Holzfeind and Marian Schönauer.

 

To get more information you can read up here on the full program of FORMEC 2019 and on the conference website you can access the conference proceeding abstracts.

TECH4EFFECT session at FORMEC!

At this years’ FORMEC in Sopron, Hungary, there is a whole session focusing on TECH4EFFECT research! Check our events page for more details and visit the ‘International Symposium on Forest Mechanisation’ from 6-9 October.

Registration is still open!

6 – 9 October 2019, FORMEC – COFE, Sopron, Hungary – with TECH4EFFECT session

The 52 edition of the symposium ‘Forestry Mechanization’ or FORMEC will be held together with the 42 edition of the Council on Forest Engineering (COFE). This year TECH4EFFECT has its’ own session at FORMEC! Also this is the first time for a COFE meeting taking place in Europe – in Sopron, Hungary. Join also the field trip to Forchtenstein in Austria to attend AUSTROFOMA, the only Austrian forestry machine and device demonstration where all the machines on display are shown performing real-life tasks.

The TECH4EFFECT session on Monday, 7th October starts at 10:30 in Room1 and includes the following presentations:

  • Productivity and fuel consumption of heavy forwarders under different configurations: benchmarks from fleet-level long-term records (one million loads). Raffaele Spinelli, Angelo Conrado de Arruda Moura (A-0071)
  • Productivity and Environmental Impacts of Cable-assisted Logging – A case study in southern Oregon, USA. Woodam Chung, Brett Morrissette, Preston Green, Ben Leshchinsky, Kevin Bladon, Jeff Hatten, John Sessions (A-0117)
  • A micro-catchment approach to measuring surface run-off after cable logging. Bruce Talbot, Omar Mologni, Nicholas Clarke, Marek Pierzchala, Rasmus Astrup  (A-0152)
  • Assessing Cable Tensile Forces of Winch-Assisted Forwarders on Steep Terrain under Real Working Conditions. Thomas Holzfeind, Christian Kanzian, Karl Stampfer, Franz Holzleitner  (A-0061)
  • Factors Affecting Productivity and Utilisation of Winch-Assist Machines: Six Case Studies in New Zealand and Canada. Cameron Leslie, Colin Koszman, James Hunt, Rien Visser, Hunter Harrill, Dominik Roeser (A-0115)
  • Flat and wet: Cable yarding on sensitive soils in Europe – motivations, challenges and potential. Gernot Erber, Raffaele Spinelli, Giovanna Ottaviani Aalmo, Dirk Jaeger, Marian Schönauer, Stephan Hoffmann, Bruce Talbot, Karl Stampfer (A-0054)

Don’t miss the keynote from our coordinator Rasmus Astrup on Tuesday morngin:

  • A-0193 Digitalization of forest harvesting: the potential for improved environmental and production efficiency; Rasmus Astrup, Room 1, 8:00.

Several posters are also based on TECH4EFFECT:

  • A-0021: Smart sensing technology for predicting forest road’s bearing capacity (Franz Holzleitner et al.)
  • A-0098: Indicator based assessment of trafficability of forest roads (Marian Schönauer et al.)
  • Coppice after 3 different cutting systems: growth capacity and mortality (Carolina Lombardini et al.)

Click on the ‘TECH4EFFECT button in the program, to access the abstracts on the conference website. For more details and registration, also visit the conference website.