Harvesting and Supply Chain Logistics

Harvesting and transport costs are 40-60% of the delivered costs of logs, yet little research has been done in this area since the late 1990s when the former Logging Industry Research Organisation (LIRO) was disestablished.

As forestry has moved to more challenging land types, the challenges of accessing and harvesting the product will become even more demanding. Finding ways to reduce harvesting and transport costs for forests, particularly those on steeper and more sensitive terrain, is a high priority for forest owners.

Cost reductions and improvements in value recovery through better supply chain management make immediate contributions to annual profitability and, in the longer term, forest valuations.

It is estimated that research aimed at improving productivity and value recovery will increase returns to forest owners by at least $10 per m3 over 10 years while contributing to achieving a zero lost time injury rate.

This will be achieved by focusing on productivity, human factors and value maximisation, including:

• Development of automated, intelligent harvesting systems to increase productivity and efficiency to reduce average harvesting and transport costs by $5 per m3 over five years.
• Increased automation and mechanisation to provide a platform for sensory and wireless communication technology, allowing product quality information collected at the time of harvest to be communicated along the value chain. This will increase value extraction by $4 per m3.