Next month’s HarvestTECH & Woodflow Logistics Conference in Rotorua will showcase some genuinely ground-breaking new machine technologies.
Two key technology speakers will be:
• Mike Casey, an entrepreneur and Central Otago orchardist with hands-on experience of electrifying mobile plant. He is also CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, a group dedicated to electrifying fossil fuel machines everywhere as quickly as possible.
• Ian Wilton, covering in-forest harvesting trials of an autonomous, high-production steep-slope skidder, designed to overcome the challenges of manned steep-slope skidding.
Mr Casey will bring his electrification experience from other industry leaders he has contacted in his wider role. Recently, Rewiring Aotearoa has assisted EECA and top managers at Kaingaroa Tipu and Permapine. They will be sharing their experiences with electrified mobile plant and trucks from their Central North Island in-forest and mill-yard trials. The Kaingaroa Forest KPP log processing site electrification set-up is believed to be the first of its kind in the world, combining a high-capacity charger with both an electric loader and electric logging truck operating in a live forestry-related environment.
Moving onto forest slopes being harvested, the T-Skidder is an autonomous, high-production steep-slope skidder designed to overcome the challenges of manned steep-slope skidding, including operator comfort and machine slope limits. It is built for clear-felling and designed to operate on slopes up to 45°.
The T-Skidder has two bogie axles and eight wheels, designed to deliver traction, flotation and speed in difficult conditions. Using a clam bunk grapple system, the load positioning reduces drag, wasted energy and soil disturbance. It is currently operating in New Zealand, pushing ground-based extraction into terrain traditionally suited to yarding and challenging conventional logging methods and the economics of steep-slope extraction. Over two months of logging operations have now been completed. The results from this work will be presented by Ian Wilton from FORCO.
The HarvestTECH & Woodflow Logistics Conference will be a great place to network with industry colleagues with mutual interests in lifting productivity for foresters and mill owners for using wood residues.
The conference is in Rotorua on November 10 and 11.
